339,718 rubles on website creation during the "dead" season
Hi, Ivan Getmanov, a marketer from cultural St. Petersburg here! This case will be quite uncultured - given the results :)
Today, I want to remind you how well you can sometimes work in highly competitive niches through Instagram, if you think a little and get creative!
Today, I want to remind you how well you can sometimes work in highly competitive niches through Instagram, if you think a little and get creative!
About the project:
I was approached by guys who make landing pages, business cards, and everything like that. The niche is very competitive, so contextual advertising eats up people with small budgets in no time. At that time, the guys were mainly engaged in selling landings, and that's what they needed leads for. They didn't have many clients, so they turned to me.
Duration: July-August (2018), usually the "off-season" for web developers. Therefore, no super-geo, all of Russia.
Audience: men, 25+ (not narrowed down to let the algorithms themselves determine the most suitable age); interests: Small and medium-sized businesses, Product (business) or Individual entrepreneur, Position: Small business, Business
Goal: 40 requests for the product "Landing page turnkey for 19,900" at a price below 500 rubles for a hot lead
Duration: July-August (2018), usually the "off-season" for web developers. Therefore, no super-geo, all of Russia.
Audience: men, 25+ (not narrowed down to let the algorithms themselves determine the most suitable age); interests: Small and medium-sized businesses, Product (business) or Individual entrepreneur, Position: Small business, Business
Goal: 40 requests for the product "Landing page turnkey for 19,900" at a price below 500 rubles for a hot lead
Tasks and objectives:
Since the guys had the task of getting live customers for work as soon as possible (to load programmers in the "dead" season), it was decided not to scatter across several social networks but to take the most proven and fastest to launch: Instagram.
I always use Instagram and Facebook when I need to launch quickly. For example, if I am approached with the need to quickly test a new product on demand or when testing a new niche.
It was also decided not to launch traffic to the site. First, they wanted to test the Lead form for this niche, and secondly, they didn't have time to make a website specifically for selling landings with ads, and they didn't want to send traffic to a site with a bunch of different services.
I always use Instagram and Facebook when I need to launch quickly. For example, if I am approached with the need to quickly test a new product on demand or when testing a new niche.
It was also decided not to launch traffic to the site. First, they wanted to test the Lead form for this niche, and secondly, they didn't have time to make a website specifically for selling landings with ads, and they didn't want to send traffic to a site with a bunch of different services.
Analysis:
A brief analysis was conducted on how web development companies were advertised at that time (using Pabler). Mostly, these were either guys with a name and serious cases (plus some recognizability), or simple creatives. I didn't take anything I saw there. Fortunately, I already had a couple of ideas for creatives that we additionally discussed with the client.
Strategy:
I immediately launched three branches of creatives, that is, I multiplied three main creative ideas by the number of differently made images and texts. It turned out about 15 ads. Then it was just necessary to identify the best combinations.
For each ad test, I allocated 700 rubles, taking into account at least one lead as a reserve.
As usual, after the test, the favorites were identified. The creatives with opinion leaders worked the best. Liliana Belelidze helped with the design of the creatives.
For each ad test, I allocated 700 rubles, taking into account at least one lead as a reserve.
As usual, after the test, the favorites were identified. The creatives with opinion leaders worked the best. Liliana Belelidze helped with the design of the creatives.
Problems along the way:
After 2 days, we already had 20 leads that the team physically couldn't handle. We consulted and stopped the advertising for a couple of days so that the team could gather and process the volume that was already there. At that time, I had some time to work on audience settings, improve creatives, and dive deeper into statistics.
They only managed to process the volume after 5-6 days, and then I launched the modified campaign.
They only managed to process the volume after 5-6 days, and then I launched the modified campaign.
Technical difficulties:
I tested only 2 formats: Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories. Need I say that by August 2018 almost all advertisers rushed to try its miraculous advertising effect in Stories, which caused the auction price there to be even higher than in the feed? In general, Stories gave results that were 1.3-1.5 times worse than those in the feed. Soon I turned off advertising in Stories.
I set up advertising from two ad accounts. Therefore, there will be two screenshots below. I don't remember exactly why I worked with two, maybe the first one was blocked for a while, and it was too long to wait for it to be unblocked or there were difficulties with paying for advertising by bank card.
I set up advertising from two ad accounts. Therefore, there will be two screenshots below. I don't remember exactly why I worked with two, maybe the first one was blocked for a while, and it was too long to wait for it to be unblocked or there were difficulties with paying for advertising by bank card.
Numbers and results:
Number of leads in total: 53 leads
Cost per lead in total: 349 rubles
Advertising budget spent: 18,482 rubles
And a few more figures, from the guys' words, since I did not participate in the sales process:
Out of 53 leads, they sold 7 sites in the first week, another 5 within the next month, and they have closed an additional 6. So, a total of 18/53 leads have yielded results so far. Of course, the sales department worked well, and the offer for the market was also very attractive. However, we should not overlook the quality of leads :)
Total revenue: 18 * 19,900 = 358,200 rubles
Profit: 358,200 - 18,482 = 339,718 rubles
ROI (return on investment): 339,718 rubles / 18,482 rubles * 100% = 1838%
To be fair, it is fun to calculate ROI on such projects and boast about the beautiful numbers, but the reality is not so rosy. After all, you still need to fulfill these orders :)
The budget was paid off just over 18 times ;-)
Cost per lead in total: 349 rubles
Advertising budget spent: 18,482 rubles
And a few more figures, from the guys' words, since I did not participate in the sales process:
Out of 53 leads, they sold 7 sites in the first week, another 5 within the next month, and they have closed an additional 6. So, a total of 18/53 leads have yielded results so far. Of course, the sales department worked well, and the offer for the market was also very attractive. However, we should not overlook the quality of leads :)
Total revenue: 18 * 19,900 = 358,200 rubles
Profit: 358,200 - 18,482 = 339,718 rubles
ROI (return on investment): 339,718 rubles / 18,482 rubles * 100% = 1838%
To be fair, it is fun to calculate ROI on such projects and boast about the beautiful numbers, but the reality is not so rosy. After all, you still need to fulfill these orders :)
The budget was paid off just over 18 times ;-)
This brings us to the discussion about the importance of analyzing results from a distance. That's why I created this case study a little later :)
