Bonus.direct
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Challenge
Identifying efficient user acquisition channels aside from the usual suspects Facebook and Google Ads to drive sustainable growth. Sustainable growth was defined as incremental sales growth (in this case sales are defined as platform registrations) month over month while staying below a certain CPA (cost per acquisition).
The project was split into 3 phases:
- Data Analysis & SEO Audit
- Goals Definition
- Testing & Scaling
Phase 1: Data Analysis & SEO Audit
As a first step, mrkt’in got familiar with the platform mechanics, the platform’s competitors, as well as the available business data. Visualizing the business drivers through a simple flywheel ensured that we wouldn’t deviate from our data-driven approach.
Understanding the value of organic traffic in such a highly competitive industry as the sports betting industry, SEO has always been at the top of our priority list. The logical conclusion was to perform a technical as well as a semantic SEO audit to identify pain points but also growth opportunities. In detail, we looked into the following topics providing the client with a highly actionable plan to drive additional organic growth:
- Structure Analysis
- Status Codes
- Crawling
- Meta Data
- Duplicate Content
- Page Experience
- Site Structure
- Content Quality
- Additional Lead Generation
Phase 2: Defining KPIs
After completing the data analysis, together with the client, we defined the metrics and KPIs for each channel as well as holistically:
- CPA (cost per acquisition; acquisition in this context is defined as a registration on the client’s platform)
- CPA 7 days moving average
- ROI (Return on marketing investment)
For the ROI we used the following formula: number of new registrations X CLTV (the lifetime value of one registration) / marketing investment. The CLTV had been defined by the client as an input variable.
Phase 3: Testing & Scaling
Based on our research and drawing on our own experiences within the sports betting industry we defined the following channels as high-potential channels (outside FB and Google Ads):
- SEO
- PopUnder
- Newsletter
- Criteo
- Voucher Inserts
- Influencer Marketing
- Podcasts
- Affiliate
While SEO is of course not a channel to be tested but rather a must-have for long-term success, for the remaining channels we drove a pragmatic testing strategy.
For each channel, we visualized the potential success scenario based on our experiences, industry averages, or related data. Just to be clear: we didn’t expect reality to match this scenario but rather comparing a forecast scenario with the real funnel forces you to make justifiable assumptions and by doing so allows you to learn and improve for further channel iterations. The first channels we tested were PopUnder and Acquisition Newsletter. Staying true to ourselves we tested with a small budget and based on the test results we either scaled the channel, adapted the channel, or “cut the crap” meaning stopped testing the channel.
Results
Since the start of the collaboration, we have continuously driven growth while lowering the average CPA. From July to August 2021 we grew registrations by 70,34% while we lowered the CPA by 43,24%. The positive development continued into September as registrations made another jump (+39,27%) while the CPA stayed at an efficient level.
Mrkt’in proved that sustainable growth can be achieved for the client through a diligent step-by-step testing and optimization strategy. We will continue supporting the client in adding new channels to his marketing machinery to offer more touchpoints for users and lift customer acquisition to the next level.
Mrkt’in proved that sustainable growth can be achieved for the client through a diligent step-by-step testing and optimization strategy.
