Digital advertising is indeed a pay-to-play activity, and there is a strong incentive to achieve the most effective results at the lowest possible cost.
We all appreciate a great deal, and the opportunity to generate a greater volume of prospects at a lower cost is extremely appealing.
However, low cost does not always imply superior quality. When it comes to pay-per-click ads, there might be a tradeoff between quality and cost, and if you’re not careful, you could risk ending up with lower-performing advertising strategies and a lower long-term ROAS if you don’t hit the cost vs. quality balance correctly.
After all, the concept “successful campaign” has a broad definition, so in this blog, we’ll evaluate the true cost-quality balance as well as what matters the most.
Why Do Brands Need to Reconsider the Cost vs. Quality issue in Digital Advertising?
When one looks at their Google Ads results (or your Facebook Ads results, for example), they’ll see a dashboard with various metrics.
There will be a number of clicks, observations, conversions, and costs displayed.
And, while it’s appealing to look at the lowest possible cost and want to increase ad spend on that particular campaign, it’s rarely that simple.
Occasionally you can get a large number of clicks at a minimal cost, which can indicate a successful campaign. These campaigns can sometimes produce a large number of conversions.
However, in many instances, cost alone does not tell the whole story, and it is critical to understand how to adjust and prioritise cost and quality.
When it comes to PPC ads, many companies and even agencies emphasise on low costs. The attraction of a $1 click versus a $3 click is difficult to deny.
However, cost can occasionally be correlated with quality; in at least a substantial amount of cases, you get what you are charged for.
This is an important fact that not all clicks are created equally. If one receives a large number of clicks on a low-intent search term or keywords used by people who aren’t in your target audience, you’ll probably get a lot of clicks but few conversions. It’s also plausible that lower-quality clicks could perhaps transform, just once, or that they’ll redirect for a lesser average selling price than other higher-cost clicks.
There are numerous reasons why such a low-cost click may also be of low quality. Let’s have a look at a few of them.
- KEYWORDS Of LOW INTENT OR VALUE
- LOW-VALUE SPECTATORS
- POORLY ORIENTED USER INTENT
Can Cost and Quality Really Go Along together?
I realise there are some people out there who are appalled, recognising that cost and quality may occasionally go hand in hand.
This can occur in the following situations:
- You’ve discovered a slightly elevated, minimal keyword that is either unique to you or one that the industry has yet to recognise.
- You may be running a campaign on your branded keywords, which are more likely to have low competition and high clicks due to the intent.
- You have a high quality score.
The last point holds an extreme importance. The quality score on Google Ads and the relevance score on Facebook inform the creator how relevant that advertisement is to the audience who are checking them.
It is calculated by taking into account a variety of ad factors, such as ad copy efficiency, search term significance, landing page performance, and overall ad outcomes (particularly CTR).
If the quality score improves, users can actually get more positions and clicks at a reduced CPA than if their quality score is average or poor. The CPA increases when one has a low quality score.
In many cases, high-quality clicks at scale could also result in a lower cost per click. As a result, users may see some ads with cheaper prices but higher performance, which means individuals won’t have to make difficult decisions about what to prioritise.
When it arrives to Google Ads, which should you emphasise: cost or quality?
Although there is no single right response for every situation, there are some regulations that can assist you in making difficult decisions.
When it comes to the debate over PPC cost vs. quality and which to prioritise, we have a simple answer. Quality will almost always win out, but it never harms to have quality clicks at a low cost!
We’ll leave you with a few final tips :
- Allow a few weeks for new campaigns to stabilise so you can see the cost and effect of each ad; it can take a week or so for Google’s machine learning and minimization to kick in.
- Keep an eye on your campaigns; Changes in the market, consumer behaviour, and even keyword popularity can all have an impact on performance.
- Find the right balance for your brand; we’ve previously stated it and we’ll say it once again: there is no one-size-fits-all solution, so figure out what works for you.
