PPC Tips for Field Service: A/B Testing for Better ROI

This article about PPC Tips for field service companies in by Cara Sherratt, Paid Search Analyst at Bamboo Nine.

Pay per click (PPC) is a great way to drive potential customers to your field service company’s website and convert them to clients. PPC can not only maximize your ROI (return on investment) but also help it grow, year over year.

PPC Tips to Take Your Field Service Company to the Next Level

One of our best PPC tips is to perform A/B tests. In A/B testing you change one or more variables in an otherwise standardized environment. This allows you to continually analyze the performance, take that information, and feed this back into your PPC structures.

This enables you to keep them fresh, prevent stagnation, and continuously improve. There are right ways and wrong ways to do this, however.

A note of caution: Consider the impact of testing on your overall results. Running too many tests at once, or failing to consider variables can hurt your CTR (click-through rate), lead generation, revenue, and ROI (return on investment).

PPC A/B Testing Case Studies and Takeaways

For one field service client, we launched a structure in which we conducted A/B testing with 3 variant headlines.

First, we tested variants in headlines in order to analyze which unique selling points drove the highest click-through rate (CTR). We ran this for at least six months – until we had a statistically significant amount of data. Google runs the various ads randomly, without prioritizing the best performing, to gather data on each headline.

We then used Microsoft Excel to segment the results by ad copy variants. This showed which variant produced the highest CTR and drove more people to the site to convert to bookings. 

Then we continued to run the headline with the highest CTR. We started testing two ad copy variants – repeating the testing cycle once again.

Obviously, improving click-through rates will help drive more users to your site at a lower cost. If your conversion rate remains stable, that means more bookings. Now that you know what headline works best, and what copy works best, you can more confidently invest in more ad spend.

RSAs and PPC: the New Frontier

Another example of the A/B testing we undertake involves the recently released responsive search ads (RSAs) from Google.

Here’s what Google has to say about RSAs:

In order to test this, we ran them for our client Ames Group, a home pest control business, in order to determine whether they could produce an improvement on our current CTR.

We ran these in tandem to our regular Expanded Text Ads (ETA’s) in order to negate any potential fall in performance or ROI that we could experience as well as providing the basis of a fair A/B test – running RSA’s against Non-RSA’s and analyzing their performance. 

Our RSA Testing Protocol

In the copy of the first line of our RSAs, we tested common language that appeals to homeowners. This included adjectives such as ‘immediate’ ‘reliable’ and ‘fast’ – qualities that a field service company’s clients might consider important. Once we ran these tests for a sufficient amount of time we were able to determine which copy improved ROI the most.

A/B testing with language provides an understanding of user behavior in relation to client business. It also allows us to make more informed decisions about which adjectives we emphasize throughout our ads.

Release the Power of PPC A/B Testing

A/B testing is a highly useful tool when looking to improve your ROI. It can be incredibly powerful when paired with insights from your testing, vigilant monitoring, and advanced analysis.

Want to learn about how field service software can help you manage and grow your field service company? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo.