Large-sized special equipment is a complex and expensive product to promote. Due to high competition, a large average check, and a lead cost of several thousand rubles, advertisers with such products constantly have to search for and test new advertising channels and tools. Using the case study of the Digital People Group (DPL) agency, we will explain how paid placements in geoservices helped establish a steady flow of leads and generate quality traffic.
О проекте
Client: Official dealer of leading manufacturers of construction equipment.
Product: Large-sized special equipment from global manufacturers; sale of spare parts for it.
Geography: 29 branches across Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Campaign period described in the case: July-August 2020.
Goal: Drive traffic to the website and increase the number of leads.
Promotion features: Competition for impressions and a high average check. Almost all competitors allocate large budgets for advertising, making the auction for impressions quite expensive and the cost per lead high.
Digital People Group DPL specialist: Alexander Konovalov, project team leader.
How it all began
We have been working with the client since April 2019, running campaigns on Yandex and Google. The majority of the budget is allocated to advertising on Yandex: we create campaigns on search and in the Yandex Advertising Network (YAN), launch remarketing, and dynamic ads. We also experiment with smart banners and promotion on Zen. In Google Ads, we follow the standard approach: working with search campaigns and occasionally testing the Google Display Network (GDN).
The intensive focus on Yandex is easy to explain: users search for special equipment more frequently in this search engine than in Google.
In Yandex, users are more often interested in specific models and special equipment in general
In our client’s niche, the auction for impressions is highly competitive, so the cost per lead can reach several thousand rubles. To reduce the cost per lead and drive traffic, we constantly monitor changes in ongoing campaigns, run experiments on them, and test new advertising channels.
Competitors usually hesitate to use new tools until they receive initial feedback. Meanwhile, we actively test them and gather leads.
Priority placement in Yandex.Maps is one of those cases where a new advertising channel helped us attract high-quality traffic at a relatively low cost. Additionally, when launching ads in Yandex.Maps through eLama, you can get extra days of priority placement as a bonus.
About promotion in Yandex Maps
Since the main traffic to the company’s website comes from Yandex, and the client has a high rating and good reviews in the Yandex Directory, we decided to test priority placement in Yandex.Maps.
It includes:
- An advertising marker (green or branded)
- High priority in search results on Maps
- Impressions in competitor cards
- An expanded organization card, where you can display a product showcase and special offers.
This format was new for us, so we chose the minimum placement period — 3 months.
Each organization in the Directory is assigned its own category with pre-prepared search queries. Our client’s company falls under two categories: “Road Construction Equipment” and “Construction and Special Equipment Rental.”
In addition to the category, the final cost of placement is influenced by:
- Regional coefficient (in our case, we advertised for 29 branches)
- Placement period
- Format (branded or non-branded)
How to improve the efficiency of priority placement
Launching priority placement is simple: there are no complex campaign settings or bid management in Yandex.Maps. We chose branded placement, meaning all of the client’s branches will be marked on the map with logo labels.
Here are some important nuances to keep in mind to ensure that paid placement in Yandex.Maps works as effectively as possible:
Fill out your company information in the Directory
First, you need to ensure that the company profile is correctly and fully completed. Information about the organization is displayed in response to user queries, so it’s important to keep it up to date.
The system automatically determines the list of key queries based on the category and additional parameters you provided.
Additionally:
- Maintain brand consistency to ensure that clients recognize whose website they are visiting and remember your company.
- Ensure high-quality images and all added materials to present a professional and attractive profile.
- Respond to reviews (both good and bad), monitor your company’s rating and reputation on Yandex. The rating is one of the factors that affect search ranking on Maps.
- Implement call tracking
Conversions are considered when the customer fills out a contact form or makes a call. The client has been using call tracking for a long time — with this tool, we track which ads bring traffic to the website.
In Yandex.Maps, you can promote either a single branch or the entire network. We decided to test priority placement for all the cities where the client’s company is present, so we added a single dedicated phone number for all branches.
Upload advertising materials
- Card headline: This includes the logo and main image, which appear at the top of the card. Important: The image should not contain any text or the logo itself.
- Call-to-action button: It is located in the most visible spot in the company’s card, and when clicked, users are directed to the link you provided.
- UTM tags that need to be added to each link. Only static parameters can be specified.
Use all the opportunities for placement in Yandex.Maps
Before launching priority placement, we analyzed the performance: without ads in May and June 2020, Yandex.Maps brought an average of 30 conversions. The same number was achieved in July-August of the previous year.
We decided to test all the options Yandex.Maps offers, including:
- Ordering a branded marker — this helps users remember the company and recognize its corporate colors.
- Implementing a showcase (product gallery) — we placed photos of the special equipment there.
- Adding promotions and bonuses to the card to attract more clicks to the website.
Results and plans for the future
In July, we managed to attract 465 leads, and in August — 442. This is on average 12 times more than the same period last year.
At the same time, the average cost per lead was 12 times lower than in Yandex.Direct campaigns and 17 times lower than in Google Ads.
Additionally, other metrics showed a significant increase. We compared the number of impressions in search, clicks to the company card, and visits to the website in August 2020 with the same period in 2019 and obtained the following results:
At the time the case was described, there were still 1.5 months left in the paid placement period, but the client plans to continue using priority placement.
How to reach the maximum
- Monitor the company’s rating and reputation. If you have bad, unanswered reviews or a low rating, priority placement is unlikely to yield good results.
- Focus on brand awareness first and launch campaigns in the Yandex Advertising Network (YAN) and Google Display Network (GDN). The more often a user hears about the company and the more familiar they are with it, the more likely they are to click on the company card or visit the website.
- Allocate an additional advertising budget for testing. The cost of priority placement starts at 1730 rubles per month, but it may increase if, for example, you have many branches.
- Set up call tracking and a common dedicated number for all branches to track the effectiveness of your ad placement in Yandex.Maps.