By switching LinkedIn ads with a high CTR from click to impression-based bidding, Tuned Social reduced their client’s CPC by 55%.
Table of contents
TL;DR
- The company: B2B LinkedIn ads agency Tuned Social, working on behalf of a tech company.
- The goal: Decrease the CPC of LinkedIn ads that have a website visit objective.
- The tactic: Switch ads with a CTR of more than 1% to impression-based bidding.
- The result: 55% decrease in CPC, and 30% increase in conversions.
What’s the marketing tactic?
The tech company was running CPC (cost per click) campaigns on LinkedIn, with a goal to drive website visits. These campaigns had a CTR (click-through rate) that ranged between 0.8% and 1.5%.
When analyzing these website visit campaigns, Tuned Social saw that the campaigns with a CTR of more than 1% had a CPM (cost per thousand view) that was 2 to 3 times higher than the suggested bidding range for impression-based campaigns.
The team calculated that, if they switched the campaigns to impression-based bidding while maintaining a CTR of above 1%, they would be buying impressions for much less, and would therefore have a much cheaper CPC.
They started by bidding at 75% of LinkedIn’s suggested range for best results, which was still much cheaper than the CPM at the time.
What was the result?
By switching to impression-based bidding, and without any changes to the creatives, the campaigns that previously had a CTR of 1% or more now saw:
- 55% decrease in CPC.
- 30% increase in conversions (the CPC decrease doesn’t directly translate to the conversion increase due to the slight decrease in intent of impression-based bidding).
However, over time, the CTR started to decrease, as LinkedIn optimizes the campaigns towards impressions. This meant that, in some of the cases close to a 1% CTR, a switch back to CPC bidding was necessary.
Why does it work?
With high CTRs, you’ll generally get a much cheaper CPC, as well as a greater volume, if you use impression-based objectives. This is because you are only paying for impressions, and not for the high number of clicks you’re receiving.
In short, the higher the CTR is above 1%, the better this tactic performs.
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