Dillon Smith, emarketing and
social media manager at Golfsmith, a specialty retailer of golf and tennis equipment, apparel and accessories, has been working independently both with Kenshoo and Criteo for about 1.5 years to drive
sales through its online store -- Kenshoo for paid-search campaigns, and Criteo for retargeting display ads.
Both search and retargeting have proven to be successful channels to capture
sales, but after Kenshoo and Criteo inked an agreement earlier this year to work together, Smith put plans in motion to integrate Criteo's ad retargeting reports into the Kenshoo paid-search platform.
That process began in February.
The integration provides Golfsmith marketers with a better understanding of the relationship between search and retargeting, as well as the ability to track
attribution through data and analysis for use in campaign optimization. The data retargeting and search campaign data available in path-to-conversion reports clearly shows a path to conversion, Smith
said.
"We can see the first click from a paid-search ad, which gives us ground to stand on when making adjustments to monthly budgets for display retargeting and search," he said. "Even if we
don't generate conversions through certain paid-search clicks, that money isn't going out the window. We're still generating conversions down the line, though it might not be directly through the
paid-search channel."
Golfsmith marketers can see traffic moving through the ads managed by Kenshoo. This has helped to add between 10% and 15% to paid-search campaigns by redistributing
marketing funds from other channels. For every $1 spent on a paid-search campaign, Golfsmith gets about $7.5 return on the investment (ROI). But the integration continues to increase orders rather
than have a direct impact on ROI, Smith said.
About 36% of Golfsmith's retargeting conversions start with a paid-search click, and 15% of Golfsmith's retargeting conversions start with a
branded paid-search click. And while Kenshoo offers integration with social campaigns, Smith said Golfsmith has yet to take advantage of the tools.
For Smith, it all comes down to seeing the
path to conversion. That has become the most valuable data. And even if certain keywords that gain traffic and clicks don't directly generate conversions in paid-search campaigns, they could be down
the path on the retargeting side.