For the latest instalment in our series of blogs penned by our staff about their particular area of expertise, we hear from project management lead Christina and PPC expert Lee on what’s rocking their world in the workplace this month.
Google Responsive Search Ads
Google has recently given us access to a BETA advertising format called responsive search ads (RSAs). The difference between the two formats is as follows:
Current – Expanded Text Ads
Headline - 2 lines up to 30 characters each
Descriptions lines - 1 line of up to 80 characters
BETA – Responsive Search Ads
Headline - 3 lines up to 30 characters each
Descriptions lines - 2 lines of up to 80 characters
RSAs also allow you to:
- Create up to 15 different headlines and 4 different description lines;
- Select the order which you’d like these headlines & descriptions to appear;
- Allow Google to test which combinations perform best.
The RSAs offer you a greater chance to get the message across about your brand including any specific details about products and services, as well as any special offers. Due to this additional information, the adverts take up more room on the search engine results page (SERP), pushing lower ranked results further down the page.
I have tested the RSAs in the accounts which have been approved for the BETA and have seen the following results:
Ad type
Expanded Text Ads
Click through 0.92%
Conv rate 3.75%
Responsive Search Ads
Click through 1.34%
Conv rate 4.24%
Difference
Click through +48%
Conv rate +13%
So the takeouts here are:
- Ads are bigger, clearer, more informative and more appealing to click on;
- The user is more informed when they visit the site and therefore more likely to convert.
The trial of RSAs is a major play from Google in their continual shift toward AI, machine learning and automation and it’s been fascinating to try them out.
Lee, PPC Whizz
Hello Trello and Goodbye To Do List!
EnquiryLab has joined the Trello movement and we have to say, it’s pretty darn good… I’ve been told I have to be brief on this one so bring on the bullets and here is why (in order of significance) I really, really like Trello and why you might like to consider using it too:
- No re-writing of the to do list. I don’t know about you, but I find that non-urgent or particularly boring actions can appear on my to do list for several weeks in a row, never making it to ‘done’! Not only is this a quick way to feel like a failure but it is also a waste of your precious time. Not managed to hit the deadline on a task in Trello? Just reschedule the due date or maybe even break down the task into steps to encourage yourself to make a start.
- You can assign tasks to your team, assigning members and also colour code the cards for each department/function. This means that people can see at a glance what they need to crack on with and who they need to work with to get jobs done.
- Time tracking. Lots of time tracking software syncs with Trello to allow you to the track time spent on a job so that you can reconcile with billing or departments at the end of the project.
- You can add power-ups. Depending on the project, you might want to add a calendar view to help you schedule work, or integrate with team communications platforms such as Slack. Trello enables you to select from a whole tonne of integrations to make project management communication as easy as possible.
- Filtering. It’s easy to filter boards to see what tasks have been assigned to you or see what tasks a member of your team is working on.
This is only a light-touch overview of all the wonderful features and functionality Trello offers. Free in its most basic guise, I’d recommend giving it a go to anyone looking for a project management tool that generates action and not just Gantt charts..
Christina, Project Management Lead
