Amex increases volume of applications at a lower cost per action
American Express – one of the world leading credit card companies – used an affiliate network for their search advertising in Sweden. To improve results, American Express sought a partner that could not only focus on search but would also handle both social and affiliate marketing. Keybroker took on the challenge of increasing the number of card applications by at least 50% – without increasing the cost per application.
Keybroker developed a new campaign structure and reviewed the company’s keywords. These measures rapidly increased relevance, resulting in higher click-through and conversion rates. More people who saw the ad actually clicked on it and more card applications were recorded.
Due to the fierce competition on search within the finance industry, Keybroker opted to focus on emotive text ads, designating American Express as a card that simplifies your daily life while adding to it a golden touch. Keybroker also aligned the search marketing efforts of American Express with its offline marketing, which yielded a higher return on total advertising.
Keybroker added more online channels, such as banners on Google’s content network, and later launched a Facebook campaign to promote certain offers and cards to specific target groups.
Using Keybroker’s system CampaignControl™, Campaign Analysts worked proactively with online sales, focusing on ad positions, click prices, and identifying the ads and keywords that produced the best results. The success-based price model aligned the incentives of both American Express and Keybroker: to increase sales and drive down cost per order to maximise bottom line results.
Results
Since the start of the campaign, Keybroker has increased the number of American Express card applications by 220% with no increase in the cost per card application. And because better, more targeted ads deliver better, more targeted candidates, the approval rate has also increased from 30% to almost 60%.
