How To Assess Ad Grants Campaigns

• Ad Grants
• Tips
• 13. 06. 2024

Managing Ad Grants campaigns can be a powerful way for non-profit organizations to increase their online visibility and drive meaningful actions from their target audience. However, to truly harness the potential of these campaigns, it’s essential to continuously assess and refine them. Evaluating your Ad Grants campaigns helps you understand their performance, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your advertising efforts.

In this article, we’ll take you over the essential metrics and tools you need to focus on for an effective campaign evaluation. We’ll:

• Introduce you to the most important the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) so you can get familiar with the meaning of each metric.
• Share our agency’s approach to assessing our clients’ accounts, offering you a glimpse into professional campaign management.
• Provide practical advice for non-profits on how to independently evaluate and optimize their Ad Grants campaigns.

Join us as we explore the steps to take your Ad Grants campaigns to the next level!

Key Performance Indicators

• Clicks – refer to the number of times users interact with your ads by clicking on them. This metric measures the direct engagement and interest generated by your ads.
• CTR (Click-Through-Rate) – is the ratio of clicks to impressions, expressed as a percentage. It indicates how often users who see your ad end up clicking on it. A higher CTR generally indicates that your ads are relevant and compelling to your target audience. The minimum CTR each Ad Grants account must reach every month is 5%.
• Impressions – represent the total number of times your ads are displayed to users. This metric provides insight into the reach and visibility of your ads.
• Conversions – occur when users complete a desired action after clicking on your ad, such as making a donation, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a form. Tracking conversions helps you measure the effectiveness of your campaigns in driving valuable actions. According to Ad Grants compliance requirements, you must record at least 1 conversion each month.
• Conversion rate – is the percentage of users who complete a desired action out of the total number of users who clicked on your ad. It measures the effectiveness of your ads in persuading users to take the desired action. The ideal conversion rate should not go above 15%.
• Cost/Conversion – represents the average cost for a single conversion. This metric helps you understand how efficiently you turn grant funds into conversions. Lower costs per conversion typically indicate better performance.
• Cost – refers to the total amount of used grant.
• Avg. CPC – is the average cost of each click. It is calculated by dividing the total cost of your clicks by the total number of clicks received. This metric helps you understand the average cost of acquiring traffic through your campaigns.

How To Understand Our Reports

At the beginning of each month, our clients receive a comprehensive summary of their account’s performance. A key component of this summary is an online report created in Google Looker Studio, which integrates data from Google Ads and Google Analytics. The report’s upper section is divided into 3 major parts drawing data from Google Ads: Clicks & Impressions, Conversion Rate & Cost, and Cost Per Click & Position.

This section provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of your ads. You can easily evaluate how appealing and persuasive your ads are to your audience, measure the number of valuable actions taken after users visit your page, and understand the associated costs.

The middle section of our report features two critical tables: Top Campaigns and Campaign Quality. The table on the left, drawing data from Google Ads, offers a clear view of which campaigns are excelling in terms of clicks, CTR, conversions, and more. Meanwhile, the right-hand table, which relies entirely on Google Analytics data, highlights the number of sessions, engaged sessions, and new users each campaign has generated.

These tables provide a dual perspective: Google Ads data helps you see which campaigns are driving the most immediate interactions, while Google Analytics data sheds light on the quality and engagement level of the traffic these campaigns are bringing to your site. This combined approach ensures you get a well-rounded understanding of your campaign performance, from initial clicks to user engagement.

The bottom section of the online report is equally essential, featuring two tables that dive deeper into conversion data. The table on the left offers a detailed breakdown of conversion actions, helping you understand exactly what actions users are taking on your site. On the right, you’ll find a table focused on the geographic distribution of conversions, providing insights into where your most valuable users are located.

By examining these tables, you can gain a comprehensive view of how your campaigns are performing across different regions and understand the specific actions driving conversions. This information is crucial for fine-tuning your strategies to target the right audience and maximize the impact of your Ad Grants campaigns.

Our reports are completely customizable. The report outline presented in this article is a standard we use for most of our clients. When, however, a client focuses on different metrics, charts etc. we are happy to customize the report to make it as informative and useful as possible.

Key Metrics To Focus On

When reviewing the Google Looker Studio report we recommend our clients to focus on 3 key metrics:

• Grant Utilization (Cost): This metric displays how much of the grant was used during the last month. The goal of our agency is to ensure our clients are maximizing the grant.
• Clicks: Through this metric, you’re able to identify how engaged were the viewers of your ads. Our team monitors which keywords generate the most clicks and integrates them into the existing ad copies.
• Conversion types: This metric shows you which type of conversion action occurs most frequently.

For the General Public

If you’re managing Ad Grants campaigns without the benefit of our detailed reports, you can still effectively assess your performance by reviewing the KPIs stated at the beginning of this article within the Google Ads interface.

Google Ads Reports

Did you know that you could add/adjust columns of your Google Ads report? Here’s how:

1. Log in to Google Ads: Navigate to your campaigns.
2. Customize Columns: Click on the columns button above the statistics table to add or adjust the metrics you see. Consider including:

• Clicks
• Impressions
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Conversions
• Conversion rate
• Cost per conversion

Using Default Reports Vs. Creating Custom Reports

1. 1. Default Reports: Google Ads provides several default reports that offer insights into various aspects of your campaigns. These reports can be found under the ‘Reports’ tab.

1. Custom Reports: If default reports don’t meet your needs, you can create custom reports:

• Go to the ‘Reports’ tab.
• Click on ‘Custom’ and then ‘Custom Report’.
• Select the dimensions and metrics relevant to your campaign goals.
• Save and schedule your reports for regular review.

Whether you are an existing client using our detailed Looker Studio reports or a general user leveraging Google Ads’ in-built tools, focusing on the right metrics will help you achieve your campaign objectives.

Has any part of this article been too technical for you? Turn to our team for assistance!

Not a client yet, but interested in learning about our services? Don’t hesitate to contact us!