Air France soars with combined search ad solutions

Standing out from the crowd

In the increasingly crowded travel market, even a leading global player like Air France faces competition from other airlines, online travel agencies and price-comparison sites. With flights to 195 destinations in 91 countries, Air France handles a high volume of flight bookings on its websites.Search engine marketing boosts search visibility. However, due to industry rivals, the average cost per click (CPC) of brand queries is increasing, as are those of top destination searches.

Enhanced CPC optimisations ensure we maximise airline ticket sales on Microsoft Advertising campaigns. But when combined with Remarketing, we increase the search signals considered by Enhanced CPC algorithms, allowing for greater conversion volumes and profitability.

— Samira Jellabi, search engine advertising division director, Performics

Converting searches to sales

To bolster online acquisition and improve the efficiency of its pay-per-click campaigns, Air France turned to Performics, a Microsoft Advertising Elite Partner. Performics chose to take advantage of two Microsoft Advertising features across all campaigns: Enhanced CPC and Remarketing.

Air France was already using Enhanced CPC to automate its bids, so that when Microsoft Advertising detected a conversion opportunity following an online search, a bid adjustment up or down could be made. Performics suggested Air France add audience lists based on the pages visited on several Air France websites to take advantage of the Remarketing solution. Several lists were set up according to specific steps that searchers reached along the customer sales journey.

While each feature is powerful on its own, the combination measurably strengthens results. According to Samira Jellabi, search engine advertising division director at Performics, “Enhanced CPC optimisations ensure we maximize airline ticket sales on Microsoft Advertising campaigns. But when combined with Remarketing, we increase the search signals considered by Enhanced CPC algorithms, allowing for greater conversion volumes and profitability."

Optimised for success

The strategy paid off. Laure Serraille, search engine advertising manager at Air France, reports that using Enhanced CPC and Remarketing together has allowed for a “high increase in sales and profitability.” By optimising its Enhanced CPC bids along with Remarketing lists across all Microsoft Advertising campaigns, Air France reduced its CPC by 26% and increased sales by 43% in one year.

In the same time frame, Air France tripled its Remarketing conversion rates and decreased its Remarketing cost per acquisition (CPA) by 67% compared with the previous year.1 In an industry where precise performance counts, Air France found a way to land greater profitability through Microsoft Advertising optimisation.

View or save the infographic and discover how Air France used Enhanced CPC plus Remarketing to lift conversions and revenue with Microsoft Advertising.