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Paid search fuels triple digit growth for HR software company

  Article , Success stories

Conversions increase 130% and lead to record revenue deal

Add People logo

Helping SMBs get started with digital marketing

Add People is one of the largest digital marketing agencies in the UK built to service small and medium-sized businesses. “We’re one of the good guys,” smiles Yasmeen Mohammed, PPC Team Manager at Add People. Yasmeen is part of a dedicated team of PPC experts that guides SMBs through the maze of digital marketing and advises on where to allocate marketing budget to make the greatest returns.

Youmanage logo

When it came to developing a grass roots search strategy for cloud HR software company Youmanage, Yasmeen saw huge potential in Microsoft Advertising which eventually led to the company signing a new record revenue deal.

When we brought everything over to Microsoft, it wasn’t just better, it was night and day better.

— Yasmeen Mohammed, PPC Team Manager, Add People

Making software as a service successful online

Based in the Central Lowlands of Scotland in the UK, Youmanage offers a unique HR software platform. The software service aids people managers and HR professionals with every step of the employee lifecycle.

When Youmanage first started working with Add People, the business had never invested in online marketing, having relied on referrals and word of mouth to drive new business. However, with the support of Add People and a modest discovery budget, the Youmanage team was persuaded to embark on a digital advertising trial.

“We started small, then built momentum slowly,” recalls Yasmeen. “This is a small business where every pound matters, so we treat our client’s money as if it was our own.” An initial six-month trial was agreed with the goal of testing different advertising platforms to find the right fit for Youmanage. Both paid search and display advertising were tested, but whilst paid search delivered good performance, it proved expensive. Display on the other hand, delivered lots of impressions but lacked conversions. After a few months of testing with mixed results, Add People recommended Microsoft Advertising.

Doing brilliant basics with Microsoft Advertising

“When we brought everything over to Microsoft, it wasn’t just better, it was night and day better,” commented Yasmeen. “The audience was the perfect fit for the client, and it was easier and more profitable to advertise to.”

The search strategy wasn’t complicated, but it was time consuming. Add People pride themselves on doing the basics brilliantly and getting it right for each client. For Youmanage, the small scale of the campaigns meant that auto-bidding strategies would take a long time to optimise, and overlaying audience modifiers risked making the reach too narrow.

Instead, Yasmeen went for good old-fashioned manual keyword bidding and kept a tight control over the keyword list, refining regularly to grow and optimise the account. Almost immediately, the campaign started paying dividends, delivering high quality leads that converted to sales for Youmanage.

“If this was your own business, you would spend everything you could on Microsoft Advertising until you had maximised every single opportunity, and then move on to Google to expand your reach,” offered Yasmeen. At the end of the trial period, Microsoft Advertising had proven its worth, and in January 2020 Youmanage tripled its monthly spend on pay per click advertising.

Such was the success of the campaign, that a lead generated from an ad on Bing led to a record-breaking revenue deal for the company. Today, 80% of new business leads for Youmange come from Microsoft Advertising, the company’s website saw 23% year-on-year growth in visitors, but an astonishing 130% growth in conversions.

“We are so delighted with the results we have seen from Microsoft Advertising, and are really grateful for the support and partnership of Add People. They really took the time to understand our business and we have benefited tremendously as a result,” said Nick Pye, CEO of Youmanage.

The audience was the perfect fit for the client, and it was easier and more profitable to advertise to.

— Yasmeen Mohammed, PPC Team Manager, Add People

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