BookIt moves new users through the funnel with insights-driven creative

BookIt is a brand that knows how to have fun. The online travel company specializes in all-inclusive vacations to the Caribbean and Mexico. And what better way to maximize fun than meeting new people? This is exactly what BookIt had in mind when they set their sights on growing the business by reaching new customers who hadn’t booked travel on the site before.

By starting at the very top of the funnel and investing in non-branded search, BookIt was able to reach new users at a consistent cost per click (CPC). But beyond efficient advertising campaigns, BookIt also wanted to build loyalty among these new customers in order to fuel growth long-term.

To optimize spend for maximum value while also driving more direct, organic, and branded search traffic, BookIt turned to DELVE, a marketing agency that specializes in using digital analytics, data science, and machine learning to enhance clients’ campaigns. Together, BookIt and DELVE set out to design a program that would build brand equity and optimize throughout the entire funnel, with net-new traffic at the top and a cost-conscious return on investment (ROI) at the bottom.

DELVE identified proxy goals based on site metrics, such as bounce rate and time on site, which would allow the team to optimize in real-time. By understanding how these proxy metrics impacted end goals, DELVE was able to fine-tune ROI and performance throughout the entire funnel.

To better understand its audience, the team used Google Analytics 360 to gain insights about visitors coming to their website. Because Analytics 360 is a fully integrated part of Google Marketing Platform, the team could use reporting from Google Marketing Platform to understand historical campaign performance. It also helped them uncover how seasonality influenced conversions for different types of travelers.

Using these new insights as building blocks, DELVE established distinct personas to test, developing a strategy to design relevant messaging for each persona. Next, DELVE created different audience segments in Analytics 360 for each persona, curating specialized content featuring different vacation destinations, deals, and hotels. They made these custom segments available for use in Google Display & Video 360, also an integrated part of Google Marketing Platform.

DELVE knew that matching the right people with the right messages wasn’t enough — BookIt still needed strong, attention-grabbing creative. So the agency curated beautiful, high-resolution photography for various travel destinations based on the personas they had developed, tying the visual creative to the written messaging to ensure relevance. BookIt could then stand out even more with each audience segment.

Together, deeper insights, more relevant messaging, and sharper creative helped lead new prospects to the top of the funnel. By using Analytics 360 audiences to activate marketing within Google Marketing Platform, DELVE designed a program that brought 30% net-new traffic to the BookIt site and led to a 20% increase in revenue.

“This is not magic,” says Greg Sobiech, founder and managing partner at DELVE. “If we craft good creative that is contextually relevant and well-designed, it will get the right users’ attention, drive quality traffic and boost engagement.”