Google Ads During Covid-19 Case Study
Goal: Optimize for lead generation at the lowest cost per lead while reducing ad spend during a pandemic.
Overview: We walk through managing campaigns during global shifts in behavior like the Covid-19 pandemic. While many businesses paused marketing, we urged our client to stay open and keep offering goods online — advice they trusted.
Background
The client has worked with us since early 2018; we manage advertising for their physical and digital locations. The business was deemed essential and allowed to operate during closures, so we adjusted budgets and maintained ad spend to keep it running.
The pandemic forced hard decisions — could businesses continue, even at a reduced rate? Many took their first steps online during this time, and it was exciting to be at the forefront of that change.
Situation
More people stayed home by choice or by order. Non-essential businesses with no digital presence closed, while those with essential goods and services — or an online channel — kept functioning, even at a reduced pace.
The client trusted our predictions but wanted to lower ad spend, which was fine; we didn't need to run at the prior level. We made budget adjustments and let the campaign run to gather data.
Observations
As states mandated staying home, impressions grew across the board. Meanwhile, competitors reduced or paused spending, making the ad auction far less competitive — so cost per click fell, and with it cost per conversion. Our reduced budget went much further, lifting total conversions.
Stimulus
The stimulus program put money in the hands of individuals to soften the economic slowdown and encourage spending. This gave our audience spending money — nudging people who'd been on the fence toward a purchase.
The Results
Put the pieces together: more people at home (higher search volume), advertisers pulling back (less competition), and stimulus money (more ready buyers). More searches, less competition, and more potential customers — yes, please! For businesses that could transact safely or online, this became a fantastic opportunity.
Conclusion
In time this normalized as competitors returned and customers went back to their routines — and we can see that in the data. The point: a crisis doesn't mean stopping everything. For essential businesses, keeping goods and services flowing is critical, and it establishes you as dependable.
If you want a marketing firm that reads the digital-advertising landscape and makes the right calls during uncertainty, give Mass Division a call.
