CEO Memo - February 2023
Wow, given February is a short month, there has been a massive amount happening!
Perhaps the biggest and most important feedback we have received from clients has been the relative uplift in trading and overall economic activity in the first quarter of the year, compared to the final quarter of 2022. With that said, our Technical Director, Raja Sharma has seen a worrying decrease in ROAS and overall leads through all ad platforms over the past 4 months - something we will focus on for you in March.
Google updated the 2023 Premier Partner badges this month and Web Wonks was again awarded this status. We’re excited to be recognised as a Premier Google Partner in 2023 and we are immensely proud to be amongst the top 3% of partners in NZ. Not only does this distinguish us as a Google Ads expert, but also our ability to grow/retain existing clients and acquire new clients.
We have a new staff member joining us in our Traffic Team (middle management) - Abigail is the new Insights Traffic Controller and will work with Stephy and the front line project managers to deliver seamless and timely support for all our clients.
Finally, we are continuing our march toward integrating AI into our product offering, with the API connection now working and the process of embedding relevant data into our framework beginning to take shape.
March is going to be a massive month, with our Operations Director - Philippines, flying over with her husband for a few weeks to meet the NZ team in person and enjoy some kiwi hospitality (we are hoping for some sun!).
Stay well and sing out if you need anything.
Jeff
Featured Walkthrough | February | Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Overview
Market Insights
Last year we started the process of aggregating client data into anonymised reports that allowed us to provide insights into a slice of the market’s ad spend, and subsequent number of conversions and revenue. This was well received, but we want to keep working on how we better deliver insights to our clients.
One way of doing this is to integrate Google Analytics and Google Cloud to better handle larger queries and insights. To do this, we will need to make additions to your Google Tag Manager account to send data from GA4 to Google Cloud - this process will begin in July.
Overall Metrics:
NB: Due to limitations imposed by Google, the data below is only a sample of 20% of total datasets.
The details below highlight the Google Ads Performance from 1st January 2023 to 27th February 2023.
In comparison to the previous year for the same period, the cost has increased by 25.2%, which is directly correlated with a 19.6% increase in the average Cost per Click.
Overall conversion value (Online Revenue from Ads) has decreased by 17% and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) was $7.37. This is still healthy but a decrease compared to the 2022 figure of $11.12 for the same date range.
Store visits have dropped by 20.5% Year on Year (YOY) and the Cost per Impression for the ads also increased by 44.3%.
Return On Ad Spend Metrics
The graph chart below highlights the ROAS trend over the past year.
We noticed a drop in overall ad cost in February 2023 in comparison to the previous months and the ROAS is low in comparison to the February 2022 figure.
With no major marketing days or special offers, and effects from poor summer weather, February 2023 has been the worst month for ROAS in the past 13 months.