The Client
Visit Ruapehu is dedicated to promoting the unique experiences and natural beauty of the Ruapehu District. With a focus on highlighting the region's diverse year-round offerings, Visit Ruapehu connects visitors with the best of what the area has to offer.
They are committed to showcasing the area's stunning landscapes and outdoor adventures, as well as its rich cultural heritage. Through engaging content, strategic partnerships and a focus on sustainability, they inspire both domestic and international visitors to discover the natural wonders of their region.
The Challenge
Visit Ruapehu aimed to optimise the effectiveness of their Google Ads campaigns, striving for the right balance between targeted reach and budget efficiency. The region's diverse offerings made it challenging to focus on a single message. The competitive nature of digital advertising, particularly in the tourism sector, meant that Visit Ruapehu had to contend with higher costs for keywords and limited visibility in a crowded market.
The goal was to increase exposure for operator listings, attract the right audience for these activities, and guide visitors through the pipeline to connect with the tourism operators featured on their website.
The Solution
- In January 2024, their Google Ads campaign structure was performing efficiently. However, to achieve even better results and reach a broader target audience, it was essential to explore additional opportunities for testing.
- During the summer months, we restructured their campaigns to focus on the most popular hikes and prioritise assets that delivered the best results. The target keywords, ad copy and landing pages were carefully analysed and optimised to achieve higher click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates.
- We expanded the targeting of Visit Ruapehu’s mountain biking campaign to reach a broader audience by including popular MTB trails.
- In autumn and winter, our focus shifted to developing new campaigns centered around winter activities and events. During this period, we prioritised ongoing optimisations to ensure existing and new campaigns achieved the best possible CTR and conversion rates.
Impressive Results
As a result of the changes we implemented, we observed substantial improvements in all metrics from January 1 to September 30, compared to the previous period. This analysis encompasses both high and low seasons ensuring that the results are objective and not swayed by seasonal trends.
It's important to note that there was a budget increase during the winter of 2024 to support campaigns in the low season. Below is a comparison of the first 9 months of 2024 with the 9 months of 2023.
- Conversions increased by 60%, with a remarkable 110% increase in the MTB campaign.
- The cost per conversion decreased by 15% across all campaigns.
- Cost-per-click went down by 13% and CTR improved by 50%.
- There was a budget increase of 30%.
These enhanced metrics - higher CTR, lower CPC and improved conversion rates - enabled us to achieve a 60% increase in conversions while only raising the budget by 30%.
