How to increase the number of leads by 1600%and reduce the application cost from $268 to $19 in 4 months

The BDC Consulting team often writes about their SEO, SERM, and market research cases. But also, our specialists have extensive experience in solving problems of increasing conversions and reducing CPL (cost per lead) and CPA (cost per action) for clients in the cryptosphere. In this case, we will tell you how to do so in 4 months. We have significantly improved the performance of a project with a product cost of €4-45,000 and will describe in detail the steps that led to a dramatic increase in key parameters.

Our client is a software developer. The company makes software for managing gaming platforms. The cost of products is €4-45,000. The average bill is:

• Aggregator of ready-to-use games - €10,000, depending on the number of slots.
• Fully equipped platform - €10,000.
• Ready-to-use platform with support for cryptocurrency payments - €45,000.

Task

It was required to receive applications for connecting services for the sales department. The geographical area of promotion is the whole world, but the emphasis had to be placed on Southeast Asia, several countries of the second and third world.

Current restrictions

On Facebook, crypto and gambling topics are not allowed to be shown.

Preparatory stage

The BDC Consulting team studied the target audience to develop a promotion strategy.

Segmenting

We divided people interested in the company's products into segments:

• "Newbies" are individuals who just sold a successful business and are considering investing in a new profitable business. They heard that earning a lot in the gaming field is possible. Or they have savings and want to invest them profitably. They don't know how online gambling works, but they are looking for a partner to share the costs and teach them how to run the business.
• "Dinosaurs" are successful in the land-based gambling business, but afraid of missing out on the online segment of the industry. They have the means and experience to organize a land project. The dinosaur believes that creating a new gambling business on the Internet is possible. They have no understanding of how the online sphere works. They have no experience and team for running an internet business.
• "Experts" already manage a gaming or sportsbook project, but want to change the provider or open a new brand on a different platform. They seek to diversify the source of income so as not to depend on one partner. Experts are looking for a professional and reliable service that does not bring difficulties and positively affects the image. They want to be sure that it will be possible to solve them quickly by making one call to their partner in case of mistakes or problems.

Determination of socio-demographic characteristics

Based on the results of the analysis, a portrait of a user interested in the company's products was compiled:

• Male 25-40 years old.
• The field of activity is the organization's top management (owner or co-founder, vice president, or director of products with gambling interests).
• The user receives information at thematic conferences, on social networks.

Research of user desires for each of the company's products

We found out what potential customers of gaming software and buyers of ready-to-use solutions for gaming and betting platforms want.

Games aggregator

• Expand the list of providers through which you can attract new players (B2C) or those who can offer slots to their customers (B2B).
• Save money - it's cheaper to install an aggregator than to make integrations directly with a game provider.
• Change the existing aggregator (in case the quality of the service is not satisfactory).
• Get many providers at once through one integration.
• Avoid the complexities of regulatory compliance (KYC, Compliance) that arise when concluding direct contracts.

Gaming platform with cryptocurrency payments

• Make money on the growth of digital currency.
• Do a simple business that does not require special permission (you can work with a license, then you need to verify players).
• Create your own cryptocurrency and promote it through a platform with games.
• Understand how to attract users who will play bitcoin and other digital coins.

Betting platform 

• Launch a project to scale the existing business (game project) and get an additional source of profit.
• Launch a site on the company's platform in order to diversify the offer to the players of an active project running on different software.
• Scale a business is a site that works on the company's platform. There is confidence in the quality of services, the reliability of a partner, and a desire to develop a new direction.
• Change the operator due to the unsatisfactory quality of services of the current partner. There is an idea of ​​the company as a reliable service provider.

At this stage, it turned out that the current cost of switching to a lead form is about $110, and at the current price, there was only one buyer.

Solution

To receive applications, the BDC Consulting team has developed a strategy based on SMM (Social Media Management):

• New geographical areas with potential clients have been reached, increasing the number of countries where new leads will come from.
• Videos were used in order to demonstrate the ease of use, growing traffic, and user revenue. This allowed the company to increase the ad's click-through rate and reduce the cost per lead.
• A chain of posts that described and covered a specific user need was created.
• Gif-animation was used instead of static images (both for cold audiences and retargeting).
• A testing phase of the look-alike audience (those who clicked the button) and of the lead e-mail database was performed.
• A unique selling proposition to the retarget was added, attracting with a bonus those who were on the site but did not switch to the lead form.

Step 1: Confirmation of Hypotheses to Get First Bids

We made sure that it is possible to attract interested users through social networks, despite the specifics of the product. For testing, the widest possible audience was used (i.e. worldwide), which made it possible to receive traffic cheaper than with a segmented launch. As a result, we received our first training in social media algorithms.

We also set up ad targeting using groups of countries according to the division of living standards:

• Tier-1 - Western Europe, USA, Canada, and others.
• Tier-2 - Eastern Europe and Latin America.
• Tier-3 - Southeast Asia and Africa.

Step 2: Analyze The First Results

We identified the most converting geographical areas, separated them into a different campaign, and segmented and scaled the budget. At the same time, they began to work out the areas which had the worst response, using different approaches and testing the values ​​on the audience.

Also, we conducted tests on socio-demographic characteristics and look-alike applications in those countries that were not converted. We compared the behavior of look-alike users and audiences by categories of interests. Checking the conversion from application to lead showed that the quality of traffic (time on the site, bounce rate, and other characteristics) is approximately the same. However, the look-alike audience had a higher response rate to sponsored posts.

Step 3: Testing Facebook's Built-In Lead Generator

The method did not work on a cold audience because of the large amount of "junk traffic". We found a working lead generation scheme with remarketing campaigns using Facebook Lead Forms. Optimizing retargeting forms for reach did not have a high response rate because the customer disagreed with the USP for the products.

Later, the "evergreen campaigns" format was launched - showing the main advantages of the products one after another, providing different values ​​for the user, and pushing him to take the targeted action. Thus, brand retention is improved.

FYI: Throughout the entire period of ad impressions, there was a struggle with moderation. Despite the fact that all the requirements were met in advertisements (texts, pictures, gifs, videos) and there were no rejection triggers, there were refusals due to the URL or to the content of landing pages. Therefore, we launched landing pages with the same information but without "dangerous" content.

Step 4: Testing The Look-Alike Audience For Leads And Scaling Paths

Initially, we had 1-3% similar users. We have expanded their number to 4-5%, and then to 6-7%. Traffic quality and CPL (cost per lead) did not decrease.

Results of the advertising campaign for 4 months

We received applications on the stream from any geographical areas - both tier-1 and tier-3, including countries with a small population. The countries with the best conversion were the following: Nigeria, India, Croatia, Tunisia, Cyprus, England, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, Netherlands. Throughout the entire work, the cost of a lead has been decreasing.

At the start, we attracted leads at a price of $ 268 and managed to get only 13%. However, in the last month, the CPL was $19, and the number of completed lead forms rose to 209.