Our client (referred to as ‘Company X’) has given SEO Toolbox exclusive permission to publish these figures on the safeguard that their identity and website remain anonymous in the report, we ask you to respect their wishes and not contact us in regards to revealing their identity.
This case study was conducted by SEO Toolbox for Company X by request of their newly appointed financial director who requested a ‘who, what, where, when and why’ report on their internet marketing. New to the position, the financial director wanted to review the previous financial year and allocate funds for the rest of the forthcoming year.
Prior to our involvement; Company X was ONLY running a PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign on the Google network.
In April 2008 SEO Toolbox was appointed by Company X to carry out SEO services on a 12 month contract and also a 1 month PPC optimisation service.
Our brief was to show the benefits of our PPC optimisation service and SEO campaign.
Apr-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
35 |
£2,052.52 |
£58.64 |
SEO |
4 |
£899.00 |
£224.75 |
May-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
47 |
£2,267.79 |
£48.25 |
SEO |
12 |
£899.00 |
£74.92 |
Jun-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
38 |
£1,947.99 |
£51.26 |
SEO |
21 |
£899.00 |
£42.81 |
Jul-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
42 |
£2,013.93 |
£47.95 |
SEO |
38 |
£899.00 |
£23.66 |
Aug-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
26 |
£1,998.20 |
£76.85 |
SEO |
53 |
£899.00 |
£16.96 |
Sep-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
38 |
£1,969.03 |
£51.82 |
SEO |
66 |
£899.00 |
£13.62 |
Oct-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
36 |
£1,743.89 |
£48.44 |
SEO |
48 |
£899.00 |
£18.73 |
Nov-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
45 |
£1,838.20 |
£40.85 |
SEO |
54 |
£899.00 |
£16.65 |
Dec-08 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
31 |
£1,815.17 |
£58.55 |
SEO |
78 |
£899.00 |
£11.53 |
Jan-09 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
32 |
£1,747.76 |
£54.62 |
SEO |
118 |
£899.00 |
£7.62 |
Feb-09 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
29 |
£1,638.46 |
£56.50 |
SEO |
156 |
£899.00 |
£5.76 |
Mar-09 |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
30 |
£1,684.36 |
£56.15 |
SEO |
161 |
£899.00 |
£5.58 |
12 Month Overview |
Sales |
Cost |
Cost Per Sale |
AdWords |
429 |
£22,717.30 |
£52.95 |
SEO |
809 |
£10,788.00 |
£13.33 |
Prior to SEO Toolbox’s involvement; the previous 12 months average cost per sale or CPA (cost per action) was £74.48
On taking over the account: in month 1 the average cost per sale was immediately reduced to £58.64 then, in month 2 a further reduction (after a full month of optimisation) to £48.25
The 12 month average was reduced to £52.95, an overall reduction of £21.53 per sale.
(Calculation note: £74.48 – 52.95 = £21.52)
Company X achieved 429 sales from their PPC campaign within the 12 month period from SEO Toolbox’s optimisation, combining in a total saving of £9236.37
(Calculation note: 429 x £21.52 = £9236.37)
Key months:
Month 1 (April 2008) - SEO work starts out; month 1 will always be the leanest month, with the peak average cost per sale at £224.75 due to the lead time in SEO results.
Month 2 (May 2008) – A dramatic decrease in the average CPA; down to £74.92, the SEO work completed in month 1 is starting to impact.
Month 3 (June 2008) – A significant month; the average cost per sale is down to £42.81, below the average cost per sale of the PPC campaign (£52.95).
Month 4 (July 2008) TO Month 11 (February 2009) – The average cost per sale reduces over each month due to the total amount of sales rising to unprecedented levels.
Month 12 (March 2009) – Record month; sales from the SEO campaign reaches 161, the highest achieved over the 12 month period.
Overall: 12 month figures for the SEO campaign: 809 sales at an average cost per sale of £13.33
From the raw data we can see that the PPC campaign has immediate results, this coupled with a steady cost over the 12 month period and a stable sales stream makes the PPC a good base for the company.
The SEO campaign’s cost per sale is initially high due to the delay in works done against the results seen in search engines. After 3 months the returns have massively turned around and the SEO campaign is paying dividends.
The 12 month cost of PPC campaign was £22,717.30. SEO was under half the cost at £10,788 and generated double the amount of sales.
The average cost per sale for the SEO campaign over the 12 months was £13.33 nearly 4 times less than that of the PPC campaign (£52.95).
Over the next 12 months we expect a further reduction in the SEO campaigns cost per sale tied in with an increase in sales.
We expect the PPC campaign to reduce in cost (and sales) due to the SEO performance. However, we still recommend that you run a PPC campaign on a small scale.
Q. What happens if I stop my SEO campaign?
A. If you stop your SEO campaign you will maintain a lot of the good results you are currently experiencing, however, over time these results will slip and eventually you will see a decrease in sales. We offer a top-up package to maintain your rankings and will continue to work on new keywords to increase your sales volumes.
Q. Why can’t I invest my entire budget into the PPC campaign?
A. There is a finite amount of sales you can achieve from PPC, as the market share is only 33% of all internet sales (see below). Also note that the cost per sale is already 4 times greater that the SEO campaign.
