In a properly automated and educated world, then, machines may prove to be the true humanizing influence. It may be that machines will do the work that makes life possible and that human beings will do all the other things that make life pleasant and worthwhile
Isaac Asimov, Robot Visions
What’s PPC automation?
If you work in a fast-paced agency, you know the workload can be daunting sometimes. Too many accounts, too many demands, all to be done ASAP. It’s just the way it is. Soon enough, you realize your team needs new hires to deliver all the work properly. Or maybe you’ll need to clone yourself. Since the latter is almost as impossible as the former, you have a third way out: automate your account management.
PPC automation is the use of script automation to make adjustments that would otherwise be made manually. New lead? Send the client an SMS. Out of budget? Pause the campaigns. 404 pages? Alert your webmaster. See? The daily routine of a PPC manager involves many different tasks, so automation can be your best friend.
Can PPC Automation Boost PPC Performance?
I’m asked often about the impact of automation on campaign performance. My answer is: it depends. If you know how to use automation to your benefit, it can make wonders. Try to get yourself out of repetitive tasks and shift your efforts to more creative tasks, such as creating new ads or refining your strategy.
Main advantages of PPC automation
Save time
Automating tasks can save huge amounts of time since the professional behind the computer is trading leg work with brain work. How’s that?—you ask me. Imagine this: you need to reach a certain CPA (cost per acquisition), within a certain budget in a limited timeframe, running a landing page A/B test and an ad test, when you have traffic volumes and CPC oscillating all the time. Do you think it’s too much? I say it’s just an everyday scenario.
Here we have more than 6 variables to consider at the same time, and each one of them affects the other. On top of that, imagine this scenario in multiple campaigns for each one of your 10 clients. 24h a day. It’s just impossible to deal with all that all the time. Unless you’re a machine. And this is the point of automation.
Save money
Money will always be at the center of your client’s worries, especially if you manage their ad accounts. And let’s be honest: managing someone else’s money can be a bit scary. Many factors can impact the amount of money spent to acquire a lead, so you don’t have much room to take chances.
What to automate in your PPC campaigns?
As I mentioned, automation will be your best friend once it absorbs most, if not all of your repetitive daily tasks. But automating just a few of your activities will already make a critical difference to your performance, freeing up time for more strategic work. Let go through three crucial points to automate in your PPC campaigns:
- Automate bids and budget
- Automating alerts
- Automate reports
Automate bids and budgets
Bid automation used to be the scare of PPC managers up until 2016 when Google started pushing advertisers to make use of them. Their progress was swift, and Google proved that, for most campaigns, automating bids can lead to superior performance. The same goes for budget management: PPC platforms can optimize the daily spend based on past data and real-time performance.
Automate alerts
Set up alerts when something specific happens to your account. When your cost per acquisition goes beyond your threshold, for example, alerts enable you to act fast. Or when your cost per acquisition is significantly lower than expected, you’re alerted so you can pour more money to keep the steam.
Automate reports
Let’s face it: most clients want regular reports so they don’t need to talk to you to grasp all their performance details every single time. For this kind of situation, you can automate simple campaign reporting. However, I’d still advise you to do a more in-depth report at least once a month.
I know automation can be a little intimidating at first. That happened to us, PPC managers, back when automated bids became a thing. Now, after just a few years, we realize automation unleashed priceless benefits, and they keep coming. I recommend you unlock that transformation in your business, too.
Some links to better understand automation in PPC
Microsoft Advertising automated rules and bids
Need help automating your account? Get in touch, we can make it work!
