If you want to increase conversions in your priority international markets, investing in global PPC is a natural choice. Find out what you need to know to get it right – and why paid search success doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
Search is one of the top channels B2B and B2C buyers alike discover – and purchase from – new brands. Converting them into customers through paid search ads requires a firm handle on global PPC best practices and local market trends.
Here’s what you need to consider in building out optimized international PPC campaigns. And, crucially, the activity that needs to happen in support of paid search to make it successful.
KNOW YOUR MARKETS
Before doing anything else, you need to know where your audience is searching. For much of the world, sticking with Google is just fine. For some markets, like South Korea and China, you’ll need to market on regional search engines to get any traction. This can have a major impact on your strategy. For Baidu in China, for example, the hoops you’ll need to jump through to get set up on the platform and actually run ads means that it may not be worth the effort unless you’re ready to invest substantial time, labor, and budget into it. Depending on your business, though, this may be well worth the effort to gain access to such a large audience with potentially less competition.
LOCAL KEYWORD RESEARCH
Just like with domestic campaigns, keyword research is the foundation of a successful international paid search campaign. One of the biggest mistakes even well-established brands make in global PPC is simply translating their domestic keywords. Why? Because keyword translation doesn’t take into account local search volume or user intent. You’ll likely miss out on the most valuable keywords to your business – and waste your budget in the process.
International keyword research is the best way to identify the most relevant keywords for your campaign. This should be done in-language, by in-country paid search experts, on the platform(s) your audience uses – whether it’s Google, Baidu, Naver, or another search engine. For some brands, performing keyword research on marketplaces like Amazon could be essential to hitting growth targets.
LOCALLY INFORMED AD COPY
As with keywords, straight translation of your domestic ad copy won’t drive conversions. From a purely technical perspective, character length restrictions can be limiting on their own. “Buy now,” for example, is seven characters in English, but it’s eighteen in French (“achetez maintenant”).
You’ll need to work around those space limitations. The best way to do so – and to meet the specific needs of your in-country audience – is to create original ad copy that reflects the top local keywords and local market nuance. Remember, the goal isn’t for them to just understand your ad. You want them to take the next step – whether it’s a purchase or a booked sales call. The more competitive your industry, the more important it will be that your ad copy strikes just the right note.
LOCALIZED LANDING PAGES
As an English speaker, imagine clicking on an ad and ending up on a French landing page. You wouldn’t spend long on the site – especially if you had other options readily available. You wouldn’t be alone, either. 65% of international consumers are more likely to engage with content in their own language.
A non-localized experience won’t just turn off potential users. Mismatched keywords, ad copy, and landing pages will drive your keyword quality scores down, resulting in higher costs and reduced campaign efficiency.
For maximum success in your global PPC campaigns, you should localize your landing page for each market. This is important even when you’re targeting multiple markets that speak the same language. For English-speaking markets, preferences often vary from country to country. Sending Canadian French speakers to a landing page for French (France) speakers will signal to them that you don’t value their unique language and cultural expectations.
Make sure that your landing pages, ad copy, and keywords are in the same language. A disjointed user experience will impact global PPC performance, and can even harm your brand as potential customers jump ship for better-localized competitors. Consider the full user journey, and localize based on what local market users need. Prioritize relevance and quality – not simply volume. Focus your efforts where it counts most. For example, making the effort to localize user reviews, demo videos, or country-specific case studies or client examples can pay dividends at the moment of conversion.
eCommerce landing page considerations
If your PPC campaign is geared toward driving eCommerce sales, keep in mind that 92% of global consumers prefer sites with pricing in their local currency. US retailers, beware: 33% will abandon a purchase if the only price available is in US dollars.
For eCommerce brands, this arguably makes currency the only factor more important than language. For your global PPC campaign – and your international website in general – you need to localize your prices. Offer the most relevant payment options for each market to maximize sales. Credit card payment is not necessarily the most popular method in all countries, with many expecting cash payment options.
THE POST-CONVERSION EXPERIENCE
Paid search can help to get people to your site and convert – but what happens after? Whether it’s a quick product purchase or a conversation with a sales person, you’ll need to make sure that the next steps meet the local user’s needs, both from a language and logistical standpoint.
Sending them a product? Make the process as painless as possible for them – and ensure there’s post-sales support available for them in their language. Localizing FAQs for the market is a natural place to start. For some countries, you’ll want a living, breathing, local language-speaking person ready to field inquiries. Fumbling the followthrough after conversion can be detrimental to repeat sales and your brand reputation in that market.
Sending them to sales? Make sure they can speak to a salesperson on their own timeline and in their native language. This is another area where B2B companies especially sabotage their efforts. You can’t generate ROI on global PPC if the person can’t take that essential step of purchasing. Make sure you have a sales rep who can follow up with the lead quickly, and in the user’s language. (And time zone.) A smooth marketing-to-sales handoff is essential. Once the deal has been won, localized customer support will be critical to retaining that customer and driving customer lifetime value.
As you plan your global PPC strategy, consider the full customer journey – and be realistic about where you can and can’t meet the experience local users need. Your budget will be better spent targeting markets where users can expect a strong experience than targeting additional markets where the level of effort to convert visitors is greater than your ability to deliver.
GLOBAL PPC CAN’T SUCCEED ALONE
A hard truth for many marketers (especially those that just want MQLs) – is that paid search doesn’t perform in a vacuum.
The journey to conversion starts well before your potential customer’s ready-to-convert-now search query. By that time, they’ve likely seen relevant content from brands (local and global) who want their business – and have determined exactly what they’re looking for.
Building brand awareness – and nurturing your audience through consideration – is critical to creating local trust in your brand. These activities set the stage for conversion. This is especially important when the price point is high, or local competition is fierce. Without making the effort to build trust ahead of time, you are likely sabotaging your PPC campaigns before they start.
So evaluate global PPC as a part of your in-country paid media mix – not the only part. Approach each market on its own merits, understanding the level of brand awareness, segment maturity/saturation, local audience needs, and level of effort. Then decide which channels – paid and organic, search and social and beyond – you need to use to meet your market-specific growth goals.
FINAL THOUGHT
International PPC can be a great way to convert buyers in your priority markets – potentially for relatively low upfront costs. And you’ll get direct access to valuable insight about what makes your international audiences tick. It doesn’t pay to cut corners. Treat each market with the same care – not as simply an extension of your English campaigns (even if you’re targeting different markets in English). Proper localization across the user journey, combined with keyword research and a healthy mix of tactics, will help you achieve global PPC success.
Global PPC campaigns underperforming? Trying to uncover the best paid channels to accelerate growth in a key market? We’re here to help – get in touch now.
