Are you looking to improve your conversion rate? We promise you that having the right performance marketing software can make all the difference. Think of it as your tool box to help them finish the job more efficiently. Having the right performance marketing software helps you build the outcomes you want. If you haven’t carefully considered the tools that you’re using for your efforts, you may be missing out!
We hope that with the right information about performance marketing software (and performance marketing itself!), you’ll be able to select the best tools for the job.
What is Performance Marketing?
Performance marketing refers to conversion-focused efforts that provide quick and measurable results. So, let’s examine this in the context of the marketing funnel. If the user is at the top of the funnel, you want them to move to the middle to become a lead. Performance marketing software helps track and optimize campaigns in real time, ensuring you allocate the budget efficiently to maximize conversions. It is usually associated with metrics like:
- Cost per Click (CPC);
- Cost per Acquisition (CPA);
- Cost per Lead (CPL);
- Conversion Rate;
- Return on Investment (ROI).
These metrics can all be tracked using performance marketing software. Armed with this information, you’ll be able to determine whether your campaign is doing well. While what you’ll largely see are charts and numbers, they are all essential in helping you make information-based decisions.
What is Performance Marketing Software?
Designed to help you achieve great conversion rates and returns on investment, performance marketing software can monitor various aspects of advertising, including:
- Managing the campaign;
- Providing real-time analytics and reporting;
- Targeting and segmenting the audience.
As most performance marketing software options have data integration capabilities, all the tasks you automate will benefit from access to the latest information.
What Are the Key Components of Performance Marketing Solutions?
As we have mentioned, performance marketing solutions are intended to help you track, manage and optimize your campaign to maximize returns. Data integrations give your performance marketing software a basis by which it will perform its functions. The data feed is used to generate real-time analytics and reporting, allowing you to target and segment your audience to improve engagement. With the campaign management and automation features present in many performance marketing software packages, you can trigger actions to keep your campaign running smoothly. Let’s take a look at these components more closely.
Campaign Management and Automation
Performance marketing automation allows you to streamline processes, meaning you don’t have to monitor every detail to run your campaign. Performance marketing software can take care of repetitive tasks. With automation, you can shift bids, targeting and budgets based on real-time data. This means that your campaign will always be optimized based on the latest information, allowing you to maximize your return on investment. Performance marketing software also maintains consistency in implementing the campaign, since you can set triggers for specific actions.
Real-Time Analytics and Reporting
Since performance marketing software supports real-time analytics and reporting, you always know how your campaign is doing. In addition, you will:
- Receive detailed insights about relevant metrics, such as clicks and conversions;
- Be able to customize the dashboard to view the most relevant data;
- Be well-informed and act based on the latest developments.
With performance marketing software, you don’t need to organize and analyze facts individually. The numbers and relevant insights are provided to you, and all you need to do is make decisions based on them.
Audience Targeting and Segmentation
The ability to target the right audience and segment it based on differentiating characteristics is key to performance marketing. Therefore, it only makes sense that performance marketing software can perform these functions. As marketers, we believe it’s important for you to at least understand how targeting and segmentation are done.
Since you have access to real-time data, it’s best to let performance marketing software handle the number-crunching. Once the relevant audiences and sub-audiences have been identified, you can craft customized messages to improve conversions. You can also use this performance marketing software capability to create triggers that will further optimize your campaign.
Integration with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Data Management Systems (DMS)
CRM and DMS integrations are crucial because they are your source of information on how effective your efforts are. When you have these as part of your performance marketing software package, you’ll be able to:
- Enjoy data consistency across all platforms where you advertise;
- Use the campaign data to further refine your strategies;
- Gain a unified view of all your efforts.
Information is one of the most valuable resources when running campaigns. While the other three elements we discussed keep the metaphorical machine running, these systems are what powers it!
Overview of Essential Performance Marketing Tools
So far, we’ve discussed performance marketing platforms in a general sense. In fact, there are many different performance marketing software packages on the market. Choosing the right combination of tools allows you to optimize your workflow, increase efficiency and ultimately drive better results. So, what kind of performance marketing software services do you have to choose from? We’ll cover the general functions of each below.
Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) for Ad Buying
Demand-side platforms are used to purchase ads. This performance marketing software takes care of buying the ad and does so almost instantly and is the reason why you don’t have to connect and negotiate with individual publishers. DSPs perform the following tasks:
- Real-time bidding automates the bidding process across different ad exchanges;
- Audience targeting is performed through the user interface;
- Budget management helps you decide how to spend your ad money based on the data.
If your bid wins, your ad will be displayed in real time.
Attribution and Conversion Tracking Tools
If you want to identify which platforms or other assets are doing well, then you need performance marketing tracking software. This will help you follow the customer’s journey across the different touchpoints that you created. Therefore, by incorporating this type of performance marketing software, you’ll always be able to properly attribute the success or failure of your campaign to specific assets. Armed with this information, you’ll be able to move forward and make tweaks so that you can allocate your ad budget more efficiently.
A/B Testing and Optimization Platforms
Split testing provides important data, and with the right performance marketing software, you don’t need to perform manual calculations. Based on real-time data on the ads and creatives (and the various combinations) that you’re using, you’ll be able to see which are excelling. Your performance marketing software can optimize your efforts based on the results you receive from this testing. It will drop the non-performing versions so that more of your target audience will see the version that resonates best.
Data Visualization and Dashboard Tools
Some performance marketing software packages can turn raw data into actionable insights. This provides you with access to the following:
- Key metrics for your campaign;
- Visualizations that let you interpret the data more easily;
- Identified trends.
You can think of this type of performance marketing software as an employee whose sole job is to create reports and process data. With this task already taken care of, you’ll be able to make informed decisions, allowing you to implement changes immediately that will yield better returns on your spending.
How to Choose the Right Digital Performance Marketing Platform
Today, an overwhelming majority of advertisers use some sort of platform or tool to help them with native advertising. And with so many options to choose from, how do you choose the most suitable performance marketing software package for you? There may be specific considerations based on your situation, but you should always take into account your marketing goals, advertising budget and unique requirements. We hope that this helps you select performance marketing software that will best help you achieve your marketing goals.
Consider Your Marketing Goals
With performance marketing, the ultimate goal is conversion and/or getting money out of your ad investments. However, did you know that when using performance marketing software for B2B markets, you should also consider the lead nurturing aspect? This is because, with businesses as your potential clients, you need to consider the longer sales cycles and the multi-layer decision-making process. We like to emphasize that the goals that you want to achieve using performance marketing software may not be as cut and dry as you think. So, take the time to write down your goals. This way, you can evaluate whether the performance marketing software you chose can help you with them.
Look into the Ease of Use
While a lot of platforms these days are user-friendly, they don’t necessarily cater to beginners. However, no matter the technical expertise of the intended user, a performance marketing software package should still exhibit the following ease-of-use characteristics:
- Clearly displayed functions and features;
- Logical arrangement of the interface;
- Customizable dashboard so you can see the most relevant metrics right away.
Of course, the performance marketing software should also deliver what it promises. But these characteristics remove any friction from the campaign-creation process.
Compare Supported Functions with Your Needs
Earlier, we said you must understand your goals to identify the right performance marketing software. Your goals determine your requirements. For example, if you want to segment your audience, then that function must be supported. However, it’s not the only thing you should be looking for. Evaluate the quality of the data that the performance marketing software produces. Let’s return to the segmentation example. How well does tool A do compared to tool B? If a demo is available, we recommend trying before you invest.
Work Within Your Existing Budget
How much are you willing to drop for the right performance marketing software? It’s not as simple as just setting a number. To evaluate your options based on this criterion, we recommend considering the following:
- Whether it’s a subscription or a one-time purchase;
- The features and services you get for your payment;
- For subscription-based models, the cost of the tier that’s one level higher than your chosen plan.
These considerations will help you determine which performance marketing software package is the best deal. And more importantly, the costs associated with upgrading to more features or services.
Assess the Quality of Customer Support and Other Resources
The world of digital marketing can change quickly. To keep up with these advances, performance marketing software developers update their systems continuously. To get an idea of what to expect from your chosen package, try to answer the following questions.
- What kind of customer support comes with the performance marketing software subscription you’re getting?
- What is the average response time for the various support channels?
- What types of resources are available to learn more about the performance marketing software package?
Take this seriously because if anything goes wrong, customer support is your lifeline.
Verify Data Security Features
Your performance marketing software may limit where you can operate if it doesn’t comply with data privacy regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA. How applicable will this be to you? Look at your target market. If they’re in a place where these laws don’t apply, then this may not be as significant a concern when choosing performance marketing software. Otherwise, make sure that the developers comply fully. This way, you won’t hit any snags as you try to reach and convert your target audience.
Best Practices for Maximizing the Impact of Performance Marketing Software
As an advertiser, there are three main reasons why you should use software for performance marketing:
- It lets you accomplish more with less time;
- Your competitors are likely using performance marketing software already;
- It can decrease the amount you spend on advertising.
Given these advantages, wouldn’t you want to make sure you’re maximizing this resource? Get more value out of any performance marketing software tool by keeping these best practices in mind.
Identify Clear KPIs
To be fair, you have to do this even if you decide not to use performance marketing software. However, it’s another advantage. For example, you can customize the dashboard to display the most important KPIs for you. Performance marketing software also lets you dig deeper to provide more context to your KPIs as well as clues on where you need to optimize.
Automate Responsibly
Performance marketing software allows advertisers to take a relatively hands-off approach to running campaigns. It can be tempting to automate everything so that you can focus on other endeavors. However, that may not be a good way to go. Here are a few pointers for automating using performance marketing software:
- Don’t automate without first setting your goals and KPIs;
- Do automate repetitive tasks;
- Don’t automate where human interaction is needed;
- Do automate to improve efficiency.
Now, performance marketing will only work well if you’re feeding the system accurate and complete data. If you’re not sure whether or not to automate something, try asking just one question: will the performance marketing software do it as well, or better, than I would have done manually?
Integrate with Other Tools
As discussed, integration is one of the key components of performance marketing software. It allows you to expand on the functions of the platform you’re using. More importantly, it connects everything, from your existing assets to monitoring where your ads are placed. Performance marketing software should also be selected using the criteria we discussed in the last section.
Continuously Optimize
Analysis and reporting will be taken care of for you. So, we recommend putting more effort into the step that follows this: optimization. This means continuously refining your campaigns based on insights, adjusting strategies in real time and ensuring that every aspect of your marketing effort is working toward maximizing ROI. Here are a few things that you may be able to do using performance marketing software:
- Split testing;
- Bid and budget adjustments;
- Audience refinement.
By making optimization an ongoing process, you’re consistently getting the best yield from your budget.
Stay Up-to-Date on Industry Trends and Relevant Laws
The performance marketing software that you’re using may be compliant now, but what about tomorrow? By keeping yourself updated, you’ll be able to:
- Inquire with the developer about how they keep up with trends. This way, you can choose whether to keep your current performance marketing software package or look for a new one
- Ensure that you’re not violating any industry norms or local laws through your campaigns
- Take advantage of new market opportunities and get better outcomes using the software
Staying informed about industry trends and regulations ensures that your marketing efforts remain effective, compliant and competitive.
Challenges in Using Performance Marketing Software
There are obviously a number of benefits to incorporating performance marketing software into your processes. However, you should also be aware of potential challenges such as:
- Data integration and accuracy: Since the automated decisions are based on data, you need to watch for any discrepancies and inaccuracies.
- Complexity of tools: Some performance marketing software packages may be hard to learn because of their advanced features.
- Technological limitations: Automation and AI do not have human intuition or expertise, which can affect your returns.
Since you now know what to look out for, you can address the challenges head-on!
Emerging Trends in Performance Marketing Software
The way we market online is evolving rapidly. With the internet making it easier than ever to introduce changes to how we do things, we’re now seeing a lot of trends in using performance marketing software. Users are now becoming more reliant on artificial intelligence. With so many platforms that you can now use to advertise, the value of being able to accurately attribute a conversion increases. We’re also seeing more performance marketing software become compatible with privacy-first strategies. These are some of the biggest trends, and you’ll learn more about them in the following subsections.
Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence
With automation, marketers can take a slightly more hands-off approach to running an advertising campaign. However, even considering how convenient they have made everything, performance marketing software developers are going even further. Artificial intelligence hasn’t just streamlined rudimentary tasks. It can:
- Enhance ad targeting;
- Perform predictive analytics;
- Engage in real-time bidding.
With these tools, the need for manual intervention has been reduced even more. Of course, this isn’t to say that AI can replace advertisers. Just like the performance marketing software itself, use AI as a tool to improve your processes.
Omni-Channel Attribution
Today, there’s an expectation for brands to be everywhere. With the competition being so intense, this is one of the most effective ways to remain in consumers’ minds. This has increased the need for omni-channel attribution in performance marketing software. Using advanced attribution models, you get a better sense of what contributes to conversions and purchases. This means more accurate ROI measurement for individual platforms. When you obtain this information through your performance marketing software, deciding which platforms to prioritize in your budget becomes a lot easier.
Privacy-First Strategy Compatibility
Depending on the advertising medium that you’re using and the geographic location of your target market, third-party cookies may have already gone out of style. In its place, many are now using performance marketing software to process first-party data for campaign optimization. This way, they can still advertise while still adhering to relevant regulations. First-party data also allows for greater control over customer insights, improved personalization and a more sustainable long-term strategy in a cookieless digital landscape. So, even if there are no relevant laws to consider, many people are now feeding performance marketing software with first-party data as well.
Native Advertising
Today, you don’t have to rely on a display to reach and convert your target audience. More marketers and advertisers are seeing the value of native advertising. Using performance marketing software, ad placement doesn’t just need to be based on the characteristics of your target audience. To improve contextual relevance, your ad will be placed where it’s most relevant. For example, if you’re promoting an eBook, perhaps it will be placed in a review of a book of the same genre. This way, your ads won’t distract from the browsing experience. Instead, they become a part of it, making your audience more receptive to what you have to say.
Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)
DCO is a great way to personalize your ads in real time without any extra work. By using your performance marketing software for this, you’ll be able to:
- Tailor ad experiences at the personal level based on the data that you have;
- Display the best-performing ad text, font size and creative placement to improve engagement rates;
- Limit the need for manual split-testing because the ads are adjusted for you in real-time.
This is no doubt a highly efficient way to convert users, and it maximizes the ROI of your campaign.
It’s Time to Put Performance Marketing Tools to Use. Develop Your Campaign Today!
Ideally, you’ll have access to every kind of tool for performance marketing, keeping data collection and decision-making in sync. After you’ve identified where to use performance marketing software in your campaign, it’s time to put it to the test! To overcome banner blindness issues, consider incorporating native advertising as well. This way, you can reach your target audience while positively contributing to their browsing experience. If you need help with this, sign up with MGID. Here, you can access our top tools, creative team and personal managers. Equipped with high-quality performance marketing software, you’ll be unstoppable!
