How Smartsheet Uses Segmented Search Ads & Post-Click Experiences to Increase Customers

Last updated on by Stephanie Mialki in Marketing Personalization

The primary reason 96% of ad clicks don’t convert is that digital advertisers fail to connect their PPC ads to relevant post-click experiences. That means the post-click stage doesn’t tell the same message and story that the ad began in the pre-click stage. Being consistent throughout both stages is the best way to get more conversions from your ad clicks.

One company that understands this connection is Smartsheet. With this extremely effective advertising technique, the platform is now used by over 80,000 brands (including over 75% of the Fortune 500) and millions of individuals.

See for yourself how the Smartsheet post-click experience is consistent and relevant to the company’s pre-click experience in the following examples.

How Smartsheet uses segmented ads & relevant post-click experiences

Project management software

Either one of these Google ads might show for someone at the top of the funnel exploring their different project management options, depending on their search query:

Both Smartsheet ads are closely related to their particular search queries, as each headline includes a portion of the search term: “project management.”

The description copy in each ad also lets prospects know they can find what they’re looking for because the first one contains the exact search phrase “project management software” and the second uses the word “collaboration.”

Clicking either Smartsheet ad headline takes users to this page below — the post-click stage of the customer journey:

Analyzing the post-click experience

When users land here, they know they’re in the right place and this page is connected to the ad they clicked. It continues the relevancy from the pre-click stage and tells the brand’s story as it relates to project management software:

The subheadline expands upon the offer by expressing that Smartsheet is an “easy-to-use work execution platform” to aid in both “project management and collaboration” (message matches the keyword phrases).

Next is a short video that introduces Smartsheet, explains how the software works and makes the offer more engaging and easy to comprehend.

Then, more benefits of the software (pre-built templates) are highlighted with iconography and very brief descriptions.

What is interesting about this page is that while the UVP is delivered in the headline, it’s continued throughout the rest of the content as well. There’s even a comparison chart to Microsoft Project and Basecamp to explain how Smartsheet distinguishes itself from the competition.

Directly above the video is more social proof — a statistic showing that 96% of customers recommend Smartsheet to their colleagues, as well as customer testimonials from Cisco and Behr.

This part of the story also tells which popular apps and providers integrate with Smartsheet for project management, like G Suite, Dropbox, and Salesforce.

Lastly, two more customer testimonials — one from Brad Martin at Extreme Networks, and one from Jodi Hadsell at SAP — both serve as more evidence that Smartsheet has helped many other businesses.

Here, they can complete the process and start using the project management software.

Now, compare that story to the company’s homepage.

The Smartsheet homepage tells a different story

Searching for the company name alone provides people with a very different experience because while four other companies advertise on their names, Smartsheet doesn’t.

There’s no longer a paid ad shown, but rather, just the brand’s homepage listed at the top of the organic search results list:

Clicking the organic link goes to the Smartsheet homepage, rather than a personalized 1:1 post-click page, and tells a much different story from top to bottom:

Instead of focusing on a single product offering, all visitors see the same page designed solely for a browsing experience. This is evident because it includes:

The post-click pages above don’t have these elements because they are specifically targeted for a distinct keyword query. The person’s search intent varied from the service provided versus researching the company name.

Deliver unique post-click experiences for each ad like Smartsheet

As a digital advertiser, you know you must segment your audiences to constantly deliver the most relevant, personalized ads. It’s equally as important to provide matching, unique post-click experiences to those segmented audiences to make the customer journey flow smoothly and avoid any gaps.

Use inspiration from Smartsheet and start segmenting your ads and providing dedicated pages for each target audience. See how Instapage can help you do just that — and learn why customers see 4x the average conversion rates — with an Instapage Personalization Demo.

Turn More Ad Clicks into Conversions
