Are Separate Campaigns Always Necessary/Best?

[azgold]

Hi, Matej. Thank-you for being here this week!

I read on your site that you recommend running separate campaigns for a single offer for a variety of reasons and factors.

Is there ever an exception to this that works? Perhaps as an initial run to see which geos/devices/whatever are most promising before separating them to target and focusing on those?

Thanks, Matej!

 

[Matuloo]

The main reason for separating targets into dedicated campaigns is the different bidding situation. If you run WIFI and 3G traffic in one campaign, you can only set 1 bid for both. Now, 3G traffic can be literaly 5 or 10 times as expensive as WIFI traffic. This means you won't be able to set a competitive bid for 3G traffic, without massively overpaying for WIFI.

The second main reason is the fact that different targets convert differently. For example desktop traffic will convert better than mobile traffic in most cases. Targeting both in one campaign will give you a very mixed data to analyze.

So my advice is to separate everything that has either "significantly" different bids or defines a new segment of traffic (mobile VS desktop for example).

But, since you asked about offers, it's ok to test multiple offers at once, it's actually a must.

So to clear the confusion: We create campaigns at 2 levels - 1. At the traffic source, 2. In a tracker.

My recommendation to separate everything goes for the 1. level, so at the traffic source. The more granular you go there, the more precisely you will be able to bid. Definitely do that.

For level 2. I "sometimes" do mixed tests for offers that accept "all" traffic. The setup looks like this : I still create separate campaigns at the source, in order to be able to manage bids better, but all the traffic goes to the same campaign. This is a usable option for "smartlink" type of networks for example.

I don't really recommend doing this often though, as it's quite hard to analyze and it's hard to set proper rates per click as it fluctuates a lot.

I really believe it's the best to separate all major segments - no need to go as deep as targeting samsung phones in one campaign and sony in the next ... but all major segments should be targeted separately.

 

[azgold]

Thank-you! I especially appreciate the tip on differences of bidding costs.

 

[Matuloo]

You're welcome azgold!