Delivering and Not Performing
This is a scary scenario because you're having no trouble spending money, yet you're not seeing any return on your investment. When a campaign is meeting delivery goals and falling short of performance goals, the first step is to troubleshoot what is causing the problem. Run site performance reports to find non-performing inventory. Run analytics reports to filter Ads and offers that aren't working as well. Below is a troubleshooting checklist for under-performing campaigns.

Troubleshooting Checklist for Under-Performing Campaigns

• Are the beacons working?  Conversion and remarketing? - If you are using tracking beacons to register data for conversions, test to make sure they are working properly. Validate the beacons for both conversions and remarketing.
• What is the frequency setting?  Can it be tightened? - Make sure the same users aren't seeing the same impression too many times. More than seven impressions per user per day is usually wasteful.
• What is the true performance Goal?  How are the other networks doing? Conduct market research and determine what the average CPA is for this type of product or service. Make sure the performance goal is competitive yet realistic.
• Which inventory sources are working?  Which are not performing? - Pause or slow the pacing of Ad delivery for non-performing inventory.

Listed below are a number of tactics you can try to boost performance while keeping up with delivery. It's generally a best practice to try only one tactic at a time and allow a day or two for each change to have its effect before trying the next tactic.

Performance Boosting Tactics Checklist

1. Adjust frequency setting to find the best balance between delivery and performance - typically, between two and five per day is recommended.
2. What is the performance goal? Is it too high? -Adjust the performance goal down by about 10% to 20% per day until you notice an increase in performance.
3. Lower bids, which will cause the DSP to be more selective for Ad serving decisions.
4. Create additional campaigns for more targeted inventory buys with increased bids. Spend the money on top Web properties with known reputations for high conversion, such as Yahoo.
5. Optimize the creative, messaging, and offers in your Ads and make sure its relevant to your target audience. Try multivariate testing to further refine each creative element.
6. Pause or discontinue Ads or inventory sources that are not performing

Not Performing and Not Delivering

If your campaign is meeting neither performance nor delivery, address the performance first with the tactics listed above. Once performance improves, address delivery also with above tactics, doing each at a time as conservatively as possible so as not to upset performance.

Optimizing Internet marketing campaigns is a delicate art. There are many levers and knobs where the slightest adjustment in either direction can throw off the balance between these two opposing goal types: performance and delivery. Try out some of these tactics in your next Internet marketing campaign and let us know how they work by posting a comment to this blog.