What we set out to test
Can generic keyword strategies help brands unlock incremental search coverage, traffic, and conversions at scale to drive business growth?
The background
Nespresso, a premium coffee brand under Nestlé, is one of the leaders in the world of coffee culture. With more consumers spending time at home during the pandemic, this brand observed an increase in sales of its capsule machines. To ride on this uptick in demand, the company looked for ways to increase product exposure and sales through online search ads.
Nespresso has always focused on running brand- and product-focused keyword campaigns. This time, however, the brand wanted to expand its search strategy with generic keywords to see if that would increase overall coverage, traffic, and conversions.
How we set up the experiment
The objective of the experiment was to measure the incremental traffic and conversions resulting from the new keyword strategy. A second objective was to find out which were the high-quality keywords that drove results in the keyword expansion strategy.
Nespresso used a controlled pre-post analysis that ran for 16 weeks in Korea. In the pre-phase, it ran and measured the results of an 8-week Search campaign focusing on brand and product keywords. Next, it ran an 8-week test campaign with expanded coverage that included generic keywords.
To provide an equal basis for comparison, the brand used similar terms of promotion in the pre-phase and the test phase. Conversions across both periods were defined as orders were made on the Nespresso site.
- Pre: Search ads with Brand and Product keywords
- Post: Search ads with Brand and Product keywords + Generic keywords
To assess the effectiveness of generic keywords during the experiment, the campaign performance was reviewed weekly and optimized when required.
Solutions we used
What we learned
Extending Search coverage to include generic categories and keywords of interest enables brands to increase website traffic and purchase conversions effectively. By including generic keywords into their Search ads strategy, Nespresso achieved the following:
“Through this experiment, I gained insight on how to effectively use common keywords when expanding keyword coverage. Moving forward, we plan to continue testing high-quality generic keywords to increase traffic and conversions on Google Search.” – Young-bu Seo, digital acquisition manager, Nespresso
This case study is part of the Experiment with Google Ads program.
