What we set out to test
Can brands use a digital-first video strategy to generate more leads and brand interest?
The background
Paisabazaar is India’s largest digital marketplace for comparing and choosing personal finance products like credit cards, car loans, and mutual funds. Although the brand traditionally used TV ads to engage potential consumers, it decided to update its media mix to align with how Indians are increasingly watching online video and show up where consumers spend their time. As Paisabazaar pivoted toward a digital-first approach, it decided to run a video experiment to test whether online video campaigns would help boost sales and search interest.
How we set the experiment up
The brand typically ran big TV campaigns during the end-of-year festive season, but it decided to adopt a test-and-learn mindset and explore online video’s incremental impact. In Q4 2019, Paisabazaar took a leap of faith and paused all of its TV campaigns. The brand then set up a pre/post test across India to gauge how online video influenced leads and branded search queries.
- Pre-online video: No TV or YouTube ads for one month
- Post-online video: Six-second YouTube bumper ads in both horizontal and vertical formats for one month
Paisabazaar ran its test during two months when its media activity and seasonality peaks were consistent. At the end of its experiment, Paisabazaar used Brand Lift surveys to gauge its YouTube campaign’s performance.
Solutions we used
What we learned
This case study showed that a digital-first video marketing strategy is effective for branding, lead generation, and sales. Paisabazaar discovered that its YouTube ads increased leads by 30% and drove branded search queries by 10%. Compared to other offline channels in its marketing mix, the brand found that its online video campaign improved its lead-to-sale ratio by 20%.
“This was the first time we tested YouTube’s potential to connect with consumers, and we were pleasantly surprised by how our online video campaign lifted both brand and performance metrics. Moving forward, our team will continue to explore how online video fits into our media planning and creative strategy.” — Sai Narayan, CMO, Paisabazaar
This case study is part of the Experiment with Google Ads program.
