FishingBooker was formed in 2013, with the aim of providing a system to book fishing charters in the same way customers book accommodation and other services. Five years later the company lists over 5,000 fishing charters, with trips tailored to appeal to all types of anglers. With a constantly growing inventory and an increasingly complex campaign structure, FishingBooker wanted to increase efficiency by moving from Manual CPC to Smart Bidding, while running a series of tests to optimise its strategy.
About FishingBooker
OTA specialising in fishing trips and charters
Founded in 2013
Based in Belgrade
Goals
Decrease time required to manage complex campaigns with a growing inventory
Increase return on ad spend
Approach
Ran 10 separate tests
Implemented an ROAS automated bidding strategy
Results
Fully automated campaign structure
49% increase in ROAS
65% increase in profit for selected campaigns
57% more conversions and a 44% increase in conversion rate
In terms of customer acquisition, Google Ads had always been FishingBooker’s go-to marketing channel. However, as inventory expanded, the account became increasingly more complex to manage. FishingBooker’s original strategy was very hands-on, requiring a manual approach to delivering marketing messages depending on different keywords, customer location and the type of device they were using.
In order to reduce time spent on manual optimisation, FishingBooker decided to test the results of switching from Manual CPC to Smart Bidding. They pinpointed the high season for fishing as the optimal moment to run the tests, as the increased volume of customers would give the most accurate and detailed picture.
To analyse the effectiveness of Smart Bidding against Manual CPC bidding, FishingBooker ran a series of 10 tests, using Drafts and Experiments. The results were beyond expectations, with every one outperforming similar campaigns employing Manual CPC bidding. Not only did Smart Bidding decrease the time need to manage campaigns, it increased ROAS by 49% and generated a 65% increase in profits. In addition to this, FishingBooker saw a 57% increase in conversions at a higher conversion rate of 44%. FishingBooker now plans to use it on the majority of their Google Ad campaigns.
“Smart Bidding exceeded our expectations. Not only can we rely on it to decrease the time spent on manual optimisation, we can also count on it to deliver better results in terms of ROAS and volume.”
— Peter Mitrovic, Head of Paid Marketing, FishingBooker
