We hate to brag. (Okay, so maybe we love to brag…) But we’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished, what we’ve built, and the work we’re doing. And we hope you’ll like the looks of it, too.
We’ve put some of research, case studies, and accolades below. Take a look, and then reach out to us. We’re looking forward to talking to you.
Case Study #1 — Website Management
Opportunity
A prospective partner approached ES due to stagnant website performance. They expressed concern that their overall website performance had not improved YOY and overall website traffic had remained flat. Form submissions had decreased by roughly 8% when comparing 2021 to 2022 of Q1.
Solution
ES conducted a full review of the website and created a website management plan. The review yielded several areas of opportunity, which were rolled out over several months.
Optimization highlights:
- Updated title tags and meta descriptions that ensured they were uniform and consistent across the entire site
- Each title tag and meta description contained at least one keyword pertaining to that page
- Implemented XML sitemap and Robots txt file
- This showed Google what pages were most important and which pages not to crawl
- Site speed optimizations
- Increased site speed by optimizing site photos and redundant HTML code
- Keyword research and a full content review on pertinent pages to complete a content refresh to ensure success
- Introduction of additional contact forms to maximize traffic to submission opportunities
- Review of broken internal links, orphaned content, high-friction (many clicks to reach) pages
- Heatmapping analysis followed by ongoing CRO activity to drive conversion
Results
Client has seen an increase in traffic YOY of double-digit percentage for the first four months of 2023. Likewise, inquiries (form submissions) are up 13% Jan – April of 2023 compared to 2022.
| SEO Organic Traffic | 2022 | 2023 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11,882 | 13,355 | 12.40% |
| February | 9,932 | 11,373 | 14.51% |
| March | 10,279 | 11,704 | 13.86% |
| April | 9,273 | 11,128 | 20.00% |
Case Study #2 — Paid Digital Campaign
Opportunity
A prospective partner approached us with concerns regarding increased spend but decreased results in their paid search campaign over the previous six months. CPCs had increased, click conversions had decreased, and overall cost per inquiries has increased by almost 40% from January of ’20 to January of ’21.
Solution
ES completed a full audit of the paid search campaign and outlined specific areas and opportunities for improvement.
Optimization highlights:
- A thorough update of the negative keywords to ensure we were spending our marketing dollars in the most relevant manner
- Gradually reduced reliance on broad-match keywords while increasing coverage of exact- and phrase-match keywords
- Dayparting optimizations
- Updated ad copy and landing page content to highlight our partner’s offerings and better align with their target audiences
- Addressed ad strength and reviewed destination URL strategies for 1:1:1 content
- Reviewed impression share metrics to create strategies for improvement
Results
Since taking over the campaign in March of ’21, we have seen immediate improvement with the implementation of ES’s approach and the highlights listed above. Overall, we have been able to reduce their spend spend and align with overall market while increasing conversion and reducing the cost per inquiry.
| Paid Search | 2021 Spend | 2022 Spend | Spend Difference | 2021 Conversions | 2022 Conversions | Conversion Difference | 2021 CPI | 2022 CPI | CPI Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $19,477 | $16,671 | -14.41% | 91 | 151 | 65.93% | $213.03 | $110.40 | -48.42% |
| Feb | $24,493 | $17,170 | -29.90% | 134 | 159 | 18.66% | $182.78 | $107.99 | -40.92% |
| Mar | $23,721 | $13,373 | -53.44% | 146 | 138 | -5.48% | $196.72 | $96.91 | -50.74% |
| Apr | $12,923 | $17,482 | 35.23% | 130 | 174 | 33.85% | $99.41 | $100.47 | 1.07% |
Case Study #3 — Overall Enrollment Decline
Opportunity
A prospective partner approached us after two years of declining enrollment and general concerns with the overall marketing strategy. With little to no change in overall offerings, competition, marketing investment or internal infrastructure, they desired a fresh look at their marketing mix and execution to improve results.
Solution
ES conducted a full review of our partner, including offerings, DMAs, competitive landscape, marketing mix, messaging, data integrity. Upon review, ES outlined an overall marketing strategy to align with the partner’s goals and initiatives.
Optimization highlights:
- The focus of the previous campaign had been largely limited to affiliate marketing and paid search. ES reduced the overall spend allocation on affiliate from 70% to 20%. We also focused our affiliate dollars to the sources with metrics that aligned with our partner’s desired acquisition expectations
- We added a paid social campaign that had been previously tested and cut based on performance. The new campaign was built according to ES best practices and delivered results that aligned with our partner’s expectations from a CPI and conversion standpoint
- ES updated the existing paid search campaign to ensure it was optimized. We were able to increase our presence and spend while reducing the overall cost per inquiry
- ES also created landing pages for paid digital traffic instead of sending this to the website
- The website was not an area of emphasis historically and was generally not optimized to allow for organic traffic and conversion growth. ES implemented a website management campaign that has seen website traffic and inquiry flow increase by over 20%
- A refresh of creative and messaging was deployed to better speak to our target audience(s)
- Lastly, we allocated a small percentage of budget to focus on overall market awareness
Results
Since ES was onboarded in August of 2021, the optimization strategies highlighted above have proven effective. Marketing spend has remained flat YOY, and enrollment is up 22% across five start cycles, spanning from September ’21 through April ’22.
