Which bidding strategy should Sara use if her goal is to get more people to call her local catering business?
Correct Answer
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA)
Why is this the correct answer?
Sara should use Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bidding if her goal is to get more people to call her local catering business. CPA, often implemented as Target CPA in Google Ads, uses advanced machine learning to automatically optimize bids and find the most efficient cost for each conversion. In Sara's scenario, a phone call from a potential catering client is a high-value acquisition. By setting a CPA goal, the bidding algorithm analyzes real-time signals—such as time of day, location, and device—to place Sara's ads in front of users most likely to pick up the phone. This strategy shifts the focus from simple traffic (clicks) to tangible business results (leads). For a local service provider like a caterer, where direct communication is vital for closing sales, CPA ensures that the marketing budget is spent specifically on driving those critical customer interactions rather than just generating passive visibility or website visits.
Why are the other options incorrect?
Cost-per-view (CPV)
Cost-per-view (CPV) is primarily designed for video campaigns to measure engagement with video content. Since Sara's goal is to drive phone calls for her catering business, CPV is ineffective as it prioritizes video watch time over direct lead generation.
Cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM)
Cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) focuses on brand awareness and maximizing the number of times an ad is displayed to potential customers. This strategy is poorly suited for Sara's catering business because it doesn't optimize for conversions, meaning she might pay for impressions that never result in the phone calls she needs.
Cost-per-click (CPC)
Cost-per-click (CPC) focuses on driving traffic to a website rather than a specific conversion action like a phone inquiry. While clicks are helpful for site visits, CPC doesn't automatically optimize for the 'call' conversion, making it less efficient than CPA for Sara's specific objective of increasing call volume.
Real-World Example
Gourmet Delights Catering, a local business similar to Sara’s, shifted their bidding strategy to Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) to increase their direct bookings. By setting up conversion tracking for 'Click-to-Call' ads, they targeted a CPA of $20 per qualified lead. Within three months, the automated bidding system identified that mobile users searching during lunch hours were most likely to convert. This data-driven approach resulted in a 35% increase in inbound phone calls while keeping their marketing spend predictable. Using CPA allowed them to scale their lead generation effectively, ensuring every dollar spent was focused on actual customer inquiries.