Mobile Search Case Study: Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Digital marketing agency Razorfish and Starwood Hotels & Resorts began running hyperlocal Google mobile search ads in November 2009.
“We slowly began dipping our toe in the mobile space simply because it’s sometimes difficult to track performance as we do with desktop campaigns.” says Michelle Ogle, Digital Marketing and Affiliate Strategy Manager for Starwood Hotels & Resorts. “However, with our mobile search ad campaigns, we gained precise insight into the number and duration of calls to each brand.”
Working together, the Starwood Hotels & Resorts and the Razorfish team launched search ads with click-to-call (CTC) and location extensions, providing potential guests easy access to location-specific, clickable phone numbers to book their stay and map information to access directions to the hotel location. “Implementing click-to-call and location extensions simultaneously boosted ROI and improved user experience,” says Amos Ductan, Senior Search Manager at Razorfish. “Mobile users are 20 times more likely to click on a map than desktop users and people who make a call are much more likely to convert. Ad extensions improved both conversions and customer experience.”
Case Study Results
The combination of click-to-call and location ad extensions resulted in an increase in mobile paid search ROI, with CTC now driving a majority of Starwood hotel’s mobile search bookings. Additionally, Starwood hotel’s hyperlocal mobile search campaign resulted in:
- 20x increase in mobile paid search ROI
- Mobile booking growth of 20% month over month
- 200% increase in mobile traffic
Looking Forward
With the tremendous success of their mobile paid search campaigns, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Razorfish are looking for innovative ways to engage with potential guests on mobile by making use of engaging ad formats such as video and other rich media. “With the effectiveness of the mobile platform validated, we plan to continue exploring all the ways mobile and Google can improve upon our customer experience through cutting-edge executions such as rich media,” explains Ogle. “We’re pleased with our results and are excited to continue to see the growth of travel planning and booking through mobile.”
Read more about the Starwood Case Study on the Google Mobile Blog or download the full case study.
About the Author: Jon Clark
Jon Clark is the current SEO Director at Razorfish and has been involved in Internet Marketing since 2005. He is also the current editor of the Razorfish Seach blog. Jon loves coffee, sports and NY. You can follow him on Twitter @jonleeclark or circle him on Google+.Subscribe
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Going mobile is definitely the wave of the future. Back in the day I worked for a company that was a sister company of Starwood Hotels called iStar Financial. I had to read your post when I saw that familiar name.
Interesting read.