Digital

Performance
Report
Executive Summary
In this quarterly report, we analyze perfor-
mance data and landscape changes in Paid
Search, Paid Social, Organic Search, and Paid
Platform Merchandising across our portfolio
of clients. This report is meant to help capture
trends in the market and provide insights
and recommendations for marketers across
these various specialisms. The consumer does
not distinguish between the disciplines, which
is why we provide macro trends. We know
that practitioners benefit from additional
trends and recommendations specific to
their specialisms; our report addresses both.
We hope that you find it useful and actionable
in your marketing efforts.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 2
This report contains the analysis
of performance data from over
210 brands, as well as 2,500
Google AdWords and Bing Ads
accounts, with more than 75,000
social campaigns, representing
more than 400,000 active cam-
paigns. These are all managed
by iProspect U.S. (though the
spend is not confined to U.S.
markets).

In Q1, we note the following four macro-trends

evidenced across channels:

1. Consumers are searching more

but spending less.

2. Visual search is becoming more

predominant across both Paid
and Organic Search.

3. Platform Audience Models are

growing in use due to GDPR laws.

4. Local needs to be more integrated

and frictionless for customers.

SEARCHING MORE, BUT SPENDING LESS

Looking across our vast roster of retail and online
clients, we did see a slowdown in shopping purchase
behavior in Q1. Customers tended to search with the
veracity as they did in Q4, but with less meaningful
business outcomes (conversions, sales). Also, we are
seeing many new ad formats coming to market to help
manage a demanding search market with more effi-
cient and smarter ways to bid. For example, Google
recently launched Sponsored Product Ads to allow
retailers to bid through Google and run ads on popular

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 3
retail sites, not named Google (Example, Bobbi Brown
cosmetics selling on ULTA.COM, but bought through
Google). Microsoft Advertising launched a similar
campaign last year. Expanding ad formats and
placements will be key to create more opportunities
for spending efficiency, customized ad focus, and
conversions. With these types of customer trends
occurring, organic search truly begins to receive a
spotlight to help offset non-brand paid costs with
ranking/traffic, as well as ensure our customers are
creating optimal mobile experiences (SEO and Paid)
to increase quality score and keep CPC costs down.

VISUAL SEARCH AND ADS ARE EXPANDING

With industry reports from Forbes and many others
stating that 50% of all Search will be Voice or visual by
next year, iProspect has seen more legs with the visual
side of this reported behavior change in searching.
This has been especially true over the past six months,
where Google saw an increase in indexed organic
image search results year-over-year (YoY) of 15%. These
types of signals are clear indicators of bigger changes

50%
coming to media consumption, as well as media buying
expansion. Google and Microsoft seem to be investing
in and developing more visual media buying experi-
ences, as they see this emerging trend. Google has
of all Search will
integrated more formats for shopping and showcase ads be Voice or
on Google images, and are opening up their Gallery visual by next
Ads to support all verticals. Microsoft Advertising is
year; iProspect
also experimenting in this emerging customer behavior
with 3-D ads. Additionally, from the video side, YouTube
has seen more
is also joining the party, expanding its Video impression legs with the
buying into other common content consumption areas, visual side of
such as news site in sports and gaming.
this reported
ARE COOKIES CRUMBLING? behavior change
As GDPR has reshaped the privacy and rights of con- in searching.
sumers over the past year, the collection of data and
ingesting of the personal data has as well. With more
ad blockers in market and more strict rules on cookie-
based advertising, the Platform Audience Models that

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 4
can I.D. and house CRM data has become a continued
trend with agencies and advertisers. Additionally,
as the European Union has put the stake in the ground
on the strict adherence on personal data guidelines,
it has begun to trickle down in more general and local-
ized fashions in the US. For instance, Safari and Mozilla
will now explore ETP compliance rules around inform-
ing users of cookie storage. In California, the CCPA
(California Consumer Privacy Act) will begin to create
GEO-compliant policies around privacy and advertising
that must be adhered to run online campaigns. User
data will be the new bitcoin for brands and advertisers!

LOCAL NEEDS TO BE MORE FRICTIONLESS

eMarketer recently reported that 65% of consumers
expect a more consistent experience from digital
to in-store. As we look for more ways to optimize,
influence users, and drive them from online to offline
(especially in retail), it will start with creating good
local experiences across all search media (Organic,
Paid, and Social). Additionally in Google alone, our
iProspect retail customers have seen a more than 240%
increase in local listing results. Local is growing in user
expectation and indexation in results. Customers want
a more frictionless experience from online to offline,
so we must ensure we deliver it. It becomes imperative
to optimize your local presence across all media for
accuracy and to meet the customer needs.

65%
of consumers
expect a more
consistent
experience
from digital
to in-store.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 5
Performance
In Q1, digital performance continued to thrive
with increasing consumer engagement and
traffic quality across the digital ecosystem.
Brands taking advantage of the latest innovations
in audience targeting, engaging ad formats and
the evolving search results page found that Q1
drove increases in traffic, conversions and return
on ad spend (ROAS) YoY. In the retail space,
while volumes naturally decreased from Q4,
ROAS on Amazon and sales from Google
Shopping increased YoY. Retailers also benefited
from the increased presence of local results
and images in Google’s organic search results.
Buoyed by In-Stream Video, Facebook perfor-
mance saw significant increases in engagement
and reach while costs per impressions (CPMs)
declined. Similarly, advertisers taking advantage
of the latest ad formats and targeting options
in Paid Search saw click-through-rate (CTR),
traffic and conversions all on the rise. It remains
critical to be ahead of the curve and capitalize
on the innovations in the space to drive the
greatest return.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 6
 PAID SE ARCH
Performance
A YOY IMPROVEMENT IN MOST KEY
PERFORMANCE METRICS FOR Q1
For Search campaigns (not including shopping)
there was an overall higher CTR (+57%), a significant
increase in Paid Search traffic (+28%), and a lift in
recorded conversions. These improvements are due
largely to the growing improvements in engaging
ad formats like responsive search ads, the growth
While there were
of mobile search volume (which naturally helps boost
Paid Search clicks), as well as advertisers being smarter improvements
with the investment through audience targeting and in engagement
keyword control using Dynamic Search Ads. metrics, efficien-
While there were improvements in engagement
cies slowed YoY
metrics, efficiencies slowed YoY with the average
cost-per-click (CPC) increasing 4% (still a 16% improve- with the average
ment in CPCs from last quarter’s competitive seasonal cost-per-click
time). This increase was due not only to natural engine increasing 4%.
cost inflation, but is also the result of more and smarter
non-brand investment. Non-brand is generally more
competitive, but now with additional capabilities
in ad formats, first and third-party audience segment
control, and newer automated features like smart
bidding, advertisers are able to target these non-
brand searches which would otherwise have been
too inefficient at driving conversions.
For shopping campaigns (also known as Product
Listing Ads or PLAs), efficiencies in CPCs were
maintained YoY (-9% Q1 over Q1 2018), but the CTR
declined 25%, largely due to the sheer volume of
shopping impressions increasing significantly (103%+).
This trend highlights the continuation of last quarter’s
dramatic impression volume increase. There has been
an overall shift in Google Shopping over the past six
months that warrants a strategic shift by advertisers
in maximizing shopping performance, exploring
new shopping emerging features like Shoppable
Ads in Google image searches, and overall structured
data infrastructure.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 7
Performance SHOPPING

4,500,000,000 1.60%
4,000,000,000 1.40%
3,500,000,000 1.20%
3,000,000,000
1.00%
2,500,000,000
0.80%
2,000,000,000
0.60%
1,500,000,000
1,000,000,000 0.40%
500,000,000 0.20%
0.00%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1
2017 2017 2017 2017 2018 2018 2018 2018 2019

Impressions CTR

In addition to search and shopping shifts, key callouts

for Paid Search trends include:

Brand searches continuing to decline

gradually, dropping 4% in search volume
over Q1 last year.

Non-brand searches increasing in CTR,

improving in CPCs, and driving more
than 66% more traffic YoY.

Microsoft Advertising (which will replace

their current Bing Ads this year) has
increased its engine share of both impression
volume and traffic, now driving 28% of all
iProspect client traffic to site. This is an
increase from last year, where Bing drove
13% of traffic across the client base.

PAID SOCIAL
(FAC E B O O K & I N S TAG R A M )

A DECREASE IN COSTS AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

As expected, spend decreased 15% quarter-over-
quarter (QoQ) as brands pulled back after heavy
spending during the holiday season. With less
competition in the landscape, advertisers did not
need to pay the premium they did during the

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 8
Performance previous quarter since CPMs decreased by 5%.
CPM decreases stemmed mainly from campaigns
with conversion and traffic objectives with a 11.5%
drop, but video-based campaigns were still lower
by 4%.
Video performance in the Facebook ecosystem
was driven primarily by increased advertiser adoption
of the in-stream placement. As in-stream forces
a completed view, it pushes up the overall video
completion rate as evidenced by the video com-
pletion rate (VCR) increase from 46% to 63% QoQ.
The placement also has significant inventory available, Video
allowing brands to reach users with a forced view performance
at lower rates than In-Feed. Three-second view
in the Facebook
costs only decreased half a cent, but 10-second
video views decreased 43% as In-Stream is providing ecosystem was
advertisers with access to inventory where longer driven primarily
views are more likely.
by increased
Similar to the CPM decreases on conversion
objective, the CPC was lower by 21% QoQ. Although advertiser
costs dropped, users were still actively engaging with adoption of
ads leading to a 10.5% rise in CTR QoQ. Not only the in-stream
were users more likely to click, but landing page views
increased—indicating that Facebook drove higher-
placement.
quality users who were more likely to reach the page.

PAID PL ATFORM
MERCHANDISING

AMAZON CONTINUED TO SHOW

EVOLUTION AND GROWTH
This e-commerce asset saw major YoY growth in this
previous quarter. Traffic decreased across Amazon
post-holiday, but traffic increased on the platform
YoY. In Q4 2018, our clients saw higher traffic due
to Turkey 5 (Amazon’s affectionate term for the days
of Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday). We saw
an expected 77% decrease in investment and a 34%

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 9
Performance decrease in impressions QoQ. CPCs dropped by 9%
due to lower competition, which allowed ROAS to
increase by 15%.
When comparing YoY results, we saw impression
volume increase by nearly 200% and a 95% increase
in investments, by brands from Q1 2018. More interest-
ing, ROAS increased by 35% YoY. In theory, when more
investment is made, we will see ROAS drop, but in this
case, the PPM team’s educated strategies and optimi-
zations have shown continuous gains for our clients.

ORGANIC SEARCH (S EO)

SERP FEATURE ENHANCEMENT

AND ‘STICKINESS’ CONTINUES
Images within the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
saw a drastic increase from 24% of total search results
to 34%. This follows a number of updates from Google
in the last few quarters, including one which led to
a temporary, but significant image results decrease
throughout the space. This temporary decrease came
from a number of tests focused on ensuring optimum
results. The frequency of images increased, as well
as the real estate taken up in the SERP.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 10
Performance Image representation in the SERP is expected
to continue to grow further, but brands should not
forget the importance of videos as part of the visual
experience. For those brands who seek to provide
information or education to their consumers, video
assets will only grow in importance—for desktop,
mobile and especially for Voice Assistant devices.

ORGANIC RETAIL PERFORMANCE STILL

STRUGGLING, BUT MAKING UP GROUND
Retail was down by 21.5% QoQ following the holiday
season performance highs. Organic traffic was down
an average of 4.1% YoY, with an average total site traffic
increase of 18%. While the deficit gap for many retailers
is being closed, paid channels continue to bolster total
site performance.
Brands relying on basic category and product
pages alone are particularly struggling. Given the
limitations of content and optimization opportunities
on product listing pages to avoid impacting conversion
rate (CVR), it’s essential for retail brands to assess some
of the more ‘foundational’ elements of SEO with more
While the deficit
focus. Site structure and navigation hierarchy are abso- gap for many
lutely essential, but many brands need to expand their
retailers is
categorization. Knowing that multi-brand retailers will
continue to dominate on high Monthly Search Volume being closed,
(MSV) product searches, brands must focus on oppor- paid channels
tunities to strategically optimize towards longer-tail
searches, which will allow for increased appearance
continue to
in SERP results. Not only will traffic increase, but CVR bolster total site
will as well. performance.
Retailers in the US and across the globe are seeing
a similar trend of increasing competition not only from
the likes of Amazon and large multi-brand retailers,
but also from content publication sites. For example,
when searching for “blue suit,” the search results show
publications with style-guide related content featured.
This example below highlights the need for brands to
expand their editorial focus—not only to improve their
appearance in these spaces, but to add weight and
context to their product pages.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 11
Performance

For most retailers, the majority of their site traffic

comes from mobile devices, but the conversions still
don’t match desktop. Across multiple brands reviewed,
the overall performance for mobile is starting to
plateau—particularly for sites unable to move and
optimize quickly. This does not always necessarily
reflect negative performance or value, but rather
should also be viewed from the lens of changing user
behaviors. This should be done not only between
devices, but also online to offline, as the user’s oppor-
tunity to research and compare only grows.

LOCAL RESULTS INCREASING

AND IMPACTING SITE PERFORMANCE
As witnessed across the retail brands supported by
iProspect, as well as through trends throughout the
industry, local prominence continues to be an area
of opportunity, but also an area of impact to site
performance.
In the last several years, the prominence and
increase of local listings in the SERP has seen a direct
correlation on declining website visits—particularly
for mobile. As noted in last quarter’s report, mobile
users are increasingly likely to want to find the physical
brand store vs. a brand website. By improving non-
brand optimization for local listings, there is a
significant opportunity to increase the likelihood
of a user finding and going into your physical location.
iProspect’s retail clients have seen an average increase
of 156.7% QoQ in the number of searches that yield
local listing results. YoY, that average increase is
approximately 240%.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 12
Inventory
As consumers continue to spend more and
more time online each day, the opportunities
to reach them continue to grow. While digital
often feels mature, the inventory growth serves
as a reminder of just how much opportunity
still lies ahead. Google searches continue to
increase on mobile, Bing is still seeing growth
on desktop and Amazon’s dominance now has
them capturing more than 50% of all product
searches. And with more than a billion devices
that are Voice Search enabled, we are on the
precipice of another huge opportunity for
brands to connect with consumers. The Social
platforms continue to grow as well, with Face-
book and Twitter both reporting meaningful
increases in users this year, while they work
to adapt their platforms to new standards of
privacy and transparency.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 13
 PAID SE ARCH
Inventory
Alongside the notable increase in Google Shopping
inventory (+102% YoY), mobile search volume continues
to rise. Across search and shopping, it is up 51% and
clicks similarly increased 18% in Q1 2019 (vs. Q1 2018).
mobile continues to be pivotal in driving overall share
of voice across both search and shopping campaigns.
By comparison, desktop search volume declined
30% and traffic similarly fell 26%, largely bolstered
by shopping growth, which helped desktop not to
95% of mobile
see even more dramatic declines in inventory. searches take
place on Google,
MOBILE SEARCH IS STILL KING
Google’s share of search queries in the US hit 88% followed by
in Q1. This is up 10 points from 2015, when they hit Yahoo at 2.5%
their all-time low of 78%, and it’s their dominance and Bing at 1.7%.
in mobile search that has allowed them to regain
their former market share. Currently 95% of mobile
searches take place on Google, followed by Yahoo
at 2.5% and Bing at 1.7%. Bing’s desktop market
share has continued to rise as it expands its network
partnerships (Yahoo, AOL, MSN, DuckDuckGo, etc.),
and some statistics place their desktop market share
as high as 35%, which makes them a critical piece
of every mature paid search strategy.
While this reflects the overall volume of searches,
when focusing on Paid Search volume, iProspect
recorded a notable increase in Bing search last
quarter. This is expected to increase as all previous
Yahoo Gemini search inventory was migrated Bing
in March, as announced in January.

AMAZON CAN’T BE IGNORED

Amazon has now surpassed Google in product searches,
with 54% of online product searches taking place within
their platform. Combined with the fact that 64% of US
households have Amazon Prime, this has dramatically
changed the search landscape. Regardless of whether
or not advertisers sell their products on Amazon,

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 14
 they should be finding ways to capture share of mind
Inventory
from the users searching on that platform via a variety
of different ad types available.
Interestingly, CPG brands are seeing a notable
drop in CPCs across Google and Bing, falling 16% YoY
and 7% QoQ. Since this is one of the few verticals
to see a drop in CPCs, this suggests that engines are
lowering costs to prevent further investment being
diverted towards Amazon.

DON’T COUNT OUT VOICE SEARCH

Well, it’s finally coming to fruition for advertisers,
because as of February, Google began delivering
text ads along with organic results when people
use the Google Assistant on their Android phone.
This was previously untapped inventory from a
Engines are
paid search standpoint, and considering the Google
Assistant is on over one billion devices, this is a lowering costs to
sizeable opportunity for advertisers. In the near prevent further
term, there is no immediate action needed as your
current paid search campaigns will be automatically
investment being
eligible for these results; however, we predict that diverted towards
segmentation by voice search will be coming next
year when the voice search volume has reached Amazon.
a critical mass.

PAID PL ATFORM
MERCHANDISING

Amazon released and updated a multitude of optimi-

zations to enhance the user interface experience and
opportunities for vendors in Q1.

AMAZON’S Q1 EXPANSIONS
The new release of expansion in Sponsored Brand
Broad Match language catches similar and synonym
keyword matches. (Semantic search on Broad Match
was launched in mid-March 2019, but did not run long

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 15
 enough in Q1 to have measurable impact.) This is a
Inventory
very valuable match tool, so stay tuned for a Q2 2019
comparison and update on the product.
One unique update was Amazon’s expansion into
optimizing the CPG market with the addition of
Sponsored Product Ad opportunities for Amazon
Fresh. Since its launch, CPG clients have seen CPCs did
Sponsored Product impression volume remain
increase YoY
stable QoQ, but when comparing Q1 2018 to Q1 2019
traffic, there was a 72% increase in impressions YoY. by 42%, high-
This increase could be attributed to Sponsored lighting the
Products advertising via Fresh, but given the number increase in com-
of updates on Amazon QoQ, we cannot draw a
specific conclusion. CPCs did increase YoY by 42%,
petition in the
highlighting the increase in competition in the CPG CPG vertical
vertical compared to all brands. compared to
One of the more significant changes we saw in Q1
was an automated dynamic bid adjustment option,
all brands.
which is a replacement for the outdated bid+ option
when creating campaigns. Dynamic bid adjustments
(or dynamic bidding) is a campaign optimization
setting available for Sponsored Products that can
be utilized in auto and manual campaigns. You can
choose to have Amazon adjust your bid up or down
in real time by a maximum of 100% based on the
likelihood of a conversion.
These options were available for auto campaigns
in Q4, and overall, efficiency and performance for auto
campaigns has been strong and is only improving.
Increasing engagement rates, efficient CPCs, and
a high return on ad spend proved that new matching
and dynamic bidding strategies have been positive
for advertisers. Looking back at Q1 2018, auto
campaigns were extremely efficient in generating
impression volume, but not as efficient in reaching
qualified traffic compared to Q1 2019. With only 6%
less investment in auto campaigns YoY, we generated
79% less impressions — this enhanced level of
automated optimization has likely helped match
consumers to what they’re searching for more
effectively and has improved overall ad engagement,

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 16
Inventory and increased sales by 135% YoY. ROAS increased 150%
YoY, and CTR increased 52% YoY.

PAID SOCIAL

FACEBOOK, INC.
Facebook reported continued business and community
growth in Q1 2019 with 2.38 billion monthly active
users (MAU) on Facebook, up 8% from Q1 2018.
In total, there are 2.7 billion people using Facebook,
Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger each month.
Most notable growth came from the APAC region,
with a 12% increase YoY. Despite the slowest MAU
growth coming from the US and Canada QoQ and YoY,
the advertising revenue for those two regions made

Facebook
up the largest chunk at $7.2B or 48%. Even with an 80%
increase in expenses due to a $3B accrual taken in
connection with the Federal Trade Commission’s
inquiry, revenue climbed to $15.08B, a 26% increase
will focus
from Q1 of 2018. on building
Despite continued growth, Mark Zuckerberg
announced a major update between Q4 2018 and Q1
spaces where
2019 earnings reports that shifts the direction of the users can
company and addresses growing privacy concerns
within its community. Facebook will focus on building
connect and
spaces where users can connect and share in small share in small
groups, which aligns with the massive growth seen
within the Stories format across Facebook, Instagram,
groups.
and WhatsApp.
The Facebook family of apps will be built on a few
key pillars: private interactions, encryption, and reduc-
ing permanence. These are directly related to users’
mounting concerns on how personal data is being
used, who is seeing the information shared, and how
long the content remains on the internet. Concerns
have been raised about how Facebook will continue to
grow revenue with new direction, however Zuckerberg
is focused on building lasting products that ensure the

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 17
Inventory safety of Facebook’s community, and user growth
and revenue don’t show signs of slowing down.

TWITTER
In the current social media climate, Twitter has followed
Facebook’s lead and emphasized identifying and
blocking abuse on the platform. Choosing to lead their
first quarter reporting with these recent efforts, Twitter
has focused on mDAU (monetizable daily active users),
which accounts for inactive and blocked users that With the launch
would otherwise be counted in MAU. Average mDAU
increased to 134MM compared to 120MM last year
of their proto-
and 126MM during Q4, showing continued growth as type app (twttr),
they push to improve the platform and user experience. Twitter is aiming
While mDAU increased 11% YoY, advertising revenue
increased by 18%. This is primarily due to a 23% increase
to make the
in ad engagements, indicating that both new and platform faster
existing users are choosing to interact with Twitter’s and more
ad units more than they have in the past. With the
launch of their prototype app (twttr), Twitter is aiming
conversational.
to make the platform faster and more conversational.
Ideally, this should bring new users to the platform in
addition to keeping current users on the platform for
longer, however, the success of the launch remains to
be seen as platforms like Snapchat have struggled with
adoption of new platform designs.

SNAP INC.
Snapchat exceeded projections for Q1 2019, but over-
all user growth appears to be stalled. They generated
$320 million in revenue in Q1, an increase of 39% YoY.
Adjusted EBITDA loss in Q1 was $123 million, repre-
senting a 43% improvement YoY. The platform added
four million net additional users in the first quarter,
growing daily active users to 190 million.
The engagement levels of 13-34-year-olds on the
platform continues to be unmatched. The company
highlighted that they now reach 75% of this age group,
and their ads can now reach more 13-34-year-olds than
Instagram in the US as of March 2019.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 18
Inventory The long-promised updated Android app was high-
lighted as a key to unlocking future growth. Compared
to the prior version, it is 25% smaller and opens 20%
faster on average. Snap feels the early results from the
new Android application are promising and believe this
will open up opportunity to grow their community in
new markets.
From an advertising business standpoint, they
pointed three main drivers of their optimism to continue
growing as an advertising platform:

1. The opportunity to scale learnings

from successful brand partnerships
across other industries.

2. The rapid growth of their direct

response platform.

3. The ability to penetrate a “hard-to-reach”

audience: users that engages heavily
with both premium mobile video and
interactive AR every day.

Snap will need to continue to find ways to grow

their platform as a whole as many investors appear
to be cautious of the company’s stalled user-growth
numbers.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 19
Key Takeaways
The pace of change in digital marketing has always been
extremely fast, and Q1 was no exception. Consumer behavior
continues to evolve and our biggest partners, Google and
Facebook, continue to improve their consumer experience
and advertising platforms accordingly. Looking ahead to
the remainder of 2019, there are a few key trends for brands
to consider to quickly capitalize on the pace of change:

Focus on engaging formats across platforms,

such as video, to influence the entire consumer
journey and ultimately drive to conversion.

● Advance your audience strategy to leverage

first-party data in a consistent strategy across
channels and campaigns.

● Dedicate budget to testing new partners

to capitalize on quickly evolving consumer
behavior and rapidly growing partners,
especially in Paid Social.

Additionally, below find additional channel-specific key takeaways:

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 20
 Key Takeaways
PAID SE ARCH

Take advantage of Custom Combination Audiences,

which will allow you to combine any variation of audiences
with AND/OR/NOT logic to create highly qualified but
also scalable audience segments. This can help expand
or narrow existing audience segments.

Increase your investment in Bing, especially since it now

shows 100% of the time on Yahoo.com and their respective
search partners. It’s a great opportunity to increase mobile
clicks to site at more efficient CPCs and CPAs.

Utilize all facets of ad copy, including maximizing character

limits, incorporating all extensions and opting into all
betas available to cover the SERP This will help combat
decreasing CTRs.

Test more automated solutions using machine learning

powered automation options.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 21
 Key Takeaways
PAID SOCIAL

Take advantage of Campaign Automation for both

campaign set-up and optimization. Proactively utilize
platform automation to gather performance data before
these features become mandatory.

Expect cost increases in Q2 2019. On average, CPMs

have historically increased 20% QoQ between Q1
and Q2 as advertisers begin to ramp up spend after
recovering from the holiday season. We expect auction
costs to continue to increase throughout the year as
advertisers adopt paid social as a larger part of their
advertising buy.

Consider diversifying ad spend with social partners.

Ensure that you’re reaching your core audience across
two or three platforms before expanding your targeting
on one.

Check out new influencer offerings. Partner with

influencers that align with your brand, while targeting
your core audience to cut through the clutter and make
an impression on your consumer.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 22
 Key Takeaways
SEO

Make sure you’re answering the right questions. People

are willing to spend more time researching to get what
they want. Competition is continuing to increase, so brands
must be strategic in optimizing for areas they’re likely
to win.

● Optimize for Visual Experiences. Video results will continue

to increase and brands should always consider whether
a video may help in answering a user’s question. And don’t
forget about the expansion of Voice Assistants with video
capabilities. Too many brands are missing out here.

● Improve your connection of digital and brick-and-mortar

stores. Build a deeper connection and understanding
of your in-store performance as a consequence of online
optimizations. This will continue to be essential in the
changing world of KPIs for SEO and Paid channels alike.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 23
 Key Takeaways
PAID PL ATFORM
MERCHANDISING

Keep experimenting with new formats and placements

as Amazon continues to change the landscape of their ads.

● Make sure you understand the queries you are showing

for, as a change to match type can be a costly exercise
if your ads appear against irrelevant terms.

● Lean into the Amazon Fresh inventory. Competition and

volume is low today so now is the time to experiment with
advertising products that can be added easily to the cart.

● Be weary of publishers’ dynamic bidding, by making sure

the rules work for your KPIs (not Amazon’s own media
revenue). Third-party management tools can help to create
an automation layer independent of Amazon.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 24
Closing
We hope you’ve found our third edition of the
Digital Performance Report to be a helpful guide
as you reflect on the start of 2019 and move
in to Q2 of 2019. Do you have questions about
what’s included in this report? Would you like
to learn more about how a holistic, specialist and
integrated approach can help grow your brand?
Please reach out to marketing@iprospect.com.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 25
 Jake Hughes, Director, Paid Search
Contributors
Christina Malcolm, Senior Director, Paid Search

Ashraf Ali, Senior Associate, Paid Search

Rob Kilgore, Manager, Paid Search

Christopher Heimrich, Senior Associate, Paid Search

Caitlin Portrie, Associate Director, Paid Search

Chris Philp, Senior Director, SEO

Steve Beatty, VP, Head of SEO

David Hutchinson, National Director, Paid Platform Merchandising

Christopher Fecci, Senior Associate, Paid Platform Merchandising

Lilie le Prevost, Lead, Paid Platform Merchandising

Adam Schwartz, Lead, Paid Platform Merchandising

Jordan Jacobson, VP, Head of Social Media

Greg Peshek, Associate Director, Paid Social

Meredith Cornell, Manager, Paid Social

Joseph Cajindos, Lead, Paid Social

Ryan Horn, Associate Director, Paid Social

Brittany Richter, SVP, Head of Products & Services

Jamie Richter, Lead, Products & Services Operations

Tim Ossmo, VP, Products & Services Operations

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 26
 iProspect is the first truly global digital marketing
About iProspect
agency, with 4,600+ employees in 94 offices across
56 countries. A trusted partner with an in-depth
understanding of consumer behavior, iProspect
reshapes brand strategies to meet the fast-paced
demands of the convergent world with a focus
on exceeding the client’s business objectives.
Our global reach, in-depth knowledge of diverse
local markets, and expertise produce award-winning,
performance-based marketing strategies for leading
brands such as General Motors, Hilton, Procter
& Gamble, Microsoft, and many others. In 2017,
iProspect was named a leader in Forrester Research
Inc.’s “The Forrester Wave” Report for search
marketing agencies. iProspect has also been listed
as the “Best Agency for Performance Marketing”
by iMedia three years in a row, MediaPost’s 2015
Search Agency of the Year and iMedia’s Best Agency
for Search.
For more information, visit www.iProspect.com
or follow us on Twitter @iprospect.

C O P Y R I G H T 2 0 19 © i P R O S P E C T, I N C . A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. 27