The Client
A leading US-based river cruise company
The Challenge: Countering seasonal changes in demand
Our client operates sightseeing cruises in one of the US’s most iconic cities, granting tourists an unforgettable riverfront view of the city’s most famous landmarks. And while most of its customers are from within the US, it was looking to tap into new inbound travelers from outside the country to counter seasonal changes in demand.
The company’s team reached out to its long-time partner iQuanti to help identify a new target audience and digital strategy. Looking at historical performance reports and transaction reviews, iQuanti found that the majority of the company’s international visitors were from the United Kingdom (UK).
The Solution: Combining creative targeting and automated bidding
The client tasked iQuanti with getting the message out to its target audience across the Atlantic.
We launched branded and non-branded campaigns targeting the UK with the following segments:
- Affinity segments:
- Boating and sailing enthusiasts
- Water sports enthusiasts
- In-market segment:
- Trips to the US city
In addition to audience targeting, keywords were aligned with seasonal ad copies that focused on the fall weather, transforming a negative into a positive.
Anticipating a decrease in demand following Labor Day, the UK prospecting campaigns were launched the previous day. We launched:
- Five ad groups for branded keywords, representing the various cruise lines and names
- Three ad groups for non-branded keywords, around the US city, things to do, and landmarks
We used automated bidding with target cost per acquisition (CPA) to optimize campaigns and work toward maximizing conversions.
Ad copy was written in British English to target UK residents with bottom-funnel content. And we sourced keywords with a major share of high-intent terms around the US city’s tourism.
The Impact: The business beat demand volatility and stayed the course on conversions and ad spend
iQuanti’s approach to overcoming the first hurdle of decreased ticket sales by targeting a brand-new audience gained buy-in from the client’s team quickly due to the creative targeting strategy behind it.
Automated bidding and tight CPA targets were key to maintaining efficiency in the campaign. Additionally, we targeted more creatively, using smart bidding with the right KPIs and optimizations to secure good performance and conversion rates from the UK audience.
- We recorded 782 conversions over the course of 3 months, with an efficient average CPA.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS) was 547%, which was at par with the account average for domestic tourists (at 545%).
- 813 tourists from the UK visited the cruise’s pier in the given period.
Today, the cruise draws in more tourists than ever from across the pond, helping it build resilience and higher returns and growth. After a successful partnership in targeting inbound international travelers in 2022, iQuanti and the client are looking at the horizon together to continue to find efficiencies in international targeting and building brand voice in niche but profitable audience segments.
conversions in 3 months
%
return on ad spend (ROAS)
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