The Client
CarbonlessPaper.com is an online store in Hudson, Ohio, selling carbonless and NCR paper by the pack and the case to businesses across the US. We built and ran their Google Ads from February 2017 to August 2018, and our campaigns brought in $34K+ in ad revenue from 230+ orders at about 3.4x, up from about 1x before us.
The buyers are offices, print shops and businesses that run multi-part forms: 2-part, 3-part and 4-part paper, blank sheets for laser and inkjet printers, and bulk packs of 1,000 to 5,000 sheets. They know exactly what they want and search for it by name.
"About $1 back for every $1 spent before us. About $3.40 with our campaigns."
The Challenge
Google Ads for a paper supplier looks simple and isn't:
- Buyers search in part numbers and jargon. "NCR paper," "2 part carbonless," "laser carbonless paper" and "xerox carbonless" are all the same shelf, and each needs its own match.
- The word "carbon" pulls the wrong traffic. Carbon paper, carbon copy and carbon fiber searches cost money and never buy carbonless forms.
- Small orders and big orders look alike. A single pack and a 5,000-sheet case come from the same search, but they are worth very different bids.
- Shipping costs set the map. Heavy paper sold to the mainland pays; the same order to Alaska or Hawaii eats the margin.
What We Built
1. A Shopping campaign split by price
Shopping - LPA went live in February 2017 with the catalog split into an all-products group and a separate high-price group for the bulk packs, so the larger orders could be bid on their own.
2. A Search campaign on exact product terms
Search - LPA launched in March 2017 with ad groups for carbonless paper, NCR paper, 2-part, 3-part and part carbonless paper, built on the terms buyers actually use. More than 370 negative keywords kept carbon paper, carbon fiber and job searches out.
3. Mainland targeting
Both campaigns targeted the US state by state, with Alaska and Hawaii excluded, so the budget went where shipping paper made sense.
4. A bidding test before switching
In June 2018 we tested Maximize Conversions against the manual-bid Search campaign in a controlled experiment. The test arm returned about 3.6x, and July 2018 became one of the account's best months.
5. Ad assets
Sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets and a call asset on our campaigns, so every ad showed the product range and the store's contact options.
6. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
The campaigns were reviewed through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining, new negatives, bid changes and budget pacing.
The Results
The figures below are purchase revenue from Google Ads, our campaigns only.
- Total: $34K+ in ad revenue from 230+ orders, at about 3.4x.
- 2017 (March to December): $26K+ from 160+ orders.
- 2018 (April to August): $7.9K+ from 60+ orders.
- Best months: May and June 2017 brought in $5.5K+ each, about 8x what they cost. July 2018 brought in $5.5K+ from about 40 orders, at about 4.5x.
- Before us (October 2016 to February 2017): about $800 a month in ad revenue, at about 1x.
- With our campaigns: about $2.3K a month, at about 3.4x, on a smaller monthly budget.
- Search - LPA: $17K+ from 100+ orders, about 4.6x.
- Shopping - LPA: $15K+ from 100+ orders, about 2.7x.
Key Takeaways
- Bid on the words buyers use. "NCR paper" and "2 part carbonless paper" were two of the best keywords in the account. Product jargon is intent.
- Separate the big orders. Bulk packs in their own Shopping group get their own bids instead of sharing the average.
- Negatives are half the job. In a category named after a common word, keeping "carbon" searches out is what made the return possible.
- Test bidding before you switch. A controlled experiment showed the change was safe before it touched the whole budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Google Ads work for a niche office supply store?
They did for CarbonlessPaper.com. Before us the account returned about $1 in revenue for every $1 spent. Our Shopping and Search campaigns brought in $34K+ in ad revenue from 230+ orders at about 3.4x, February 2017 to August 2018.
Google Shopping or Search for a paper supplier?
Both, for different jobs. Here our Search campaign returned about 4.6x on exact product searches like NCR paper and 2-part carbonless paper, while Shopping brought in 100+ orders at about 2.7x by putting the product, pack size and price in front of buyers who were comparing.
How much revenue can a small Google Ads budget bring a B2B e-commerce store?
Our campaigns for CarbonlessPaper.com ran on about $700 a month for most of 2017. In May and June 2017 that budget brought in $5.5K+ in ad revenue each month, about 8x what it cost.
About This Campaign
Google Ads for an office supply store, built and managed with our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ optimization system. The engagement has ended.
Industry: E-Commerce (Office & Printing Supplies) Platforms: Google Ads (Shopping, Search) Location: Hudson, Ohio, shipping across the mainland US Account Duration: February 2017 to August 2018
Revenue and orders are Google Ads purchase conversions from the store's checkout tracking, our three campaigns only, rounded down. Calls and emails are not counted. "Before us" is the whole account from October 2016, when purchase tracking began, to February 2017. Campaigns were paused from January to March 2018. All amounts are in US dollars.