You can’t assume that a PPV campaign conducted through one company will yield similar results if you should opt to try it with another. Different PPV companies can yield wildly different results. Let’s look at why we can’t generalize across companies and the impact this fact should have on the way you conduct your business.
First, different companies recruit their user bases in different ways. As a result, they produce radically different audiences that may have very different buying and response habits. While one company may convince people to download their adware in exchange for a free video game, another may “recruit” with savings opportunities on consumer items. While much of those two groups may overlap, their overall character would be quite different. Thus, an offer that might appeal to one company’s user base may fall on deaf ears when presented to another.
Second, PPV is a numbers game. Finally, results and their profitability can only be determined after a great deal of repetition. Thus, even small alterations in the value of key variables can have a significant overall impact after thousands upon thousands of incidences. No two PPV companies will yield identical bid prices across all URLs or keywords. Those variations in pricing will produce significantly different results.
Third, different companies have different rules regarding the presentation of advertisements. Some are served exclusively as pop-unders. Others may utilize popovers. The size of the ads may vary, as well. Those differences may seem slight, at first glance. However, when we multiply the distinctions out over several thousand views, differences in results will inevitably begin to emerge.
So, what works extremely well at TrafficVance may flop at Zango. We can’t safely assume that a successful or unsuccessful campaign conducted through one service will yield similar results with another.
What does this mean in terms of your business?
Initially, it justifies experimenting with multiple companies in an effort to discover the most profitable PPV option. Additionally, it reminds us to be cautious in assuming the scalability of any one campaign across multiple platforms.
If you’re only working with one option and you aren’t getting the desired results, it may make sense to try your PPV strategy with one or two other companies before giving up on it.
Otherwise, you could be passing on a profitable campaign.
If you have a successful campaign, you shouldn’t pop the cork on your champagne the moment you decide to expand your reach via an additional company. Your winning PPV campaign could be a complete dud when moved to another service.
The bottom line: PPV companies are different and they produce different results. Assuming that “they’re all the same” is a mistake that could have a significant negative impact on your marketing business.