Sailing towards an optimised bidding strategy with Google’s DV360

Fjord Line is known for its affordable trips to Norway during the summer’s peak season. But despite reasonable prices, the brand still felt the impact of inflation and economic uncertainty in the country.

It became even more essential to attract potential travellers efficiently. Therefore, we implemented custom bidding in Display & Video 360 (DV360) to target the right audience and maximise conversions.

Being a part of the Google Marketing Platform, DV360 helps create and optimise display advertising campaigns. With its custom bidding, we optimised bidding strategies for Fjord Line’s digital campaigns to leverage the most value from the advertising budget. 

To further enhance results, we tested DV360’s new goal builder tool, which allows us to maximise conversions in custom bidding without programming a custom script. We aimed to generate 10% more conversions with this solution than standard bidding methods. 

Utilising the goal builder, we devised a method to test custom bidding on qualitative website traffic. To compare its results with the usual ‘maximise conversions’ strategy (as a baseline), we set up an A/B test in DV360.

This campaign leveraged Fjord Line’s data and Google solutions to create innovative bidding setups. 

Through A/B experimentation, we objectively measured the findings of the goal builder in custom bidding. It proved its effectiveness by successfully achieving better results with the same budget. 

We also saw a significant increase in qualitative website traffic, especially in the Bergen region (Norway). These solid numbers provide enough reason to reapply the custom bidding strategy for future campaigns. 

• 21% more conversions with the goal builder in custom bidding.
• 3% higher conversion rate compared to the baseline.
• 15% lower cost per action (CPA).