![\"\"](\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IBIZA-PA-237-1024x829.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>![\"How](\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/CUPRA-BORN-122-1024x921.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nWe spoke with Corinne Calcabrina<\/a>, Global Media Manager at SEAT S.A, Sophie Santallusia<\/a>, Global Paid Search and Programmatic Director, and Alejandro Sebastian<\/a>, Global Search Team Lead at PHD Media Spain to discuss the \u2018Performance innovation program\u2019 (SEAT S.A\u2019s testing model) and its value add to the businesses.<\/p>\n Digital is a fast-moving sector and search<\/a> is always reinventing itself with new formats and everchanging ways to create and manage accounts. The teams at SEAT and CUPRA had several pain points:<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed to become first movers who actively capitalize on opportunities that appear. To ensure this our teams needed to take advantage of search space dynamics, apply best practices, and gain a technological and intelligence edge over the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Corinne Calcabrina, Global Media Manager at SEAT S.A.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cWhile we were putting all these efforts, we wanted to improve our team\u2019s visibility. While we are busy becoming the best performing channel, always reinventing, working towards results and efficiencies, we often miss the glitter of other channels. Adding an official scope and framework means we get to report and showcase our achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Corinne Calcabrina, Global Media Manager, SEAT S.A.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cAs the best performing channel on a last-click attribution model, we were also facing multiple challenges. The pandemic lockdowns and microchip shortages made search performance improvements a constant, ongoing must-have. This meant decreasing the cost per click (CPC) and improving the cost per acquisition (CPA) were always core reasons to develop such a testing model.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Corinne Calcabrina, Global Media Manager, SEAT S.A<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The SEAT S.A testing model, \u2018Performance innovation program\u2019 was designed to align with the inherent love for innovation that runs at the core of SEAT and CUPRA brands. The testing model was built centrally to maintain brand focus on the strength of paid search \u2013 improving cost efficiencies and accelerating performance.<\/p>\n Corinne and her team at SEAT S.A and their agency, PHD Media reviewed brand strategies for SEAT and CUPRA respectively, their performance, and local needs. They created a framework that provides structure, helps the brands expand their market share, and deliver central visibility on the testing results. They created specific testing roadmaps, based on quarterly goals that align with local markets based on their needs and strategies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe then applied our tests, sharing the hypothesis (highlighting results from other markets) of what we hope to achieve and then applying the test into the main strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a clear timeline and roadmap. We always test and learn. This allows us to have a specific position with partners, allowing us to always be part of the alphas and betas, testing new formats, always trying to improve results at the same time\u201d, Corinne shared.<\/p>\n To facilitate consistency the SEAT S.A team organized tests throughout the year pacing one test at a time for an ad group or campaign to maintain efficiency and gain clear observations. The roadmap was created on these factors:<\/p>\n SEAT S.A and PHD Media started differentiating strategies by keyword type and defined them for each ad group. Keywords<\/a> were segmented based on brand and non-brand search, their role, and their respective KPIs. This data was then used during the auction bidding. Artificial intelligence (AI)<\/a> was used to segment audiences and target ads that were top of the funnel. Comparative insights from these tests were later fed into the business to inform the direction of strategy.<\/p>\n To improve the click through rate (CTR) and lower CPCs, the SEAT S.A team focused on adding visuals to ads, improving ad-copies, and testing new extensions. They also decreased CPAs by using bid strategies and the system\u2019s AI to get the best of their budgets.<\/p>\n To master their visual impact on audiences SEAT S.A used image extensions for each ad across all their campaigns. Google displayed these images based on multiple factors like clicks, content, and keyword triggers to optimize the best performing ones.<\/p>\n From a data point of view, in Search SEAT S.A used Google Search Ads (SA360) to manage and monitor their Google Ads and Bing Ads respectively. The data sets tracked all the core essentials of paid search:<\/p>\n The \u2018Performance innovation program\u2019 model has helped SEAT and CUPRA achieve one of their best tests which catalyzed their search performance in terms of the cost per visit (CPV), one of their main KPIs that signaled top of the funnel conversions. The cost per visit (CPV) improved by 30% and cost per acquisition (CPA) improved by 37%.<\/p>\n SEAT S.A (SEAT and CUPRA) are now equipped with new ways to deduce and analyze conversions on a market-to-market basis.<\/p>\n After completing the testing phase, the SEAT S.A team and their global partner PHD Media reported on results and observations. Sharing their learnings and insights with other markets has empowered other teams to benefit from the knowledge and expertise derived from the successful test prototypes. Focusing on components that drive results has allowed the teams spread across to be challenged and has facilitated constant learning while embracing changes and new features. The SEAT and CUPRA teams are now strongly positioned to outperform the competition.<\/p>\n Going cookie less will bring challenging times and impact the search channel. SEAT and CUPRA plan to counter this with the use of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to maintain performance and target the right audience. Opening up to new visual formats like Discovery campaigns and MMA\/MSAN from Bing will also take an important place within search in the future, as the core of search might evolve with more automation, less granularity and control.<\/p>\n The team is testing \u2018consent mode\u2019 with GA4 and \u2018enhanced conversion\u2019 to estimate the attrition due to privacy guidelines. They are also focused on identifying and designing a risk contingency plan for the paid search elements that they won’t be able to test in the near future.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are testing all the new solutions and features that Google is bringing to the market in terms of privacy and cookie less capabilities. Particularly, our testing is focused on deploying the full suite of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), site-wide tagging, consent mode, and enhanced conversions.<\/p>\n Additionally, we are also testing new audience segments that GA4 allows within a privacy first ecosystem on our paid search campaigns. We are seeing some positive and promising results.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Corinne Calcabrina, Global Media Manager at SEAT S.A<\/p><\/blockquote>\n SEAT S.A and PHD Media are actively focused on Google solutions for mapping markets and audiences that are privacy compliant and applicable for targeting segments.<\/p>\n They are also working towards gathering and connecting first party data like CRM audiences and customer match solutions.<\/p>\n Subscribe to the\u00a0Search Engine Watch newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for insights on SEO, the search landscape, search marketing, digital marketing, leadership, podcasts, and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n Join the conversation with us on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you wouldn\u2019t buy a car without test driving it, why apply a search marketing strategy without testing it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":688,"featured_media":143927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28164,27694],"tags":[26462,151,28165,27148,470,27215,4179,28121,12364,28167,28166,647,28120,46,27314,1119,1111],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-143926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-study","category-roi-marketing","tag-ad-text-optimization","tag-ai","tag-audience-groups","tag-automated-image-optimization","tag-automation","tag-bid-automation","tag-case-study","tag-cookie-death","tag-customer-relationship-management-crm","tag-google-analytics-4-ga4","tag-google-search-ads-sa360","tag-keyword-grouping","tag-paid-search-marketing","tag-search-marketing","tag-smart-bidding","tag-strategy","tag-testing"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":"Independent","tad_content_format":"Case Study"},"post_info":{"name":"Kamaljeet Kalsi","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/How-a-testing-model-is-driving-SEAT-and-CUPRAs-search-marketing-performance-scaled.jpg","category":"Case Study","timeago":"4y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143926"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=143926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A fast-paced industry<\/h2>\n
1. Staying on-top of all innovations and changes in the industry<\/h3>\n
2. Improving visibility of the team\u2019s hard work<\/h3>\n
3. Maintaining performance and improving efficiency<\/h3>\n
Putting testing in the driver seat: The SEAT and CUPRA Performance innovation program<\/h2>\n
\n
The search marketing grand prix: data, automation, and visual optimization<\/h2>\n
\n
Outcomes<\/h2>\n
Sharing intelligence across diverse markets<\/h3>\n
Gearing up for a cookie less future<\/h2>\n
Greater focus on measurement and a privacy-first future<\/h3>\n
\n