ROI of the Return Visitor

PPC managers are driven by ROI.  We manage all facets of paid search to measurable return on investment.  If a keyword or adgroup fails to perform to a specific ROI, it risks elimination from the campaign. 

Personally, I spend hours per day immersed in Analytics data evaluating every element of my clients' campaigns.  I love to uncover the story of the data, especially the story of the Return Visitor.

Using Analytics' "visitor type" attribution, I can assess whether a keyword that appears to be under-performing actually just needs more time to deliver.   Let's say my client's visitor ratio is typically 75% New vs. 25% Return.  Using the "site usage" tab, I identify keywords with bounce rates or time on site metrics that are weaker than the site average.  By drilling into each keyword and selecting "visitor type" from the Dimension drop-down, I can see how many of the visits attributed to the keyword are return visitors. If the return visitor metrics for time on site, pages viewed, and ROI, are acceptable, the keyword is preserved.  If not, it is removed - but only after it has been active for an amount of time equivalent to the typical conversion cycle for the particular client.

It is imperative that we understand the average buying cycle for our client's products and be aware of the impact that the return visitor has on transactions and revenue.  The following image illustrates that even though return visitors for this particular client only represent 25% of visits this past month, they have driven 79% of revenue.  (click on image for larger version)