Rates Direct uses Google AdWords and serves 100,000 customers in its first year of operation
Rates Direct is an online financial services comparison website that enables users to receive comparative assessment of services in debt consolidation, home loans, credit and insurance, with financial advice and assistance in applying for services. Rates Direct’s business is focused on its website www.ratesdirect.co.za where users enter their requirements for the financial service they need a comparison on. Rates Direct get them the best deal and facilitate their application – the first point of contact is the website.
“My aim is to provide exceptional service,” says managing director of Rates Direct, Erez Atia. “I believe that service is the number one priority for business and this is very much the core focus of Rates Direct. We are also launching a shopping comparison site in the near future and service will be the cornerstone of this too.” Rates Direct needed a way to drive traffic to its website with effective marketing that would give potential clients a clear indication of what is being offered.
“The service we offer is free to the user and has been designed for ease of use and simplicity,” says Erez. “Rates Direct makes its money via agreements with financial institutions. What we needed was a way to market this to South Africans that could potentially benefit from our service.”
Internet for Internet
Erez says that it was decided to use Google AdWords as the exclusive marketing channel for Rates Direct. He had experience with Google’s advertising programme from his previous job in the Unites States.
“We launched Rates Direct in June 2007 and have been using AdWords since day one,” explains Erez. “We don’t use any other form of marketing. I believe that because Rates Direct is an online business it makes sense to market it online. Offline marketing may have its uses in terms of branding, but I don’t see any value in it.”
“If you compare the ROI offline to the ROI online, there is really no question of which is better; online wins every time. You are also able to adjust online campaigns more rapidly and as required,” he adds. “There are external factors that affect financial businesses in South Africa, such as interest rate. We adjust our AdWords campaigns during this time to either attract more or less traffic to the site, depending on what we need.”
Rapid growth
Using AdWords exclusively to drive traffic to the Rates Direct website has proven to be highly effective. Erez says that Rates Direct has enjoyed huge month-on-month growth over its first year of operation.
“The company grows at 450 percent a month, on average,” he says. “This is as a direct result of new users finding our website. In May 2008 we had 19,270 unique visitors to the site.” Erez says that the company has served over 100 000 customers in its first year of operation.
“Our click-through rate averages at just under three percent,” he says. “And occasionally rises to ten percent,” states Erez. “This is very good when compared to the average and we have achieved it through optimising our website for search results and also making the website clean and clutter-free.”
Constant monitoring
Erez says that Rates Direct used AdWords experts iLogic as their agency who assisted them in optimising its website for the best results, while maintaining the AdWords campaign on an ongoing basis.
Erez says that he uses Google Analytics to track the impact of his campaigns on AdWords and the performance of the Rates Direct website. “Analytics is a great tool. I’m more of a financial guy and not that into the technical side of things, but Analytics gives me the information I need to adjust our campaign as we go along, and monitor our traffic,” he says.
iLogic uses Analytics more extensively to monitor the campaign, along with geo-targeting to ensure that ads are only displayed for searches within the South African region.
“Google AdWords has been a massive part of our business from the start and will continue to be a focus into the future,” says Erez. “We are about to launch a retail comparison website and will once again use AdWords as the exclusive marketing channel.” By optimising its website and adjusting its Google AdWords campaign on an ongoing basis, Rates Direct has grown into a leading position in its industry.