Restaurant Marketing Case Study: "Near Me" Search Pays Off
June 26, 2019
One of the most valuable paid search phrases is the type of food you serve plus “near me”. Here’s how that search brought new diners to an Atlanta BBQ restaurant.
In this short case study, we’d like to show you why it’s valuable to target “near me” searches for your restaurant.
These types of searches are really common for restaurants, where mobile and voice search dominates. It’s not hard to understand why.
If I’m hungry for Thai food and want to find a restaurant nearby, the natural thing to do is query Google: Thai food near me.
We’ve found that these searches lend themselves well to the paid search channel because you can use modified broad phrase match to target them (meaning that if people include the food type + near + me in any phrase or order it will trigger the ad).
Here’s that keyword at work for the BBQ restaurant:
That’s a 51.58% conversion rate. The conversion rate for the actual name of the business is 26.32%. Near me is a high intent search.
This excellent ad copy also helps, generating a 50.98% conversion rate:
What we also noted for this business is that by optimizing for near me searches, the business is getting leads they weren’t getting before.
In the 60 days since starting this campaign, they gained 91 leads (the leads are primary mobile click to call) over the previous 60 days. This one channel alone accounted for 54% of their overall gain, which was 600 leads compared to 434.
Also, keep in mind this type of search is bringing new, first-time diners. This is that initial experience that gets them in the door and provides the opportunity to turn them into regulars.
The cost per lead for this campaign is $11.34, which is really low compared to what they can make off the lifetime value of a customer. Excellent ROI.
This BBQ joint has been in business for over 50 years, so they know how to keep them coming back. Now they also know a low-cost way to get them there in the first place.
And so do you.
*Results are based on past client performance. Individual account performance may vary. Results are not guaranteed.