EasyJet partnered with OMD and Google to launch a mobile advertising campaign targeting high-end phone users searching for last-minute flights on Google. The campaign saw clickthrough rates up to 6 times higher on mobile and delivered an 11:1 return on investment. Given these promising results, EasyJet plans to further optimize mobile search campaigns and develop a mobile version of its website.

1. “The campaign has confirmed that there is a
strong demand for mobile internet – and it’s
increasing at a substantial rate.”
—Katie Stitson, marketing manager, easyJet
“The activity highlighted the importance of
developing a mobile strategy now, because
mobile search is growing at a faster pace than
desktop search did at a similar stage in its
development.”
—Hayley Spence, search director, OMD
easyJet has turned creating new efficiencies into a fine art. Despite a continual
squeeze on margins across the aviation industry, the company − which expects
to carry 50 million passengers in 2010 − manages to refine its operations year on
year to give passengers some of the best prices available for airline travel.
Given the company’s focus on efficiency, easyJet has taken full advantage of
Google AdWords, with the support of the search team at media agency OMD UK
over recent years to drive ticket sales. In that time, the agency has enabled easyJet
to maximise ROI from paid-for listings through a range of keyword campaigns.
Hayley Spence, search director at OMD, says: “Ever since we began working with
Google, search campaigns have always met our cost-per-seat targets.”
Katie Stitson, marketing manager at easyJet, says: “We’ve had phenomenal
success by partnering with OMD and Google. Search has enabled us to react
incredibly quickly whenever new marketing opportunities have arisen.”
easyJet chooses mobile ads to ensure continued success
At the heart of each campaign’s success has been the unrivalled popularity of
desktop-based search using Google. Still, in spite of desktop traffic remaining
high, OMD began to see a rapidly expanding audience in the UK using Google on
their high-end devices such as the iPhone, Android phones and the Palm Pre, all
of which give users full internet browsers. Not just this, latest figures predicted
mobile internet adoption would leap to 39 per cent among European consumers
by 20141
and mobile would be at least twice the size of desktop-based internet2
.
It seemed clear that OMD should start developing an effective mobile strategy for
the airline. “The data proved that mobile search could be an effective channel for
advertisers,” says Hayley.
Katie adds: “This was a chance to establish a water-tight business case for
funding mobile activity.”
Mobile ads attracts business travellers
OMD worked with Google to launch an easyJet campaign using Google Adwords
to target owners of high-end phones. It meant easyJet appeared at the top of
the paid-for listings whenever users searched Google on their smartphones
with certain keywords. The activity was largely aimed at business travellers
using their devices for last-minute flights to UK cities, and terms focused on
popular domestic routes. OMD expected participants to be regular flyers, so
the ads linked to the main easyJet.com website rather than a site designed for
mobile users. It believed that this audience would cope better with navigating the
website on a mobile device.
The results from the promotion were tracked by DoubleClick’s DART for
Advertisers technology. Ashwin Khanchandani, search manager at OMD, says:
“We used our results to optimise the campaign − which is still on-going − as
time went by. Our findings suggest that the people who use Google for search on
their mobiles also use Google on their desktops. It’s safe to say that brands will
need to include paid-for search on mobiles as well as desktops in the future as
high-end phones become increasingly popular.”
easyJet sees search on high-end phones taking
off with Google mobile advertising
Google Case Study
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All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
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Mobile delivers six times greater clickthrough on non-brand terms
The activity showed that mobile search delivers a higher clickthrough rate (CTR) for
non-brand terms compared with campaigns on desktops. Hayley says: “When we
looked at the results, we saw that CTRs were up to six times higher on mobile.” The
same results also showed that the campaign delivered an ROI ratio of 11:1, giving
easyJet an £11 return for every £1 spent. Comments Hayley: “What we saw was
incredibly promising for the future of mobile search. The activity highlighted the
importance of developing a mobile strategy now, because mobile search is growing
at a faster pace than desktop search did at a similar stage in its development.”
Apart from the significant ROI, the promotion also confirmed that mobile
search tends to occur at the later stages of the buying cycle. OMD found that a
significantly higher number of flights purchased after mobile searches departed
within 10 days of the booking compared with purchases based on desktop
searches. Ashwin says: “We found that 38 per cent of bookings on mobiles were
for flights that departed within 10 days, while with desktops it’s about 13 per cent.”
He continues: “With this insight, we plan to increase conversion rates still further
by directing people to pages where they can see prices for upcoming flights
rather than to the homepage or pages with destination information.”
Great results give green light to mobile site development
According to Katie, the exercise justified her belief in mobile search and gave
her a strong business case for future mobile search activity. She says: “The
campaign has confirmed that there is a strong demand for mobile internet
– and it’s increasing at a substantial rate.” The results will definitely have an
impact on the future of the brand’s online development. Katie says: “After the
success of Google mobile ads, we now plan to develop a mobile version of our
new easyJet.com website.”
1. Forrester Research
2. Morgan Stanley
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