Challenges

1. Highly Competitive Market: The AML/KYC software space is dominated by established multinational companies with large budgets, making it difficult for new entrants to stand out.

2. Specific Audience Targeting: Reaching decision-makers in financial services, real estate, and legal sectors.

3. Complex Value Proposition: Effectively communicating the benefits of First AML’s solutions to differentiate from competitors.

4. Market Expansion: Understanding and penetrating the UK and other international markets with distinct regulatory and business requirements while strengthening presence in New Zealand and Australia.

5. Tracking and Analytics: Ensuring accurate tracking of user behaviour and conversions across multiple regions.

Strategy

To address these challenges, we developed a highly targeted and optimised Google Ads campaign. Following the completion of a comprehensive audit, the strategy included:

1. Keyword Research and Selection

- Identified relevant, high-intent keywords.

- Worked collaboratively with the First AML team to align their content with key phrases.

- Identified negative keywords to exclude unrelated traffic.

2. Targeting

- Focused on major cities in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Singapore and the UAE. 

- Implemented campaigns for regions with emerging market opportunities, adapting to country-specific regulatory requirements. This included leveraging global audience segments for financial services and compliance professionals.

- Used in-market, custom affinity and detailed demographic audiences to reach relevant financial services, real estate, and legal professionals. 

- Remarketing audiences were used to re-engage previous visitors and drive leads in different regions.

3. Ad Copy Optimisation

- We worked closely with the team to tailor messaging to large-scale compliance needs emphasising regulatory alignment with specific compliance laws.

- Compelling ad copy emphasised:

  - Time-saving and efficiency benefits

  - Compliance with regional regulations (New Zealand, Australian, UK, and other international markets)

- Utilised a range of call-to-action phrases.

- The best performing ad copy was used to inform landing page enhancements and provided direction for other marketing activities.

4. Landing Page Optimisation

- Landing pages were defined closely with First AML to include:

  - A clear value proposition

  - Easy-to-digest sections highlighting features and benefits

  - Trust signals, including case studies/testimonials and user reviews

  - Prominent "Book a Demo" and "Phone Call" calls-to-action

5. Performance Tracking and Optimisation

- Updated Google Analytics tracking to ensure accurate measurement of user behaviour and performance metrics across campaigns.

- Coordinated the implementation of enhanced conversion tracking to capture precise lead data and attribution.

- Created a custom dashboard to allow the client to view core analytics and ad performance metrics at any time.

- Monitored campaigns weekly and adjusted:

  - Keywords

  - Ad copy

  - Bids for high and low-performing keywords

  - Budgets

 - Campaign targeting and audience adjustments

Results

Over 2 years, the Google Ads activity delivered impressive outcomes:

- CTR: Increased by 120.7%.

- Conversion Rate: Increased by 443.3% conversion rate.

- Qualified Leads: Total conversion increased by 70.6% and qualified leads increased by 159.2% across all active markets.

- Strengthened brand positioning in New Zealand, Australia and the UK markets, with a 47% increase in website sessions and a 37% increase in new users in 2024.

- Helped lay the groundwork for international expansion, identifying opportunities in additional global markets.

- Improved tracking accuracy with updated Google Analytics and conversion tracking, allowing for data-driven decision-making.

 The results of the Google Ads management highlighted the importance of precise targeting and consistent optimisation. By focusing on New Zealand, Australian and UK businesses in need of AML/KYC software solutions, First AML successfully expanded its customer base and reinforced its market presence. This case study exemplifies how a well-executed digital advertising strategy can drive significant business growth and ROI in a competitive industry.