How to structure my AdWords campaign for testing and different groups of keywords?

Question

I am starting an AdWords campaigns and I will measure conversion rates using the AdWords conversion tracking pixel.

Conversion might be account creation or a concrete sale.

As it will be a test campaign to have some insights on CTR, CR, etc... on the future, I am likely to try several configurations:

• Two different ads with different landing URL and messages: one with a focus on the product / the other will contains a discount embedded in the URL.
• 4 different groups or themes of keywords.

I guess I have to

• build 4 ads groups based on the keywords
• 2 ads with the different messages
• assign the two ads to each ads groups
• follow the campaign precisely in the ads tabs where I can see the effectiveness of each Ads per Ads Groups (for a total of 8 lines of reporting)

Also, what are the key performance indicators that I can have from an AdWords campaign to measure global effectiveness?

• measure of return on investment from concrete sales (tracking pixel with e-commerce tag on confirmation page)
• measure o return on investment from leads acquisition (tracking pixel on account creation)
• measure of traffic increase with the campaign

Answer 1

I would use a different AdGroup for each landing page or each theme, just as you suggest. Google's AdGroup documentation says:

We recommend that you create a separate ad group for each theme such as for each product you offer (like wedding catering and party catering), selling points (like free consultation and gourmet menus), or ways to describe your business (like caterer and on-site food service). The ads and keywords in each ad group should directly relate to that group's theme.

As far as measuring goes, assign a dollar value to everything:

• Track concrete sales and assign the profit dollar value from that sale (ignoring the cost of AdWords)
• Figure out the value of a lead acquisition. Assign AdWords the value that you would expect to pay for an acquisition from other channels.

With these figures in hand, compare how much you are spending to how much value you are getting. Adjust your bids such that you are not bidding above this value. In my experience, you do best when you bit at 70% to 90% of what you expect take make. So for example, if you can make $0.50 per visitor from AdWords, then a bid of $0.38 would be reasonable.

I tend not to assign much value to increased traffic itself. If two bids will yield the same traffic but one has higher volume, I will tend to use the higher volume as the tie breaker.