How Betterment Refined Ad Strategy with a Custom Bidding Script

Turning leads into conversions isn’t easy for any marketer – especially when using the product can represent a lifetime commitment. Automated investing platform Betterment positions itself as a “long-term investing platform,” according to CMO Kim Rosenblum. Its primary offering is direct-to-consumer, but it also has B2B products and a 401k platform, so potential users often spend more time considering their options before signing up compared with its “more transactional” competitors, Rosenblum said. To help reach and convert that audience more efficiently, Betterment has been working with media and tech consultancy AdSwerve as its programmatic partner since 2019. Over the past few years, the partnership has expanded. AdSwerve now manages SA360 campaigns and programmatic for all three of Betterment’s business lines, and recently developed a custom bidding script to further improve Betterment’s digital ad performance. That work continues as Betterment faced an unrelated challenge last week when a hacker breached the app’s systems to send a fraudulent message about cryptocurrency attempting to trick users into sending funds. The unauthorized access involved third-party software platforms, rather than Betterment’s own infrastructure, per a statement released January 12. Betterment did not share any additional comment. Flipping the script One of the first things AdSwerve noticed was that a lot of Betterment’s leads were fizzling out rather than converting. Because Betterment focuses on long-term investing, its audience looks different from the typical investor who might just be “dabbling in investing or self-directed,” said Rosenblum. A custom script can account for that distinction so that Betterment can identify and reach people who are looking for a longer-term financial partner. The script uses custom floodlight variables, which are data parameters like product category and deposit type, to score impressions based on predicted impact so that advertisers are bidding on the inventory likely to perform best. Before developing the script, AdSwerve analyzed Betterment’s historical data to determine what improvements could be made, like revising the creative or running on different content themes. It took about a week to write the custom script, which is running in Google’s DV360. For now, that is the only DSP where AdSwerve has deployed the custom bidding script, using it to rank conversions type by value. For example, if someone takes an action, like making a deposit, that’s more valuable than a simple click. The algorithm within the script ranks the performance of each conversion type so AdSwerve knows which audience to target. Betterment tested the script before officially launching it, said Megan Folkmann, AdSwerve’s manager of media services, so that it could see at what point in the “learning phase” AdSwerve’s bidding surpassed Google’s automated bidding. They ran A/B tests to track conversion rates, clicks and reach, with an emphasis on reach. “I want to make sure that we have the ability to broaden our reach,” said Folkmann, rather than “just pummeling the same users over and over until they convert.” Expect the unexpected The best tactics for generating conversions weren’t always what the Betterment team expected. Custom bidding has been a helpful way to “actually check yourself on your assumptions versus what the actual data is saying,” said Matthew Prager, Betterment’s senior director of performance and brand marketing. For instance, Prager and Rosenblum both expected that larger ad units on a webpage would outperform small mobile ad units because, as Rosenblum put it, small units often don’t “deliver a big message.” But the data didn’t always reflect that. AdSwerve’s results showed that the most effective ad format depends on where someone is in the buying journey. As part of a retargeting program, for instance, something small like a mobile banner can be “super effective,” Rosenblum said. Seeing what she calls “the whole context” has changed her perspective on which ad units can create value, like the not-so-lowly mobile banner. Before looking at the data from AdSwerve, Rosenblum said, “I would have also been like, meh, that’s clutter.”