You got the click. Now what?
As a quick refresher, last week I went through why your cost per click keeps inflating. A lot of it comes down to AI answering questions before people click, and whether your brand is known enough to be in the running at all.
All of that is about earning the click. Today I want to pick up from the moment you get it. Say your brand gets you seen, your ad earns the click, and the customer lands on your page.
The experience you give your customer is the one part of this whole process you fully control. You can't control what AI answers for free, or how many others show up to compete, but everything after someone arrives is yours.
The page they land on, how easy you make things for them, whether you follow up and give them a reason to come back. Their experience is what decides whether any of the spend was worth it.
A better experience turns more of your visitors into customers, and it also helps in a way that's easy to miss. Your page feeds directly into Google's Quality Score, and a strong one earns a lower cost per click, while a poor one can cost you more for the same spot. So getting this end right means each click is worth more and costs you less at the same time.
None of this is new thinking, and that's sort of the point. As the click gets more expensive, the fundamentals only get more important.
Most people won't buy on the first visit, so the experience has to earn the right to a second one. Capturing an email, building a reason to return, and moving someone into a nurture sequence is where a single expensive click turns into a relationship worth far more than the click itself.
That's the real answer to rising ad costs. The businesses protecting their margins are the ones getting more out of every person who arrives, and they treat this end with the same care they give the spend that got someone there in the first place.
Have you noticed your cost per click creeping up, or seen AI change how people find you? Hit reply and let me know, I'd be interested to hear what you've been seeing.
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This is taken from the weekly email written by one of our directors, Roberto Boi. Every Thursday he shares observations, ideas and perspectives from the work we’re doing day to day at Dilate. If you’d like to get it delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up here.
