Campaign Optimization Guide
This guide explains how advertisers can optimize performance in Audiohook’s platform. Campaign optimizations can be automatic—based on your KPI goal and system-level adjustments—or manual, where you make targeted updates based on performance data.
1. Before You Optimize
Optimizations work best once your campaign has collected enough data. Wait until you’ve reached a statistically meaningful volume (e.g., several days or a few thousand impressions) before making adjustments.
Use reporting data to identify what’s working:
- Impressions – Indicates overall delivery.
- Completes – Helps evaluate listen-through rate.
- Total Cost – Tracks total spend
- Conversions – Shows total attributed actions such as purchases, leads, or visits. (Must add conversion type to the report to break events out)
- Total Conversion Value – Measures purchase conversion values
You can calculate key performance metrics like:
- Completion Rate = Completes ÷ Impressions
- Cost per Conversion = Total Cost ÷ Conversions
- ROAS = Total Conversion Value ÷ Total Cost
2. Setting a KPI Goal
If your website has the Audiohook tracking tag implemented, you can select a KPI goal to enable automated optimizations. The system will automatically adjust bids and shift delivery toward higher-performing inventory that best meets your goal.
Available goals:
- Sales (Purchase Events) – For eCommerce or direct-response campaigns
- Leads – For form submissions or sign-ups
- Website Visits – For pageviews or landing page visits
- Custom Event – Choose another tracked event from your Audiohook tag
If the tracking tag is not installed, the only available goal is Brand Awareness, and automated optimizations are not available.
To set a KPI goal:
- Open your campaign.
- Select your Goal Type from the available options.
- Enter your KPI Target (e.g., Cost per Pageview = $0.50).
- Save your settings.
Audiohook’s system will automatically apply dynamic bid modifiers and prioritize higher-performing placements to improve efficiency.
Optimization Strategy Tip:
- Start with realistic KPI targets based on historical data.
- Avoid setting goals too aggressively early on, which can restrict delivery and slow optimization.
3. Setting a Frequency Goal
Frequency goals help control how often a single listener hears your ad. This ensures balanced exposure and improves listener experience while maintaining recall.
To set a frequency goal:
- In your campaign settings, navigate to the Optimization section.
- Enter how many times each listener should hear your ad during the campaign (e.g., 3).
- Save your settings.
Audiohook will both limit overexposure and re-engage listeners strategically within your set frequency.
Optimization Strategy Tip:
- Awareness campaigns: Aim for 2–4 exposures per listener.
- Performance-driven campaigns: Consider 5–7 exposures to drive action.
4. Adding Bid Modifiers
Bid modifiers let you fine-tune bidding beyond the system’s automatic adjustments. You can increase or decrease bids for certain targeting conditions such as region, device type, genre, or time of day.
For more details on how to create a bid modifier, see the full Bid Modifier Guide
To add a bid modifier:
- Navigate to the Optimization section of your campaign.
- Click Upload under Bid Modifier.
- Preview the first 10 lines of the uploaded modifier.
- Save your changes.
Optimization Strategy Tip:
- Increase bids where you see higher conversion rates or completion rates.
- Decrease bids on segments with low performance or high cost per conversion.
- Combine with dayparting to adjust bids during strong performing hours.
5. Using Dayparting
Dayparting lets you control when your ads run by day of week and hour of day, allowing you to align delivery with listener behavior.
To set dayparting:
- Open your campaign and go to the Targeting section, then select Dayparting.
- Choose the days and hours you want your ad to run. Use the clock icons to select the times rather than typing them.
- Save your changes.
Optimization Strategy Tip:
- Use reporting data to identify peak performance times and focus delivery there.
- Avoid restricting too many hours or days, as this can reduce reach and pacing.
- Use bid optimizers instead to change the bid amounts for dayparting so you don’t have to stop spend altogether
6. Manual Optimizations
Even with automated optimizations, manual management helps fine-tune campaign performance.
Common manual optimization strategies:
Strategy | Description | Example |
Switch from underperforming creatives | Prevent spend on ads with low completion or conversion rates | Switch creative with a low listen-through rate |
Reallocate budget | Move budget from weaker to stronger campaigns | Shift budget from awareness to retargeting campaign |
Adjust bids manually | Raise bids slightly on top-performing genres or publishers | +10% bid on “Sports” genre if conversions are strong |
Test new creatives | Refresh ad copy or voice to improve engagement | Introduce a new 15s version for better completion |
Expand or refine targeting | Adjust targeting if delivery is limited | Add additional genres or regions to increase scale |
Best Practice:
Make one major change at a time and allow enough time to gather post-change performance data before making further adjustments.
7. Reviewing and Iterating
Optimization is an ongoing process. After making changes:
- Monitor performance metrics (e.g., Cost per Conversion, Completion Rate).
- Compare results before and after your adjustments.
- Continue refining goals and modifiers based on data trends.
Tip: Regularly exporting or recording weekly performance snapshots helps track optimization impact over time.
8. Common Optimization Mistakes
Issue | Description | Solution |
No tracking tag installed | Automated optimizations unavailable | Implement the Audiohook tracking tag to enable KPI goal optimization |
Too narrow dayparting | Restricts delivery opportunities | Widen hours or reduce day exclusions |
Frequency goal too low | Reduces effectiveness of message recall | Increase exposure frequency slightly |
Bid modifiers stacked too aggressively | Reduced bids across multiple segments | Review and rebalance total bid adjustments |
✅ Summary
- Use KPI Goals for automated optimization when tracking is available.
- Leverage Frequency Goals, Bid Modifiers, and Dayparting for fine control.
- Combine automated and manual optimizations for best performance.
- Review data regularly and iterate thoughtfully to maintain efficiency and growth.