18 Uplifting PPC Statistics & Success Stories for Small Businesses

Was your business born and raised on the East Coast? Or, did you transplant herewhen you realized how much nicer it is? (Just kidding. But not really.)

Whether you're a northeastern native or you just want some darn PPC statistics, we've got some uplifting stories and data just for you. These stats and successes show how beneficial a smart PPC strategy can be for any small business. If you've never worked with PPC or Google AdWords before, you may benefit from hiring a pay per click advertising agency for best results.

Let's start with some success stories, and then we'll share some awesome PPC statistics.

Success Story #1: How AdWords Impacted a Pennsylvanian Small Business

Google has offices in every state, though we're obviously excited to see the impact of Google's services on local Pennsylvania businesses. In Google's 2011 Economic Impact Report, there's a case study on a business located in King of Prussia, PA. In case you didn't know, King of Prussia is about half an hour from Philadelphia and houses the largest mall (by square foot) in America. 

It's also home to Quench, a business founded by entrepreneurs in the mid-2000s. This group of savvy businessmen were distraught by the environmental impact of traditional five-gallon water coolers, so they set out to create a green alternative. The result was a bottleless water cooler with little to no environmental impact.

They were doing alright... until 2009, when they decided to ramp up their marketing with Google AdWords. From 2009 to 2011, Quench experienced these results:

• 100% growth in revenue
• 75% increase in employee base
• Increased operations from 15 local markets to 35 of the top 50 U.S. markets
• 2/3 of all Quench's sales now come from the Internet

In general, they experienced massive business growth and ROI with the adoption of sponsored search advertising. 

What about New York? Success Story #2

Although p80 is based in Pennsylvania, a lot of our clients are located in New York. For our New Yorker friends, here's your local AdWords success story! (Sorry, other states. To find your own state's success story, check out the full 2011 Economic Impact Report.)

Butterfield Market and Catering is a family owned and run grocery store based in New York, New York. Founded in 1915, they have a rich history of influential customers - including the Rockefeller family! Despite this, the business has remained a small, friendly neighborhood business for a century. 

In 2008, they fixed up their website and started using AdWords. In 2010 alone, they saw 35-40% growth and expanded to support 50 full-time employees. Aside from the grocery store itself, the Butterfield name now encompasses a catering division and a bakery. 

You can read about stories like these from small businesses in all 50 states. Those who take advantage of what AdWords has to offer experience huge growth and success.

If you're already using AdWords and aren't seeing great results, check out this PPC checklist to find out what you're missing. If you're not using AdWords right now, here's a checklist that will help you figure out if you need assistance from a PPC advertising agency. 

18 Fantastic PPC Statistics

How can all businesses benefit from PPC? What makes pay per click advertising so incredibly successful - whether it's through AdWords, video, or social media sponsored advertising? Here are some great PPC statistics that will make your day.

1. From the success stories above:
   • Quench experienced a 100% growth in revenue over three years of AdWords use
   • Butterfield Marketing & Catering experienced 35-40% overall growth in 2010 with the help of AdWords
2. Businesses make an average of $2 in income for every $1 they spend in AdWords. (Google)
   
   
3. 46% of people can't identify paid ads on the search results page. (Wordstream)
   
   
4. On average, 41% of clicks go to the top 3 paid ads on the search results page. (Wordstream)
   
   
5. For high commercial intent searches (someone looking to buy a product) paid ads get 65% of all clicks. (Wordstream)
   
   
6. The average click through rate for an ad in the first position is 7.94%. An average click through rate is 2%. (AccuraCast)
   
   
7. PPC visitors are 50% more likely to purchase something than organic visitors. (Unbounce)
   
   
8. 65% of B2B companies have acquired a customer through LinkedIn paid ads. (HubSpot)
   
   
9. One company increased their PPC ROI by 2.5 times with Facebook remarketing. (AdRoll)
   
   
10. Search ads can increase brand awareness by 80%. (Google)
    
    
11. 75% of people who find local, helpful information in search results are more likely to visit the physical stores. (Google)
    
    
12. Terra Organics attributes 25% of their new customers to their targeted search campaigns. (Google)
    
    
13. Display advertising has proven to increase traffic to websites by 300%. (Visually)
    
    
14. There are at least 300,000 mobile apps currently serving Google Mobile Ads. (Creative Roots Marketing)
    
    
15. 43% of new customers buy something they saw in a YouTube ad. (Contently)
    
    
16. In 2014, Google's ad click through rates increased by 20% across the board. That means more results for your dollars. (Adobe)
    
    
17. Social and mobile gaming video ads have a 91% viewing completion rate. (CMO)
    
    
18. Consumers are 27 times more likely to click through online video ads than standard banners. (CMO) 

As you can see, PPC advertising in all forms is great for businesses of all sizes and locations. To see how your PPC campaigns stack up against best practices, download this checklist.

If you're looking for more statistics, here are some on CTAs, lead nurturing, and the buyer's journey.