The Johnson Group announced that its digital team has effectively applied Google Amp technology as a way to increase conversions and ROI for mobile advertising campaigns. As a result of The Johnson Group taking this approach to using AMP technology in the advertising industry, Google invited Chris Luke, The Johnson Group’s CTO, to be one of the keynote speakers during the 2018 AMP Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in Amsterdam.   

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages technology is typically used by publishers and e-commerce websites to increase web load speeds. The Johnson Group’s team was able to use AMP for advertising by creating a unique analytics set up that ensures users are being tracked effectively. As a result, the agency was able to significantly improve the load speeds of the landing page to a point where there was no noticeable difference when viewing the landing page on a mobile device versus a desktop computer. 

To learn more, people can subscribe to the AMP Channel to watch a Livestream of the conference.  To watch a Livestream broadcast of Mr. Luke’s presentation, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday, please visit the following YouTube page. 

“In today’s increasingly mobile-first world, brands often struggle with their conversion rates as more and more consumers demand a faster, consistently rich mobile experience,” said Mr. Luke. “Google’s AMP technology is an absolute game-changer for the advertising industry as it provides a design platform that significantly improves page load speed while providing a more dynamic mobile experience – two things that are critical for retaining mobile users on your website and converting them into customers.” 

The Johnson Group initially used AMP to design the landing pages for U.S. Xpress’ job recruitment campaigns. One of the biggest challenges facing the trucking industry today is the carrier’s ability to recruit and hire professional drivers. With more and more truck drivers and potential hires using mobile devices to access and complete a very long and tedious online application, it is more critical than ever to have a positive user experience to prevent people for abandoning the process before they completed the application, said officials. 

For U.S. Xpress, this challenge was even more critical as 86 percent of users visiting usxjobs.com do so on a mobile device, typically in areas with slow internet access. Industry research says higher bounce rates are often associated with slower-loading web pages. In fact, this research states 40 percent of people will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load, meaning a one second delay in page response can result in a seven percent decline in their conversion rates. By using AMP technology, the median load time for AMP-coded landing pages is less than one second, which is significantly faster than the median load time for non-AMP landing pages, which is roughly 22 seconds.   

This fast load speed is why The Johnson Group turned to AMP technology to solve this dilemma for U.S. Xpress. After running a 20-day test on one of its key recruiting websites, U.S. Xpress realized a significant difference in the conversion rates and cost-per-application when directing people to an AMP-enabled landing page versus an identical non-AMP landing page. While the non-AMP landing page frequently struggled to load – in some cases taking more than a minute – the AMP-enabled page loaded five times faster and was viewable instantaneously. To learn more, click here to read Google’s case study about the project. 

As a result, during the test period, the AMP-enabled landing pages generated a 62 percent increase in the number of job applications being submitted to the company. After seeing this dramatic improvement, U.S. Xpress has decided to use AMP technology for all of its landing pages and recruitment websites so they can hire more drivers while spending less money to meet their monthly hiring goals, which in turn helps reduce the carrier’s annual recruitment costs.   

Mr. Luke continued, “Having the ability to better engage potential candidates means U.S. Xpress can deliver more job offers at incredible speed, which in turn has a direct, positive impact on the carrier’s ability to hire new drivers.  AMP has been one of the most impactful tools we have used to improve conversion rates for U.S. Xpress, and we look forward to creating more applications for this innovative technology.” 

Launched by Google in February 2016, AMP technology is an open-source framework that focuses on putting mobile performance first by allowing companies to create mobile-optimized content that loads almost instantly on all mobile devices.  Basically, AMP technology uses the same design code to work across multiple platforms and devices so the website’s content can appear everywhere instantly – no matter what type of phone, tablet or mobile device a person is using.  By doing this, companies can provide a better mobile experience for its users and get information to them as fast as possible.   

For more information on The Johnson Group, please visit http://www.johngroup.com.