E-commerce is a word quite common to almost everyone. Which introduced the whole world to a whole new idea of shopping with ease. It is one of those inventions which took the world like a storm and now everyone is addicted to it. Who amongst us doesn't spend almost the entire day online, trying to find the best deals and shop our hearts out? It’s almost become a normal routine to check the new deals, offers, and those newly launched products out and more often than not, we end up spending a lot more than we intended to, with our fingers crawling towards that checkout button.
According to global statistics, e-commerce contribution is 14.2% of the total retail sales in 2017 and 14.3% in 2018. These numbers prove the fact that the e-commerce sector is growing rapidly.
This being said, it’s no bed of roses. A lot of factors like not being able to get a touch and feel of the product, making online payments, and trusting the companies with the quality of the products are some of the concerns. Sure, there are a few e-commerce giants leading the world right now, but that does not necessarily mean that all the boats at sea stay afloat. Especially with the tremendous amount of competition, you really need to up your game. To solve such issues, you need a proper marketing strategy. A proper marketing strategy using various tools and methods available now will increase your traffic and conversion rates. And one such method is ‘Google Shopping Ads'.
We have all searched for a particular item on the google search engine. Now think of the first thing that catches your eye. The little ads with images that appear first, right? These are nothing but Google shopping ads. Google shopping ads are those suggestions/ads that you find when you search for something on Google, which appear before the organic search results. Look at the example below:
It's one of the most beneficial tools and yet it is overlooked by many. It is a type of PPC campaign. But it is the best strategy for e-commerce marketing. They also go by the term ‘Product listing ads. They started out in 2012 and are now one of the most effective tools for marketing and even to improve sales.
Now, you might be wondering whether this is yet another marketing strategy. We’ll tell you what is so special about it. They are very different from the normal text ads of Adword campaigns. To start with, Google is on the rise for ages. It is touching new heights and beating its own records. It has reached such a position that it can only compete with itself. Almost every user uses the Google search engine. And thus, by using one of the tools centered around them, you are automatically putting yourself ahead of the game. So much so that Google shopping ads have a share of 22% of the total paid search clicks.
It particularly catches the attention of the customer because they stand out with the product image, cost, and company name. It also specifies the reviews and the shipping details, all at one glance. Thus it seems to be a better option for marketing than any other strategy.
Google shopping ads are primarily sourced by two different platforms: Google merchant center and Adwords. So, to implement Google shopping ads, you need to follow some steps. Let us go through them one by one :
They prove to be very easy to handle because there is no need to focus on keywords. Google makes use of the product data feed to show the ads for relevant searches. Thus, you don’t need to focus on the keywords. Google possesses good data feeds for the typical type of keywords for each specific product. But you will still be able to control everything by changing attributes like title, category, and description.
Use good quality photos for the best results. The photo of the product is what catches the attention of the customer. And thus, focus on the quality, the background, the lighting, and retouching to increase traffic and conversions.
The additional display of ratings and reviews is of pivotal importance. These can be from your own website or from external websites. But note that a minimum of 3 reviews for each product and at least 50 for all the products is a must to activate this feature and display the ratings in Google shopping ads.
As mentioned above, you can create specific and targeted campaigns for individual products. And also, prioritize these different campaigns. Hence, use this feature to focus more on the best-selling products. This will ensure better conversion rates and better traffic to the website.
This strategy relies on the concept of PPC. And thus, the client with the highest bid is ensured to receive maximum reach. So, if you are not receiving expected results or conversions, concentrate on readjusting your bet. Notice and study the results for a week or so and then make necessary adjustments. Also, consider the concept of the lifetime value of a customer. If it is a good value, raise the bid to a higher level as you are guaranteed a better profit in the future. Thus, make a calculated move on the bid and keep reviewing and changing the values till you reach an optimum one.
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Now, since we know what it is, let's move on to focus on the benefits of Google shopping ads and how it will improve your business.
This is something that stands out from other search results. They are the first results on top of all the other organic search results. Apart from this, these are the only ads with product pictures. This will ensure that you have the attention of your customers as visual representations are always better to grab the attention of a viewer. They catch the eye of the customer and good quality pictures will give them an insight into how the product actually is. And thus, Google shopping ads prove to be one of the best.
Your ads will appear when people are looking specifically for your products with a strong intention to buy. With attractive pictures and useful information, you can attract the right audience and stand out among your competition. It is also highly targeted and offers simple and straight product details. A clear and short description of the product is obtained from the customer. Along with this, they also get an idea of the cost and the company. Thus, it gives a clearer picture to the customer. They can easily choose if they want to buy the product or not.
These types of ads tend to give you a broader reach. They reach a maximum number of potential customers by tapping into all sorts of buyer personas. One of the reasons is that they appear on top of the search results. The customer’s eye goes directly to these results. And they also display pictures which compels more users to notice the site. Visual content is always more enticing and inviting for customers.
Along with this, for a single query search, multiple ads are displayed, and thus, the more chances of your product being displayed. This will increase your exposure. Thus, all in all, you can tap into a lot of buyer groups and influence them greatly.
The customers investing their time searching on Google about a product are already a bit inclined towards the product. They have done adequate research and possess useful information. When they come across a related Google shopping ad, they are most likely to visit the site. This gives way to better quality leads for the business.
Along with this, they have a better idea by just looking at the ad. They know the looks of the product and know the cost and can decide if it falls within their budget before even visiting the site. Thus, these people who have a stronger intent are more likely to make the purchase if they visit the site.
Reporting proves to be amongst the leading fields that businesses focus on. It’s of pivotal importance as it will tell you the progress, strengths, and weaknesses. Especially for online businesses, it is important to keep track of your activities and the effect of various strategies. Using this strategy, one of the biggest advantages that you’ll experience is going to be in the field of reporting. You can view the performance of your products at various levels of granularity.
Let us consider an exam. From a vast array of products, you can spot and find out the number of clicks a particular product received, by just filtering the product view, without the need for new product groups. Benchmarking data can also be used to gain insights and points into the competitive landscape. It is also possible to get to know about the growth opportunities using impression share data and the Bid Simulator tool.
Since this produces better quality leads, it is only obvious that the conversion rate is also higher because of this. This gives a way higher conversion rate as compared to the rest of the text-only ads. To be specific, conversion rates are higher by 28%. The customers who visit the site through Google shopping ads have knowledge about the cost and the looks of the product. Thus, the chances of missing out on conversion because of the budget and the looks of the product are reduced. This is why Google shopping ads are advantageous in this respect.
Google shopping ads make it possible for companies to make use of automatic inventory updates. As and when the details and information of the various products are updated on the e-commerce website of the business, the Google ad PLAs are also updated at the same time, automatically. This will make sure that there is consistency between the google ads and your website. That is, it won't happen that a product is shown to be available according to ads but is actually not present. Thus, you don't have to worry about updating and it happens automatically.
All these advantages are linked to one another. The basic fact that these ads are most out there and stand out from the rest of the search results along with the fact that people get more attracted by the Google shopping ads because of the information and the picture gives rise to higher conversion rates. And on top of this, CPC has also decreased by 25%. Thus, in a combined way the ROI is increased. This will have a huge impact on your business and the profit is shot up to new values. When you’re investing in ads, it is always important to note the return. And in the case of Google shopping ads, the profit is tremendous.
The number of customers using mobile phones are increasing exponentially. And in such cases, when PPC ad campaigns are used, only 2 ads are displayed with product photos and cost descriptions. If your product appears in one of these 2 spots, then the amount of traffic that’ll be directed to your page and the profit you’ll experience is going to be tremendous. But on the other hand, if you don’t pop up in these two positions, then you lose out on a lot of potential customers and the profit also decreases tremendously. This has a huge effect on the business.
On the other hand, when Google shopping ads are being used, around 15 results are displayed. This increases the chances of your product being displayed. This will guarantee a certain amount of traffic and risk is reduced. The amount of profit gained will be higher due to high CTR and less CPC. Thus, especially for mobile users, Google shopping ads are the best option to reduce risk and gain guarantee to a certain extent.
E-commerce is an ever-emerging and growing industry. And with the competition being so fierce, to stay on the top, you need to deploy proper marketing strategies. And one such strategy is ‘Google Shopping ads. It belongs to the family of the PPC campaign. And as we discussed, it is a long list of products that are displayed before the organic results when you search for a particular product on the google search engine. Its popularity is increasing exponentially. The advantageous effects are huge and more and more companies are starting to make use of this strategy. Thoroughly follow the steps to set up Google shopping ads and also the steps to optimize them for the best results.
So, what are you waiting for? E-commerce has not seen any strategy better than this one to boost marketing as well as sales. Start using this strategy and we assure you that you'll observe results in no time, with your customer base increasing magnificently. We hope that this article has helped broaden as well as improve your perspective. We wish you the best, rooting for your success!
M
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