as 'Product Listing Ads', Google Shopping continues to grow, and is now ..... This channel can become our online shop wi
June 2018 Google Shopping
Guide to Google Shopping
Developing A CustomerCentric Strategy
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Contents Make The Most of Google Shopping
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by Angela Knibb, Head of Paid Search Getting Shopping Right
6
by Johan Holmberg, Senior Paid Media Analyst Boost Shopping Performance By Using Audiences
9
by Jonathan Kelterer, Senior Paid Media Analys How Healthy Feeds Can Deliver Successful Online Shopping Experiences
11
by Lidia Ferrer, Senior Paid Media Analyst Using Shopping To Guide Your Overall PPC Strategy
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by Dan Walker, Paid Media Manager Opportunities To Improve In Mobile Shopping Search For Retailers
20
by Chris Dunn, COO, FoundIt! Make Facebook Ads more relevant and shoppable with dynamic product ads
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by Melissa Dayan, Paid Media Analyst Making The Most Of Your Feed With Dynamic Retargeting by Lizzy Lakra, Planning Account Director
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25
Introduction
Introduction Angela Knibb Head of Paid Search —
Make The Most Of Google Shopping
If you’re reading this magazine,
As an agency, we spend a lot of
best practice considerations in
you’re likely to be a retailer (or work
time looking at, and talking about,
place to really drive that growth our
for a retailer), and want to capitalise
Shopping. A recent paid media
clients need. Jonathan Kelterer, also
on the omnipotent opportunity
report revealed that Q1 2018 saw
a Senior Paid Media Analyst, talks
that is Google Shopping. Since its
60%of Google search ad clicks
us through how we can deepen our
original launch in 2012 as ‘Product
come from Shopping 1, so we’re keen
approach by thinking audience-first
Listing Ads’, Google Shopping
to exhaust all avenues to capture
and improve the customer journey
continues to grow, and is now
that demand and drive through
by applying different audiences
arguably one of the key components
conversions. Of course, there are
to our campaigns. Our Senior Paid
to any retailer’s online success.
wider opportunities available here
Media Analyst, Lidia Ferrer, turns
than just Google – Bing has a very
things up a notch by discussing
similar Shopping tool, and the same
the importance of feeds, and how
principles and strategies can be
we can optimise the data within
applied to drive growth through
the feed to improve visibility and
Bing Shopping as on Google.
performance using Productsup.
visualisation of the product and a
If you were wondering how this
This is where many people stop with
price point, alongside competitors’
magazine can help you with your
Shopping. Getting the foundations
options that you can also reference
planning, our Senior Paid Media
built with the ideal set up and
– much like on the high street. And,
Analyst, Johan Holmberg, kicks
optimisation processes in place,
because your customer can see this
things off by discussing how
then layering that with audiences
detail in the search result, when you
to lay the right foundations for
and optimising the feeds is crucial
do win the click, you’re more likely
Shopping by emphasising the
for success. However, once they are
to win the sale because you’ve pre-
importance of hygiene factors and
in place, Paid Media Manager and
qualified your traffic. Clearly, we’re
ongoing optimisations to improve
serious data guru, Dan Walker, talks
on to a winner here.
performance. This is how we ensure
us through how we can take that one
we have the right structural and
step further, by using our Shopping
We know that users are more likely to click on a Shopping ad than a generic search ad, probably because the ad unit is so much more enticing; there’s a lovely
4
Introduction
activity to inform our wider search
Don’t just stop at optimising your
available through Shopping.
strategy. It’s something we think
feeds though; Melissa Dayan, Paid
Laying the right foundations for
should be a much more fundamental
Media Analyst and social media
your business is essential, and
part of Shopping optimisations, and
lover, gives her advice on how to
past that, there’s loads of room
Dan reflects on how Shopping can
pull your feed into Facebook to
for improvement, growth and
affect the user journey.
drive further efficiencies. This will
expansion – which, in turn, will
support your customers throughout
also improve your revenue and
their purchase path, and show
return. Shopping continues to go
them the products they want to see.
from strength to strength, and is
Finally, Lizzy Lakra, our Senior
showing no sign of slowing down.
Display Strategist, explains how we
If you’re not already on board,
can utilise the very same feed for
what’s stopping you? If you are,
dynamic remarketing, capturing
fantastic, use this magazine to help
engaged users as they browse the
develop and grow those strategies.
web and drive them back to convert.
We don’t want good, we want
Cleverly, both Lizzy and Melissa
incredible – and I’m sure you do too.
We’ve written this magazine because of the amazing performance we see here day in, day out – so you’d be forgiven for thinking that Shopping is without its flaws. While I’d love to leave you with that impression, of course, it isn’t (…nothing in life is, sadly!) which is why Chris Dunn, COO of FoundIt!, walks us through the customer journey post-click. We know that conversion rates for Shopping are great, but bounce rates
avoid falling into the ‘creepy’ remarketing trap by considering how many impressions are too
1.
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/ article/304502/search-spend-rising-
many.
are still a challenge, specifically for
google-shopping-plas-remain.html?edi-
Shopping, so Chris highlights how
You may be familiar with some,
to improve them while increasing
or indeed all, of these tactics, but
revenue even further.
I hope this magazine conveys the sheer wealth of opportunity
When you do win the click, you’re more likely to win the sale because you’ve pre-qualified your traffic.
5
tion=104281
Paid Media
Getting Shopping Right Johan Holmberg Senior Paid Media Analyst — As the interest in Google Shopping continues to rise, we’re seeing spend grow at a rate which is almost three times faster than that of text ads1. In the first quarter of 2018, clicks grew by 40% year-on-year and represented 82% of all nonbrand Google paid search clicks for retailers, with no sign of slowing down 2 .
There’s no right way to do Shopping. There are, however, the right foundations to build your strategy from.
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6
Paid Media
It’s all about the feed
the website - stick to an absolute minimum of every 30 days to avoid account suspension. We advise automating
Google Shopping doesn’t use keywords at all; it
the process to fetch accurate product information from
matches the user search query on Google or Bing to
your website daily to keep your Shopping ads accurate
your Shopping feed, displaying the product ad when
and, more importantly, your customers happy. Setting
your product category, headline and/or description line
up and getting the feed in good condition might be a
match that search query. Therefore, it relies on content
time-consuming process, but it’s a necessary one to
found within the feed when it comes to a product ad
ensure your Shopping campaigns are successful.
being relevant, hence it’s essential to include keyword-
Campaign build
rich, accurate, and appealing information. Product titles and descriptions are the most important elements
Once you have your feed set up and approved in the
in the feed, and should contain useful and descriptive
Google Merchant Centre, it’s time to link to your
information, such as brand, product name, gender, colour,
AdWords account and start building your campaigns.
size and other features. Remember to put the most
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ here – different structures
important details at the beginning of the title, as users
are important for different strategies, and to decide
will usually only see the first 70 characters.
what’s right for you, it’s key to know your budget and
“A picture is worth a thousand words” is often applied
targets. However, here are some guidelines to get you
to offline marketing, but it’s relevant here as well. In
started.
order to increase user attention and maximise site visits, make sure you always use high resolution and compelling images that Google can crawl. In addition
∠ Separate your brand and non-brand
to this, take advantage of ‘Automated Extensions’
searches. You would never target these
to highlight compelling selling points such as free
keywords together in search, so don’t do so
shipping or price drops to further encourage your
in Shopping. We use an AdWords script and
customers to click.
extensive negative keyword lists to target brand searches separately. This both ensures
Furthermore, custom labels help group products by
visibility and helps reduce potentially
specific criteria such as bestsellers, sale, seasonal and
inflated brand cost-per-clicks (CPCs).
so on, and are very helpful when organising bidding and reporting in Shopping campaigns, as Lidia will explain
∠ Consider a granular approach to non-brand,
in further detail in her article. Fundamentally, the key to
breaking out your campaigns by category or
success when it comes to Shopping is to ensure you have
brand. This helps increase visibility, helps
a well optimised feed.
you identify areas that are or aren’t working, and helps your customer find you where and
It’s essential that all content in the product feed
when they want to.
complies with Google Shopping policies3, and meets all the requirements for the targeted country to avoid product disapprovals or account suspension. It’s important to make sure the feed is updated as often as
7
Paid Media
his article, or adjusting bids for the hour of day, day of week, location, or device. You might also want to
∠ Create an ‘all products’ campaign to capture
consider optimising your Shopping campaigns with
any surplus products not included in your
automated bid strategies. There are several different
category or brand breakout.
ones to look into; for example, target ROAS will automatically optimise bids to reach the return on ad
∠ Use custom labels to break out top
spend (ROAS) target set up and maximise conversion
performers, sale and high margin items to
value (it’s optimal to have at least 10 transactions per
maximise visibility and budget where you
day); enhance CPC adjusts the manually set cost-per-
know you’re more likely to sell.
clicks (CPCs) depending on the likeliness of a conversion (aiming to maximise the amount of conversions while
∠ Use campaign priorities to streamline your
keeping costs low and increase conversion rate); or
budget to the products you want to push.
maximise clicks to drive as much traffic as possible
∠ Consider having your top sellers, high
using a specific budget. We’ve seen real growth in this
margin and sale items (for example) on high
area, particularly when a proactive approach is taken
priority, your non-brand category breakout
and you don’t just ‘set and forget’, but continually
on medium priority, and your brand and all
review, tweak, test and learn.
products campaigns on low priority. If there’s one thing I want you to take away here, it’s this: there’s no right way to do Shopping. It completely depends on your budgets, targets, time, and business
It’s important to break out campaigns as granularly
priorities. There are, however, the right foundations to
as possible to gain greater control in terms of bids and
build your strategy from. Ensure you have an accurate,
performance. This means dividing your campaigns
comprehensive and well-optimised feed, updated daily.
into sub-categories and individual products; a good
Consider how you want to structure your campaigns to
idea is to break out top performing products to their
meet your business goals, and above all, once you have
own campaign or ad group to provide more accurate
your activity live, optimise it! I really can’t emphasise
management and a better overview of the top products
that last point enough. Consider what your levers are to
that need attention. If, like us, you use DoubleClick,
push performance, and then do so. You’ll be amazed by
you’ll be aware that you can use Adaptive Shopping to
how much you can get out of this channel once you do.
automate this process – believe me, it’s been a life saver!
Campaign optimisation 1.
https://www.salesandorders.com/q4-2016-google-shoppinggrowth-analysis-report
As your campaigns run, you’ll want to improve
2.
performance by performing regular Search Query
https://www.merkleinc.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2018/ merkle-releases-its-q1-2018-digital-marketing-report
3.
Reports to find negative keywords to add to the account, thus saving money and avoiding terms which are unprofitable or irrelevant. You might consider layering in audience targeting as Jonathan advises in
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https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6149970?hl=en-GB
Paid Media
Boost Shopping Performance By Using Audiences Jonathan Kelterer Senior Paid Media Analyst —
Adding audiences to the mix truly enables advertisers to maximise their efficiencies. It can’t be said enough: Google Shopping is becoming
While this is an excellent starting point, as it makes
an increasingly popular tool for both advertisers and
it possible to granularly control product groups and
consumers. Consequently, a rising number of retailers
eliminate unwanted traffic, going a step further and
are shifting budgets towards Shopping and competition
adding audiences to the mix truly enables advertisers to
is increasing – meaning rising costs-per-click (CPCs)
maximise their efficiencies.
and more obstacles to a healthy impression share. As By using audiences for Shopping, advertisers can
a result, effective and efficient targeting is the key to
retarget website visitors and not only present them
reducing those costs, as well as maximising revenue and
with product images further down the funnel, but also
efficiencies.
present existing customers with new product lines, or However, targeting methods in Shopping are limited.
present customers with products complimentary to a
In some cases, advertisers don’t have access to, or
prior purchase. Additionally, advertisers can make use
control over, the product feeds, which only leaves
of Google’s similar audience function to target users
them with priority settings, product group breakouts,
who are comparable in behaviour to predefined existing
ongoing optimisation and negative keywords to manage
audiences.
visibility.
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Paid Media
Audiences
Similar Audiences
Audiences for Shopping are much like using Audiences
Similar Audiences recently became a widely available
for Search; having created a set of audiences made up
feature in AdWords, and as such has considerably
of users who have previously performed a particular
enhanced audience functionality since. They come
action on a website, or having uploaded a list of email
into play in instances where advertisers want to focus
addresses, advertisers can then target these users
on generating new customers by getting product
specifically. There are two targeting options to choose
images in front of previously unknown users. This
from: either advertisers can choose to target an
is achieved by Google automatically registering the
audience only, or they can choose to implement higher
user behaviour of customers who already belong
bids on it to ensure maximum product visibility for
within existing audiences, and it then populates
high value audiences.
audience lists with users who have shown similar behaviour and interests, but who are not on any other
The first option – target and bid – is especially
pre-defined audience lists. This allows advertisers
useful when advertisers wish to only target a specific
to use their existing audience to help find users who
audience with a set of products. It can, for example,
behave similarly, but who haven’t engaged with
be used to retarget customers who have purchased a
your brand before. As they’re based on your existing
pair of running shoes with shorts, jerseys and socks.
consumers, it’s a cost-effective way to get your brand
Another use case can also be retargeting customers
and products in front of new users who are much more
who have bought a summer range with a winter
likely to convert, based on their online behaviour.
range. Shopping is able to uniquely present potential customers with a variety of images and can thereby provide them with their first visual touch point of interesting products.
Overall, a healthy mix between using Audiences for Shopping as
Using the ‘bid only’ option enables advertisers to
well as Similar Audiences can turn
gain higher visibility for certain audiences, and is the
Shopping campaigns into a success,
best way to ensure that previous website users get
with remarketing to known users and
served product ads by the same advertiser, instead of
customers driving a positive return
competitors’. This method gives advertisers greater
on investment while also driving
brand visibility amongst users who are more likely to
highly targeted prospecting through
convert.
similar audiences.
10
Paid Media
How Healthy Feeds Can Deliver Successful Online Shopping Experiences Lidia Ferrer Senior Paid Media Analyst —
Creating an easy and unique shopping experience, both online and in-store, is the future of retail. ECommerce has already revolutionised the way we shop, however it will continue to evolve, as marketers seek to satisfy and tweak the online shopping patterns and preferences that shape retail today.
The more you focus on setting up and reviewing for improvements, the more you’ll see your products perform better online.
11
Paid Media
In-store experiences may lack some online benefits such as immediacy, but conversely, online will never be able to let people try on a product before buying it. However, both try to offer as good an experience as possible, and the way in which we display and organise our product catalogue is key to achieving our business goals, both online and offline. Here are two cases to demonstrate why:
Imagine you go into a shop and you see mountains of items mixed up together on the same table. What would you do as a customer? Probably, you’ll touch a few key products, try to find what you want to buy, but if you don’t find anything you like the look of, you’ll probably leave the store without buying anything. My point? The way products are displayed will help you sell more.
Now imagine that you work in that shop as a sales assistant and you’re in charge of its merchandising, and must follow the company guidelines. You’d probably need to put new collection products all together, prioritise products on sale, have samples of all sizes and colours available, and have to separate areas by gender or category products. Here, the focus is on organising the shop so key items are visible and easy to find.
12
Paid Media
Campaign build
This confirms that the way in which we display our
This channel can become our online shop window,
products is crucial to generating more sales. Moreover,
but it can be aggravating as an advertiser as there are
the way in which we organise and prioritise categories
often resellers or other competitors that offer the same
will affect our performance.
product in the same “store” (i.e. Google or Bing Search). Therefore, you need to show relevant products and use
It’s exactly the same for the online shopping experience.
all the tools at your disposal to approach users with the
We know that site merchandising is very important to
products and information they’re looking for at the right
guaranteeing good user experience, but what about
time and in the right place.
the way we reach users? Shopping can be a powerful channel, as users can look up a particular product, see
Having a healthy feed will help your customers find
a picture, land directly on the product page and buy it
what they’re looking for and will make your life easier
in two or three steps. It sounds great, doesn’t it? So, we
when it comes to optimisations. This can be done by
have to make sure our product listing ads are relevant
using product data management and feed optimisation
and give the right information to each search query.
tools such as Productsup.
Productsup
This tool provides cloud-based software for managing
available, such as creating rules or lists, getting a
and optimising product data for small and large
diagnosis and recommendations for each feed column,
accounts quickly and easily. There are so many functions
and getting warnings of any errors that need to be fixed.
13
Paid Media
In Productsup, start by focusing on optimising ad titles, as they’re an integral part of your ad, and then create custom labels so you can easily push categories or specific products. Here’s how to do it:
1
Productsup allows us to apply different rules and “if functions” that help to create relevant titles, like:
∠ “Append/Prepend Column” box: this enriches the
Opt imising t it les
title with key product attributes by “appending” or “prepending” the brand, colour, product Example of a good title structure for apparel:
type, gender, material, etc. from the respective attribute columns
Brand + Gender + Title or Model + Product Type + Colour + Size
∠ “Append/Prepend Value” box: this allows you to manually type in the specific product information that you want to add to the title
Title optimisation will:
∠ “Map Replace” box: this box allows you to edit
∠ Increase the number and the quality of
several different text elements in one go
impressions – a good product list ad acts like an impressive shop window
∠ “Replace If Column Contains” box: replace ‘!’ with ‘.’
∠ Improve click-through rate (CTR) and get more qualified clicks – effectively like
∠ Be sure to make use of the“Remove Duplicate
getting more people to walk into your
Words” box, “Remove Consecutive Whitespace”
shop
box and “Remove HTML Tags” box
∠ Increase cost efficiently – more relevancy will mean better performance
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Paid Media
2
There are hundreds of ways to achieve this in Productsup, but I prefer the below useful guidance:
Creat ing custom labels
∠ Create lists to assign values or group products (“category mapping”): assign values like product_ google_categories, product types, collections,
You can have up to five custom labels. This
colours to different products, attributes or
means that products can be grouped in many
information
ways and you can easily apply different bids
∠ “Detect colour” box: if you have missing values in
to them. Each business needs different labels and will need to be adapted accordingly, but
your colour column, the Productsup software can
these ideas should be helpful:
detect the colour in your description and add it to your colour column
Ba se d on at t r ibute s
∠ Append/prepend columns
∠ Gender
∠ Map and replace attributes
∠ Sale / non-sale / promotions / clearance ∠ Remove white spaces and duplicated words
∠ Product category
automatically
∠ Seasonal / new products ∠ Once we have the titles optimised and the custom
∠ Price range
labels in place, it’s time to go into the search
∠ Margin
engine interface and push the relevant products or categories appropriate for the season, in order to
Ba se d on p er fom a nce
increase visibility and boost performance via this
∠ ROI
channel.
∠ Bestsellers ∠ Clicks
As you begin optimising, you’ll notice the amount of time, quality and cost efficiencies that start to form. The more you focus on setting up and reviewing for improvements, the more you’ll see your products perform better online. It’s when you realise how much you’ve improved performance that you appreciate the platforms that facilitate the process; if you’ve not already begun working on your Shopping feeds, I urge you to do so – you won’t look back.
15
Paid Media
Using Shopping To Guide Your Overall PPC Strategy
Dan Walker Paid Media Manager —
According to a recent report on Google Shopping 1,
that product ads have on the rest of paid search
Google search ad clicks among UK retailers were
strategy can be essential to effectively delivering
up 40% year-on-year in 2018, accounting for
results.
82% of all paid search clicks overall. The rising
Clearly, we all need to invest our time and budgets
engagement and overall share of clicks that
in Shopping, but can it have a holistic impact on
Shopping dominates is phenomenal, particularly
our search accounts? By understanding Shopping’s
when considered alongside the increasing
role in the path to conversion, and where that
struggles faced by bricks and mortar retailers over
traffic has come from, I argue that we can actually
the same period 2 . This highlights that Shopping
use it to fuel our other channels, support the
activity is becoming an increasingly important
customer journey, and close sales along the way.
- if not the most important - component of retailers’ paid search activity. With that in mind, having a wider understanding of the impact
16
Paid Media
For example, you might find that your recently set
Under st a nd i ng Shoppi ng’s role
up Shopping campaigns are driving a stronger lastWe expect to see measurable differences in the way
click ROI than expected, in which case you’d probably
customers engage with Shopping ads when compared
consider reallocating some of your search budget to
to search ads, and so it’s important to understand what
maximise overall revenue – but further investigation
these differences are with regards to your business and
might find that generic search is much more effective at
the products being advertised. Key questions that should
driving assisted conversions. In this case, it’s important
be asked are:
to consider your overall business goals; do you want to invest your additional budget in ROI efficiencies, or converting more sales? There’s merits to both approaches, and understanding the part each channel
1. Where does Shopping sit in the funnel
plays in the funnel will help you decide where it’s best
compared to other paid activity?
to invest your budget, and how that should change over time.
2. Should revenue from Shopping be attributed differently in order to accurately
You might also find that Shopping is driving sales on
measure its bottom line value?
products that tend to be bought by customers that have a lower lifetime value or lower likelihood of
3. What kind of customers do Shopping ads
returning. In the case of B2B retail, you might also
attract?
find that a significant portion of Shopping revenue is 4. Lower brand awareness or brand loyalty?
coming from lower average order value B2C sales which isn’t ideal if you’re looking to build a customer base
5. Lower or higher average order value (AOV)?
of high-spend B2B customers. If this is the case, how do you re-engage with those consumers? Do you need additional remarketing lists across paid search and
Knowing the answers to these questions will help
display to recapture them? Do you need to increase your
accurately gauge Shopping’s value outside of simply
cross-selling efforts on site? Digging deeper into the
comparing performance-based results using your
de-
performance will tell you where you need to invest your
facto attribution model.
time to re-engage these one-off product purchasers, turning them into more valuable, lifetime customers.
17
Paid Media
visibility has detrimentally affected the performance
Sea r c h ca mpa ig n e x pa nsion
of text ads? Or does one channel make the other The AdWords Keyword Planner is an indispensable
superfluous? Do some search terms convert better on
tool for campaign builds for any paid search advertiser,
Shopping compared to standard search (or vice versa)?
but it has its limitations when it comes to growing an
Perhaps there are search terms that you have strong
account. It can be a great starting point when building
visibility for on both channels, but traffic is only being
new campaigns from scratch, but it’s difficult to
driven through Shopping ads, in which case, should
qualify how well specific search terms will perform
you turn traffic off from the less engaged traffic? Or
before running them.
is there, in fact, a halo effect, whereby there’s greater
3
revenue when both channels appear in the same space? This is one area where Shopping can be the lifeforce in expanding your existing paid search campaigns.
One way to measure this is to set up a trade-off test,
By identifying the categories and products sold, and
which will evaluate the incremental traffic and revenue
pulling your Search Query Reports to identify the
driven by each channel, or any beneficial results that
search terms matching your products, you have a clear
can be achieved when both channels appear in the
guide for keyword expansion. This allows you to focus
same search.
your time and budget on the products and categories that are actually selling for your brand, meaning you can focus your attention on search terms which are driving valuable traffic and revenue. This is a highly cost- and time-effective way to expand your search campaigns. Add r e ssi ng ca n n iba l is at ion
When running search and Shopping campaigns simultaneously, there’s always bound to be a certain amount of crossover. This leads to a few important questions – are there areas where Shopping ad
18
Paid Media
When set up and optimised well, Shopping is an
How to set up a Shopping search trade-off test:
incredibly powerful tool in any retailer’s arsenal, not just when it comes to driving revenue, but also when it comes to identifying expansion opportunities. Use it to
1. Choose a search term or group of search
help you expand your keyword campaigns by tapping
terms to test
into product-specifics to increase your relevancy and, ultimately, your efficiencies. Your customers are telling
2. Test running those terms on either channel individually (be sure to schedule this
you what they want to find on your site and what they
in a way that accounts for seasonality,
want to buy from you, so make sure you listen to them,
promotional changes or other known
and find others looking for the same opportunities!
impacts on performance) 3. Use negative keywords to prevent Shopping
1.
ads showing while pausing the search ad
https://www.merkleinc.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2018/ merkle-releases-its-q1-2018-digital-marketing-report
2.
groups and campaigns – and then repeat
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/01/08/online-retailbooms-high-street-struggles/
for search with Shopping ads paused
3.
As a final point here, I want to emphasise the importance of looking beyond the last click, and understanding the impact Shopping has on the wider channel mix. When we look at generic search activity, we want to understand where generics are starting and assisting the sale, and it’s no different when it comes to Shopping, hence why we separate the campaigns, as Johan discussed earlier. Understanding Shopping’s role in the purchase funnel helps us identify where we should focus our efforts, and then helps identify our keyword expansion opportunities, as well as trade-off testing options to increase efficiency.
Shopping activity is becoming an increasingly important - if not the most important component of retailers’ paid search activity.
19
https://adwords.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
Paid Media
Opportunities To Improve Mobile Shopping Search For Retailers Chris Dunn COO, FoundIt! —
Retailers’ biggest and fastest opportunity for growth is
increase in spend there. The channel already performs
through mobile shopping, specifically Google Shopping
well, despite that high bounce rate. I know a lot of people
ads. FoundIt!’s research revealed that Google Shopping
will think ‘it’s performing well, so let’s leave it as it is.
represents 25% of all sessions across direct, paid and
I’ve got bigger fish to fry.’
shopping traffic, and is the biggest single source of Well, I haven’t.
traffic 1.
If we see these conversion rates and returns at an 83%
As Google Shopping is the most likely first touch point
bounce rate, what would we see at 75%? Or 50%? Or
for mobile shoppers, it highlights the need for retailers
if we aim for the stars and say 25%? The increase to
to improve their mobile experience, as it also proves to
revenue would be phenomenal, and that’s where we
be the most the fickle channel by far, with as much as
come in – to understand why we’re losing visitors, and
83% of traffic bouncing straight out the door or viewing
more importantly, how we can turn those bouncers into
as little as two and half pages before quitting.
happy, purchasing customers. We know that the conversion rate for Shopping campaigns is strong – hence why there’s such an
20
Paid Media
Why are shoppers so quick to abandon
What next step generated revenue?
their journey?
Other 2.53% PLP 3.91%
We identified two key factors associated with Google Shopping’s high bounce rates. First, around
PDP 19.25%
three quarters of searches which come from Google Shopping and land on product pages are broader category style searches, not product searches – yet they’ve landed on a product page. This requires the
Cat/Shop 70.39%
shopper to try to expand their view in an easy and relevant way so they can see more of what they came in looking for.
Image source: http://www.foundit.com/blog/mobileshopping-search-retailers-biggest opportunity-improve/
In fact, if you look at where the majority of sales come from in Google Shopping, over 75% of sales can be
Second, product pages lack relevant options to
attributed to sessions where the user took the next
broaden the view. While eCommerce sites are typically
step of navigating upwards to a higher level category
well designed to allow the shopper to drill down and
to explore the range in more detail.
narrow their view, product pages are the very thin end of this experience, and make for a poor choice to
This underscores the importance of getting Google
start a journey due to weak, overly general – or even
Shopping users away from the narrow product pages
irrelevant – navigation options. This deficiency on
they landed on and into the site in as relevant a way as
product pages makes it extremely challenging for the
possible so they can fully explore the range.
shopper to navigate upwards, or do so in a way that’s relevant to their original intent.
It’s not worth ignoring areas where you can improve what’s already working.
21
Paid Media
A mismatch of shopper intent with the
Massive volume of lost opportunity
wrong type of content There are clearly massive gains to be realised from With more mobile users arriving via Google Shopping,
improving the mobile experience at the product page
we’re truly seeing a mismatch of shopper intent with
level. Given the sheer volume, retailers who prioritise
the wrong type of content. Matters are made worse
this will likely see some of the quickest and most
when this is combined with smaller, portrait and hand-
significant gains in their sales this year.
held screens, where any navigation options are fewer, I know it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on our
more obscure and more challenging to use. We found
weaknesses, and working to improve only the areas
this resulted in it being 30% more difficult for shoppers
that aren’t performing. I don’t deny the importance of
to broaden their view and navigate back up the site.
that, but don’t do focus on this to the detriment of areas When you look at the bounce rate between Google
where you can improve what’s already working.
Shopping on mobile and desktop, 27% of sessions This is something most retailers ignore, so get the edge
browse past the first page on mobile, versus 38%
over your competitors, don’t focus all your efforts on
on desktop. That’s shoppers who don’t bounce and
turning bad to acceptable – rather, focus some of your
successfully navigate inwards from the product they
efforts on turning good to incredible. Your bottom line
landed on to another page of the site.
will thank me.
1.
http://www.foundit.com/blog/mobile-shoppingsearch-retailers-biggest-opportunity-improve/
22
Paid Social
Make Facebook Ads More Relevant And Shoppable With Dynamic Product Ads Melissa Dayan Paid Media Analyst —
Once you’ve got your feed optimised for Shopping, the
behaviour through to a user on Facebook, allowing
next logical step is to seek additional opportunities to
you to target them with the exact products that they
maximise efficiencies. The good news is that your feed
engaged with. It automatically generates ads from
can also be used to tap into your user base on Facebook.
those products, serving them to the user across any device they use: mobile, tablet or desktop. The ads
Facebook has set itself apart by taking the next step
automatically adjust to the device, and you’re also able
towards creating ads that are more targeted towards
to amend copy that accompanies the creative if you
relevant consumers, while also being flexible in its
prefer to have a bit more control over the ads being
ability to deliver personalised creatives. It’s this trend
served.
that’s captured the attention of the entire industry, and the focus is very much shifting in favour of this
What makes it so easy to set up is that you can take the
customer-centric approach.
existing product catalogue that you use for Shopping activity and upload it to Facebook. This way, the engine
How does it work?
is able to identify any product IDs with a user’s online behaviour (recorded by the Facebook pixel on the
Facebook’s Dynamic Product Ads use product
client’s website) and serve those products back to them
catalogues and a remarketing pixel to link onsite
on Facebook.
23
Paid Social
How can it benefit per for mance?
online, even when they’re targeted with numerous ads per day on Facebook alone. The average user spends
This ad format helps you to only promote the products
50 minutes per day on Facebook 2, so Dynamic Product
that are most relevant to your audience, while also
Ads are a great opportunity to show the user an ad
allowing you some control on the ads being served.
that’s more relevant to their interests, as compared to
As you’re able to amend the copy surrounding the
a standard creative format that’s typically based on
products that are automatically imported into the
guessing what a specific audience would like to see.
ads, it leaves you some creative space to target your
That’s the beauty of Dynamic Product Ads: they just
audiences. You could, for example, make them aware
show users what they’ve expressed interest in, which
that these are the products still waiting for them in
makes them that bit more valuable.
their basket. Or if you’d like to serve less intrusive
A potential challenge here is that consumers today are
messaging, you could use the free copy space to
more aware of advertiser targeting methods than ever,
promote a sale that’s currently live on your website to
therefore might view serving products that they’ve
give users that extra push to click ‘buy’ on their basket
recently viewed on site as a very intrusive method, and
overview.
react negatively to this.
Impact, oppor t unit ies & cha llenges This is why Facebook leaves us as advertisers in
As the industry shifts more and more towards a focus
control of the accompanying copy, so it’s important
on providing the most relevant – and also unique –
to be creative and show the human side of a brand’s
experience for consumers online, Facebook is leading
advertising without seeming automated or intrusive.
the way in optimising the journey for consumers. With the use of ad blockers quadrupling in the last
By coupling the products your consumers have viewed
three years 1, it’s become even more important to make
with non-intrusive copy to encourage your customer
sure we’re constantly improving consumers’ online
to click back to site, you’re likely to see an increase in
experience with advertising.
traffic and conversions from a new platform.
Of course, with an improved customer experience
All this, just from optimising your Shopping feed, and
comes an increase in engagement. Serving relevant
plugging it into new platforms. All the hard work that
and engaging ads to users not only helps increase
went into setting up and optimising your feed is now
click-through rates, but also helps to convert them
going to pay dividends, both for your brand and your
online when they’re driven back to the brand’s website.
audience.
Given how saturated and competitive the market is on Facebook, particularly for retail, this ad format 1.
certainly sets itself apart by allowing us to really
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/544716/thefast-rise-of-ad-blockers/
engage with users and showcase the products that
2.
they’ve already expressed interest in. This ensures
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/business/ facebook-bends-the-rules-of-audience-
you remain top of mind while your customers browse
engagement-to-its-advantage.html
With an improved customer experience comes an increase in engagement.
24
Programmatic Display
Making The Most Of Your Feed With Dynamic RETARGETING Lizzy Lakra Planning Account Director —
If you were thinking you’ve exhausted all options you
website are more likely to visit again, and those who
possibly can with your Shopping feed, I have news for
have bought from you previously are also more likely to
you.
become repeat customers.
Having a product feed set up and ready to go means
With cart abandonment on the up, dynamic retargeting
you’re halfway there to getting dynamic retargeting
presents a great opportunity for brands to capture
in display off the ground. Dynamic retargeting can
additional sales and recover abandoned cart values into
significantly increase your sales and revenue, mainly
actual revenue.
due to two key factors; people who have visited your
25
Programmatic Display
Firstly, you might want to look at what your cart
you’re on to a winner; the key to success when going
abandonment rate looks like. What percentage of users
granular is to ensure you have access to in-depth and
are showing intent on your site, but not purchasing there
comprehensive data sets, and are capable of creating
and then? If you haven’t checked already, this is likely
an exhaustive product feed that can either be regularly
to be alarmingly high, having hit an average of 78.65%
reviewed manually or through machine learning
in 2017. This is due to the increase in mobile shopping
technology.
and browsing. Mobile, while still predominantly used There are multiple ways to approach creative and
as a research device, is increasingly adding to online
strategy; it can be as simple or complex as you choose.
sales, making dynamic retargeting an even greater
A basic starting point is to serve the potential customer
opportunity.
with the last product they looked at. While this is better
Building a st rateg y
than doing no retargeting at all, it’s a simplistic view and assumes that they didn’t want to purchase any of
Keeping the end consumer in mind is important when
the other products they browsed.
thinking about how to approach dynamic retargeting A more complex approach involves tying together
at all stages. Relevancy is key to your creative, as you’ll
various strategies, whether that be upselling products
want to deliver a valuable and enticing message to
or services, growing your repeat purchaser pool,
potential consumers – but the more granular you go
identifying consumers as potential gifters, etc. – the
in terms of messaging and creative, the greater your
possibilities are endless. Complex doesn’t always mean
chances are of ‘getting it wrong’ if you’re not constantly
results, so a test and learn approach is really important
reviewing your processes to ensure you’re targeting
to driving results in both the short and long term.
the right audience. On the flip side, if you’re able to successfully marry creative and data to the end user,
Keeping the end consumer in mind is important when thinking about how to approach dynamic remarketing at all stages.
26
Programmatic Display
Protect ing t he end consumer
These are the ongoing challenges that can be easily fixed if enough attention is paid towards them. Your technical
We all know the annoyance of being stalked around
team need to keep a close eye on frequency and run tests
the web by that same pair of shoes you didn’t buy the
to evaluate what the optimum number of ads to serve
first few hundred times you saw them, so you need to
is. Creative needs to be reviewed and assessed to ensure
ask yourself the right questions to ensure that you’re
it’s in line with current branding or your site’s look and
supporting the consumer in their purchase, rather than
feel – if there is a big sale on, for example, the creative
hounding them. Questions to ask include:
should reflect this. It’s important that you and your design team care about the appearance of the ad and that you’re consistent in what you deliver from start to finish, while also testing to ensure the most compelling
1. After how many ads does the message
message is being delivered to the most engaged audience
become annoying?
possible.
2. How can a sales message be delivered in a
While the set up phase can be time consuming, once
visually appealing way?
everything is up and running, creative amends are more straightforward - you’ll save time and money on
3. How can the message and creative be as relevant and useful as possible to the end
creative costs, while watching your ROI, engagement
consumer?
and conversion rates increase.
4. Does dynamic retargeting remain effective throughout the year, or can
1.
you exhaust it?
https://www.barilliance.com/cart-abandonment-ratestatistics/
27
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