It’s no secret that eCommerce businesses are thriving in the current economy and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. A marketplace like Amazon has truly shifted user perception towards online shopping in the past decade.
The online shopping experience is not only convenient; it is highly engaging. One can price match, see reviews from others, see detailed information about product features, and receive the product within 24-48 hours with free return shipping options. Sometimes it seems too good to be true. With website builders such as Shopify and Wix, life has become much easier for business owners who want to shift online to sell their products.
Search Ads remain the primary tool for acquisitions for an ROI-driven marketing campaign. They provide new customers; they help you generate data that can help you understand market demands and gaps. If businesses are smart with their Search campaigns, they can truly achieve economies of scale for their enterprise.
At Galactic Fed, we are data-obsessed Paid Media scientists who have tried and tested almost every strategy in the book and have the results to prove it. Let’s look at some of the best practices for running a successful account if you are an eCommerce business.
Set up a Shopping Ads campaign
This should be your number one priority and the first thing you do. Shopping campaigns are powerful and effective in generating sales because the platform invites action from users. It’s recommended to start with a Smart Shopping Ads campaign and shift to manual campaigns themed by products or categories. eCommerce businesses will see positive results with their Smart Shopping campaign that they don’t need to transition to a manual campaign.
Set up a Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) Campaign
If you’re an eCommerce website with many products and multiple SKUs, it’s crucial that you set up a DSA campaign to target various keywords relevant to your business quickly. The campaign drives users deeper into the funnel by matching Search Queries with your website content. As users land on tailored pages on your site, the engagement with your content goes up. If your SEO strategy is robust, DSA campaigns will easily outperform everything else within your account. This is just one way that SEO and PPC can work together for your business.
Invest in your brand searches
If you think you will get clicks on your brand terms just because you rank #1 organically, think again. (Sorry!) The landscape on Google has changed immensely. Not only is the top-ranking organic link technically the 5th or 6th link on the page, but your competitors can also easily take away your customers by bidding on your terms. Sales from your brand terms will always have a high ROAS/ROI with very low CPCs. It also helps the algorithm find lookalike audiences for your business, allowing your product to reach more people.
Utilize smart bids as much as possible
Gone are the days when you invest your energy on manual CPCs or bidding scripts. While you may think Google will destroy your campaigns on automated bidding, rest assured that’s not the case. Google doesn’t win if you stop investing with them. Google’s algorithms are intelligent (and getting smarter) and make adjustments frequently to find you the customers. The Galactic Fed suggestion is to test different automated strategies until you generate the desired ROI. On automation, focus on other things – Audiences, Devices, Locations, Demographics, Keywords, Ad Groups, and Ad Copy, and you will see results.
Create Search Ads campaigns with intuitive headlines
As you work on creating your regular Search Ads campaigns, focus on structure more than anything. Start small and then grow. Build campaigns that will last the test of time; this is a marathon, not a sprint. You want to structure your campaigns and ad groups so your headlines are super intuitive. In an auction where Google needs to show four other ads, the only leverage is the CTR. You must shine in the auction, and that’s only possible if your ads are tailored and highlight your value proposition.
Of course, there are many strategies for Paid Media and eCommerce, but these 5 are core and fundamental in reaching customers and growing your business, and the best part is that you can implement them today.
