.Recently, Google presented a new version of the Google Shopping Campaigns – Shopping campaigns with goals (Eng .: shopping campaigns goal-optimized), to maximize the conversion value. In this article, we present how you can benefit from this and what you need for the right setup.
THE PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR OF USERS & CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
Buying behavior has changed significantly in recent years. More and more users are looking for products, information, reviews or local availability before making a purchase. The entire customer journey has become significantly more complex, and many online and offline channels influence the buying process. Reaching the right user and thus, the potential customer at the right time with the right message is the greatest challenge facing numerous online retailers. The complexity of campaign management is also increasing.
Different optimization options for manual bid adjustment for devices, locations, advertising schedule, target groups, demographic characteristics, ad formats or the use of remarketing segments are time-consuming. These manual campaign adjustments are becoming more and more extensive and also depend heavily on the individual user and their progress in their customer journey. Also, many signals that are available, for example, to a machine learning algorithm (up to 70 million messages) cannot be dealt with manually. So-called Smart Bidding can help us to optimize the campaigns here.
HOW DO SMART SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS WORK?
The main goal of the new shopping campaigns with target plans is to maximize the conversion value (sales) and aim for the highest possible ROAS. The bids are automatically optimized for each search term, each user and in real-time according to the predefined goal.
Setting bids for the new shopping campaign with goals For Smart Bidding to work optimally, it is essential to set realistic goals and to prevent limited ad delivery. As a best practice, Google recommends using the target ROAS about 2 to 3 weeks after the start of the campaign to enable the machines to be optimally set up during the learning phase.
THE BENEFITS OF TARGETING SMART SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS ARE:
- Beginner-friendly campaign management
- A campaign covers several Google channels to reach the right customer
- Shopping and remarketing are thus linked in one campaign
- The optimized budget allocation between the channels
- Automated ad creation and display
- Automatic selection of placements for better performance.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO START SMART SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS?
To actively use the new campaign with target plans, the following requirements are necessary:
- Google Shopping data feed and a link to the Google Merchant Center
- at least 20 conversions in the last 45 days
- Remarketing tag on the website and remarketing lists with at least 100 active users
- Conversion pixels including the transfer of conversion values
A similar setup applies to the creation of the ads as for the well-known responsive ads. The following images and texts are required:
- Logo in the merchant centre
- Ad image
- Short headline
- Long headline
- description
- Final URL
WHERE ARE THE ADS PLAY?
Smart Shopping Campaigns combine traditional shopping and display remarketing campaigns and play them out in the search, display, YouTube and Gmail channels.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE SMART SHOPPING CAMPAIGNS SETUP
Use an entire product portfolio. Google recommends testing the whole product portfolio for the new shopping campaign with target projects to enable cross-selling.
Increase campaign budget Increase the campaign budget for the new Smart Shopping campaign by 10-15% (compared to the existing shopping campaign) to give the system more room for adjustments and optimizations.
CONCLUSION
The new Smart Shopping Campaigns use the advantages of machine learning very efficiently, but require a professional campaign setup and know-how.