How to Reduce Wasted Ad Spend and Compete More Effectively with eCommerce PPC

Competitors are likely to invest more money in the digital eCommerce landscape this year as search volume decreases and global uncertainty increases.

So, as we rapidly shift towards a more eCommerce-led environment, I thought I’d take a more detailed look at how to reduce wasted ad spend and compete on a global stage with eCommerce PPC.

Implementing Google AI and Automated Bidding for eCommerce Websites

A key benefit of automated bid strategies is that artificial intelligence targets the user profile most likely to convert and, when appropriate, bids higher to gain that conversion. This technique is monumental to the success of your eCommerce campaigns.

As an example, say your average Cost Per Click (CPC) is £1 and your ads are showing for a general audience that searches on your keywords. It’s a general audience so each user profile is in different stages of the sales cycle. Some are in the early stages and researching products, some are in the latter stages and are ready to buy. Because your campaigns are targeting user profiles in all stages, a high percentage is not ready to make a conversion. Let’s say for this example it takes 25 clicks to provide a conversion. The total cost per conversion is therefore £25.

Automated Bidding Strategies to Reduce Wasted Ad Spend

Now, let’s say we use an automated bid strategy where the AI is trained to recognise user profiles who are in the latter stage of the sales cycle. Those user profiles have already done their research and are ready to buy. These user profiles are also searching from a location and device type that the AI recognises as most likely to convert (perhaps you sell luxury products that are most likely to convert from affluent postcodes via an iPad). For this user profile, the AI will bid higher to ensure your ad shows above your competition’s. It may display your ad at a CPC of £2 in this instance even though it is double the cost of our £1 CPC limit. The AI is now presenting your ads only to user profiles who are in the latter stage of the cycle and with a high probability of conversion.

With a higher likelihood of a conversion, it takes fewer clicks to gain a conversion. If it now takes only 10 clicks to gain a conversion from this highly targeted audience, the total cost per conversion is £20. This is lower than our previous cost per conversion (£25) when we had capped CPC at a lower value.

This is the power of artificial intelligence and automated bid strategies. The overall CPC can go up but the increase in conversion rate due to the user profile targeting of AI provides a much more cost effective way to gain conversions and reduce wasted ad spend. Which can only be a positive when operating an eCommerce business.

Target Your eCommerce Customers with PPC Remarketing & Audience Segmentation

Remarketing remains one of the most important ways in which to re-target your eCommerce customer base.

PPC remarketing allows your ads to show to consumers who have already engaged with your online shop. This very powerful form of customer acquisition is used by the very best advertisers across the industry.

In addition, Optimised Audience Targeting can leverage Google’s machine learning to identify new customers who are likely to engage with your eCommerce objectives.

Take advantage of audience segmentation to make sure you are targeting the right customers at the right time with the right message:

Demographic targeting: This type of audience targeting goes further than simply targeting customers based on their age, gender or parental status information. Instead, Demographic Targeting provides more detailed targeting options based on life and career stages

Affinity segment targeting: Affinity segment targeting aims to reach people who have similar interests, hobbies, and mindsets. These are absolutely vital for boosting brand awareness

In-market segment targeting: In-market segments are people who are prepared to purchase specific products from your website. People are put into these categories based on their shopping behaviours, making them primed for high-intent, hyper-targeted eCommerce marketing campaigns

Life event targeting: Life Event Targeting targets users who are going through a major life transition, such as a graduation, marriage, house move, learning to drive or divorce

Prioritise Conversions Over Clicks to Reduce Wasted Ad Spend

There’s no doubt that clicks and impressions are important, especially when it comes to brand awareness. However, brand visibility should not be your main goal when running an eCommerce business.

It’s important to concentrate on four key insights that will ultimately help you understand how to reduce wasted ad spend and compete more effectively. These key metrics include the type of conversion, conversion rate, cost per conversion and return on ad spend.

By focusing on these four measurements, you will track success more effectively. It will revolutionise future paid eCommerce advertising campaigns.

Optimise Your Landing Pages to Reduce Wasted Ad Spend

If your landing pages aren’t performing to the highest level, you’re probably wasting a huge amount of ad spend and losing vital customers.

It’s important to have a detailed understanding of how users make purchases on your website. This may mean improving your call to actions, improving your inbound and outbound links, or making sure your pages are more mobile friendly for customers who like to shop on the go. Consider using the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) framework model too to help improve your landing page and improve conversion rates.

By making these changes, you can completely overhaul your landing pages, increase their effectiveness and increase sales through your eCommerce website.

Trust PPC Geeks – The Most Effective eCommerce Agency in the UK

We pride ourselves on what we achieve for our clients on a daily basis, be that incredible results or knowing how not to waste ad spend and boost sales. If you have suffered from underperformance in PPC agencies or are struggling with ad campaign success, we can help. By working with one of the top eCommerce agencies in the country, PPC Geeks is the place to be to make sure you are ready for a huge influx of customers.

As we always have your best interests in mind, if you require any help or want to improve your PPC or Google Ads, then why not invest in one of our 100% FREE, completely comprehensive PPC audits?