By Erin Wawok

Feb

26

What is Google Shopping Promotions and How to Use It

There are dozens of ways to market your ecommerce business. Whether you choose organic marketing strategies, like content marketing, or a more proactive and fast-paced option, like Google Ads, the focus should be on increasing sales, building brand recognition and creating a loyal following. Discover how Google Promotions can help you achieve this faster and easier, and help your customers get a great deal on your products.

What is Google Shopping Promotions?

Google Shopping Promotions is based on the popular Google Ads system. Google Ads works by boosting your listings on web searches, video displays or map searches. Because it pushes your listing higher than it might normally appear due to your current level of traffic, Ads is a great way to quickly build awareness and create a memorable brand.

If you want the same benefits for your individual products, consider using Google Shopping Promotions. This dynamic program allows you not only to advertise your products, but also provide special offers to customers who choose to purchase your product by clicking on the advertisement.

Getting Started

In order to get started with Google Shopping Promotions, you’ll need to set up an account. You will also need a Merchant Center and Google Ads account and will need to be approved to create a promotion.

Upon approval, you’ll have access to the convenient promotions tool. This allows you to create a promotion using your products. Your promotion will show up as a “Special Offer” link, which allows customers to gain access to countless deals and discounts. You can offer a range of deals to increase purchases, including:

  • Free shipping
  • Additional gift
  • Discount: percentage or amount

You have total control of your promotions. Whether you choose to provide the same discount to any product purchased through the ad or choose to individuals for each deal, you’ll be able to increase traffic and promote your items.

Benefits of Using Merchant Promotions

Once you’ve successfully joined and started using promotions, you’ll enjoy a range of benefits, including:

  • Increased multi-screen traffic: With more and more customers choosing to shop on their mobile device, it’s critical that your ads appear on both mobile and desktop browsing. Google Promotions allows you to create special offers that are compatible for all devices.
  • Improved conversion rates: Even meticulously priced items can face stiff competition. eCommerce is a growing industry, so you need to do everything you can to stay ahead of the competition. This means increasing the conversion rate of customers to your brand. A single offer could be the difference between a lifelong customer or a missed opportunity.
  • Higher clickthrough rate: Bringing customers to your listings is the first step in making a sale. Once a customer has clicked on your product, they will be able to see your competitive listing and excellent product description. Use special offers to encourage customers to visit your listing, and use dynamic listings to make the sale.

A downside to Google Promotions is a lack of accountability and tracking. You can’t currently keep track of the number of customers who use your promotion, so you’ll need to use other analytics to determine whether this strategy is effective.

The Future of Google Shopping Promotions

If you haven’t kept up with the past, present and future of ecommerce, there are some important trends that could make Google Promotions particularly effective. The ecommerce industry offers plenty of flexibility and excitement for a small business owner, but it can be difficult to predict where the industry will turn. Here are two major ways ecommerce is expected to change in the future, which could both make your Google Promotions listings even more effective:

  1. Increased personalization: More and more customers are expecting websites and advertisements to be customized for their personal shopping and browsing habits. This makes excellent web design even more important than ever, but it also makes advertising strategies, like Google Promotions, equally important. Your promotions can offer customers a special deal, which can be made highly personalized without all the analytics usually necessary.
  2. Mobile shopping: Obviously, more mobile shopping makes it more essential than ever to invest in marketing campaigns that are multi-screen compatible.

Advertising with Google is a safe bet in the future. From Google Ads to Promotions, many of the more dynamic advertising strategies available are constantly being updated to keep up with the latest ecommerce trends.

Leverage Your Effective Advertising With a Multi-Channel Strategy

Once you’ve perfected your special offers, connect them with a multi-channel strategy with the help of Listing Mirror. Our innovative software can help you easily keep track of inventory, manage multiple channels and keep track of sales reporting and other analytics that are essential to determining the success of your advertising plan. Whether you’re just launching your first small business or already the proud owner of a multi-channel company, contact Listing Mirror to find out how you can create a winning strategy today.

Sell More. Work Less.

Erin Wawok

Erin is the Co-Founder of Listing Mirror.