3 Problems eCommerce PPC Management Services Can Solve

Pay-per-click, or PPC advertising, may just be the most important invention since the internet. Before the existence of Pay-Per-Click advertising and PPC management services, small business owners had to rely on expensive yet diffusely targeted radio, TV and print ads. Moreover, these traditional marketing strategies return very little information about how much of an impact they have had on lead generation. Initiating or canceling a campaign is also an ordeal.

Traditional ads have been expensive and difficult to create. Sometimes, their effectiveness depended entirely on luck. Just imagine trying to figure out how many people would have their radios turned on right on time to listen to your commercial.

PPC changed all this by giving business owners unprecedented control over how their ads are displayed and to whom. What’s better, they only pay when someone clicks on their ad. This is definitely a miracle of technology.

However, it does not mean that PPC is fool-proof. There are many ways an eCommerce PPC campaign can go south fast and burn through an eCommerce business’s marketing budget like there is no tomorrow without having anything to show for it.

Here are the most common problems and their possible causes.

Users Are Clicking PPC Ads, But Not Converting

You are happy with your ads and decided to launch your campaign. It is exciting to watch the click count go up and an influx of new traffic pour into your website. However, you watch in horror as low conversions do not cover the cost of your campaign.

There could be many causes for this.

Low conversion rates are usually associated with a poorly designed conversion funnel. Your ad copy might be setting expectations that are not met by the corresponding landing page. This generates high bounce rates and can even harm your brand as a whole. Interestingly enough, in this way, website design’s effect on user experience can have a material impact on conversions, thereby impacting the efficacy of your PPC campaign.

Consider sending traffic to a landing page that is more in tune with your ad copy and provide clearer CTAs. There is nothing more frustrating than landing on a page and then being presented with confusing menus and options. Ads should directly lead visitors to the advertised product without making them jump through hoops to convert.

You can also check if your ads are targeting the right audience. A poorly defined buyer persona leads to showing ads to users who are not interested in your products. This is a problem that is becoming more prevalent as Google focuses more on search intent than specific keywords. Defining your buyer personas allows you to show your ads to users at more targeted places in their customer journeys, making them more likely to convert.

Rectifying Low Ad Impressions with eCommerce PPC Management

Impression share, the difference between the number of impressions your ads receive and the total number of impressions they could get (expressed as a percentage), can tell you a lot about the performance of your ads. A low impression share typically means that people are not seeing your ads.

This could be due to several factors.

One of the most common causes is a poor bidding strategy. Your competitors are probably outbidding you and Google tends to favor those who pay more. It doesn’t sound fair, but it is what it is.

To fix this you will have to adjust your keywords and bids.

The fastest way to improve your numbers is to outbid your competitors. Try to bid a bit higher than the average, and your impression share should increase correspondingly.

If you believe the problem isn’t your bidding strategy, you may need to start targeting lower volume long-tail keywords. They are less competitive and you might even get more qualified leads this way as you will target users who are further down their customer journey. It’s easier to target a more closely-defined search intent with longer tail keywords, too.

However, you should never take your eyes off your quality score. There are at least 3 factors that influence this score: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

Google performs a historical analysis of how the keyword you are targeting has performed in the past. They take into account the overall probability of someone clicking on an ad containing associated keywords. If you have a below-average expected CTR, consider changing your keyword strategy or adjusting your ad copy.

Ad relevance measures how your ad copy matches your targeted keyword. It is common for many to use the same ad copy for different keywords related to their business. However, that sacrifices relevance, giving ads a low quality score. The best way to fix this is to create a professional and engaging copy that clearly states the purpose of the ad.

The last, yet somehow most important, factor is landing page experience. Google compares your ad copy to what your landing page offers. The search engine dislikes bait and switch pages that do not offer what visitors expect, or that are difficult to navigate. A clear sign for them is having a higher than average bounce rate, which indicates that a landing page does not meet the expectations of users or that it has technical SEO issues.

When users click on your link, they should be met with relevant copy specifically written for them. The landing page should also be easy to navigate and clearly state what users should do to obtain what they are looking for. If you have low landing page experience scores, try creating a landing page for each targeted audience. Moreover, try matching the tone and verbiage of your ads, or work with an experienced eCommerce agency to develop new ad copy, placing visible calls to actions and buttons through your copy.

ROI Remains Stagnant Throughout The Course Of The Ad Campaign

A stable return on investment is sometimes a good thing. It would mean that your revenue increases on par with your marketing budget. The more you invest, the more you make.

However, you should not hire eCommerce PPC management services and expect them to keep doing what you´re doing. The goal of a PPC campaign is to drive up ROI and ROAS while reducing wasted spend.

Admitedly, this is sometimes not as easy as it sounds. Even for an experienced eCommerce marketing agency, it takes time and the right tools to start moving the needle in the right direction.

First of all, automation is the mind-killer. It is nice to use automated tools as training wheels when you´re just starting, but they can only get you so far. After a while, this vanilla approach will end up crushing your growth potential. The truth is that taking full advantage of targeted ads, cultivating an actual PPC strategy, requires putting in more hours and effort into it.

PPC is about being constantly on top of your campaign. What works today might become outdated or even ineffective next month. It depends on many factors that are out of your sphere of influence. Customer preferences, competition pool, unexpected algorithm changes; these things, and others, all add levels of uncertainty and force paid search marketing specialists to be on their toes.

Right now, Google is obsessed with search intent and user experience. Their approach forces marketers to take a more human approach when designing marketing campaigns. The goal is to convince the search engine to show your ads to qualified leads that have a higher likelihood of converting. You need to build several buyer personas, define their psychological profile and needs, and create several campaigns directed towards each of them.

The next step is to perform A/B testing for each campaign and see which one performs better. Comparing performances help you better understand how users interact with your ads, and which words and messaging are more effective at generating the desired response.

Testing also allows you to keep ad spend in check. The best way to prevent wasted spend is to discard underperforming ads, and constantly create new ads that include what is proven to work combined with other keywords or ad copy. This continuous process will help you hone in on increased ROI while keeping wasted spend to a minimum.

Working with an eCommerce PPC Management Company

Paid advertising is a full-time job that is better left in the hands of the best eCommerce PPC management services provider. If you want to increase the effectiveness of your PPC campaign, generate more traffic and revenue, and outpace your competitors for years to come, a dedicated eCommerce agency can help. contact 1Digital^Ⓡ Agency and start devising the best-paid ads strategy for your business.