Google Ads for Ecommerce: Prerequisites

When I wrote my last post, we discussed whether or not using Google Ads for your e-commerce company was a wise decision.

Now, if Google Ads is actually in the cards for your shop (or if you have previously had success with Google Ads), this post will guide you through the criteria you will need to complete before you can get started.

Planning Your Ecommerce Business:

Before starting a Google Ads campaign, here are some things you should have.

You are (lovingly) prohibited from constructing a Google Ads campaign unless you have the following six elements in your possession:

1. Affordable Monthly Expenditure
2. 90 Days to Demonstrate the Concept
3. A website that allows for online shopping and includes a product feed
4. There are sufficient margins to support a traffic campaign.
5. One-of-a-kind Selling Proposition
6. There will be no one-off products.

Allow me to explain:

1. Affordable Monthly Expenditure

Consider your monthly budget as an investment from the beginning.

It is your goal to purchase data that will allow you to learn what works in your campaign, what doesn't, and where modifications should be made—all in a fair length of time.

With that investment, Google will begin to establish a targeted audience for you, which you will be able to take advantage of later on in the process. And it will all be worth it in the end! A certain amount of monthly ad expenditure is required to collect sufficient reliable data for testing and optimization later on.

For the sake of illustration, at Solutions 8, we will not accept a customer with a monthly budget of less than $2000.

Do you have a monthly budget of less than $2000? Perhaps you'd want to put it off until a more opportune time.

Google is an algorithm that is always learning. The first three months of your campaigns are going to be the most "difficult" period of your life. It is this criterion that gets us to our next requirement:

2.90 Days to Demonstrate the Concept

It is worth mentioning again that Google is a computer that learns. Furthermore, learning takes time.

We've asked Google to do some quite remarkable behavioral analysis on our behalf.

Google learns the following once you put up your Smart Shopping campaign:

• When clients respond to your advertisements,
• How many times do people click on your advertisements?
• What channel such advertisements are shown on
• It depends on how long it takes the prospect to return.
• What stations do they tend to return to
• What other goods do they look at?

Once Google has collected all of this information, it can assess how many other consumers have gone through a similar pattern or cycle.

In other words, if you have a 15-day sales cycle (i.e., it took 15 days from the time a consumer-first clicked on your ad to the time they completed a purchase), you may have to wait a whole month before revenues begin to flow in. In other words, it will take Google a full month before it can begin collecting data for testing and optimization.

Again, those first several weeks are difficult. However, by day 90, you should have enough information to determine whether or not the campaign will be successful in the long run.

3. A website that allows for online shopping and includes a product feed

This one may seem to be self-explanatory, but here it is:

Prospective buyers will be directed to your website by your advertisements. Because of this, you need an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-navigate e-commerce website that includes a product feed feature.

You should keep in mind that a "product feed" is so much more than just a CSV file including product names, descriptions (including GTIN numbers), and pricing.

Product feeds are critical for e-commerce firms since they may make or break a campaign.

Among e-commerce systems, Shopify is our favorite, especially when it comes to ones that interface seamlessly with Google Ads campaigns.

4. There are sufficient margins to support a traffic campaign.

It costs money to run advertisements. Are your profit margins strong enough to fund these campaigns?

Observe that even though you may have a 100 percent profit margin, if you're selling things for $2 each, your campaigns may still be unprofitable.

Unless you have a larger cart value than the initial purchase price in your possession.

As a result, you'll have to depend on buyers adding more to their carts than just the one promoted product; otherwise, you'll be wasting your money (i.e. more bang for your advertising buck).

5. One-of-a-kind Selling Proposition

The more densely crowded your market is, the more difficult it will be to earn a profit from Google Ads in that sector. So, what distinguishes you from the rest?

In addition, being the cheapest choice isn't the best solution.

Consider your favorite products: what is it about them that makes them your favorite? Is it the company's solid return policy that makes the difference? What about the product's overall quality? What were the materials that were used?

When it comes to campaign success, your unique selling proposition is critical, particularly in terms of campaign length and repeat visitors. After all, selling to a current client is six times less costly than selling to a new customer.

6. There will be no one-off products.

The above is not addressed towards businesses that provide customizable items (for example, things that may be customized with inscriptions, birthstone colors, or photographs).

However, when it comes to one-time purchases, Google Ads will not be effective.

To summarise, one-off items are things that can only be sold once (like a unique, one-of-a-kind painting).

And thus lays the crux of the matter:

When you make a purchase using Google Ads, it is Google's responsibility to attempt to replicate the cycle. It's a learning machine, to be sure!

However, since a single product can only be sold once, Google is unable to replicate the sales process.

As a result, GTINs are used by Google to identify and classify items. However, when you sell a one-time product (a single GTIN), that code is no longer available for use (bye, bye, valuable data).

Do you make your things by hand?

Produce many identical product types (ceramic bowls, for example), and just accept that they will differ somewhat in style owing to the nature of handcrafted items.

When it comes to Google Ads, your first sale is usually the most costly. You don't want every sale to be the first one you make.

Business Planning for Ecommerce: A Few Nice-to-Haves

Now, assuming you have all six of the must-haves in place, here are five more elements to consider that are vital but not necessary:

1. There are several SKUs.
2. Products are financed in this manner.
3. Exceptional Long-Term Value
4. Photographs of everyday life
5. Purchases that have already been made

Allow me to explain:

• 1There are several SKUs.
• It is preferable to have many SKUs for "like" items.
• Here's what we're getting at:
• If a consumer says, "I need Product A," the salesperson will oblige.

You have 10,000 distinct variations of Product A (in various colors or designs), which means your customers are far more likely to buy more than one, increasing the average cart value in the process.

 2. Products are financed in this manner.

Customers may now make incremental payments over many weeks rather than one big payment upfront thanks to new product finance payment alternatives such as Affirm and QuadPay.

These alternatives have resulted in a significant increase in sales and cart value, especially among sellers of higher-priced products. What's the greatest part? In this case, you get paid in full upfront!

If possible, provide product financing alternatives on your website.

3. Exceptional Long-Term Value

Because you know how much your real-time value per client is and how many purchases they make on average throughout a year, you can set lower objectives for your ROAS goal and larger targets for your CPA goal. Because of this, you will be able to expand swiftly and build your company more quickly.

In the above example, if you have an average cart value of $100 and consumers typically buy three times over a year, your average cart value increases to $300.

4. Photographs of everyday life

The importance of lifestyle photography (pictures of your product "in action" and being used by actual people) will be discussed more later, but for now, know that it helps your buyers to imagine themselves using your product.

5. Purchases that have already been made

Existing traffic (from social media or email lists, for example) is used by Google to identify the individuals who visit your site and locate matches in their ecosystem/user base based on their appearance.

In other words, rather than beginning from zero, current traffic provides Google with a starting point from which to work.

Designing an Offer for Ecommerce Business Planning

Who is your target audience?

Can you explain your product to someone who hasn't seen it before?

Is it possible that I lost your attention for a split second there?

Look, here is the point where we have you go back a little bit in your thinking (to launch full speed ahead).

In addition, most firms pass over the "offer design" area since they presume that this box has been checked and checked again for a long time.

But before you spend your hard-earned money on web advertising, be certain that you understand what you're talking about:

• Your target audience is a group of people who
• What your product does to make your buyers feel
• Moreover, what distinguishes your particular brand from the rest of the pack?

Here's how it's done:

Create a persona for your ideal customer.

Make use of this worksheet to figure out who your ideal client is (and who is NOT your customer avatar). The questions on the worksheet will assist you in getting inside the customer's head.

Grid of Before and After Results from DigitalMarketer

Following the creation of your consumer avatars, it's time to think about the changes that occur in their lives as a result of acquiring your product. Customers, after all, do not purchase items; rather, they purchase sentiments, outcomes, and solutions.

You may download a fantastic "before and after" worksheet from DigitalMarketer, which you can find here.

Make a copy and fill it up with the information that your clients will need, such as:

• What your consumer has (or does not have) before purchasing your product, as well as what they acquire as a result of doing so.
• How people feel before using your product, as well as how they feel after using it
• What an average day looks like before your product is introduced, and what an average day looks like after your product is introduced

Developing a company's brand

What does your company's culture evoke in its customers?

If marketing is what motivates people to purchase, the brand is what motivates people to stick with a product even when there are alternatives.

And if you execute all of the things listed above, you'll have the ideal basis for building a successful company brand.

After that, improve the performance of your existing products.

Let's work together to ensure that your goods and offerings provide the most value possible. There are three options for doing this:

Actual Value should be increased.

We're not talking about boosting the prices of your goods or services in this context.

Instead, we'll discuss how you may encourage your clients to spend more money with you. Various approaches may be used to accomplish this:

Bundles! If you have two goods that are often purchased together, consider offering them as a package at a lower price. Customers benefit from your efforts since you raise their value while simultaneously increasing your profitability.

Yes, the price has been "discounted," but you are saving money on shipping and fulfillment while simultaneously enhancing the value of your basket.

Subscriptions! Consider providing a subscription-based model for consumable items (or any other products that may be bought regularly), which assures that repeated transactions will take place.

 In our own experience, we've discovered that certain subscription models have the same cost-per-acquisition as a traditional one-time purchase.

Upsell with a single click!

Consider offering things that can be simply added to a customer's basket with a single click while they are checking out.

Perceived Value should be raised.

Don't overlook the importance of descriptive language and visuals.

That said, internet customers are at a disadvantage since they are unable to physically inspect and feel things as they would be able to do so in a real store. This, on the other hand, may provide a significant chance for you to distinguish yourself.

Give your visitor a complete virtual experience of your goods by describing the advantages of your products rather than simply the attributes of your items. Utilize lifestyle photos to demonstrate how your product works so that people can see themselves using it. Explanation of the product straightforwardly and understandably.

When compared to real worth, perceived value is more valuable.

The perceived worth is the driving force behind their purchase.

Benefits on the Side

In a similar vein, think of any other innovative ways you may add value (and perceived value) to your product line. This may take the shape of supplementary information (such as product demonstrations, how-to videos, and tutorials), the development of a community around your product via social media and forums, or early access to the product itself.

Ascension Models and Value Optimization are two important concepts in finance.

Once you've begun to attract more clients and sales, there are a few things you can do to maximize your growth:

Never give up on your sales efforts.

It has been scientifically proved that when people make a purchase, they are in a different state of mind than when they are deciding whether or not to make a buy in the first place.

Customers are more likely to purchase another product shortly after purchasing other goods since they are in a "buying" condition at the time.

Take advantage of the purchase window while it exists!

Customers should be given several chances to advance and add items depending on their first purchase, if possible.

Bumping up the order

 Similarly, although in a different spirit, the following is worth repeating:

Order bumps are choices that allow you to add extra things to your shopping cart, and they are effective.

Using the Frequently Bought Together app on Shopify is an excellent method to accomplish this goal.

Create an email list and use email marketing to your advantage.

The potential for email marketing to generate more revenue than any other marketing channel is greater in the world of eCommerce.

To be honest, you don't want to be spending a lot of money on bought traffic (such as Google Ads) forever! Email marketing, on the other hand, is one of the most economical marketing methods now accessible.

Do you want to collect more email addresses from your target audience?

Capture contact information via the use of valuable material that is relevant to your offering (e.g. how-tos, guides, checklists).

Check out The Digital Marketer's Guide to Email Marketing for more information (for e-commerce)

Customers that are repeat and/or recurring

Customer acquisition is more costly than selling to existing consumers since it requires more resources. Make use of this opportunity.

Create social evidence to support your claims.

Customers purchase from brands in which they have faith. Social proof can attract new clients, so be sure to continue to create your social proof and display it prominently on your website.

Make no apprehensions about asking your consumers for testimonials and feedback.

 

Finally, selecting a product or market niche

As a preliminary statement, we want to emphasize the importance of being faithful to your brand. Maintain the integrity of your brand. Don't swerve to the right or left because of a weak trend.

Having said that, doing some market research on current industry trends—and, where feasible, using this knowledge to improve the items you sell to satisfy these emerging needs—can help you make some rather wise and educated choices about your business.

Here's how it's done:

Retail categories that are on the rise

Consider the following: It is one of the most well-kept secrets in the business that Google's Rising Retail Categories is one of the best-kept secrets. "Understand rapidly developing retail categories in Google Search, the geographic areas where they're expanding, and the searches linked with them," according to the description of this interactive tool.

Google Trends is a tool that helps you find out what others are talking about.

Take advantage of Google Trends; this is a fantastic tool for identifying trends from the standpoint of search volume and frequency.

Have you finalized your pre-requisites?

Impressive.

The next time I stop by, we'll speak about how to build a solid foundation (i.e., your website!) for your campaigns to maximize their chances of success as much as possible.

This will address best practices for website conversion rate optimization, product preparation, media, and live chat services.

However, if you're in a hurry, you may enroll in our Google Ads Mastery Workshop, which will teach you all you need to know.

If you prefer, you can read my whole step-by-step tutorial to Google Ads for eCommerce by clicking here.