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ECOMMERCE PPC STRATEGIES
WAKEFLY’S THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES
ON WEB DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT,
AND ONLINE MARKETING
The Pay Per Click (PPC) landscape for most online retailers continues to become more competitive
with more direct competition bidding on the same keywords than ever before. As such, the cost for each
conversion is increasing, and the former paradigm for success has markedly shifted for most advertisers
One of the biggest missteps on the part of advertisers is the failure to realize that the success criteria
for great PPC advertising is very different now than it was one year ago. It is entirely unreasonable to
believe—or expect—historic PPC tactics to continue to bear fruit in the current environment.
This shift has left many advertisers devoid of a go-to market strategy for their PPC advertising. Victims of
this shift often experience the following:
u Quality Scores (QS) Wane. As the performance of other savvier advertisers improves, and the
relative level of performance of less savvy accounts stays the same or decreases, QS can drop and
the Cost Per Clicks (CPCs) can skyrocket by up to 300 percent if not properly managed.
u Massive Overbidding. With most cases, advertisers need to focus on buying the most profitable
clicks for the least amount of money. In nearly 90 percent of accounts surveyed by Wakefly,
massive overbidding was found. With both first purchase profitability and customer lifetime value
being considered, clicks were being bought for 3 to 20 times more than needed. This poor bidding
performance—often hand-in-hand with low QS—leads to very limited chances for success as the
account snowballs out of control. In essence, too few clicks are being bought for too much money. In
a situation like this, even dramatically changing the budget cannot increase conversions in a material way.
u Lack of Granularity at the Campaign Level. Granularity in approach is more vital than ever. Each
keyword, ad group and campaign needs to be viewed as its own business: It has a budget, dedicated
advertising and market share, and will ultimately succeed or fail largely on its own merits.
u Basic Yielding Control. Bidding the same on every keyword in the same ad group is the most
common control issue. Successful advertisers have a well-thought-out bidding strategy that reflects
the reality of their keyword universe. It is completely within the purview of the advertiser to bid more
on keywords that are more likely to yield a business result. This is a method of account control that
ensures ad dollars have the most impact.
u Advanced Yielding Control. Dayparts, bid adjustments, granular campaign structure and budgets
all represent the assertion of control on the part of the advertiser. Not asserting control will lead to
lower conversion rates and less success. The typical eCommerce business has busy days of the
week, busy times of the day (for both clicks and phone calls), does more business or better business
in certain geographic areas, does more business on certain mobile devices, does more business on
certain browser types, etc. Great PPC accounts consider all these things in their strategy. These data
points are easily extracted from Google AdWords and Google Analytics.
FOR ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR SEM AND SEO CAMPAIGNS, CONTACT US AT
WAKEFLY, INC., 1800 WEST PARK DRIVE, SUITE 100, WESTBOROUGH, MA 01581
PHONE: 508.616.2042 • FAX: 508.616.2044
Google has greatly contributed to this continued paradigm shift with their evolution of the AdWords
platform. Simply put, what worked in 2011 will no longer work. In fact, Wakefly’s analysts expct more
substantial changes to the platform that will require continual evolution on the part of advertisers.
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GOOGLE’S CHANGES
u Match Types. Historically, savvy advertisers could tap the veins of inexpensive clicks through
exhaustive keyword research. This research enabled lower CPCs and greater rewards to advertisers
who were committed to research and building out account structure. Some of this has been short
circuited by the new match type, Broad Match Modifier (BMM). This hybrid match type enables the
rapid creation of exhaustive keyword lists with little effort. Adoption of BMM is still low (30 percent)
in many advertiser accounts, so an early-adopter advantage continues to exist for BMM adopters.
In the long run, those using BMM will find tremendous advantage in laddering their bids (bidding
more for BMM combinations that produce either quality visitors, conversions or both) when combined
with rigorous negative keyword list building. Even the long-loathed Broad Match catchall match type
is experiencing a rebirth as recent testing on product names, product part codes and other brandheavy terms are producing results that are much more targeted than in years past. With such a high
percentage of searches being unique and long tail in nature, broad match and BMM may represent
the very best opportunity to buy quality clicks at the lowest cost.
u Call Tracking and Extensions. Ringing phones lead to profits for most retailers. Call tracking and
extensions in all their forms can multiply the value of eCommerce PPC. Understanding the value of
a phone call is vital to deploying and bidding properly on phone calls. Recent Wakefly research on
behalf of a pet supplies retailer revealed that nearly 80 percent of inbound phone calls originating
from PPC were transactional in nature — meaning callers wished to place an order online or had a
very specific “buy” question.
u Sitelinks and Product Extensions. Google’s vehicles (Sitelinks and Product Extensions) for making
advertising take up more real estate on the page have huge impacts on Click Through Rate (CTR).
The greater the ad space, the more clicks received. There is one noted caveat: Advertisers must
have the campaign structure in place to fully capitalize on this. Popular products and product lines
may require their own campaigns.
FOR ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR SEM AND SEO CAMPAIGNS, CONTACT US AT
WAKEFLY, INC., 1800 WEST PARK DRIVE, SUITE 100, WESTBOROUGH, MA 01581
PHONE: 508.616.2042 • FAX: 508.616.2044
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WHAT WILL THE NEW PARADIGM LOOK LIKE?
The new paradigm for PPC advertising is not the path of least resistance. Vendors and software
solutions that tout low fees and automation are missing the larger picture. Addressing pain points of the
typical advertiser, and addressing and staying current with all of Google’s changes, is a human, analysisdriven process. Failing accounts that automate or seek a low-cost solution are simply expediting money
loss.
The fact is that buying clicks is becoming more expensive. Proper management is becoming more
time-consuming. However, there are still tremendous opportunities for eCommerce companies to do
battle with their larger counterparts. As in the world of Search Engine Optimization SEO, it is not at all
uncommon to see agile, scrappy web companies have better PPC programs than their billion-dollar
counterparts. The PPC advertiser with the deepest pockets and biggest budget doesn’t always get the
best results. AdWords’ solution is too complex, built with a reward system (QS) that rewards exceptional
effort largely independent of a budget, which is controlled solely by large advertisers.
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BUILDING A MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY
Creating a corporate philosophy around PPC management is a prerequisite for never falling behind in
AdWords again. Wakefly’s proposed strategy for all eCommerce vendors is three-part: expand coverage,
create value and eliminate waste. These core precepts, when coupled with greater alignment of
Google’s constant changes, allow for an AdWords foundation that few advertisers have achieved.
u Expand Coverage. With so many search queries—from the absolutely unique to the most common
like Google and Bing—it’s not a surprise most advertisers are focused on the easier to target, yet
more expensive, keywords in their markets. Work towards “covering” hundreds and thousands of
keywords in corporate niches with page-one visibility. Underpin these efforts with perfect account
structure and a meaningful bid strategy. Mix in Google’s desire to see sitelinks, call extensions and
more to ensure high CTR and QS.
u Create Value. Superb keyword coverage must be paired with strict financial management. Don’t
overpay for any keyword until it proves to convert or produce revenue. Why pay $1 for a visitor that
will convert at the rate of 1/100 when just 50 cents could have been paid for the same visitor and
conversion ratio? Buying more visitors doesn’t alter the conversion rate—it only alters the absolute
number of conversions. This stretches the budget further while producing more quality leads and
increasing sales.
u Eliminate Waste. A big part of the PPC game is bad clicks, which means too much of the budget is
spent on irrelevant clicks and poorly converting keywords. When deploying Broad Match or BMM,
more time needs to be spent filtering out waste than was previously allocated. Bad keywords get
eliminated. Low quality, yet necessary, keywords get lower bids.
FOR ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR SEM AND SEO CAMPAIGNS, CONTACT US AT
WAKEFLY, INC., 1800 WEST PARK DRIVE, SUITE 100, WESTBOROUGH, MA 01581
PHONE: 508.616.2042 • FAX: 508.616.2044
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CONCLUSION
In conclusion, advertisers and their agencies must be better prepared to adopt Google’s latest offerings
against the backdrop of a very granular, growing and well-thought-out account. This account must be
underpinned by an understanding approach that is driven by human analysis and effort. More esoteric
places where Google gives the advertiser control such as dayparts, mobile bidding and bid adjustments
all must be leveraged. BMM cannot be ignored, nor can sitelinks and product extensions. Finally,
recognize that PPC advertising is – despite marketplace claims by low-ball providers and software tools
masquerading as a service – becoming more time-consuming and more complex as Google continues
to evolve the AdWords platform.
FIND OUT HOW WAKEFLY CAN HELP WITH YOUR ECOMMERCE CAMPAIGNS.
VISIT US ONLINE AT WAKEFLY.COM OR CALL 508.616.2042 TO GET STARTED.
FOR ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR SEM AND SEO CAMPAIGNS, CONTACT US AT
WAKEFLY, INC., 1800 WEST PARK DRIVE, SUITE 100, WESTBOROUGH, MA 01581
PHONE: 508.616.2042 • FAX: 508.616.2044