Critical Improvements for Paid Search: Avance Electronics Checkup Part 3

By Volusion

Today’s Ecommerce Marketing Checkup offers practical recommendations for improving a real-world PPC and Shopping Feeds campaign. Join us as our specialists guide Avance Electronics through their marketing efforts.

Every month the Volusion Services Team gathers a group of specialists together to provide feedback for a Volusion store’s marketing efforts. In this month’s Ecommerce Marketing Checkup, the team sat down to offer optimization tips for Avance Electronics. Having already covered Social Media, Conversion Optimization and Search Engine Optimization, our specialists have turned their attention towards Shopping Feeds and Pay Per Click advertising.

Check out their recommendations below!

Shopping Feeds: Minor Data Changes, Do Some Research

“With a highly competitive market like electronics and mobile accessories, it is important to have a clear strategy and set attainable goals from the beginning for any paid search campaign. Be aware of competitors’ pricing, deals, and promotions and think of ways to make your business stand out and be set apart from competition. Spend extra time planning a budget with which you are comfortable. Comparison shopping can work very well for this vertical, but most shoppers are looking for deals and low price points, so be sure to keep this in mind.”

-Adam, Shopping Feeds Specialist

Revisit Product Descriptions:

Due to shopping feed campaigns not utilizing keywords in the same way that PPC campaigns do, it becomes important to have as much information as possible in product titles and descriptions. Google and other shopping engines crawl product pages and index information found in titles and descriptions and use them to match products to applicable search terms.

Avance Electronics does a great job of loading product titles with specific, relevant data. However, a few product descriptions leave much to be desired. An example of this can be found when looking at the product 2.1A Micro-USB Charge/Sync Cable 3′ long, Black. The product description for this product reads “Micro-USB Charge/Sync Cable, Black”. Adding more information here could greatly improve search traffic for this particular product.

Upload Images for Some Products, Delete Promotional Text:

Avance Electronics has a handful of products that currently do not have an image associated with them. One such product is 2.1A Micro-Slim USB Universal Car Charger, White. Many shopping engines require an image for products, and will disapprove and not show any items that do not contain a picture or have a broken image link. Make sure that each product you are submitting to a shopping engine has an image; anything without an image will not get very much traffic and should be taken out of the feed file.

Additionally, many products (like WattPlus 1700mAh Ultra-Slim Battery Case for iPhone 5S/5, Black) contain a small image that states “Made for iPhone” in the product picture. Some shopping engines like Google may flag these images for promotional text or watermarks, both of which are against Google policies. As most of these review processes are automated, it may be something that is not caught right away, but could very well turn up and be flagged later on, causing a headache.

If Avance Electronics were planning to submit to shopping engines, I would advise they familiarize themselves with each engine’s shopping rules and restrictions. If there is any confusion, considering reaching out to their merchant support department, or having a Volusion team member do so on their behalf may be the best course of action.

Conclusion:

For the most part, Avance Electronics has descriptive product data with informative, data-heavy product titles and descriptions, as well as clear product images. With a few changes to some product data, further research into shopping engines, and a clear marketing plan, shopping feeds could be a very viable endeavor.

“Gone are the days when people wait to have access to information. Times have changed and we now expect to have everything available at an instant in the palm of our hand. For Avance Electronics, this is great news. With a site that sells specific mobile phone accessories, structuring a PPC account in a similarly specific manner is sure to bring highly qualified customers to the website.”

-Ryan, Search Marketing Specialist

The suggestions below are recommendations to help Avance Electronics create successful PPC campaigns.

Organization:

A staple rule in PPC is the better you can organize your account, the better results you can expect to see.

Avance Electronics can do this in many ways, but a good place to start would be creating a specific campaign for Battery Cases and then break down the Ad groups to match each type of battery case. So there would be a white iPhone battery case group, a black one, a red one, a gold one and so on and so forth. An account structure such as this allows Avance Electronics to be specific with the keywords and ad text for each ad group and to take traffic to the exact product page, all of which will lead to better quality scores and better customer experiences.

Biding on the correct keywords:

The keywords are the foundation of your account. Choosing the right words and match types is crucial for spending money effectively and bringing the right people to the site.

Going back to the battery case example, it’s important for Avance Electronics to use exact match keywords such as: [white iphone 5 battery case], [black iphone 5 battery case], [battery cases for iphone 5] for the bulk of terms they target. Electronics is a competitive market and no one has the budget to go up against the Target’s and Walmart’s of the world who will be going after any and all battery case terms and phrases, many of which will not be shopping customers. If Avance has the budget and keeps a close eye on search query reports, they could also target some phrase and broad-modified match types, but it is advisable to stay away from broad match types.

It is also important to spend just as much time building out a negative keyword list that includes terms you don’t want to trigger your ads. Examples include: “walmart”, “amazon”, “used”, “reviews”, “target”, “best buy”, etc. as they are all terms customers could be searching that wouldn’t convert as well as someone simply shopping for a white iPhone battery case without looking to buy from a specific business.

Using Ad Extensions:

Ad extensions are beneficial for every PPC account and one as specific as mobile phone accessories should include as many as possible.

PPC Ad 1 300x64 Critical Improvements for Paid Search: Avance Electronics Checkup Part 3

Customers searching for mobile phone accessories are often on the lookout for new things for their phones. If Avance Electronics has unique and creative mobile phone accessories, placing them in Sitelinks can be one of the best ways to entice a customer to click on their ad over a competitor’s. Customers searching for battery charging cases will see that extension in every ad but it’s the other elements they see that could be the deciding factor in earning that click. With this in mind, it’s crucial to have plenty of Sitelinks and test different variations on a regular basis.

Writing effective ad copy:

With a competitive electronic mobile market, writing compelling ad copy can go a long way towards getting new and repeat customers.

An effective PPC account will test many different variations of ad text to see what resonates best with the searchers. Staying with the battery charging case example, Avance Electronics would be wise to put “Battery Charging Case” or “iPhone Charging Case” in the headline of the ads (preferably with the color too, if it’s directed to a specific product page) but the trick will be reaching the customers on an emotional level in body of the ad.

PPC Ad 2 300x60 Critical Improvements for Paid Search: Avance Electronics Checkup Part 3

Everyone can relate to the frustration of a phone dying at the worst times, so phrases such as, “never let your phone die!”, “go days without charging your phone!” and “tired of your phone dying every day?” can tie into that frustration more effectively than an ad body that reads “buy charging cases here” or “shop charging cases today”.

Also, when writing ad copy for category pages, provide as much detail as possible so customers know exactly what to expect when landing on the page. Avance Electronics battery charging case category page contains multiple colors, and it would benefit them to mention as many of those colors as possible in the ad. It is also a good idea to display the price of the cases in the ad so customers are not blindsided when landing on the page. By saying something such as, “casing starting at $79.95” you will help to eliminate customers searching for cheaper cases from clicking on your ad to see the price on the page and then bouncing off.

Notice something we forgot?

Is there anything else you think should be added to this list? Leave us a comment with your questions or tips and tricks. If you’re feeling a little social, check us out on Twitter or Facebook:

@Volusion and use #VolusionChkUp

Facebook.com/volusion

Looking for some advice?

If you are interested in having your store reviewed by our marketing team, leave us a comment below with your store URL.

Wish you had the Volusion experts on your marketing team? Take a look at Volusion’s Marketing Services! We offer all of the marketing disciplines we’ll discuss in this Checkup, from SEO and Social Media to Conversion Consulting to PPC Advertising and Shopping Feed Management. Our team of experts specialize exclusively in the Volusion platform to help ecommerce stores find success online. Jumpstart your success today with our industry experience!

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