The client is a large online store of top-branded men’s and women’s clothing, with its own courier delivery and delivery points in Ukraine.
The company is a successful internet project with a large volume of transactions. It offers its customers a wide assortment of high-quality clothes from leading designers. A vital element of the company’s marketing strategy is Google Ads. This allows it to attract the target audience and increase sales.
The main goals of the client:
- to expand the reach
- increase the conversions
- stabilize key indicators of seasonality
The average check from one purchase is $50
1. What are the specifics of running Google Ads for an online clothing store?
Google Ads management for an online clothing store has its own specifics related to rapidly changing fashion trends, seasonality and competition. The specialization includes:
- Keyword Control: It is important for an online clothing store to carefully select keywords keeping in mind seasonal changes, promotions and fashion trends to attract the target audience.
- Ads Assets: Using extensions such as “Locations” or “Sitelinks” helps improve ad visibility and increase the possibility of attracting customers.
- Retargeting: Bringing customers back for repeat purchases is one of the keys to an online shop. Retargeting campaigns help to remind customers about the products they are interested in
- Structure: Correct distribution of campaigns by categories, subcategories, margins and types of advertising campaigns. 80% of successful results depend on the structure of your Google Ads account
The right way of approach to advertising in Google Ads, analysing results and monitoring campaigns allows you to achieve your goals and stable business growth in the highly competitive fashion industry.
2. The main mistakes can be made in optimising Google Ads
Our team has been through several dozens of Google Ads accounts of large online clothing shops. With our experience, we will highlight such common management and optimisation of Google Ads.
- Incorrect audience targeting: Incorrectly defined target audiences can lead to wasting advertising budgets on unprofitable customers.
- Unoptimised Ads: Poor quality or low-engaging ads can go ignored, affecting CTR (click-through rate) and ultimately conversions.
- Let it go: Many agencies do the basic work at the start of advertising campaigns. Next, the Google Ads account is left to fend for itself. What affects its effectiveness in the final results
- Illogical structure: Trying to cover all the products in a shop often gives rise to segmentation that is inconvenient to manage. For example, controlling click price and conversions.
Hiring a PPC Expert, launching Google Ads campaigns, and then, in order to save budgets, not managing the ads account is the most illogical decision a business can make.
This list leaves out other common mistakes that are filled with articles on managing Google Ads. Such as setting a daily budget, negative keywords, setting up conversions and connecting Google Analytics 4, etc.
We do not emphasise such deficiencies. These things are what every PPC Expert should do by default. Plus, in our practice, we’ve rarely seen accounts that didn’t have daily limits or a list of negative keywords.
3. Is it wise to take Google Ads Management after the previous contractor?
Only an advanced Google Ads audit can provide the answer to this. This is an important tool for determining the effectiveness of campaigns and identifying areas for improvement. When auditing an online clothing shop, it is worth paying attention to:
- Keyword Relevancy: Check how well keywords are matched for each ad group and adverts
- Ads Effectiveness: Evaluate the CTR and ads positions, as well as the content of the ads themselves
- Ranking Top Position: This metric will give insight into how much traffic capacity has been utilised. Whether there is room for growth in specific ad campaigns
- Conversions and ROI: Analyse which keywords and campaigns are generating more conversions and best ROI
If we talk about the decision to manage Google Ads after the previous contractor, it depends on several factors. For example, how qualitatively and systematically the previous contractor optimised Google Ads, how close it came to KPIs and how realistic it is to reach the approved KPI.
4. Google Ads results for an Online clothing shop for the year 2021
4.1 Key performance indicators
Google Ads optimization showed impressive results in 2021. The total value amounted to 1.44 million USD, which is a significant improvement compared to previous periods.
General indicators:
- Cost Per Click (CPC) – $0.06
- Total Value – $1.44 million
- CTR 2.59 %.
- Clicks – 8.279 million
- Conversions – 99.29K (of which 37.4K were sales)
- Cost Per Lead (CPL) – $7.16
Expenses amounted to $712K. At the same time, the cost per click was reduced to $0.06, which significantly reduced advertising costs.
The rest of the important account metrics can be found in the screenshot above. The following steps were taken to achieve these results:
- Keyword Optimisation: After analysing the effectiveness of each keyword, we removed ineffective queries and focused on those that generated more conversions. This allowed us to increase the overall CTR and lower the cost per click.
- Ads Analysis: We performed A/B testing of different ad variants to identify the most attractive and persuasive ones. This helped to increase CTR and attract more clicks to the website.
- Local customisation: We customised the campaigns locally to achieve optimal results for different regions, taking into account the specific interests and requests of users in each region
4.2 Search Google Ads Results
The search advertising metrics have shown excellent results. The CTR was 7.54% and the cost per click decreased to $0.10. The number of conversions amounted to 31.4K, resulting in a total conversion value of $466.660 million.
The following approaches were used to achieve these results:
Relevant keywords: We selected the most relevant keywords for each campaign, making the adverts more accurate and more engaging to the target audience.
Improved quality of ads: We focused on creating attractive and informative display ads that are as relevant as possible to users’ needs.
Performance analysis: Regular analysis of campaign performance helped us respond quickly to market changes and adjust our advertising strategy to achieve the best results.
Dynamic search campaigns: We used these ads to achieve a wider reach. They allow us to deliver ads to users who enter very narrow and specific keywords.
4.3 Comparison of the performance of a search PPC campaign and a dynamic search Google Ads
Dynamic Search Ads are different from traditional search adverts. Google Ads automatically selects the pages of a website and creates an advert with a relevant title based on the user’s search query. There is no need for a PPC specialist to select keywords. The screenshot below shows the performance of regular search campaigns and then Dynamic Search Ads.
This approach expands audience reach and allows you to show relevant ads for a wider range of queries. Here are our results for 2021 comparing the usual search and dynamic search campaigns in Google Ads:
The usual search:
Cost Per Click (CPC) – $0.11
Total Value – $10,342 million
CTR 7,55%
Clicks 2665.21K
Conversions – 21.08K
Cost Per Lead (CPL) – $14.13
Dynamic search:
Cost Per Click (CPC) – $0.08
Total value – $17.647 million.
CTR 7.52%.
Clicks – 920.86K
Conversions – 10.40K
Cost Per Lead (CPL) – $7.37
Comparing the performance of a regular Google search campaign to a Dynamic Search campaign, the following differences can be noted:
Cost per click: In the dynamic campaign, the cost per click was $0.08, which is 20% lower than in the regular campaign with a figure of $0.11. This is due to the fact that dynamic campaigns allow you to automatically select the most relevant keywords, which increases the quality of advertising and reduces the cost per click.
Number of conversions: The dynamic campaign collected 10.4K conversions, while the regular campaign collected 21.08K. However, it’s worth noting that the dynamic campaign was focused on more specific queries and audiences, which helped increase conversions in the target groups.
Cost per conversion: In the dynamic campaign, the cost per conversion was $7.37, while in the regular campaign, it was $14.13. This significantly reduces the cost of acquiring new customers, making the dynamic campaign more effective in terms of ROI.
4.4 Comparison of Search Advertising Campaign and Google Display Network (Retarget) metrics
It would be interesting to compare the performance of advertising for cold traffic and retargeting strategy, which was implemented through Google Display Network (GDN) and Google Discovery. Also, in this analysis, it should be taken into account that both regular retargeting and dynamic retargeting were used.
Google Dynamic Retargeting is a type of advertising that shows personalised ads to users who have previously visited the website, displaying the specific products or services they have viewed. It uses data about user behaviour to deliver relevant ads and re-engage interested audiences.
The main retargeting metrics for GDN:
Cost Per Click (CPC) – $0.06
Total Value – $37.370K
CTR – 2,25%
Сlicks – 249.3K
Сonversions – 1.29K
Cost Per Lead (CPL) – $16.41
Comparing the performance of search advertising and retargeting for E-commerce, we come to the following summary:
The cost per click in search advertising is higher compared to retargeting. This may be due to high competition for keywords in search queries, which leads to higher CPCs.
The cost per conversion in search advertising is lower than in retargeting. This is likely due to the fact that users who actively search for products and services in search queries are more motivated to perform targeted actions (e.g., purchase), which makes conversions more effective.
Retargeting continues to rule despite more expensive conversions. Retargeting allows you to bring users back to the website who have already taken an interest but have not made a conversion. This can increase the possibility of completing targeted action
Retargeting conversions are more valuable than just from search traffic because they represent “recontact” with users who are already acquainted with a brand or product. This can build trust in the brand and increase the probability of conversion
CTR in Google Display Network Campaigns is always on average lower than in search because retargeting only shows ads to users who have already visited your site. This limits the audience and reduces the clicks and CTR on average
As a result, both strategies have their advantages and effectiveness. Search advertising allows you to attract new users with high conversion motivation, while retargeting helps retain and motivate users who have already demonstrated interest in your brand or product. The optimal strategy depends on your company’s goals and audience, and a combination of both methods can be an effective approach to maximise the success of your advertising campaign.
4.5 Comparison of Paid Search Google Ads Campaigns and Google Shopping Results for 2021
At the end of 2020, we launched two retargeting strategies on the Google Ads platform: search advertising and Google Shopping. Below are the main performance metrics of the second strategy for this period:
Google Shopping is a Google service that allows online shops to sell their products and display products with photos, prices and titles right in the search results on Google, giving users a more attractive and easy online shopping experience.
Key metrics for Google Shopping ads:
Cost Per Click (CPC) – 1.70 UAH
Total Value – UAH 19.259 million
CTR – 1,35%
Clicks – 4 223K
Conversions – 22.910k
Cost Per Lead (CPL) – 30.43 UAH
Here are some insights from comparing the performance of Search Ads and Google Shopping
The cost per click in search advertising is more expensive than in Google Shopping. This may be due to the high competition for keywords and the limited number of ad positions in the search results.
Google Shopping showed much more clicks compared to search ads. The visual presentation of products with photos attracts users’ attention and encourages them to click on ads.
Despite the lower CTR, the conversion rate on Google Shopping was higher. Thanks to more attractive ads and previewing products, users were more likely to complete conversions.
Both retargeting strategies – search advertising and Google Shopping – performed well, attracting interested audiences and increasing the overall value of conversions.
While search ads delivered more conversions, Google Shopping demonstrated a higher conversion rate at a lower cost per click. The combined use of both strategies allows us to maximize the results and further push potential buyers to complete the purchase.
As an overall strategy – Search Google Ads and Google Shopping – performed well, attracting an engaged audience and increasing the overall value of conversions.
While search ads generated more conversions, Google Shopping had a higher conversion rate at a lower click-through rate. The combined use of both strategies maximises results and further pushes potential customers to complete the purchase, which will be our future plan for the successful continuation of the advertising campaign. To the right is a comparison of total conversions by ad campaign types.
Conversion rate by type of advertising
5. Summary
The management and optimisation of Google Ads for a large online retailer of top-brand clothing brought significant results for 2021. Through careful optimisation of the ad campaign structure, analysis of results and using different campaign types, it was possible to increase conversions and reduce advertising costs significantly.
At the same time, using dynamic campaigns allowed us to increase efficiency and optimise the cost of conversions. The main results of the campaign confirm the importance of constant management of Google Ads and data analysis to achieve maximum results in E-commerce.
