As our mobile devices are now such a significant part of our everyday lives, it is worth noting that this also means they are a significant part of your business' future success. If your business is in the retail industry, then it is essential that you are geared up for victory through mobile eCommerce and Google Shopping.
Consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices for everything from initial inspiration to finding information and on to the final purchase. It has never been more critical for advertisers to ensure they have a comprehensive mobile presence.
If you already have a responsive online store that works seamlessly across all devices, regardless of screen size, then you need to be benefiting from Google Shopping. Your online store needs to look great and be speedy.
So, how do you make sure your Google Shopping campaigns are optimised for mobile success, here are 4 key pointers:
This will ensure that your potential customers are not put off by a clunky page that doesn't look right on their device. With so many digital touchpoints involved in the online purchase journey, you need to be ready for people who will browse your products on their phone, tablet and laptop before buying. Don't waste your Google Shopping budget by having landing pages that are not ready for mobile.
Improving the online shopping journey for your customers means streamlining their journey. Popups for registration requirements, general offer popups or other interstitials will add to the friction a user faces when interacting with your website - make sure everything is clean and clear.
People are generally time poor and will leave websites that take too long to load. How long is too long? In general, people expect a web page to load in under 3 seconds.
At Factory, we always aim for the websites we have built to load in a maximum of 2 seconds. Time is literally of the essence when it comes to mobile and Google Shopping.
According to Google data, 69% of mobile consumers say that a fast mobile experience is critical when interacting with brands, but only 52% of brands offer fast-loading digital content regardless of the device used.
Google/Greenberg Strategy, 2018
The news that over half of brands don't provide consumers with what they desire in terms of speed gives an opportunity for your business to steal a lead on your competition by doing these things sooner rather than later!
Next up, once your website has had an injection of speed and is optimised for mobile devices, it's time to shorten the path to purchase. Over three-quarters of consumers are more likely to buy on their phone if the purchase process is quick and easy. Think how easy it is to buy on Amazon - people now expect this high level of convenience from every online store they deal with.
77% of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from mobile sites and apps that allow quick purchases.
Google / Ipsos, Jan. 2019
The more pages a visitor must click through before they arrive at the "confirm your purchase" page means the more friction involved with your website interactions. This gives more opportunity for them to become disillusioned with your brand and to drop out of your sales funnel.
By bidding higher, you are going to show further up in the Google Shopping results pages. On mobile devices, being high up in the results is more important than being there on desktop. The screen is smaller, meaning
Top results equal more clicks on your ads. Providing your website is prepared for this mobile traffic by following the above tips, the more clicks will bring in more sales.
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When creating mobile specific shopping ads, think about screen size and also what promotions you could offer that could increase your mobile Google Shopping conversions.
With the power of local inventory ads, you can display current stock and your store location through Google Shopping. By using local inventory ads, you have the ability to showcase both products and store information people who are searching on Google and who are near your store.
By highlighting the information held within a Google-hosted "online storefront" to mobile users, you can increase overall brand engagement. Consumers still appreciate being able to buy in person so are likely to visit your store off the back of a mobile-focused local inventory ad.
To ensure you know what is working and what areas require attention, you need to continually evaluate the performance. By correctly assessing your mobile performance, you will see patterns and trends where additional profit can be made.
Segment your data on all levels so you can compare performance between devices - look for the quick wins and highlight areas where attention is needed. A digital strategy should be constantly evolving and never be put in place with a "set it and leave it" attitude.
By examining the performance of your mobile-focused Google Shopping campaigns, you should be finding areas that can provide an opportunity for even more sales. Compare your performance to that of your competitors by continually looking at benchmark data.
Absolute Top Impression Share is a metric that will provide you with data to show how many of your shopping ads are showing in the most prominent position. Other key metrics to consider are Click Share and Auction Insights. Click Share will show you how many times your ads were clicked against the potential clicks based on the search volume for your products. Auction Insights are useful to see how you compare to your competitors - keep a keen eye on this data.
Finding opportunities to increase sales with Google Shopping will be music to your ears! The next steps are to put changes into motion to benefit from these opportunities that have been uncovered.
By understanding the ways consumers are interacting with your business, you hold great knowledge in optimising for success.
Do people first visit on their mobile followed by tablet and then desktop before making a purchase? The cross-device attribution report will give you a clear sight of the path to purchase and the results can be surprising to many advertisers. By understanding what devices people use to view your online store before making their purchase, you can optimise to increase traffic from your most valuable sources.
It is always advisable to have your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts linked. This gives you a great opportunity to increase the level of data available to you when evaluating your mobile Google Shopping performance.
Regularly analyse the device data within Google Analytics to highlight areas for improvement. If your mobile clicks are returning a higher bounce rate than desktop and tablet, then it is imperative that you look further into the reason for this.
Are the higher bounce rate landing pages definitely optimised for mobile? Is the Google Shopping ad accurate for the product on offer? Is the website as quick or quicker on desktop and slower on mobile? Whatever the reason, it will require an investigation to resolve the issue.
Getting ahead of the game with Google Shopping is one thing, it's a whole other challenge to stay ahead! That being said, there are a number of really useful wizard-like tools available where help will always be given to those who ask for it.
This Google tool is ideal for looking into consumer behaviour, especially on mobile. The Google Consumer Barometer provides an opportunity to stay on top of the game and allows retailers to capitalise on an ever-changing behaviour.
That being said, the consumer barometer is not full of information to be a solve everything solution. It takes time and commitment to ensure you are regularly keeping up to date with the information available. Once you have the information, decisions then need to be made to calculate if changes will be worthwhile to your digital strategy.
By signing up to alerts and news updates from various sources, you can be sent the information you require on both market and mobile trends.
Tools such as Think with Google and Google Trends can be great sources for this information. It's easy to sign up and you can get these updates directly to your inbox so you find out what is happening and where you can find some quick wins sooner as opposed to trawling the web and news articles yourself.
Why not test out the mobile shopping experience yourself? When you're looking to buy your next product, regardless of what it is, do the research and purchase through your mobile. Think about the steps you are going through before and during making that purchase - was it a smooth transaction, was it quick and easy and did you feel that the seller had valued mobile traffic during the process?
Next, go through the process with your own business to see how you feel about the steps involved in researching and buying - does it stack up to what you would expect in a mobile-first world? By stepping into the shoes of your own customers, you can potentially uncover other areas of focus for your mobile optimisation project.
Key to success with both Google Shopping and mobile will always be down to the attention to detail. To win on mobile, you will need to continually research, implement, evaluate and optimise your website, marketing campaign settings and marketing message.
One marketing goal does not always equal one static marketing strategy - One marketing goal should equal a constantly evolving marketing strategy. Move with the times, because the times are moving fast!
As a PPC Agency in Manchester Factory is perfectly placed to get the most bang for your buck. Our marketing is headed up by an ex-Googler, so we have the expertise to know what really works in digital marketing/PPC. Please feel free to reach out and have a chat with us about your digital marketing needs.
Made By Factory is a Manchester Digital Agency. We specialise in the development of laser focussed Google Ads campaigns and bespoke WordPress websites. To start your project today and start seeing results, get in touch.
