A wise man once said, “you must serve the right ad, to the right person, at the right time.”

Actually, that man was my Intro to Advertising professor. I would venture to guess your professor said the same thing.

We’ve all heard it and we all believe it; but do we really know how to achieve it?

In reality, we’re getting closer. Retailers have access to massive amounts of data and they’re using it to develop a better understanding of consumers wants, interests, and needs.

Let’s take a look at the first piece of the puzzle – you must serve the right ad. At Adlucent, we’ve seen exceptional performance from Product Listing Ads (PLAs). In fact, some of our retail clients have doubled their PLA revenue by implementing new optimization strategies. PLAs are great for retailers because when they are managed correctly, they can deliver ads for products that align with a shopper’s intent.

Although PLAs perform well at a lower cost per click, they do have their challenges.

First, unlike traditional text ads which match a user’s search query to a keyword managed by the retailer, PLA queries are matched to products that are deemed relevant by Google based on product information contained in the GMC feed, therefore retailers have significantly less control over when and why their ads are appearing for specific queries.

Second, optimizing PLA performance is a struggle as common PPC metrics such as average position and impression share are not available. Google doesn’t make it easy to manage and optimize bids.

Finally, as more spend is dedicated to PLAs, the demand for more dedicated resources puts a strain on retailers.

So how do you overcome these challenges to create a successful PLA program that matches the right product to the right person at the right time?

We have the answers and we’ll share them in our upcoming webinar — Four Advanced Strategies for Google Shopping. It’s complimentary, and it’s designed specifically for online retailers who are hoping to get more from their PLA program. You can register here.

This event won’t be like your Intro to Advertising class. We promise you’ll take away lessons you can apply to your retail business.

As we develop the content for the webinar, we’re interested in your feedback. Do you have any pressing PLA questions or concerns that you would like answered during the live event?

Andrea Stout

Andrea is a marketing manager at Adlucent. She loves developing content, crunching numbers, and learning the latest trends in ecommerce. Connect with her on Twitter.

There are a variety of products and features that Google is working on at any given time. Many of them fly under the radar upon their release. A few weeks ago I came across a brief Techcrunch article that showcases a new tool that lives within Google Drive. While it’s something that can be used by a lot of people, I think it is of particular value for anyone with a paid search program.

If you were to navigate to Google Drive and create a new spreadsheet, there is an autofill option that gives users the ability to do automatic list creation. Techcrunch used beer as an option. For example, if you were to put “lager” in cell A1, then highlight the cell, select Ctrl, and drag the cell down, you’ll be left with a long list of beer types―ipa, stout, ale―and so on.

Aside from the novelty of seeing what list will result from two random words (my name and my fellow coworker’s resulted in a list of keywords associated with Lady Gaga), this functionality has more practical uses. For example, it can be used by SEM managers to create keyword lists for new paid search campaigns or it can help expand existing ones.

Let’s say a pet supply store is looking to create a paid search campaign revolving around their cat products. They could leverage automatic list creation by following these steps:

1. Create a new spreadsheet in Google Drive

2. In cells A1 and A2, input two broad head-terms (you can actually do this with only one, but the list is much more relevant if you choose two or more). In this case, I used “cat food” and “cat toys”

3. Select both boxes, hold CTRL (option key for Mac users) and drag down however long you see fit; there isn’t a limit to the number of keywords, so stop when the list becomes less relevant:

It’s that simple. Below you’ll find a link to another example. In this one, we’ll create two lists, one comprised of sporting goods manufacturers and one with generic sporting good terms.

Sporting_Good_Keyword_List

From here, all you need to do is run these two columns through a permutation tool and you will end up with a list of hundreds of new keywords to bid on.

While this won’t create an exhaustive list by any means, it can help amateur PPC managers to expand small accounts in a quick and efficient way.

Have you found any hidden tools within the Google suite that others would find valuable? If so, feel free to share below.

Mitch Metcalfe

Mitch Metcalfe is an account manager at Adlucent, specializing in PPC, analytics, display, and PLAs for his retail clients. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

If the search marketing world had an award show, this would be the Oscars.

Each year, SMX and Marin Software sponsor a challenge to find the brightest search marketing professional out there. While thousands compete, there can only be one winner, and that person is selected through a 20-question, timed test on topics that cover everything related to search―the history of search, ad bidding, quality score, SEO, Facebook, mobile, retargeting, and more.

We’re pleased to announce that this year’s winner is our own, Renato Del Vento. While sporting a Red Sox hat and a laid back attitude, Renato doesn’t exactly scream geek, but he is crazy smart. Renato sharpened his paid search chops through his work at Adlucent, managing search and PLA programs for leading retailers, selling everything from garters to orthopedic shoes.

And while there may not be Oscar-level fashion at SMX, you will find Renato sporting his favorite Adlucent t-shirt when he hits the stage to accept his award.

Congrats, Renato!

Andrea Stout

Andrea is a marketing manager at Adlucent. She loves developing content, crunching numbers, and learning the latest trends in ecommerce. Connect with her on Twitter.

On February 21-22, Adlucent hosted its second annual client summit. The event featured industry speakers Fiona Swerdlow, Head of Research at Shop.org and Dr. Charles Stryker, founder of the Venture Development Center, as well as other experts in the areas of Google Shopping, remarketing, customer acquisition and testing strategies, mobile, and more. While there were so many data points shared throughout the two day event, we decided to pull together ten that we believe have the most impact on digital marketing.

Top 10 Digital Marketing Stats from the Adlucent Client Summit:

1. Free shipping is the #1 reason shoppers spend more online (Shop.org)
2. CTR’s for PLA’s are 77% higher than text ads (Adlucent)
3. Top 3 retailer initiatives in 2013: 1.) Site conversion, 2.) Mobile and tablet, 3.) Site redesign (Shop.org)
4. Retailers are spending on average 30% of their search budgets on PLA’s (Adlucent)
5. Site abandonment decreases 60% when site and ads match (Google)
6. In 1993 we could buy 1 billion GB; in 2003, 5 billion GB. Today we capture and store 5 billion GB per day (VDC)
7. 65% of consumers start their shopping process on a smartphone (Google)
8. Google saw a 9% increase in CTR when they introduced social extensions
9. Tablet usage has grown 300% in last year, IT plans to dedicate 4X more of their budget towards it in 2013 (Shop.org)
10. There will be $12B in direct smartphone commerce this year (Shop.org)

How will these stats influence your marketing strategy in the next year? Will you be reallocating your budget to invest more in any particular area?

Andrea Stout

Andrea is a marketing manager at Adlucent. She loves developing content, crunching numbers, and learning the latest trends in ecommerce. Connect with her on Twitter.

The following post is a recap of a panel from the Search Insider Summit titled “The Death of Text Ads” that featured Adlucent Founder and CEO, Michael Griffin.

Are text ads really an endangered species? Not at this point, but we are seeing new opportunities created within the Google SERP.

At the December 12th Search Insider Summit, a group of leading paid search authorities gathered to discuss what they see as the greatest opportunities within Google for online merchants.

Product Listing Ads
The topic on everyone’s mind was Google Shopping, Google’s response to Amazon’s visually appealing search format. Retailers must now pay to be included, enabling them to deliver image-based ads when someone searches for a product a retailer carries.

There is some speculation as to how Google Shopping will continue to evolve in terms of functionality and within the SERP. As PLAs continue to perform well for retailers (in fact, PLA click-through rates for Adlucent clients are 88% higher than non-brand text ads), Google will give them more prominence in the results page and text ads will be bumped to a lower position.

Another topic up for debate was the addition of a “checkout” button on PLAs, similar to Amazon’s one-click. Several panelists believed this could increase conversion rates for PLAs, but as Michael Griffin and PETCO’s Nina Won noted, the sole focus of a retailer shouldn’t be the number of transactions, rather the relationship you build with your customers.  A checkout button may be beneficial to those who are ready to buy, but what is the long-term effect of this colder approach? How do retailers handle returns and unsatisfied customers who aren’t really sure who they purchased a product from? How does this impact brand image, customer satisfaction, and repeat purchases? Smart retailers will focus on the lifetime value of a customer.

Testing PLAs
There are several ways to test product listing ads to get the most impact. Making price changes has proven to be a factor in success. Image diversity is a new method to try. Using the same picture as the competition provides limited differentiation but testing images with various product angles, colors, and can lead to higher click through rates. Finally, optimize your keywords in the feed based on consumer intent. Simple text adjustments and keyword variations better aligned with understood customer need can drive incremental changes to your CTR. Providing the best shopping experience for your consumers should always be your highest priority.

Ad Extensions
The next point of discussion for the panel was ad extensions. Google continues to add new features in this area. Extensions vary based on where you’re trying to direct consumers―an call a landing page, a nearby store. Some examples of extensions include social, product, offers, and click-to-call features. With 60%-75% of all in-store purchases influenced by online, Google will continue to make efforts to bridge the gap between the online-offline experience. One service that has garnered a lot of attention is Google Wallet. If Google can become the leader in mobile payments, they will be one step closer to bridging this gap.

Display Advertising
Finally, the panel discussed display advertising. One panelist suggested that display ads could become part of the SERP so long as the ads become more tailored and customized to the shopper. The fact that real time bidding (RTB) works for display ads on websites is reasonable, but can they also work on the SERP where a 40 millisecond load time is considered unacceptable? That has yet to be determined.

What’s Next
Google will continue to release features intended to gain back consumer attention and make Google their go-to starting point to make a purchase―online or offline. Capitalizing early on the developments that are most beneficial to your retail business will be key to staying ahead of the competition.

Andrea Stout

Andrea is a marketing manager at Adlucent. She loves developing content, crunching numbers, and learning the latest trends in ecommerce. Connect with her on Twitter.