E-Commerce Remarketing: Turning Browsers Into Buyers

When you work with e-commerce, you have to take every little edge you can. Remarketing can be one of those edges. E-commerce remarketing helps you turn browsers into buyers by targeting customers who engaged with your website but didn’t make a purchase.

Finding success in small and medium-sized businesses is a game of margins, and smart Google Ads management for e-commerce can help you pick up every sale possible.

Who Remarketing Targets

The Internet is filled with window shoppers–people thinking about buying things without actually buying them. In the real world, this can mean literally looking in the window or walking the aisles without picking up a product.

Online, however, this can go further. Potential customers might visit a website, compare products, add items to their shopping cart, and even start the checkout process, all before walking away. Remarketing aims to bring these people back.

How Remarketing Works

Remarketing is the process of showing ads to audiences that interacted with your site and didn’t make a purchase. By tracking user data and optimizing Google shopping ads, you can target specific demographics you know showed interest in your product.

This works in a number of ways, such as with:

Personalized Offers

Remarketing can track what products a would-be customer viewed, then show them ads for exactly that product.

Gentle Reminders

By presenting an ad to a potential customer, you can create another easy opportunity for them to complete their sale. Just because someone clicked away after adding your product to their shopping cart doesn’t mean they don’t want it.

Some people get distracted or lose Internet connection or realize they need to wait for their next paycheck. These would-be customers might complete their purchase as soon as they’re reminded.

Building Trust

If a shopper has already interacted with your brand, further exposure can help build familiarity. If they’re on the fence about choosing your product, seeing your business name in ads, even if they’re for adjacent products, can help solidify your brand as reputable.

Making Offers

Unlike the above category, there are some people who make it all the way to adding your product to their shopping cart but weren’t sure about pulling the trigger. Showing these users an ad offering a discount or highlighting a seasonal sale can push them over the edge into making a purchase.

Remarketing Strategies

Remarketing needs to be driven by data to be successful. Startups and mid-sized businesses need to make the most of their advertising, and with the right approach, remarketing can be a scalpel in a world of brute force.

Audience Segmentation

Break down user data as specifically as possible: if they left when they reached the homepage, what products they viewed, if they did or didn’t add the product to their cart, if they made it to the check out, etc.

Customize, Customize, Customize

Once your audience has been divided into small groups, you can target them specifically. The best ad for someone who clicked away at checkout might not be the best ad for someone who simply browsed a category.

Track Performance

Part of customizing is seeing what works. Say you make a different ad for the two example shoppers listed above. Run it for a little while, see what your returns are, look at the data, and adjust. If you aren’t using data every step of the way, you’re leaving customers (and their money) on the table.

Frequency Caps

As shoppers, we all know the feeling of oversaturation. Target your potential customers, but track who you’re targeting with what so you don’t overdo it.

Campaign Windows

It can be helpful to adjust the length of your campaign based on the price point of your product. Someone might be pulled back in after a month or two if they’re contemplating a major purchase like a couch or refrigerator, but this might not work as well for someone who was browsing lower cost items.

Pick the Platform

You can target would-be shoppers through ads encountered while browsing, top search results, or social media platforms. Follow the data and see where you’re most likely to reach that segment and what kind of ad will work best there.

Turning Browsers Into Buyers

It’s hard to get people through the digital door of your shop to look at what you’re offering, but BERK Labs can help. Schedule a consultation today to see how we can help you use dynamic ads, performance metrics, and remarketing to grow your business!

Understanding Google Ads Metrics: Essential KPIs to Optimize Your Campaigns

To optimize your Google Ads, you need to monitor and respond to click-through rates, costs per acquisition, and returns on ad spend. This can be complex, so many companies find it worthwhile to hire a Google Ads management agency. Regardless if you hire someone or do it yourself, tracking Google Ads metrics is absolutely necessary to advertising success.

Why Metrics Matter

In a way, the wealth of information and specificity available to businesses today is a double-edged sword. Google Ads allows for incredible precision in the kind of ad, the target audience, and even the specific time it's delivered.

However, this means you need to be very precise about what and when and who you aim for. Monitoring the right KPIs (key performance indicators) can help you:

• Identify underperforming ads

• Adjust content to respond to underperformance

• Maximize profitability

The most expensive ad in the world is worthless if it doesn’t work. What’s of real value is being able to tell what is breaking through and what isn’t.

KPIs to Watch

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The first measure of an ad working is does a user engage with it. CTR is a simple number, measuring the percentage of visitors who click on an ad when they see it.

A high CTR obviously means it resonates with the audience in some way. A low CTR could mean a number of things. Expertise is needed to know if the messaging is mismatched with the user, if the design is weak, if more incentive is needed, or something else.

CTR is expressed as a percentage calculated by dividing the number of clicks your ad receives by the number of times it was shown. If your ad was shown one hundred times and it was clicked on ten times, its CTR would be 10%.

Conversion Rate

The second measure of an ad working is conversion. It might feel like a success to have a high CTR, but once the user is linked to your site, what do they do? Maybe you want them to make a purchase, fill out a form, register an account, or download content. If they leave without doing any of those things, something went wrong.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the ad was a failure. It could mean your website design needs to be simplified or you need a clearer call-to-action.

Conversion rate is reached by dividing the number of conversions by total number of ad interactions during the same time period. If your ad had 1,000 interactions and fifty conversions, the conversion rate would be 5%.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

All the above could go right–a user could see your ad, click on it, and do what you hoped they would–and the ad might still be a failure. This is where money comes in.

CPA measures how much it costs to get one customer. If your average customer generates $100 in revenue, but your CPA is $100, you’re spending money just to break even.

This is why metrics are so important. You might see your sales jump after an ad buy, but until you dial in on the specific audience that’s driving those sales and stop wasting money on excess advertising, you’re not maximizing your profit.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Related to CPA, ROAS calculates how much your business earns for every dollar you spend on advertising. For example, a ROAS of 500% or 5:1 means your company makes $5 for every $1 spent.

This is different from CPA, because CPA doesn’t directly consider the revenue generated. You might have an idea of how much each customer might bank you on average, but CPA doesn’t take that into account.

The target ROAS for your company depends on your business model and margins, especially as they relate to the size of orders and how important each individual customer is to your revenue.

Turning Metrics into Success

Understanding Google Ads metrics can be challenging, especially because there’s no single correct number every business should strive for. Every measure of success looks different for each company.

This is where the experts at BERK Labs can help. With our experience working with Google Ads and creating winning campaigns based on KPIs, we can make sure your money is well spent and help your business achieve its goals.

If you need an example of our expertise, check out our advice on how to get more leads from your website!

How to Get More Leads From Your Website: Proven Strategies for Boosting Conversions

If you run a startup or a small or medium sized business, you know that optimization is everything. Whenever possible, you have to make a little more money or squeeze a little more value out of everything your company touches.

Your website is one of those things. You can get more leads from your website by improving user experience, building trust with customers, and providing clear calls-to-action.

Whether they focus on traditional ad buys or Google Ads, agency specialists can help you maximize your advertising returns. Agencies do this in part by recognizing that getting people to your website is only part of the challenge.

Turning them into customers requires data, understanding user behavior, and a performance-informed approach. If you’re really dedicated, however, you might be able to do these things yourself–this article can help.

UX Is King

User experience (UX) is of paramount importance for businesses of any size. Part of improving UX means reducing the opportunities for a potential customer to walk away. Confusing navigation, weak mobile performance, and slow load time are the three horsemen of a failing UX.

If any small business needs to be convinced of this, just look up statistics on how quickly conversions decline for every second they wait for a website to load. Simplicity, clarity, and speed should be your guiding principles.

• Make sure your website loads quickly.

• Make navigation easy to engage.

• Design your website for mobile first. Understanding Google Ads metrics lets you make sure this is true of your customer base, but it’s often a safe bet that the mobile experience matters more.

• Use strong visuals and concise copy.

If your website appears quickly and potential customers don’t have even a moment of confusion, they’re much more likely to stay on your site and take action.

Foundation of Trust

Trust can be difficult to build in the digital age, but there are a few things businesses can do to get potential customers on their side.

• This overlaps with UX, but make sure your website looks professional and modern. Users may be suspicious of a website that looks unprofessional or outdated.

• Display certifications given within your industry.

• Establish yourself as an expert in your field by providing content valuable to those looking for authoritative information. This will also help your SEO ranking.

• Include testimonials or case studies.

Outside of your website, social media is one of the most important ways to build credibility, so knock the above out of the park so you can give attention to your other platforms.

Answering the Call

Even a well-designed website that’s trusted and loads quickly can struggle to convert visits into purchases. This is where calls-to-action (CTAs) come in. There are a few keys to designing effective CTAs.

Clarity

Just as with UX, simple is better. Users need to know right away and in clear terms what they’re getting.

Value

Be it a discount, a time-bound deal, or some other benefit, make it clear to visitors why they should act now.

Visibility

Place CTAs thoughtfully and frequently.

If you’ve successfully removed all the roadblocks and easy excuses, CTAs can guide your potential clients into becoming actual clients right away. Just make sure you know what you want your visitors to do.

Do you want visitors to get on your mailing list, book a consultation, fill out a form, or download a resource? As in life, if you don’t know what you want them to do, how can they know?

Lead Capture Techniques

By now, lead capture techniques are common. Here are a few:

• Chatbots can pop up and attempt to initiate conversations with visitors.

• Exit-intent popups can try to pull visitors back in.

• Premium content can require visitors to register.

Different audiences and fields respond differently to these techniques, and testing and analytics is necessary to understand what works for you.

The Help Your Business Needs

To a certain degree, advertising is always guesswork, but the less you know about it, the more you’re guessing. The more you’re guessing, the more money you risk wasting.

This is where marketing agencies and their experts come in. With experience in a diverse range of ads and how to optimize them, quality agencies can help you analyze and adjust your content to reach your audience and get them to act.

If you’re interested in getting experts on your side to get more leads from your website or you’re wondering how much Google Ads management costs, reach out to BERK Labs today and see how we can help your business grow!

How Much Do Google Ads Cost? Understanding Pricing and Management Fees

Like many parts of business, how much you spend on Google Ads can vary widely. Cost per click (CPC) can range from $.25 to $100.00 and above. These costs vary based on industry, competition, and Quality Score.

Google Ads management makes it easier to ensure your money is being well spent, but there’s no single best solution across the board. With some insight and professional help, you can make sure you get the most out of your Google Ad buys.

What Determines How Much Google Ads Cost?

Google Ads function through a bidding system. Whenever a business buys ad space on Google, they announce how much they are willing to spend per click or per number of views.

If you pay more, your ad is more likely to be seen so long as the ad has a high quality score. Here are other factors that can impact cost:

Industry

The cost of ads varies widely depending on the industry. Part of the reason for this is that the ROI (return on investment) for a single click on an ad for a legal firm could equal thousands of dollars for the law firm, whereas a single click for a retail clothing shop might mean $5 in revenue. Industries that stand to make more from advertising tend to get charged more.

Competition

As the owner of a small or medium-sized business, supply and demand runs your life. Google Ads is no different. More businesses doing what your business is doing and competing for the same audience will drive up prices.

Quality Score

Quality Score is a measurement established by Google to rate the quality of any given ad. To reach this number, Google assesses the ad’s relevance, expected clickthrough rate, and landing page experience. By measuring these factors, Google rates the quality of your ad, which in turn affects the cost.

Location and Time

This is really another version of competition, as ads displayed in competitive regions during competitive times of day can be more expensive.

Optimizing Your Ads

Ad Rank

Like your Quality Score, Ad Rank is a measurement determined by Google to assess if your ad qualifies to be shown and where on the page it will be displayed. A number of factors are combined in this, including your bid amount, the ad’s Quality Score, your landing page, and the competitiveness of the ad space. Ad Rank is also affected by each specific search (for example, a searcher’s location can change where your ad might rank).

Target Effectively

Ad success doesn’t just mean getting people to click–it means getting the right people to click.

Proper Tracking

In order to know what is and isn’t working, you need to have strong performance measurements in place.

Landing Page Quality

It bears repeating that your landing page impacts your relationship to Google Ads. Even if you make the perfect ad, you need to have a good landing page to back it up.

Management Assistance

Running an effective ad campaign is a fulltime job, often requiring a team of people to plan, bring to fruition, and adjust over time. Depending on your ROI, spending money on ads can leave you with extremely narrow margins. If your profit per sale is only $5, you have to be cautious about how you spend your advertising budget. Because of this, some businesses turn to the experts and consultants found at agencies.

These specialists can research successful keywords and campaign structures, help you optimize your Google Ad bids, perform competitor analysis, measure performance, and advise on necessary adjustments. These advertising managers sometimes charge hourly, sometimes by project, and sometimes ask for a percentage of the ad spend.

Finding the Right Help

In a world where you need to be an expert in your field to run a business, it can be hard to have the time or money to also become an expert in advertising. BERK Labs can help. This full-service digital marketing agency has expertise with a range of platforms and analytic tools so you don’t have to.

There are a lot of variables that go into making a successful ad that’s worth the money you spend on it. BERK Labs can help you figure out how to get more leads from your website and make sure that the money you spend is used as efficiently as possible. If you want to know how much Google Ads management costs, reach out today and see what BERK Labs can do for you!

Thoughts on Distributed Productivity

Provide tools to the distributed learner/worker for shared success.

Just as co-working is becoming the new-norm for the modern worker, education will become similarly stratified, aimed squarely at point-solutions for specific end-goals. Long gone are fully-integrated conglomerates, and the same is true of universities. That is not to say the need for multi-disciplinary learning will erode, but rather that it will become ever-more prevalent, with students seeking their knowledge from various, loosely-intertwined sources of specialty. In our new digital reality, everything will distill into what one might recognize as self-sufficient “minimum viable entities” (MVEs) … professionally, and personally. This shift is more simple than it may appear — the economist notes that how we organize ourselves will define our focus.

The new vector of value-addition in this modular economic model will be a layer of services (on top) and infrastructure (below) to support specialists which represent (effectively) the concentrated nodes of informational/experiential density. Others (like Gartner) have referred to this as the 'bottom-up economy.' The premium will continue to be paid to the creative destructors of our generation, the thought-leaders who re-orient our understanding of fundamental problems into simpler, more resonant concepts through the connection of otherwise disparate ideas. Take note: opportunities emerge for knowledge transfer and specialized skills development to assist in portability and agility of MVEs (e.g. coding bootcamps or Skillshare).

Abstractly speaking, the distinct barrier between aggregated entities and individuals will continue to blur, as each will take on characteristics of the other; value that one might capture is a function of what one will create, rather than protect. Much like GitHub, entrepreneurs should strive (primarily through software) to unlock the benefits for everyone from (traditional) larger organizations, which will gradually cease to exist. Economists understand this concept as 'unbundling' -- shifting the focus to search and discovery (using AI/ML recommendation algorithms). Examples of the new distributed productivity are abound: MIT's curriculum is fragmenting, and mobile devices are proliferating, which enables sharing-economy services like Uber, Airbnb, Taskrabbit, or Makespace (although there are challenges). Digital nomads, prepare for the new normal.

Announcing BERK Labs

Welcome to the future.

At BERK Labs, we help entrepreneurs transform challenge into opportunity. Whether that be distribution strategy, branding, design, technology selection, or access to our large network of entrepreneurs and investors -- we're here to help.

What began as a humble portfolio has quickly grown into a business serving titans of the Fortune 500. Before we say anything else, we should extend our gratitude to our friends and family who gave us support along the way -- without whom none of this would be possible. If you're learning about us for the first time, ask yourself how BERK Labs can help build your business.

Get in touch -- let's build something great together.

Joshua J. Berk
Founder, BERK Labs -- Joshua@Berk.is

Credit: 'Hexagon Ripple' animation built with Processing. Partner: Dave Whyte.