How to increase your Shopify store sales with Google Ads

In today’s competitive market, getting new customers is one of the greatest challenges when selling products both offline and online. Statista reveals that the average conversion rate of e-commerce sites is around 2.5%. This means that out of every 100 website visitors, only 2.5 will make a purchase.

In this comprehensive article, we will explore how Google Ads can effectively boost traffic to your Shopify store. Additionally, we will share six tips to optimize your Shopify store.

Lastly, we will take a look at the five most common mistakes that Shopify store owners make when using Google Ads for promotion.

Index

• 1. Benefits of using Shopify for your online store – Top 6 advantages
• 2. Best practices to effectively drive more traffic to your Shopify store – Google Shopping & Shopify
• 3. Increase conversions on your Shopify store
• 4. Top 5 mistakes you want to avoid when using Google Ads to promote your Shopify store

1. BENEFITS OF USING SHOPIFY FOR YOUR ONLINE STORE – TOP 6 ADVANTAGES

Before diving into the promotion of a Shopify store using Shopping Ads campaigns on Google, it is important to know why such a great number of online store owners and recognized brands prefer Shopify over other e-commerce platforms.

According to BuiltWith, in 2023, more than 4.2 million websites are using Shopify, which makes this e-commerce platform one of the biggest on the Internet. 

Many key factors contribute to Shopify’s popularity among merchants who want to build and grow their online businesses. Let’s focus on the top 6 advantages:

1- INTUITIVE AND EASY-TO-USE

Shopify is well known for being a very intuitive and easy-to-use e-commerce platform, as it does not require technical expertise or coding knowledge. 

Besides, in ShopifyLearn, Shopify users can find infinite tutorials organized by subject that will assist them in building, maintaining and growing their online stores.

2- CUSTOMIZABLE THEMES

First impressions count, and Shopify knows that. A study by Standford University found that 75% of users make judgments about a company’s credibility based on their website’s design. For this reason, Shopify offers over 90 themes to choose from. 

These Shopify themes and templates are designed to be mobile-friendly and responsive and can be customized according to every merchant’s specific needs.

3- EASY TO INTEGRATE WITH OTHER TOOLS AND APPS

Another great advantage is that Shopify offers a wide range of built-in integrations and apps within its ecosystem. 

Since every industry has its own challenges, needs, and particularities, Shopify offers more than 8,000 apps in its App Store. Thus, merchants can incorporate many functionalities into their Shopify stores with minimal technical knowledge.

These integrations cover different areas of running an online business, including marketing, shipping, customer support, inventory management, analytics, and more.

4- MARKETING FRIENDLY

In terms of marketing, Shopify provides integrations with email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and advertising platforms such as Google Ads to help merchants promote their products and boost traffic to their stores.

An example of that is the Google & YouTube app, which uses the data from your client’s Shopify store to generate a product feed within the Google Merchant Center automatically. 

Check this article for more information about Google product feeds.

5- SHOPIFY PAYMENTS

Shopify Payments is a fully integrated solution that allows merchants to accept a great number of payment methods. This makes Shopify very attractive for those merchants who want to sell their products in different countries, where the preferred payment method may vary.

6- 24/7 CUSTOMER SUPPORT

While Shopify offers a wide range of educational resources, comprehensive documentation, and engaging community forums and discussions, it also provides all merchants with 24/7 live chat and email support and, for those on their paid plans, 24/7 phone support.

As evident from this list, Shopify offers merchants a significant amount of advantages for their stores. However, using Shopify alone does not imply the success of your online business. To maximize the potential of your Shopify store, it is essential to employ effective marketing strategies.

In this article, we are going to dive into how using Google Ads can help you increase visibility, attract relevant visitors, and boost the conversion rate of your Shopify store.

2. BEST PRACTICES TO EFFECTIVELY DRIVE MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SHOPIFY STORE – GOOGLE SHOPPING & SHOPIFY

According to Google, 51% of shoppers surveyed say they use Google to research a purchase they plan to make online. With this statistic in mind, the question is clear: How can you use Google Ads to drive more traffic to your Shopify store?

1- RUN SHOPPING ADS

Google Ads offers eight different campaign types to suit your specific marketing goals. Shopping Ads can be an excellent way to boost your Shopify store, as they display product images, titles, prices, store and shipping information in one place, thus giving the users attractive and valuable information at a glance.

Besides, Google’s Shopping Ads appear at the top of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) and on dedicated Google Shopping tabs, ensuring that your products are shown to those users who are actively searching and willing to make a purchase.

2- OPTIMIZE YOUR PRODUCT FEED 

Shopping Ads use your product data to decide how and where to show your ads. For this reason, before running Shopping Ads, you first need to create your product feed.

As we mentioned before, in the Shopify App Store you can find apps that automatically create a product feed within the Google Merchant Center. However, it is crucial to constantly update your product feed to provide your potential customers with accurate prices and descriptions to avoid possible frustrations and assign your products to the right category to help your ad’s relevancy. 

3- DEFINE YOUR CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE AND BUDGET

Separating your products into different campaigns will allow you more control by adjusting their budgets.

One way to do this is by separating your products depending on their performance. This approach enables you to allocate resources more effectively and optimize your advertising strategy to achieve better results.

To separate products in a Google Ads campaign based on their performance, you can follow these steps to do it manually:

1. Log in to your Google Ads account and analyze the performance of your products by reviewing metrics such as clicks, impressions, conversions, cost, and conversion rate.

2. Identify the products that are performing well and those that are not meeting your goals.

3. Create separate ad groups for high-performing and low-performing products. This allows you to allocate budget and bidding strategies accordingly.

As this is a manual process it will take up a lot of your time. We have seen organizations boost their revenue by 70% using an automated version of this strategy. Check this article to see how you can automatically segment your products based on performance using the Labelizer Strategy within Producthero’s Shopping Ad Platform.

4- A/B TESTING

A/B testing consists of creating different versions of an element to test their respective results and make informed decisions about which version is more effective in achieving a particular goal.

Thus, A/B testing can be applied to different areas, including the copy, headlines, call-to-action buttons, and images of your Google ads, but also to your landing pages or your target audiences, among others.

For example, let’s consider a scenario where you are selling hoodies and want to test different product titles. Start by running an ad for two months using the title “Blue Oversize Hoodie.” After this period, change the product title to “Women Blue Oversize Hoodie.” After the testing period, you will be able to compare the impressions and conversion rates between the two different product titles and see which product title has better results and gets you more conversions.

Note: it is important to consider seasonal variations and holidays that might influence customer preferences and behaviour.

3. INCREASE CONVERSIONS ON YOUR SHOPIFY STORE

Running Shopping ads can be a very effective way to boost traffic to your website. However, the ultimate goal lies in converting those visitors into loyal customers. To help you achieve this, we have compiled the top six ways to optimize your Shopify store to enhance conversions.

1. ENSURE A RESPONSIVE DESIGN AND CLEAR NAVIGATION

Good navigation helps you increase your Shopify store conversion rate. Make sure that your web visitors can easily find your products, as well as any relevant information they might be looking for, like the shipping and return policy.

Optimizing your menu bar will also make your website more user-friendly. To do that, analyze if it allows potential customers to easily access the most relevant parts of your website, choose clear and concise labels, and check that all the links are working properly.

Finally, ensure that your Shopify store is optimized for mobile devices, as encountering a menu that doesn’t display correctly can be an extremely frustrating experience.

2. IMPROVE THE LOADING SPEED OF YOUR WEBSITE

Users do not want to wait for a webpage to load, as they expect quick access to information and products.

Consequently, reducing your website’s page load time by just a few milliseconds can significantly enhance your bounce rate and the overall customer experience, ultimately improving your conversion rate.

Some recommendations to improve the loading time of your web are using compressed images, removing unnecessary apps, or regularly monitoring your store’s loading time using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.

3. USE DETAILED AND COMPELLING PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS AND HIGH-QUALITY IMAGES

While buying online, customers cannot physically see or touch the products they are interested in. For this reason, you want to invest some time in thinking about your ideal buyer and creating the best possible product descriptions and images. 

Take the description of your products next level by highlighting their benefits and try to be as detailed, relevant, and accurate as possible. For example, if you sell apparel, you can use sensory words to help your potential customers create a more vivid image of the product. That is, describe the fabric, the colour, how it feels, etc.

Additionally, include high-quality images that showcase the features of your products to help your potential customers make an informed purchase decision.

4. SIMPLIFY THE CHECKOUT PROCESS TO MINIMIZE CART ABANDONMENT

If your customers find your checkout process very long or complex, they are more likely to leave your webshop without buying. Making the creation of an account optional to complete the checkout or offering different payment methods will contribute to improving your customers’ checkout experience.

Additionally, one-step checkout can be the greatest solution to reduce the bounce rate of your Shopify store.

According to Orsi Szentes, ecommerce expert and Founder of GoodKarma Agency 

“One-page checkout is a game-changer for ecommerce stores due to its ability to significantly improve conversion rates. It can speed up and simplify the order process by minimizing distractions and the opportunity to drop off at every step. It also creates a better mobile shopping experience as it reduces the need for excessive scrolling and makes it easier for users to complete their transactions on smaller screens. The Shopify checkout is already one of the best-converting checkouts in the world, so this will really take it up a notch for merchants across the world.”

Check this article to have more information on Shopify’s One Page Checkout.

5. SEO OPTIMIZATION

Even though some people may think that SEO is an old-fashioned marketing strategy, nothing is further from reality. According to BrightEdge, organic search is responsible for an average of 53.3% of all website traffic, which makes it clear that working on the SEO of a Shopify store can make a great difference.

A great advantage of Shopify online stores is that some of the main SEO features are automatically handled. This includes the automatic implementation of crucial elements such as canonical tags, sitemap.xml, and robots.txt files. Additionally, you can find specific plugins for SEO in the Shopify App Store.

Still, there are many other possible SEO optimizations that can be implemented. For example, you do not want to miss the opportunity to integrate SEO keywords in your product titles and descriptions.

As Louis Smith, Search Engine Optimization Specialist puts it,

“Shopify brands leverage SEO to dominate online search market-share, increase organic revenue, and to build brand authority. Shopify brands are able to build SEO systems to target their desired customers from search engines such as Google and Bing. A consistent SEO strategy can help brands 10x organic traffic, and scale revenue over 200%… If not more as we see with the global Shopify plus brands.”

6. REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS

A study by Spiegel Research Center found that nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase. Besides, the same study revealed that 92% of consumers hesitate to make a purchase when there are no customer reviews available.

By including reviews and first-person testimonials in your Shopify store, you provide social proof that helps build trust and confidence, which ultimately boosts conversions.

4. TOP 5 MISTAKES YOU WANT TO AVOID WHEN USING GOOGLE ADS TO PROMOTE YOUR SHOPIFY STORE

As previously mentioned, Google Ads is an incredibly valuable tool for attracting potential consumers who are more likely to purchase a product in your Shopify online store. However, there are some common mistakes we want to avoid to make the most of our advertising budget.

1- ONLY RUN ADS AIMED AT CONVERSIONS

Using Google Ads to connect with intentional searches is fundamental. However, solely focusing on the bottom of the funnel means missing the opportunity to reach a great number of new potential customers willing to know new brands and products. That is why allocating a portion of your budget to brand awareness campaigns might be beneficial.

2- FORGET ABOUT YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS

Reaching new potential customers is crucial for increasing the traffic and conversions of your Shopify online store, but building customer loyalty should also be a vital part of our marketing strategy.

Increasing your customers’ lifetime value (LTV) will help you increase your revenue. That’s why you should also run retargeting campaigns on Google Ads to reach both the visitors who left your website without buying and those users who are now your customers, ensuring that you maximize your chances of conversion and foster long-term customer loyalty.

Cross-Selling and Up-Selling ads are a great way to reach your current customers. With Cross-Selling ads, you will show your customers products that complement their initial purchase. For example, if some of your customers bought a monitor, you can retarget them with ads promoting keyboards or mouses.

With Up-Selling ads, on the other hand, you will show your customers an upgraded or premium version of the product they have already purchased. For instance, if one of your customers looked at a PlayStation 4, you can retarget them with ads promoting PlayStation 5. 

3- NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR COMPETITORS’ PRICES

Pricing plays a significant role in influencing the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. That is why if some of your products have significantly higher prices compared to your competitors, potential customers may choose to click on their ads instead of yours, resulting in lower ad impressions and click-through rates (CTR).

By comparing your product’s pricing against industry benchmarks, you will be able to either make adjustments to your pricing or decrease the ad budget on specific products. Remaining competitive will improve the effectiveness of your campaigns, ultimately resulting in increased conversions.

Check this article to learn more about the pricing effect during the peak season on shopping campaigns

4- BAD LANDING PAGE EXPERIENCE

When potential customers click on your ads, their expectations for your landing page are high. If they encounter a poor user experience, they are likely to leave your webshop. That’s why it is crucial to align with user expectations and optimize your landing page to maximize the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns.

Additionally, if the price displayed on your landing page does not correspond to the price displayed in the ad, Google Ads will reject your ads.

Make sure your landing page matches what was promised in your ads and includes clear, compelling calls to action (CTAs) that guide users towards the desired goal. Moreover, avoid long loading times, excessive text, poor-quality images or unattractive designs.

5- NOT PROPERLY TRACKING YOUR CONVERSIONS

Conversion tracking helps you assess the performance of your campaigns accurately. Otherwise, you may spend a great part of your budget on underperforming ads or miss opportunities to focus on high-converting products or campaigns.

By implementing conversion tracking, you can make informed decisions, optimize your resources, and maximize your campaigns effectiveness.

In conclusion:

How can you improve the conversion rate of your Shopify store?

Implementing key optimizations within your Shopify store, such as responsive design, fast loading speed, detailed product descriptions, high-quality images, simplified checkout processes, SEO optimization, and incorporating reviews and testimonials, can significantly enhance the overall customer experience and increase conversions. 

Moreover, if you run ads for your Shopify store, you will be more likely to reach potential customers actively looking for products like yours.

Is Shopify ideal for your store?

Shopify can be used by stores of any size, as it is a user-friendly e-commerce platform that offers flexibility and provides a wide selection of customizable themes, built-in features and apps to meet the unique needs of every business.

Over 1,200 webshops that use Producthero as their Google CSS Partner use Shopify as their e-commerce platform. Learn how Producthero can boost your Shopify webshop here.