The purchase of keywords: a must in e-commerce

E-commerce sites have a little something that marketers particularly appreciate:  they generally don't lie.

While it is sometimes difficult to find the strategies generating quality traffic on certain types of site, the sites which sell online are full of information on this subject. This information confirms, among other things, the genius shown by Google in launching an advertising system based on the purchase of keywords as well as the importance of this customer acquisition strategy for maximizing the performance of a sales site in line. Indeed, when we look at online sales statistics, we often notice that 20, 30 or even sometimes more than 50% of transactions come from keyword buying campaigns. A recent study by MarketingSherpa  reveals that 77% of marketers surveyed believe that buying keywords is a strategy with a high potential return on investment (ROI). This is the kind of data that confirms that we cannot ignore this trend.

IT'S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

Why is it so effective? Quite simply because it is possible to analyze and optimize almost everything in a keyword buying campaign. It is possible to recognize the most effective keywords by geographical area, by language, by platform (mobile or PC), etc. With search funnels, one can also find out which words led to conversions, which ones generated a click but no conversion, or which ones generated an ad impression only. The wealth of this data is incredibly powerful market research and opens the door to ever more effective campaigns.

Budget increase in certain cities where conversion rates are higher, removal of keywords that do not offer the expected performance, automatic campaign stoppage when a product is no longer in stock; these are some of the possibilities that make the offer of many other marketing channels unattractive.

ARE YOU MORE INTERESTED IN FINDING CUSTOMERS OR MAKING SURE THEY FIND YOU?

Before you spend on generating more presence for your brand online or offline, why not make sure someone who searches for your product or service finds it. This is one of the reasons why we often suggest setting a budget for search engine positioning (organic SEO and keyword buying) before setting what will be invested in other channels. Indeed, why pay to arouse the interest of potential customers when we do not serve those who already show interest in our offer?

ARE YOU ONE OF THE EXCEPTIONS?

While keyword buying is in most cases a high ROI activity, there are some industries where things like competition, low conversion rate, or other things make it difficult to demonstrate. Before throwing in the towel, it's a good idea to assess what could be causing poor results. In several situations, the low quality of a landing page, the creation of poorly organized groups of ads or a deficient selection of keywords explain the poor performance. On the other hand, although this strategy is often the most effective in e-commerce, it can prove to be totally ineffective. One thing is certain however: you will at least have access to the figures to understand the results, which is not the case for all channels!