Smart Shopping simplifies campaign administration for Google Shopping sales. By targeting your adverts at the most profitable times, this automated campaign style maximizes conversion value.
But the technology isn’t perfect, so Google tries to make up for lost control. In this article, we’ll look at how Smart Shopping campaigns function and how to fix the most prevalent issues.
What to do when Smart Shopping fails?
Smart Shopping campaigns, like all automated technology, are never perfect, but they can perform well in certain situations. The main disadvantage of extensively automated marketing is lack of performance oversight. When things go wrong with Smart Shopping campaigns, what can you do?
Let’s look at some of the most typical issues.
1. Inconsistent Smart Shopping traffic
This isn’t necessarily a Smart Shopping issue. Because Google is striving to maximize conversion value and ROAS by spending your budget during the most profitable periods, you should expect irregular traffic volumes.
In other words, Google stores your spending for times when it will provide a sufficient return on investment. This leads to unpredictable traffic levels, especially for campaigns with high conversion value and ROAS fluctuations (e.g., products with fluctuating sales volume).
2. You lack impressions
If your Smart Shopping campaigns are failing due to low impressions, first verify your product feed. Examine your Target ROAS and, if applicable, temporarily remove it to see if impressions increase.
Setting your tROAS too high may prohibit Google from spending budget as frequently, limiting impressions and ad performance.
If you like your tROAS settings, see if you’re using 100% of your budget. If it isn’t, increase your budget and leave your campaign for a week or two to observe how it performs.
3. Poor-performing products
Whether you use regular or Smart Shopping campaigns, some products will always perform below expectations. The beautiful thing about Smart Shopping campaigns is that you can compare performance to conventional Shopping efforts to identify product, seasonality, or campaign issues.
Google advises adding as many relevant products as possible to campaigns, which is generally wise. However, there will always be items that underperform, so keep an eye on performance and delete underperformers.
4. Smart Shopping remarketing ad conversions
Smart Shopping campaigns rely on remarketing lists, which must be continually updated to maximize coverage and performance. Using custom parameters helps Google understand which products on your website visitors are most interested in.
Also, keep in mind that certain conversions take longer than others, so compare current conversions to historical performance with caution.
5. No Smart Shopping search keywords found
Because Smart Shopping campaigns lack a search terms report, you must focus on feed optimization and product names. Your product feed is your most valuable asset for Shopping campaigns (regular or Smart), so keep it healthy.
In other circumstances, you may need to create duplicate goods with different keywords to target specific search terms, such as sneakers, trainers, and running shoes.
6. Shopping campaigns outperform smart shopping strategies
Don’t be scared to pause and/or optimise underperforming Smart Shopping initiatives. If you notice a huge variation in performance, take action, but make sure you compare the campaign types fairly.