Feeding the Animals Without Losing Your Fingers
It’s no secret why shopping search engines are so popular with customers: Finding places to buy the things they want at a keystroke! Comparing prices without having to pick up the phone or get in the car! Is this a great Internet or what?
Marketers, on the other hand, have a love-hate relationship with shopping feed management. We love the part about customers easily finding places to buy our products. But we’re not always as enthusiastic about the transparency of those easy price comparisons. We love the opportunity the engines give us to put our stuff under the noses of people who are looking to buy RIGHT NOW. But we hate the higher cost-per-click that goes with this territory, especially when those clicks don’t turn into sales.
We only make things worse for ourselves when we approach the shopping feed management cage with unrealistic expectations. If we view it as a source of marginal revenue—and a useful source of information—we won’t be disappointed. But if we expect the unruly beast to deliver dramatic revenue increases, if we focus only on pricing without factoring in all the other variables that affect sales, or if we approach at the wrong time of year, instead of licking our hand, it’s liable to take off a few fingers.
Chris Patton, the direct response media manager here at The Kern Organization, has a sensible attitude about the whole thing. “Shopping feed management can add three to five percent to sales revenue,” he says, “provided it’s executed well. That might not sound like an enormous amount of money. But what marketer would want to leave it on the table? Certainly not the ones here at The Kern Organization.”
So why isn’t every member of The Kern Organization’s family of clients busily engaged in shopping feed management? Because, according to Chris, it’s not for everyone. “If your brand isn’t familiar or your products price competitive, customers aren’t going to buy just because you happen to be in their face on a shopping engine,” he warns. “If your margin structure and shipping costs don’t allow you to be promotionally competitive, then customers in search of bargains may click on you, but they’re likely to buy elsewhere—driving up your costs as they pass you by.”
Seasonality is also a key factor, according to Chris. “Customers have their wallets open for certain products and services at certain times of year—during the holiday season, just prior to Mother’s Day or Halloween, or as the school year approaches—when making purchases is as much a matter of necessity as it is of choice,” he says. “Shopping search engines really heat up at those times with buyers hunting for bargains. Meanwhile, in January, say, or midsummer, things cool down considerably.” Smart marketers know this, he says, and they time their involvements and product selections accordingly. Those whose products and services are seasonal can put together package deals, pop them into shopping feed management and test out their pricing. “You can see pretty quickly what does and doesn’t work and adjust your feed accordingly.”
For some invaluable tips on the subject, you’ll want to read “Optimizing Your Comparison Shopping Engine Marketing for the Holidays,” an article that will come in handy regardless of which season you happen to be targeting. Click here to access the article.
Tags: consumer behavior, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing Services
Categories: Digital Marketing
