Everybody wants to know how they stack up against their competition when it comes to PPC conversion rates.
If you’re honest, the thought has probably crossed your mind at least once.
PPC ads are indispensable to ecommerce retailers. They provide a scalable, secure, targeted stream of visitors and aren’t subject to the ups and downs of search engine rankings.
PPC ads are indispensable to ecommerce retailers. They provide a scalable, secure, targeted stream of visitors and aren't subject to the ups and downs of search engine rankings. Click To TweetBut could you organize your PPC campaigns more effectively? Could you make changes to your ad design and formatting processes, targeting options, and even your choice of platform, to improve your conversion rate?
In this post, we’re going to look at eleven tools you can use to optimize your PPC campaigns for more clicks, higher conversions, and lower ad spend.
Types of Ecommerce Advertising
Understanding Conversion Rate in PPC
Top 11 Tools to Boost Your PPC Conversion Rate and Click-Through Rate
1. SimilarWeb
2. iSpionage
3. Ahrefs
4. WordStream
5. AdWords Performance Grader
6. Google Analytics
7. Optmyzr
8. AdStage
9. BuzzSumo
10. AdEspresso
11. Native Analytics Tools (Google, Bing, Facebook, etc.)
Closing Thoughts on 11 Best PPC Tools
Sound good? Let’s dig in.
Let’s take a quick look at the leading ad platforms and formats. Your advertising strategy will likely encompass placements on numerous platforms with numerous ad types, and your toolkit should account for this.
Here are the main types of ecommerce ads and the platforms on which they run:
Your PPC conversion rate is the percentage of your PPC traffic that turns into paying customers. If you generate 100 clicks per month from PPC ads and 10 of those visitors make a purchase, your conversion rate is 10%.
Your PPC conversion rate is the percentage of your PPC traffic that turns into paying customers. If you generate 100 clicks per month from PPC ads and 10 of those visitors make a purchase, your conversion rate is 10%. Click To TweetYour click-through rate is the percentage of people that see your ad and click on it to reach your landing page. If 100 people view your ad and 10 click on it, your click-through rate is 10%.
Your PPC conversion rate and PPC click-through rate are the two most important metrics when it comes to optimizing your advertising campaigns. If you can boost your CR and CTR while remaining within the same spending limits, your revenue will increase.
Good on-site optimization practices are essential for improving your PPC conversion rate. But, fundamentally, conversion rate optimization is also about three other “campaign-side” elements: crafting compelling ads that match with your site’s landing pages, identifying the best platforms and audiences, and optimizing ads for high-quality clicks.
In this post I’ll focus on campaign-side optimization rather than on-site conversion optimization, which I’ve covered fully in the following articles:
So what is a good conversion rate in PPC?
There is a lot of variation across ad formats, platforms, and industries. Here’s a quick rundown of the most important stats:
The average CTR for Google Adwords ads (now “Google Ads”) is 1.66%.
Click-through rates vary depending on the industry.
Let’s take a look at the best tools for running and optimizing your PPC campaigns. Using the apps listed here will ensure you’re able to optimize your click-through and conversion rates at all stages of your campaigns, from research to implementation and beyond.
When it comes to competitor research, SimilarWeb is our absolute favorite tool. It gives you access to data on your competitors’ audiences, marketing strategies, traffic sources, and more. For PPC, you’re able to see keywords, ad landing pages, and preferred ad formats. You can also track competitor apps as well as websites.
Another important benefit of SimilarWeb is that it enables you to track your competitors across many different metrics, providing you with much-needed benchmark data.
iSpionage is another competitor research tool that complements SimilarWeb’s huge dataset. The platform has specific features for tracking competitor PPC campaigns and you can see competitors’ budgets, which keywords they’re bidding on, how long they’re running ads for, how many ads they’re displaying, which ads perform best, and so on.
Crucially, iSpionage allows you to see competitor landing pages for ad groups and replicate conversion-boosting design elements. The “Keyword Effectiveness Index” is one of iSpionage’s top features, and you can use it to identify the highest potential keywords for your campaigns.
Keyword (KW) research is essential for running successful ecommerce PPC campaigns. And few KW research tools even come close to Ahrefs. It repeatedly tops roundups of the best KW tools on the market.
The comprehensive keyword research dashboard enables you to find and evaluate keywords for your ads. Powerful suggestion features expand your “seed” set of keywords, while competitor analysis enables you to uncover which keywords other online stores are bidding on. You’ll also be able to see the cost, volume, and competitiveness of specific keywords.
Keyword research is a crucial part of boosting both your click-through rate and your conversion rate because it enables you to reach highly-targeted and eager-to-buy audiences. Don’t settle for an inferior tool.
WordStream is one of the biggest names in the PPC sphere. The company’s core package, Wordstream Advisor, includes tools for researching, tracking, managing, and optimizing campaigns across a multitude of platforms. They claim that the average WordStream user converts 60% more clients, so it would be a big mistake not to at least give it a go.
WordStream has a dedicated package for online retailers. The feature-set includes a management dashboard for keeping on top of multiple campaigns, smart optimization options, and on-site CRO tools for converting more customers and ensuring that landing pages fit seamlessly with ads. Furthermore, WordStream is compatible with all major platforms, including Google, Bing, and Facebook.
This free tool from Wordstream is worth a mention in its own right.
It gives you a full audit of your Google Ads account and the performance of your campaigns. It pinpoints issues causing wasted spend and provides you with practical tips for boosting your CTRs, optimizing your keywords, and improving ad copy. You’ll also receive guidance for improving your CPC landing page conversions.
You probably won’t be surprised to find GA on this list. It’s still the best analytics platform available to retailers when it comes to tracking PPC campaigns.
You can set up specific goals and events to keep on top of clicks, engagements, conversions, and more. GA’s array of tracking features enables you to drill down into your advertising audience to pinpoint the highest-converting segments while also locating areas for potential improvement throughout your funnel. It’s easy to connect your Google Ads and Analytics accounts.
Optmyzer is a comprehensive solution for tracking and optimizing ad performance on Google and Bing. It’s aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, and its standout feature is the in-depth reporting it offers over both the short and long-term.
The reporting features are geared towards optimization and provide you with tips to manage ad spend, save time, and track the long-term impact of your campaigns. Because of its tight focus – on Bing and Google – the platform can provide highly-specific insights that aren’t available elsewhere.
Adstage is an automation tool that can drastically cut the amount of time you spend on managing and optimizing ads. It allows you to gather all of your campaign data from multiple ad platforms in one place.
The key benefit it provides is the ability to see your funnel as a whole. By collating data about sales along with ad performance, AdStage enables you to understand exactly how you can improve on-site conversions along with your click-through rate and ad spend. What’s more, it’s possible to automate many aspects of optimization, further saving on time and resources.
BuzzSumo is fundamentally a content research platform. “What does that have to do with my ads?” you might be asking.
And the answer is simple: copy.
By honing in on the most-shared headlines, topics, and copy in your space, you’ll gain access to a wealth of material to inform and improve your ad copy.
Engaging customers from the get-go with original, captivating copy is the key not just to a higher click-through rate but also a higher conversion rate. If visitors are arriving on your landing pages already engaged, they’re much more likely to turn into paying customers.
AdEspresso is a tool for running and optimizing Facebook and Instagram campaigns. Few other tools on the market can match AdEspresso when it comes to the specific application of paid social media advertising.
With a powerful array of features and automation options, AdEspresso enables you to manage multiple social campaigns from one dashboard. AdEspresso has a loyal following of ecommerce clients, and the platform has been designed with this group in mind.
All of the major ad platforms have their own in-built analytics and optimization platforms. Often, these are more powerful than third-party tools.
Google Shopping, Amazon, Facebook, Bing, Instagram, LinkedIn – they all provide a range of features for improving ad performance. The key is in leveraging these tools correctly. Most marketers don’t have a full understanding of how to take advantage of them for full effect. It’s also worth pointing out that many advertisers also have mobile apps that make it easy to keep on top of your campaigns on the go.
PPC ad campaigns are absolutely essential for ecommerce. A full understanding of how to implement a revenue-driving PPC strategy, along with how to optimize it going forward, is vital for your ecommerce store.
PPC ad campaigns are absolutely essential for ecommerce. A full understanding of how to implement a revenue-driving PPC strategy, along with how to optimize it going forward, is vital for your ecommerce store. Click To TweetIt’s important to commit fully to this aspect of your business and implement tested, flexible processes. And tools are an essential part of the mix when it comes to managing and optimizing these processes.
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