Pay-per-click PPC advertising can be very beneficial for promoting eCommerce stores. It has proven results for maximising leads and increasing revenue. Ideal for targeting high-intent customers, PPC is perfect for the data-driven nature of eCommerce.

If you own an eCommerce store and have considered running PPC for eCommerce ads but have no idea where to start, we’re here to help. In this article, we are going to discuss what eCommerce PPC is, how PPC for eCommerce works, and why PPC advertising is a great option for eCommerce stores.

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a type of digital advertising where the advertiser pays a fee each time someone clicks on their ad. You only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad, so it doesn’t matter how many people see it or how often it is displayed. You’re essentially paying for targeted visitors to your website, landing page, form or app. If set up correctly, the fee you pay should be trivial compared to how much it is worth. For example, if you pay £0.50p for a click but that click makes a purchase on your site for £400, you’ve made a huge profit.

There are many different types of PPC ads. They can be found on search engines like Google and Bing, websites, social media platforms, app stores and apps, games and more. PPC ads can be text-based, images, videos or a combination of all of these.

Search engine advertising, also known as paid search or Google advertising, is one of the most popular forms of PPC. This type of advertising allows you to bid for ad placement on the search engine results page when someone performs a search related to your business offering or utilising the keywords you have targeted. These ads show either at the top or bottom of search results pages as sponsored links.

Facebook ads are another popular form of PPC ads. Many people don’t realise that Facebook ads are also a pay-per-click form of advertising as they assume PPC is just Google search ads, but Facebook ads also work off a pay-per-click model.

A picture of the dictionary definition of pay-per-click with a magnifying glass magnifying that section.

What is PPC for eCommerce?

PPC for eCommerce, or eCommerce PPC, is an online advertising strategy that uses PPC ads to promote an online store. These ads can be displayed on various platforms, including search engines, social media networks and websites. PPC for eCommerce is used to generate more traffic to a site and ultimately increase sales.

Why should I use PPC for my eCommerce site?

PPC is a great advertising model for eCommerce businesses for several reasons. It’s good because it targets high-intent customers who are ready to buy or who are at least looking for the products you’re selling. You can also control your targeting, ad copy, ad creative and budget, so you can hone in on specific items and target those customers most likely to purchase.

You control the budget

You can set your own budget for PPC ads, so they can be as small-scale or large-scale as you like. You also only pay when you get a result – when someone clicks on your ad – so if you’re spending money, you’re guaranteed the traffic to your website. Even if it doesn’t convert, can be used for retargeting at a later date. This is useful data to gather and analyse. The data gathered can provide you with valuable insights and help you determine why people aren’t converting or which kinds of audiences are to refine your ads further.

Increase brand awareness

PPC ads are a great way to increase the reach of your brand massively. PPC ads can target wide audiences or small more niche audiences. It allows you to get your brand in front of more people relatively quickly and easily.

Advanced targeting options

You can also be incredibly targeted with your ads, so you only target very specific people and don’t waste any money on those who may not be interested in purchasing. For example, if you sell furniture and get a new line of chairs, you can target people looking only for those specific chairs. Say they are velvet swivel armchairs you can create a series of ads targeting people looking for “velvet swivel armchairs”, and could bid on keywords like “the best velvet swivel armchairs”.

You can also create audiences of people you want to target with specific demographics and interests, so you can hone in on your target audiences. This allows you to create highly personalised campaigns that can help boost your conversion rate.

Data-driven results

PPC ads generate a lot of very useful data, providing you with valuable insights into how your target audience interacts with your ads. Based on the results of your ads, you can see how your target audience is interacting with them based on click-through rate and conversion rate and then fine-tune your campaigns to improve upon previous results. You can also see which campaigns or keywords are working and which aren’t, so you can fine tune your campaigns and allocate more budget to those that are working and save yourself money on those that aren’t working.

Instant results

As soon as you set up your ads and activate your campaigns, your ads go live right away. They spend a bit of time in a learning phase, but even during this phase, they’re live and serving and generating clicks and sales. If your ads are set up effectively, you can drive significant traffic to your store very quickly.

A picture of a purple credit card lying on top of a laptop keyboard with a shopping cart key in view.

How do you measure the success of your PPC campaigns?

To measure the success of your eCommerce PPC campaigns, you will have to review the data generated. In general, if you see your revenue increase while maintaining a good return on ad spend, (ROAS), then your campaigns are likely doing well. You can work out your ROAS using an online ROAS calculator.

The average ROAS for the eCommerce industry is reportedly around 2.87:1. This means if you spend £1, you would get £2.87 back. ROAS is difficult to determine, though, as it can vary greatly from store to store. It depends on the product being sold, the audience you’re targeting and the level of competition. At Castle, our average ROAS for eCommerce advertising is 7:1 across all our accounts.

To go more in-depth, by evaluating metrics such as conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and click-through rate, as well as return on ad spend, you’ll be able to better determine whether your ads are performing optimally. These metrics will help you make informed decisions to optimise your ads more effectively and can help you determine what the issues are if there are any.

For example, if you have a high click-through rate but a low conversion rate, it could be because the ad is misleading or not relevant to the product you’re selling. It could also be because your site isn’t optimised effectively for conversions, and there are issues preventing people from completing a purchase.

What are the best PPC for eCommerce channels for my site?

The best PPC for eCommerce channel for you will depend on your specific circumstances, who your target audience is, and where they are most likely to be. Every platform has advantages and disadvantages, but you need to find the one that works best for your business. Below is a breakdown of the most popular ecommerce PPC platforms and their features.

Google Ads – The PPC channel with the broadest reach, Google Ads, is probably the most popular form of PPC advertising today. It offers shopping campaigns, text ads, video, and display ads, providing you with various different ways to reach your potential customers and convert them on-site. It also allows you to advertise across the Google display network, which means you can run ads on their associated websites and platforms, broadening your reach.

Google Shopping Ads are great for ecommerce sites to promote products. You can upload your product feed, which includes information about your products such as the titles, description, prices and images, into Google Merchant Centre. Once this is uploaded, when a customer searches for certain products related to what you sell, your products should show up in the Google Shopping sponsored search results at the top of the Google SERP.

Facebook Ads – Facebook is the most popular social media platform, with over 3.07 billion users worldwide as of July 2024. This means there is a huge audience of people you can target on the platform, and thanks to its limitless targeting possibilities, you can run highly targeted campaigns to reach your ideal audience based on their interests, location and demographics. You can also remarket to people who have already visited your website, encouraging them to come back and make a purchase. You can run both static picture ads, and video ads on Facebook, and you can run catalogue ads where you upload your product catalogue, and Facebook dynamically shows the most relevant products to specific audiences.

As long as your Facebook pixel is installed correctly on your site, you can track all your customers’ actions once they interact with your ad, selecting specific events you would like to track to measure the results of each campaign and target your customers more effectively. To find out more about whether Facebook Ads are worth it for your business, read our blog.

Concept image graphic for Pay Per Click ads. A graphic of a text ad with a hand icon clicking on it.

Instagram Ads – Instagram and Facebook ads are run through the Meta ads platform so you can run ads on either or both platforms at the same time. Instagram ads allow you to target people on the Instagram app based on a wide range of factors. With over 2 billion monthly active users, there is a huge amount of people you can reach through Instagram ads.

Instagram is good for targeting a slightly younger audience, as the platform sees the highest usage among people aged between 18 and 34, with these age groups making up 60% of Instagram’s user base. This makes the platform ideal if your target audience consists of people within this age group.

YouTube Ads – As YouTube is owned by Google, you can run YouTube ads through the Google ads platform. You can utilise videos of your products or use user-generated content such as testimonials to run as video ads on YouTube. Using YouTube ads, you can target specific channels and interests, which is good for targeting specific audiences with specific interests.

YouTube has over 2.49 billion users, making it the second most used social media platform. People, on average, spend 48.7 minutes watching YouTube videos, which means the platform has a high engagement rate, making it ideal for engaging your target audience. The largest age group using YouTube is people aged 25-34, who account for 21.3% of their user base, closely followed by those ages 35-44, who make up 17.5% of users.

LinkedIn Ads – LinkedIn ads are usually used for promoting B2B brands and conducting lead generation, but they can work for B2C eCommerce too. If your products are business-specific or you want to target professionals, LinkedIn ads could be the perfect way to promote your products. As LinkedIn ads reportedly show a 33% increase in purchase intent for brands and a conversion rate up to 2x higher on LinkedIn, advertising on this platform can be incredibly beneficial.

TikTok Ads – TikTok for business offers a range of targeting options and ad formats using short-form video content. TikTok also allows you to create more engaging ad content, allowing you to add music, text and visual effects. You can use custom audiences on TikTok to retarget people and lookalike audiences to find users similar to your existing customers. TikTok Shop also allows you to sell products directly through TikTok, which is a great option for eCommerce businesses.

TikTok has just over 1.5 billion monthly active users, making it the fifth most popular social media platform in the world. In December 2023, it was the second most downloaded mobile app, with its users spending 4.43 billion minutes watching TikTok videos each day. If you are looking to reach a younger audience, particularly Gen Z, TikTok is the perfect place. 49% of TikTok purchasers are Gen Z (aged 18-26).

Another great thing to note for eCommerce brands using TikTok is that 30% of TikTok’s daily users have used TikTok Shop, with a further 33% interested in using it, which means there is an audience there willing to shop in-app. In fact, 71.2% of shoppers have made a purchase simply after stumbling across a product in their feeds or Stories.

An image of a shopping trolley on top of a laptop keyboard with two brown boxes inside it with the text 'E-COMMERCE' written on the two brown boxes.

Tips for setting up eCommerce PPC campaigns

Setting up your first PPC for an eCommerce campaign can seem like a daunting prospect, but here are some important steps to follow and tips for setting up a successful eCommerce PPC campaign.

Define your goals – Before setting up any PPC campaigns, you first need to define your business goals. Do you want to improve your brand awareness, increase sales or maybe drive more traffic to your website? Make sure the goals you set are realistic, specific and measurable. For example, if you are a start-up business with no prior marketing, setting a goal of £500,000 in sales in the first month is not very realistic and would be difficult to achieve.

Refine your target audience – In order to set up effective ads, you need to define exactly who your target audience is. Who is buying your products? Why would they buy them? What are their ages, gender, location, and interests? Creating a customer profile, or several customer profiles for different products and campaigns, is an important step in ensuring you can create effective eCommerce PPC ads.

Choose your platform – As previously discussed, there are several different eCommerce PPC platforms you can use to run PPC ads for eCommerce. This includes Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and TikTok Ads. Consider your previously defined target audience and advertising goals when choosing the right platform (or platforms). Where is your audience most likely to be?

Keyword research – Conducting keyword research is an important step in setting up a successful PPC campaign, particularly if using Google Ads or Bing Ads, as their performance is based on keyword searches. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner to determine high-performing keywords related to your business and your products that your target audience would be searching for.

Set a budget – You need to set a realistic budget for your eCommerce PPC campaigns that will allow you to achieve the goals you want. Consider your desired outcome, the cost of keywords and ad placements on the specific platform you are using, and determine how much you’re willing to spend.

Create ad copy and creatives – You need to create ad copy and ad creatives (if you are using them) that are eye-catching, concise, relevant to your target audience and persuade them to want to purchase your products. Highlight the unique selling points of your product and how it will help solve your target audience’s problems, and include a strong call-to-action to encourage people to click and convert.

Launch and monitor campaign – Once your campaign has successfully been set up, it’s time to launch it. Set your campaign live and monitor it regularly to ensure it’s performing as expected and make necessary optimisations to improve its performance.

Need help with your eCommerce PPC?

There are many things that go into creating a successful eCommerce PPC campaign. Defining the right target audience, choosing the right keywords, creating compelling ad creatives and copy, and designing and writing a landing page to drive users to, and even your website, can affect the performance of your campaign.

Setting up successful eCommerce PPC ads isn’t so simple for someone with no prior experience. There are a lot of things that go into running successful campaigns, which is why many people choose to employ a specialist PPC ads agency.

If you need help setting up and running successful, optimised PPC campaigns for your eCommerce store, Castle can help. We have a team of PPC experts with many years of experience running campaigns for eCommerce clients. We specialise in eCommerce marketing and have a proven track record of helping eCommerce businesses grow through PPC advertising. Check out our eCommerce case studies to see for yourself how we have helped clients achieve significant growth.

Get in touch with the team, or book a call to speak to one of our experts today!