Over the years, search engine optimization has become the most crucial element of digital marketing for most e-commerce brands. The variety of relevant SEO factors enables brands in various e-commerce subsections to promote and position themselves more effectively. More brands in this industry are starting to introduce informative content, and more are turning to influencer marketing to build up their reputation. 

However, despite the many organic search result factors that companies need to keep in mind, paid ads still play a major role in successful business growth. If your own e-commerce company needs to promote specific products, show up in front of a specific demographic, or push the sales for an item that’s about to go out of style – well-tailored ads are a must. For your ads to be successful, you need to track a number of metrics that will improve the impact of your campaign. Here are a few you should be mindful of!

The overall quality score

For starters, it’s important that this particular metric is actually a combination of several different KPIs that Google recognizes when it comes to your ads. The search engine then uses the scores derived from those metrics to derive a unique score for the quality of your ad – also known as the quality score. The content you use for each ad, including the keyword relevance, the quality of the landing page where your ads lead, all the way to your click-through rate, Google then sums it all up into a single 1-10 score.

This score isn’t there just to tell you what Google thinks of your ad effort. It’s also a valuable source of information for you and your e-commerce business, to understand how your ads are perceived by your audience. If Google believes that your ads meet your customers’ needs, you then have a much higher likelihood of impressing them in the first place. It also helps you reduce the cost of your campaign, as Google will reward you with a lower cost per conversion when your score is high. 

Your ad’s impression share

This might be one of the simplest KPIs to understand, but it’s also crucial for figuring out how to position your ads better for all future campaigns, otherwise they become just a drain in your budget. Your ad’s impression share shows how many people have actually seen your ad. It also indicates whether or not you have optimized your ad properly so that it shows up in front of your target audience. If your aim to sell your products in a specific, but competitive area, which can easily describe cities such as Sydney – then impressions do matter to a great extent.

To help boost the quality of your campaigns, more e-commerce businesses tend to work with a local SEO agency in Sydney to leverage their superior knowledge of the local audience paired with their marketing expertise. Getting to know your target demographic will help you with keyword optimization for your ads, which will in turn put your ads in front of more relevant people. 

Your click-through rate (CTR)

Naturally, if your ads are doing well and your customers not just see them, but also show interest in them, they will click on the ads. This is why the CTR is a vital metric for understanding what drives customer interest and what helps your business sell more down the road. 

If you have managed to increase impressions so that your ads are indeed visible to the right people, it’s time to focus on your CTR – the metric that actually shows genuine customer interest. Combine the number of impressions with the number of clicks, and you get the rate you need to know your success. If, for example, your ad is seen by 2000 people and 100 of them click on the ad, your CTR would be 5% – (100/2000)x100=5%. 

Return on ad spend (ROAS)

The success of your PPC campaigns depends on more than directly measurable success, but you do need to understand the value of your investment in order to refine future campaigns. For example, even though impressions show the visibility of your ads, they also contribute to brand awareness and helping customers remember you even if they’ve made a recent purchase and aren’t likely to repeat it soon. 

However, you should always focus on the bottom line to know when your ads are doing well and when you need to make changes, which is where ROAS steps in. Simply put, this metric tells you how many dollars you earn for each dollar spent on your ad. Do you break even, are you hemorrhaging money, or are you earning well? This metric is vital, and it will show you whether to scale up or down with your ad investment for each campaign.

Truth be told, there are other metrics you should keep an eye on as well, but if you have only just started out your e-commerce business, focusing on these core KPIs for your ad campaigns can help you build up your revenue. Additionally, when you invest in ongoing SEO, quality content, and other digital marketing strategies to complement your paid ads, your ads alone will become much more effective and deliver the results you need.

Therefore, don’t perceive them as an isolated effort. Turn them into one part of your comprehensive take on digital marketing to position your business better for the long haul, reach more people, and turn more visitors into customers.