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With Shoparize, thousands of merchants optimize their campaign performance by removing Google Shopping CSS’s margin during the bidding process. The effects of this discount are readily visible in your Google Ads account. Here is a quick guide to help you pinpoint the impact of the CSS switch.
With manual bidding and no bid increase: If you have campaigns set to manual bidding and have switched to a CSS partner without raising your bids, you will likely see an increase in impressions. Your CPC will not or hardly change, as you did not change your bids. Here is how this looks in your Google Ads account:
With manual bidding and a bid decrease: If you have switched to Shoparize CSS or another CSS partner and lowered your bids, your average CPC will decrease. You will not see a reduction in ad impressions, however. Instead, it is likely you will see no change in volume because you have gained extra bidding power by switching to Shoparize. Below you can see what this looks like in your Google Ads account.
With automated bidding and Google Smart Shopping or target ROAS: If you have campaigns set to automated bidding or smart bidding, the impact of the CSS switch will become visible in a different way than for manual bidding. For manual bidding, we mainly look at clicks and impressions; for smart bidding, we look at changes in revenue and profit. The dynamic aspect of Google’s smart Shopping algorithm pushes campaigns to constantly optimize your bids toward a maximized conversion value or a set ROAS target.
After switching to Shoparize CSS, our merchants generally see an increase in overall campaign performance with automated bidding as well as manual bidding. Smart Shopping campaigns or campaigns using the target ROAS bid strategy meet merchant’s target ROAS more easily.
Compare campaign performance before and after the switch. We recommend analyzing your campaign performance over 2 to 8 weeks to see best results.
With automated bidding and a fixed ROAS target: If you have switched to Shoparize CSS or another CSS partner but kept a fixed ROAS target, you will notice an increase in revenue. Below you can see how this looks in your Google Ads account.
With automated bidding and an increased ROAS target: If you have switched to Shoparize CSS or another CSS partner and increased your ROAS target, you will see your profitability rise. Due to the bidding advantage gained from switching to Shoparize CSS, your revenue will most likely not go down. Here is how this looks in your Google Ads account:
Conclusion
Whether your Shopping campaigns are set to manual or automated bidding, the advantage gained from switching to Shoparize CSS will translate into improved Shopping campaign performance. How much improvement you see, and where the improvements show up, depends on your strategy. To learn more about the changes in support and your Merchant Center account when switching from Google Shopping CSS to a CSS partner, read our article on this topic.
We hope this article has been helpful. If you would like to know how Shoparize can help you with your bid strategy, send us an email today at css@shoparize.com.
