So you’ve set up your online store, you’ve started your Google and Facebook advertising but sales aren’t streaming in. Are you doing it right? A common misconception that small and medium-sized business owners have when starting out is they expect everyone who lands on their website will buy their products. If we think logically, we can see how that’s probably too optimistic. Think of it this way, if you have a physical store not everyone who enters will buy something. They might be looking for gift options for Christmas, they could have a friend’s birthday coming up, or perhaps they’re comparing prices. They are only doing research and when they are ready they might come back and make a purchase. It’s just the same online.
This means you need to measure more than just your sales. Luckily with online marketing, everything is measurable. You can see how many people entered your store, how much it cost to get them into your store, and how quickly they left. You are also able to see what product they viewed and how long they viewed it. All this info gives you a better picture of what your customer is doing in your store. And once you know what they’re doing you can tweak your website to make sure your customer is more likely to buy something.
But where do you start?
When you are new to the online space or you are a smaller business selling online you want to get the most people to your website for the lowest cost. If this rings true for you then you need to keep an eye on your Click-through-rate (CTR) as well as your cost-per-click (CPC). Ideally, you want your CTR to be as high as possible and your CPC as low as possible. Remember, there isn’t a standard for CTR and CPC. Each industry has its own benchmark driven by the competitiveness of that industry.
Let’s look at CTR and CPC in more detail:
Click-through-rate (CTR)
Your Click-through-rate is the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown on Google. In other words, if your ad is shown 100 times and 2 people click on it, your CTR is 2%. Keep in mind that the average CTR in Google search ads, on mobile devices, across all industries is 4%*. This means if your CTR is higher than 4% you are doing very, very well!
Cost per click (CPC)
With Google, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. This is called a cost-per-click model. How the cost is calculated is slightly more complex than the definition. For now, though, you don’t need to know how to calculate your CPC. All you need to measure is that your CPC is as low as possible. To give you an idea, industry averages* for CPC on Google search are $2.69 (almost R40 per click).
With Adbot managing your Google Ads we guarantee you the most clicks to your website for the lowest cost thanks to our system that continually optimises your ads. Our numbers speak for themselves. We currently achieve, across industries, an average CTR of 8.3% and a CPC of R2,30. This is significantly better than the industry averages out there!
Google Ads? Adbot it!
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