From Clicks to Conversations

Traditional advertising has long relied on interruptive, one-way messaging. Generative AI flips that model on its head. With the integration of conversational interfaces, like Microsoft Copilot, we’re now entering a new era where engagement is driven by natural language and intelligent dialogue — not just display banners or search queries.

Imagine this: instead of clicking through dozens of pages to find the right running shoe, a user can simply ask an AI agent embedded on a brand’s website, “Which shoes are best for trail running in cold weather?” and receive curated recommendations in seconds. Microsoft is piloting exactly this functionality — smart, AI-powered brand agents that act as digital concierges, guiding users in real time through the decision-making journey.

The Rise of Brand Agents

What stood out most during Microsoft Accelerate was the concept of brand agents — custom AI assistants that can interact not only with consumers, but eventually with other AI agents as well. Think of them as the digital counterpart to an in-store advisor, trained on brand knowledge, product specifications, customer service best practices, and sales data.

For advertisers, this opens up a world of opportunity. These agents can become powerful tools for lead generation, customer support, and conversion optimisation. They offer the ability to keep users engaged through meaningful dialogue, answering questions, offering comparisons, and guiding purchase decisions — without ever needing to click away.

Ad Experiences Reinvented

This shift isn’t limited to backend support or AI-driven insights. Microsoft also revealed entirely new ad formats purpose-built for conversational experiences. One standout? Showroom Ads — immersive, chat-activated environments where users can explore products in a digital space that mimics the feel of a physical store. These environments, enhanced by brand agents, will bring storytelling and interactivity into the heart of the ad experience.

Dynamic filters and AI-generated creative also play a big role in streamlining decision-making. With tools that adapt ads based on conversation context, user preferences, location, and even seasonality, generative AI is taking relevance to an entirely new level. In tests, ad relevance in Copilot was 25% higher than traditional search — a huge leap forward.

Productivity Gains for Marketers

As a digital marketer, the promise of generative AI isn’t just about what consumers see — it’s about what we’re now able to build and manage behind the scenes. Microsoft’s Copilot within the Advertising Platform is already streamlining diagnostics, campaign setup, asset creation, and performance optimisation. It’s essentially a co-pilot (pun intended) for every stage of campaign development.

With the launch of tools like Ads Studio and Copilot API access, advertisers can now generate and deploy ad assets at scale, while maintaining brand quality and strategic alignment. These aren’t future visions — they’re live, testable, and already delivering results.

A Future Built on Personalisation, Scale, and AI Collaboration

This isn’t about replacing marketers — it’s about empowering us. Generative AI gives us the power to be more agile, more creative, and more connected to customer needs in real time. It allows us to move beyond generic personas and speak directly to the individual on the other side of the screen — with nuance, relevance, and empathy.

At ClickTech, we’re leaning into this transformation. With tools that span programmatic advertising, performance insights, and creative automation, we see the rise of generative AI as an opportunity to make advertising smarter, more human, and more impactful.

The future of advertising is no longer about finding audiences — it’s about conversing with them. And with generative AI, that future is here.

That’s where Adzooma’s latest Shopping Opportunities come in. Designed to streamline campaign management and maximise performance, these enhancements ensure you’re making the most of every advertising dollar. Here’s how they can transform your approach:

1. Focus on High-Interest Products to Increase Sales

Adzooma pinpoints products that are attracting interest but failing to convert, helping you refine your strategy.

The Impact: Some products generate plenty of clicks but don’t turn into sales. By analysing engagement levels, you can adjust pricing, improve descriptions, or optimise bidding to push these products over the finish line.

2. Cut Unnecessary Costs with Negative Keywords

Wasted spend is a common challenge in Shopping campaigns, often due to irrelevant search traffic. Adzooma identifies unprofitable search terms so you can exclude them with negative keywords.

The Impact: By eliminating irrelevant traffic, you free up budget for searches that are more likely to convert, improving overall efficiency and boosting ROAS.

3. Scale Profitable Campaigns with Smart Budget Increases

Adzooma highlights Shopping campaigns that are delivering strong returns but are being limited by budget constraints.

The Impact: When a campaign is consistently driving strong ROAS, increasing the budget allows you to scale up those results without guesswork. More investment in the right places means more revenue in return.

4. Segment Products for a More Refined Approach

Not all products perform the same. Adzooma analyses your Google and Microsoft Shopping campaigns to distinguish between high and low performers, helping you take targeted action.

The Impact: High-performing products may need increased bids to maximise visibility, while underperformers might require new imagery, revised descriptions, or even removal from your campaign. A segmented approach ensures you’re making the best decisions for each product.

5. Expand Your Reach by Pairing Shopping with Performance Max

If you’re only running Standard Shopping campaigns, you could be missing out on additional conversions. Adzooma recommends integrating Performance Max for a wider reach.

The Impact: Performance Max campaigns leverage multiple placements, allowing you to appear on more surfaces beyond just Shopping search results. This means greater exposure and more chances to convert potential buyers.

6. Act on Out-of-Stock Items with Recent Sales

Adzooma identifies products that recently sold but are now out of stock, helping you manage inventory effectively.

The Impact: Keeping popular products in stock ensures you don’t miss out on potential sales. Acting quickly to restock or promote alternative items keeps customers engaged and revenue flowing.

7. Enable In-Market Audience Targeting in Shopping Campaigns

Adzooma recommends adding in-market audience targeting to your Google and Microsoft Shopping campaigns to refine who sees your ads.

The Impact: In-market audiences consist of users who are actively researching or considering purchases in your category. Adding this layer of targeting improves efficiency and helps you reach high-intent buyers.

8. Resolve Product Issues to Improve Performance

Adzooma flags any issues in your product feed that could be negatively impacting performance.

The Impact: Errors in your Shopping feed, such as missing attributes or incorrect categorisation, can limit your reach or disqualify products from showing in search results. Fixing these issues ensures smooth performance and maximised visibility.

9. Update ‘Campaigns Should Use Smart Bidding’ Settings

Adzooma detects campaigns that are still using manual bidding and suggests switching to smart bidding for better performance.

The Impact: Smart bidding leverages machine learning to optimise bids in real time based on signals such as device, location, and user intent. Transitioning to automated bidding can improve efficiency and drive higher returns.

Why These Opportunities Matter

With these new Shopping Opportunities, Adzooma makes campaign optimisation easier than ever, offering:

• Smarter Spending – Reduce wasted ad spend and focus your budget on high-impact areas. 
• Greater Efficiency – Automate key insights and make data-driven adjustments faster. 
• Increased Conversions – Identify gaps, optimise accordingly, and watch your revenue grow.

Get Started Today

Unlock the full potential of your Shopping campaigns with Adzooma’s latest opportunities. Here’s how:

1. Login to Adzooma or create an account.
2. Connect your Google and Microsoft ad accounts.
3. Explore your new Shopping Opportunities and implement key improvements.

Smarter, more profitable Shopping campaigns are just a few clicks away—start optimising today!

Together, they shared actionable insights and a preview into the future of Microsoft Advertising. Here are the key takeaways to help you stay ahead in 2025.

1. Performance Max (PMAX): Beyond “Set and Forget”

Joe kicked things off by busting a common myth about PMAX campaigns: “We see it quite a lot that people still think of PMAX as a ‘set it and forget it’ solution, but there are levers in there,” he explained. PMAX uses Microsoft’s AI to deliver results across multiple ad formats and channels, but it works best when paired with thoughtful strategy.

Joe emphasised the importance of fine-tuning budgets, bid strategies, and audience targeting to align with campaign goals. For troubleshooting, he encouraged advertisers to consider factors like budget constraints or underperforming assets. “Have you thought about excluding non-peak hours or adjusting your autobidding targets?” he suggested.

He also introduced brand exclusion lists, allowing advertisers to filter out irrelevant brands to maintain focus on their ideal audience. With upcoming enhancements like multimedia ads and additional AI-driven tools, PMAX is set to become even more powerful in 2025.

Pro Tip: If you’ve set up a PMAX campaign and find yourself struggling with performance, there are several troubleshooting steps you can take. Adjusting budgets, refining bid strategies, or tweaking asset selection can often lead to significant improvements. For personalised support, reach out to the ClickTech team at hello@clicktech.com to access a detailed troubleshooting guide and address any common issues effectively.

2. Brand Spotlight Ads: Captivating SERP Presence

Next, Joe unveiled Brand Spotlight Ads, a premium format designed to dominate the search results page (SERP) with rich storytelling visuals. “It allows advertisers to create a really rich storytelling experience,” he explained. Here are subtle differences with multimedia ads in that there’s a collection of up to four images, making this format an immersive and engaging way to showcase your brand.

Currently available as a closed beta in the U.S., Brand Spotlight is an exciting opportunity for advertisers looking to stand out in a crowded digital space.

Actionable Insight: Interested in early access to Brand Spotlight? Reach out to ClickTech for details on how to participate in the beta.

3. Impression-Based Remarketing: Building Audiences Without Clicks

Lucas shared one of Microsoft’s most innovative offerings: Impression-Based Remarketing. “You don’t need people to click on your ads to start building your own audience,” he said. This feature allows advertisers to create audiences from users who see their ads—whether on search, display, native, or connected TV formats.

This approach is ideal for staying top-of-mind during a customer’s decision journey. Lucas encouraged advertisers to experiment with sequential messaging, for example, combining video ads for awareness with native ads for product-specific follow-ups.

Experimentation Tip: Use Impression-Based Remarketing to connect with audiences across formats, ensuring consistent and relevant messaging.

4. Video and Connected TV (CTV): Reaching Audiences Everywhere

With video consumption averaging nearly four hours daily, Lucas highlighted the value of Connected TV (CTV) as a key advertising channel. “We can find audiences through a lot of different networks,” he noted, including premium platforms like Hulu, Max, and Netflix.

Microsoft’s unique advantage lies in combining intent-based targeting with CTV inventory. Advertisers can reach high-value audiences based on browsing and search behaviour, a feature Lucas described as “something our competitors don’t have.”

Joe added that dual-screen usage is becoming the norm: “It’s getting harder to catch people’s attention.” CTV campaigns, paired with Impression-Based Remarketing, can ensure your brand remains visible and relevant across devices.

Quick Start Tip: Don’t overthink it – repurpose your existing short-format videos from YouTube or social media for CTV campaigns.

5. Copilot: Your AI-Powered Advertising Assistant

Joe wrapped up the session by introducing Copilot, Microsoft’s groundbreaking AI tool built directly into its advertising platform. “Copilot is like having your own advertising assistant available 24/7,” he explained. Whether it’s generating headline suggestions, optimising images, or offering performance insights, Copilot simplifies campaign management.

“You can ask Copilot, ‘Why is this campaign not doing as well?’ or ‘Can I have a few suggestions to improve my CTR?’” Joe shared, highlighting its ability to assist both beginners and seasoned marketers alike.

Why It Matters: Copilot’s AI-powered tools make it easier to experiment, refine, and scale campaigns – helping advertisers achieve better results faster.

Final Thoughts

This webinar was packed with insights into how Microsoft Advertising is evolving. From AI-driven tools like Copilot to innovative formats like Brand Spotlight and Impression-Based Remarketing, the opportunities are vast. Whether you’re exploring new channels like Connected TV or optimising existing campaigns, now is the time to experiment and innovate.

Next Steps: If you have any questions around any of the topics discussed, you can reach out to the ClickTech team at hello@clicktech.com. We’re here to help you make the most of these tools and drive success in 2025 and beyond.

In this article, we’ll review best practices for Microsoft Shopping Campaign structures and explore the benefits, the different ways you can set them up, and how they can help you make the most of this crucial period.

1. Segment by Audience

Tailoring your campaigns based on audience is a powerful way to ensure that you’re targeting the right people at the right stage of the customer journey. By creating separate campaigns for different audiences – prospecting (new customers) and retargeting (existing customers) – you can deliver more relevant and effective ads, whilst strategically controlling your investment.

Best Practices for Segmenting by Audience:

• Prospecting Campaigns: Target new customers using In-Market Audiences to reach users who are actively considering products similar to yours.
• Existing Customers: Utilise Remarketing, Custom Audiences, and Product Audiences to re-engage users who have interacted with your brand or made past purchases. Customer Match can be particularly effective in delivering personalised ads to high-value customers.

The Benefits:

• Efficiency: Align your Microsoft Shopping Campaigns with your broader audience strategy, ensuring consistency across shopping, audience, and search campaigns.
• Coverage: Reach users at each step of the conversion funnel, from awareness to conversion.

2. Query Funnelling

Query funnelling is another smart approach for structuring your shopping campaigns. By separating brand and non-brand queries, you can create a more nuanced bidding strategy that targets users based on their search intent.

How to Set It Up:

• Non-brand Campaign: High priority, lower bids, with negative keywords excluding product names and brand terms.
• Brand Campaign: Medium priority with higher bids and negative keywords for generic terms.
• Catch-all Campaign: Low priority with the highest bids and no negative keywords.

The Benefits:

• Consistency: Manage your shopping campaigns similarly to search campaigns by segmenting brand traffic from non-brand traffic.
• Efficiency: Take advantage of typically lower CPCs (cost-per-click) for branded queries while focusing budget where it’s needed most.
• Competitiveness: Bid more aggressively on non-brand queries, increasing your share of the market for generic searches.

3. Segment by Product Category

This structure is ideal for ecommerce businesses with large and diverse product catalogues. By segmenting your campaigns based on your website’s product categories, you can create a structure that mirrors your site navigation and allows for more granular bidding.

Best Practices for Segmenting by Product Category:

• Set higher bids for more granular product groupings as these tend to convert more effectively during the Q4 rush.
• Create separate product groups for each product category, brand, or even SKU level.

The Benefits:

• Consistency: This structure allows for easier troubleshooting and adjustments since it aligns with the way products are categorised on your website.
• Scalability: Works well for businesses of any size and can accommodate small or large product catalogues.
• Detailed Reporting: Enables 1:1 reporting for each product category, making it easier to analyse performance and optimise accordingly.
• Flexibility: Easily expand your structure as new product categories or brands are added to your feed.

4. Segment by Profitability

Profitability-based segmentation is a strategic approach that focuses on grouping products based on their performance metrics, such as Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). This allows you to prioritise investment towards products that generate the most revenue, and likely the most profit.

How to Set It Up:

• Group products by their profitability levels and assign higher bids to more profitable / higher ROAS products, particularly during peak shopping seasons.
• Regularly monitor low-inventory items, and move products between ad groups by adjusting feed labels.

The Benefits:

• Profit Maximisation: Allocate more budget to high-performing products and increase bids for top sellers to maximise profitability.
• Responsiveness: Quickly adjust bids and budgets in real time based on stock levels and sales performance.
• Detailed Analysis: Pull SKU-level reports to see which products are driving the most profit and make informed decisions about bid adjustments.

Differences Between Google & Microsoft Shopping Campaign Structures

When structuring your campaigns, it’s crucial to understand that while granular structures work well on Google Shopping, they may not always be necessary for Microsoft Shopping Campaigns. Microsoft’s lower search volume means that broad categories can be effective, but bids should still be adjusted separately for each platform to account for different CPCs and performance dynamics.

Best Practices for Microsoft Shopping Campaign Structure

As we head into Q4, here are a few general best practices to keep in mind:

• Campaign Priorities: Consider your campaign priority alongside your structural approach, especially when adding new campaigns.
• Bids: Start with bids higher than the minimum (around £0.30 to £1.00), as this will help your ads gain visibility quickly in a competitive environment.
• Monitor Untargeted Offers: Regularly check the Merchant Centre for any untargeted offers and update your campaign structure as needed.

Conclusion

As we move into Q4, the right Microsoft Shopping Campaign structure can make or break your seasonal performance. Remember, a flexible and responsive approach allows for real-time adjustments and ensures that your campaigns remain competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace. With these best practices in mind, your shopping campaigns will be set to capitalise on this crucial period, driving both revenue and long-term business growth.

You may be wondering where to start, but don’t worry. Although AI technology is a powerful tool, the implementation process doesn’t have to be complicated.  

In this guide, we’ll present you with a clear path to introducing AI to your daily tasks. We’ll also discuss the many uses that your AI could have within a content creation team.

What do you want to achieve?

The first step towards successfully integrating AI into your existing workflow is to identify your goals. 

For instance, do you want to increase efficiency, improve accuracy, or something else entirely? It’s important to keep this goal as your focus. That way, you can start planning with a clear vision on how best to change and adapt your workflow. 

Once you know what you want to achieve, you can take the next steps. It will become clear what solution would work best for you.

Analyse your current workflow

Before making any drastic changes to how your team works, it’s important to take a close look at your current workflow. 

Through analysing how you work, you can identify areas where AI could streamline processes or reduce errors. Ask yourself and your team about pain points in the content creation process. 

Analyse your existing content creation process, including types of content, production time and team roles. Try to identify bottlenecks, repetitive or time consuming tasks and areas where AI content generation could be beneficial. 

Choose an AI solution that works for you

With so many AI content management tools available, it can be difficult to know which one is right for your needs. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. As a result, it can seem like a daunting process. 

However, with some careful consideration and planning you can implement this complex technology with lasting positive results. Keep an eye out for features like content creation, topic ideation or content analytics. If you’re still unsure, take advantage of free trials and demos. This will allow you to test the overall functionality of each tool and whether they fit your requirements. 

As a starting point, these are a few factors to consider:

• How much does it cost?

It may seem like an obvious question, but understanding your budget is crucial. Be mindful of any fees associated with certain options. Otherwise, you may end up overspending on something you don’t need, or not having enough funds for something essential. 

• How easy is it to use?

Will your team quickly learn how to use AI for content creation, or will they need in depth training? If your team needs extensive training, it could be a costly exercise that takes up too much time for it to be worthwhile. Make sure the end decision takes into account the overall user experience. 

It is probably wise to allocate some resources to training your team on how to effectively use these new tools. After all, they will have a huge influence on the overall success of the project.

• Is it scalable? 

The demands placed on your new system may seem constant at the moment, but can potentially change from one moment to the next. It’s best to make sure from the outset that it can handle large amounts of data without crashing or slowing down. 

• Is it compatible with your existing technology?

Before you fully commit, make sure you find out whether any existing infrastructure could help reduce your overall costs. Of course, you should still expect this to support modern AI solutions. If not, you may be creating performance issues for your team down the line.

Implementing your chosen AI solution

Once you’re confident that you have made the right decision it’s time to implement your chosen AI into your workflow. 

Before going ahead with a full overhaul of your processes, why not consider a phased approach to AI integration? By starting with using AI tools for one or two tasks in your workflow, your team will soon get used to the new technology. 

Creative teams can now go ahead and use AI to improve or save time on a host of daily tasks. We have outlined a selection to provide inspiration:

• Generating content strategies and outlines

AI tools for content writing can analyse your input and suggest organised outlines, headings and even brief overviews. Tools such as ChatGPT can save both time and resources when brainstorming ideas and provide a structured starting point for your writing. 

• Creating first drafts

An AI writing tool is an ideal assistant for putting together general information when creating a first draft. It could also provide a boost to content creators suffering from writer’s block. 

You can use the time saved from coming up with basic ideas to refine the content and add further insights from trusted sources. 

• Speeding up content research

Content marketers acknowledge that writing one blog post can take up to 3 hours and 51 minutes. But with AI tools, you could save the time spent on initial research and let AI scan online data for you. 

AI can collect relevant facts and background information in a matter of seconds. This means you will have the time to focus on improving your finished content and flexing your creative muscle. 

• Getting instant feedback on content

If you need instant feedback on a piece of content, where do you turn if your team is busy or unavailable? You can use AI tools.

In just a few moments, AI can automatically generate detailed and objective feedback and suggest recommendations. If you require quick feedback on a draft, it can be a useful signifier of how to move forward with it. 

• Repurposing existing content

AI tools can take your original piece of content and reformat it with ease. For example, turning a blog post into engaging content for social media. By tailoring the language, structure and style to suit different platforms, your content can have a wider reach.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that each platform will have its own consumption patterns and audience expectations. You will still need to change your approach depending on what you want to achieve. 

• Clustering keywords

Clustering keywords is an effective way to create more focused content strategies. AI tools such as ChatGPT can quickly organise and brainstorm content centred around clustered themes. This can save a great deal of time when compared to sorting relevant keywords into groups and themes manually.

• Streamlining the editing process

A typo or grammatical error can undermine all of your hard work. But, sometimes finding the time to proofread effectively can be difficult. Things may slip through the cracks, especially during busy times. 

With the help of an AI editing assistant, you can quickly identify and correct typos and unclear phrasing. All while keeping the content in line with the brand style guide and tone of voice. 

• Personalising content for your target audience

Personalising your content to align with the preferences and interests of your target audience can greatly improve engagement. AI tools can analyse data to fine tune and adjust your messaging. This will make sure it resonates with the specific groups you are trying to appeal to. 

Monitoring the performance of your AI

Once you’ve implemented your AI, it’s important to measure whether it is actually helping you to meet your goals. Make sure you track metrics such as content quality, content production time and audience engagement. This way, you will be able to use data to continue to refine your workflow.

AI tools can be a helpful addition to your workflow, but they are not a direct substitute for human-written content. AI content may lack the emotional resonance and empathy to compete with human writers. Some elements may potentially need fact checking before the approval stage. 

Despite the limitations, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with different AI tools in order to find the right one for your needs. 

What to avoid when changing your workflow

A common pitfall made by those wanting to optimise their workflow is not taking the time to plan thoroughly. Making changes without considering the outcome might lead to unforeseen issues and delays further down the line. 

It’s also best to try to avoid implementing too many new systems or processes at the same time. It can become difficult to track the success of multiple changes and team members may become overwhelmed. 

Key Takeaways

By implementing AI content technology at certain points in your workflow, you could save a wealth of time and resources. As AI technology continues to change and evolve, so do the number of ways in which content teams could use this tech. The potential for innovating content strategies and output grows with every development.

By introducing AI tools, you are complementing the existing skills and strengths of your team. And as these tools become more advanced, enhancing capabilities and streamlining tasks. 

At the moment AI generated content is most effective when it has human knowledge and creativity to guide it. But the time saved means other creative projects and strategies can flourish. By finding the right AI solution and monitoring the results, you could find your organisation becoming more agile. 

This blog was written for Adzooma with the support of CTI Digital, award-winning Content and SEO services agency. For more insightful tips, please head over to our blog, or get in touch to speak to our team if you have any questions!

Return on ad spend (ROAS) has long been a measure of PPC and paid social campaign efficiency.

While it’s certainly an indication, given that the higher your ratio of ad revenue to cost, the more you’re returning per £1 spent, it’s not truly a measure of actual ‘profitability’.

This is where things can become quite complex, as there’s an interplay between ROAS and ad profitability. However, in isolation, it’s not a measurement of success.

Many SME owners/directors faced with this challenge will turn to benchmarks as a guideline for whether campaigns should be on or off, increased in funding or kept as they are.

Many blogs and articles online cite that a 4:1 ROAS is deemed ‘good’ (returning £4 for every £1 spent on advertising).

The challenge here is that every business will have very different average order values and, most importantly, margins on the product itself. So, while it’s always good to have a starting point, benchmarks don’t consider the nuance your business needs.

Let’s take a look at a simple example:

Business 1 – 4:1 ROAS

Spend – £1000

Revenue – £4000

Margin – 60%

Margin value – £2400

Gross profit – £1400 (Margin value – ad spend)

Business 2 – 4:1 ROAS

Spend – £1000

Revenue – £4000

Margin – 35%

Margin value – £1400

Gross profit – £400 (Margin value – ad spend)

In both instances, we can see there is at least ‘profit’ being returned, with varying product or service margins, with the same ROAS, and very different commercial outputs.

Of course, there are numerous other additional factors to consider: tax, shipping, management fees, un-measured conversions, impact on other marketing channels, etc. 

What’s important is to get at least to a point where you can see if your ads are returning profitably on ad spend and product cost. This will ensure that your activity isn’t wasting spend and costing you money.

Optimising for growth over profitability

I’ve focused on scenarios where current performance isn’t profitable because it’s the most common issue people have. 

There’s also a use for understanding ad profitability for your business on the flip side, where a brand wants to focus on growth while maintaining a minimum viable return.

Most frequently, this is where there’s a recursive revenue element, high CLTV outside of recursive or perhaps VC funding and, therefore, a focus on acquisition for a period over direct return.

Knowing where you are and where your minimum viable return is still helps here. If you’re currently targeting and achieving a ROAS above that point, then you’re potentially restricting your customer acquisition volume and can relax targets.

Impact on campaigns

On a more tactical day-to-day side, campaigns in key ad channels, Google Ads and Meta in particular, need the correct target to be input to work towards giving you the desired output.

You’ll be asked for your target ROAS when you run any campaign that is optimising for conversion value (revenue).

Smart Bidding in Google Ads is very good at optimising for what it’s been asked to do. Over the years, I’ve seen in countless accounts a wrong target being input and the campaign then heading in that direction. While it might not be a desirable outcome for the business, it’s not technically incorrect.

If the target ROAS is too low, the campaign will grab clicks in an attempt to optimise for the maximum volume of sales below your profitable level return. 

Too high of a target ROAS and the campaign will stop entering into auctions, drying up sales and clicks, due to the goal being so unlikely. 

It’s not as simple as just inputting the correct target and then getting results. 

You have to consider what your baseline performance is and then find out where you need to get to (also understanding what’s involved in improving performance along the way to achieve it – no pressure).

In short, if you don’t know what ‘good’ looks like, then you can’t aim for and achieve it. 

How do we calculate what our ROAS should be?

If you’re starting to feel like I’m giving you a headache, then you’re not alone!

As a specialist who’s been working with e-commerce SMEs for the past ten years, this is the number one conversation that comes up and for good reason. 

As we’ve seen, marketing channels and specialists optimise and measure based on ROAS, which they should because they have to. Finance directors and owners want actual business-level profit, which is also correct.

I used to spend hours in spreadsheets for every client. Modelling this out and ensuring that campaigns are commercially underpinned means that you can then focus on hitting the goal and then scaling up spend in a sustainable way.

Thankfully, having locked myself away in a room for a number of days in Q4 2023, I’ve created a free calculator tool that makes this much much simpler.

Our ad profitability calculator asks for five basic pieces of information regarding your ad performance. From that, we can tell you if your current performance is profitable.

We also go further and show you what your break-even point would be in terms of ROAS and where a minimum suggested target should be.

So, in two simple steps and in under two minutes, you’ll see where you are, where the cash burn stops and then where the profit is for your business – cool, huh?

The results are also emailed to you in a PDF so that you can share them with your finance director, marketing team or whoever else for further discussion.

Summary

My hope from this is that we can simplify the complexity and reduce the disconnect currently between marketing metrics and business goals. 

For SMEs, ad spend is usually one of (if not) the highest monthly outgoings, and Google Ads is usually the highest revenue-generating channel. Any efficiency that can be made here should add material value to the business.

How do you get your performance from where you are to where you want to be? Well, that’s a much bigger question for another blog post.

Try our calculator tool for yourself here.

Whether your goal is driving footfall to physical stores or increasing online sales, visibility to the appropriate audience is crucial. This is because digital marketing grants unparalleled reach, connecting your brand with thousands of interested customers.

So here, we’re helping you grasp the power of understanding your audience through PPC Advertising, SEO, Content Marketing, and Social Media – five crucial themes powering success in digital marketing for retail businesses.

Why Is Digital Marketing So Important for Retail?

Digital marketing has disrupted the retail market, as physical stores morph into e-commerce platforms. Serving benefits to small business and larger enterprises alike, digital marketing slingshots retail companies to success. With cost-efficiency, targeted reach, real-time results, and higher conversion rates, digital marketing defines the difference between barely surviving and soaring.

In addition, digital marketing arms you with the ability to build, measure, and refine campaigns, allowing retail businesses to conjure a unique online personality, standing out in the vast digital market.

Getting to Know Your Audience

Understanding customer actions and utilising behaviour marketing is paramount for digital marketing success. Begin by defining a target audience profile, considering factors such as age, gender, geographic location, interests, socio-economic status, and digital behaviour. Next, conduct market research to gather intelligence on the wants and preferences of your target market.

Utilise tools that give you insightful data for audience segmentation and behaviour tracking, allowing you to map out tailored marketing strategies. From here, you can harness granular insights on your audience, which helps mould targeted, high-ROI campaigns.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC advertising is an internet marketing model wherein retailers pay a fee each time visitors click on their ads, driving traffic to their website. This cost-effective method is highly measurable, increasing brand exposure and return on ad spend.

For retail businesses, PPC ads fast-track positive outcomes. Shopping ads displaying product images, titles, prices, and descriptions can convince customers to buy with a single click. Since paid ads appear at the top of search results, PPC can propel e-commerce stores to immediate visibility and attract spontaneous purchases.

Optimising Your Retail Website with SEO

A retail website’s success depends on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – the practice of optimising a site to rank higher in search engine results. This increased visibility attracts increased organic traffic to your store, free of charge.

Practical tips for a retail website’s SEO optimisation include focusing on using relevant keywords, creating eye-catching titles, and producing informative meta descriptions. Having a mobile-responsive design, optimising website speed, and generating quality backlinks contribute to a competitive edge.

You must also look into an SEO report, which reveals how visible your retail business is online and is crucial in driving footfall to both your physical and digital storefronts. By studying SEO metrics, you understand consumer behaviour, helping tailor your strategies to meet their needs effectively.

Building Trust with Content Marketing

Building trust among potential customers requires continuous effort. Authentic, valuable content marketing is a well-proven trust catalyst. This is because your brand story shines through a variety of content choices, like blog posts, infographics, videos, and social media updates. Insightful, engaging content endears customers and promotes expertise in your retail niche, which is incredibly important.

Developing content that solves customer problems, inspires, or informs is also crucial. Stay relevant and updated on your industry, tailoring content to trends, product launches, and user-generated content. This versatility cements your position as a knowledgeable, reliable resource for your target market.

Social Media for Retailers

In the consumer-focused retail industry, social media bridges the gap between brands and customers. By creating a dynamic social media presence, your business nurtures lasting relationships, boosts sales, and enhances brand recognition.

So, to optimise social media usage for retail, post regularly with diverse content geared towards your target audience. Social media utilisation also means promptly engaging with customer queries and feedback, harnessing analytics to recalibrate your strategy. Also, encourage user-generated content, such as reviews and images of customers using your products, to boost trust and social proof.

Digital Marketing and Retail Success

Digital marketing is indispensable to retail success. To conquer this realm, retail businesses must understand their audience and use digital tools intelligently. Harness a variety of tools, such as:

• PPC advertising
• Optimise SEO
• Engage in content marketing
• Use social media to your advantage

By using a solid digital marketing strategy utilising each of these tools, you are sure to be successful in your retail endeavours. However, it’s important to note that consistency, tracking, and strategic alterations are key. Success cannot be achieved overnight, so it’s important to monitor your progress and make changes to your strategy when needed.

For more insightful tips, please head over to our blog or get in touch to speak to our team if you have any questions.

It’s the perfect addition for Clicktech, as we continue our mission to make digital marketing accessible and more cost-effective for all businesses, regardless of size.

By adding genuinely useful, cost and time-saving tools such as EDEE,  we hope to create a meaningful economic impact by helping millions of businesses to succeed online.

So why is EDEE such an exciting addition for us (and you)?

Simply because it solves a potentially costly PPC budgeting problem faced by many digital marketers. Specifically, mistakes and oversights with your budgeting that can easily result in an overspend nightmare. 

EDEE solves this by automating your budget pacing reporting, helping you avoid underspends and overspends by pausing your campaigns for you (or reducing your daily spends) once your budget is hit.

It’s also packed with other features, including custom budget cycles, rollover tracking, and performance targets.

EDEE has been designed to ensure your complete PPC budgeting peace of mind 24/7, regardless of how big your spend becomes.

• Save hours every week so your team can focus on optimisations.
• Reduce manual errors by automating budget pacing and flagging any issues.
• Avoid overspending on client budgets (i.e. avoid a difficult conversation, financial loss by having to cover overspend from agency fees etc.) 
• Avoid underspending which leaves leads and/or sales on the table for your clients.

The long list of valuable features includes:

• Connects with Google Ads, Microsoft Ads and Facebook Ads
• Avoid under and overspends with automated budget pacing reporting
• Create custom budget cycles
• Automatically pause campaigns or reduce their spend if budgets are hit
• Keep track of your KPIs
• Set conversions, CPA and/or ROAS targets for your budgets
• Create multiple budgets for each advertising account

And much, much more. 

We’re also proud to say that EDEE is already gathering positive feedback and reviews. Here’s what a happy PPC Specialist had to say about its time-saving, stress-relieving features:

“EDEE is by far the best tool I’ve used for budget management. Checking budget pacing is extremely quick and easy, and I love the features to avoid overspend (reducing spend or pausing campaigns when we are reaching the budget limits). Checking budgets for all my accounts and campaigns now takes maybe 5 minutes (no more creating complex dashboards or hopping from platform to platform), the stress about potentially missing something budget-wise is pretty much gone, and knowing that there’s an automated system to hit pause, if needed, in case we reach the budgets early, allows me to sleep better at night.” 

Taru K. PPC Specialist
To celebrate EDEE joining the ClickTech brand we are offering a 30-day free trial (No card information needed). Try it for yourself today to see how EDEE can become your powerful PPC safety net.

Book your live demo here.

Whilst there is opportunity, Facebook ads and paid social can generally be more challenging to crack. 

Without the huge budgets and brand familiarity of the big guys, it can feel like a bit of a lost cause at times. 

It is possible to get real results, though, and even with a limited budget, drive commercial value without breaking the bank. 

The challenges 

There are three common challenges that SMBs run up against: 

● Limited budgets/shorter duration campaigns 

● Increased competition/higher CPCs 

● Finding audiences that are ready to buy 

Each of these limits performance as the amount of positive feedback (conversion data) coming back into the algorithm is reduced. 

You don’t need to become a data scientist to understand how machine learning drives performance in ad campaigns. 

All you need to know is that the conversion data is feedback that’s essential for the campaign to find more users who are likely to become customers for you. 

It will take the contextual pattern of data around a user who made a purchase and then find it elsewhere around other users on the channel. 

This means that the more sales that occur from the campaign, the better predictions can be made about entering other auctions and as a result, further sales occur. 

The challenges are overcome far easier with larger budgets or being a household name brand. Sales occur at volume, quickly in those instances, and the campaign is then able to exit the learning phase, finding those likely to be in-market for the products being advertised, even in a very broad audience. 

Getting to this place actually supports cost efficiency in terms of getting a higher ROAS or lower cost-per-acquisition.

Targeting broader audiences allows you to go into less competitive auctions with lower CPCs, all the while with that very well-defined predictive model that the user is likely to be in-market for what you sell—not so broad in reality! 

What we need to do 

Limited budgets/shorter duration campaigns 

Optimising for sales makes sense on the face of it—it’s what you want. However, it’s one of the common configurations that blocks smaller brands from seeing sales or sales at target cost in Facebook ads. 

To support campaigns with a limited budget or those that only run across a short time period (such as 3-5 days for Black Friday weekend), it’s advisable to change the conversion action that your campaign is optimising for. 

You should still utilise the conversion objective, as others, such as traffic or brand awareness, aren’t looking to drive commercial outputs—even if the audience itself has buying propensity. 

A traffic campaign, for example, is looking for those in your target audience who are most likely to click, not those who are most likely to click and then also become a customer. 

Optimising for an event earlier in the conversion journey, such as add to cart rather than purchase, enables the campaign to get feedback from those who have taken more steps towards providing a valuable action to your business without limiting the number of signals that the campaign receives back as positive feedback. 

You can still measure success based on sales, revenue and ROAS by customising your reporting table. 

If there are not enough add-to-cart events to exit the learning phase (typically 50 are needed across a 7 day period), it could be an indication that your budget isn’t high enough to generate enough clicks to allow a statistically significant amount of add to carts to occur or that there are fundamental issues with your proposition. 

If this is the case, you may want to reconsider using paid social at this moment in time. 

If this was a campaign that was going to become ‘always-on’ rather than just a seasonal push, you would look to move the conversion event back to purchase once enough sales were being driven consistently. 

Budgets themselves are a tricky one; you need to spend enough for there to be a chance for sales to occur, and above that, it should be based on performance and results. If the campaign is converting at a profitable ROAS, then the budget shouldn’t be restricted. 

The more likely factor for a smaller business to consider is the minimum likely to be enough to see meaningful data.

If your average CPC is £0.90, your daily budget is £20, and your conversion rate is 4%, statistically speaking, it’s correct that you shouldn’t see a sale (22 clicks/4% = 0.88). 

Of course, this is far too black and white from a numbers-only perspective. 

Perfection is very often the enemy of good. Getting the campaign on and seeing what happens can be a much faster, more effective way to learn. 

That being said, I find it helpful to frame expectations in this way. It’s not ‘wrong’ if the campaign didn’t drive a sale under those conditions; it would be more surprising if it did (statistically speaking). 

Machine learning is extremely competent at providing the desired outputs we need in both PPC and paid social. When the output isn’t there, looking at the conditions we’re asking it to perform under is where we will find scale and profitability as business owners and advertisers. 

Increased competition/higher CPCs 

Social channels get very noisy during this time, not just with ads but also with organic content. 

Standing out is all about being clear and concise with your offer and messaging. 

You’re not just competing with your competitors but also every other business vying for users’ attention. 

Keep your offer as simple as possible with clear information on how to redeem. If it’s a discount, is there a code, and if so, how do they get it? 

Introducing any additional points of friction or uncertainties will lower the efficacy of the campaign and uptake of the offer more broadly. 

Think about the questions that would arise in your head if you saw the ad yourself and hadn’t previously engaged with the business. 

Good creativity hooks engagement because it appeals to our system 1, the fast emotional response system. 

Copy needs to address the pragmatic, analytical system 2, our thinking, reasoning system. This is the internal questioning that comes afterwards; 

“If I order it, how long will it take?” 

“What if it’s the wrong colour? Can I send it back?” 

“Does it come with a warranty?” 

“How do I get the 10% off they’ve mentioned?”

To support being prioritised in the auction, it’s worth making sure the website is in order. 

Website experience is a factor that is considered in terms of who can show in the most competitive placement and how much you pay. 

You can’t optimise the click costs down below the baseline of the auction, but you can pay less than a competitor by providing a good user experience. 

Review your website’s key pages, landing page, product page, add to cart and checkout on a mobile device as if you were a user. 

Often, pop-ups, misplaced banners, simple tweaks to layout or improving header messaging can remove uncertainty and confusion when someone comes through via an ad. 

You’ve done all this hard work to get your campaign in front of the right potential customer; don’t lose it now they’re on the website. 

Improving here has a compound effect on campaign performance. It both increases your sales volume and lowers your acquisition costs at the same time. 

Finding audiences that are ready to buy 

Paid social audiences are typically more those who are “interested” in a given criteria rather than actively looking for the product or service. 

This is a key point of difference between search and social advertising. 

Someone actively searching for “xyz product” in Google can be deemed in-market, and, as such, there typically is a higher efficacy when they’re then shown a search or shopping ad for the product. 

We can get around this by the guidance put into the first recommendation. Once conversion data is coming in, the audience goes from; 

Interested in home furniture 

To 

Interested in home furniture + has exhibited a vast number of data signals similar to those who have bought from us previously 

We can support getting this to where it needs to be by the way we set up our campaigns and blend our audiences. 

Creating one campaign, enabling budget optimisation at the campaign level and then having multiple ad sets for different audiences will allow us to help teach the algorithm faster. This

happens through conversion data coming into the campaign quickly via remarketing, this is then available to the other broader ad sets to use to further guide targeting. 

This way, the campaign can choose to spend where it’s most likely to deliver the commercial results you’re asking it for. 

It avoids over-segmentation, which further spreads lower budgets too thin and reduces management time—great as an SMB. 

My suggested structure is: 

Ad set 1 – Purchase lookalike 

Ad set 2 – Relevant interest audiences 

Ad set 3 – Remarketing (add to cart or product page view) 

What you will typically see is that initially, the remarketing ad set will be prioritised with budget as they are users who have already visited the website, so are more likely to buy. 

There’s a natural ceiling to this ad set, though, as it’s constrained by website visits. 

As the conversion data comes in, the other more broad audiences will start to be prioritised as they’re scalable and are likely to be lower cost. 

If this was an always-on campaign, you would also want a very broad ad set, so no audience targeting added, the same situation occurs. 

Having remarketing in the same campaign enables the fast data to teach the campaign and then unlock new user acquisition, which is far more important to the business (obviously with returning users excluded from new user audiences to avoid overlap. 

You don’t want to rely on this, though, as remarketing generally reports inflated performance due to many users being likely to have come back and converted anyway. 

This approach is very much how a Performance Max campaign works in Google Ads with audience signals. We’re giving guidance and supporting the algorithm in learning with data. 

Having the audiences separated means that you can still tailor your copy. 

What you say to the new user who hasn’t visited the website and what you say to the user who has visited but chose not to purchase should be different, right? 

Summary 

Addressing these three areas of Facebook ads should allow your SMB to get better performance this peak period! 

I would implement the audience structure from the get-go.

You can always start by optimising for purchase and then change to add to cart if you see that you’re not exiting the learning phase once the campaign is on. 

The basics can’t be underestimated. 

Go through the website on your mobile device with your key stakeholders, and get others who aren’t close to the business to do so also. 

There is nothing more valuable than seeing how real people interact with your store, learn where they drop out and fix the issues. 

Uncover the questions and hesitations users have and make that front and centre in your messaging. 

Improving the post-click experience will increase the conversion rate, which lifts sales volume and improves profitability in campaigns. It also makes other marketing channels’ performance increase, so is a real 80/20 if you’re limited on time. 

If search and shopping are working for you and you can increase spend, I would recommend doing that first, as capturing in-market users will always be more effective in driving a profitable return. 

This is a guest blog written by Byron Marr, Founder of ProfitSpring. To hear more about their PPC and paid social services, get in touch.

Paid search is often a key revenue-driven channel, given the high levels of intent shown by customers, and the highly-accountable costs, so it’s no surprise that many brands rely on their Search campaigns to boost end-of-year sales. 

With rising query volumes (27% query volume increase YoY during June, with similar expected in Q4), and low CPC forecasts for this year, Microsoft Ads offers a fantastic incremental opportunity for brands looking to scale their activity. 

We might not have Christmas trees up quite yet, but the key to success is early preparation. We’ve compiled a monthly Microsoft roadmap for Q4 to get you on the right track for festive success, and making the most of the gifting season. 

Firstly: Nail the Basics. 

Here, we’re talking about the features that are needed for data, insights, and foundational success. 

• Make sure your UET is implemented and configured to record conversions, and collect remarketing audiences
• Apply pre- built and remarketing audience segments to campaigns as ‘Bid-Only’ to identify high-performing audiences
• Prepare your Shopping feeds through the Bing Merchant Centre, or import from Google. 

September and October are all about testing and getting ahead. Figure out what works and what needs tweaking ahead of higher search demand, and ensure your campaigns have solid foundations for the coming months. 

Testing:

• Make the most of available formats; the use of Dynamic Search Ads indicates higher conversion rates, whilst advertisers with higher Shopping spends enjoy higher traffic volumes and conversion performance. 
• Test Shopping campaign structures based on audience, query, product category or profitability for hands-on management
• Test Smart Shopping for a time-saving approach for multiple SKUs
• Build and test a through-the-funnel approach with Microsoft’s Audience Network; customers who see both search and Audience Network ads are 8.1x more likely to convert!
• Implement Dynamic Remarketing for a up to a 37% lower CPA, and 147% higher conversion rate
• Remember to join the Microsoft Ads Performance Max beta! 

Get ahead: 

• Use the Microsoft Audience Network to lay upper-funnel foundations, and grow remarketing lists
• Ensure goals and parameters are prepared for bid strategies to work at their best
• Update seasonal messaging to promote product benefits, delivery & returns, and offers

November and December have the highest volumes, so for the end of the year the focus should be on ensuring coverage across this higher level of opportunity. 

• Use Shared Budgets to allow higher-volume campaigns to serve for longer rather than being hindered by campaign budgets
• Promote ‘buy now, pay later’ options to support cash-conscious consumers during this expensive season
• Ensure gift cards are included within your shopping feed for those gifters who have left things a little late!
• Don’t forget holiday travel; expect uplifts for queries regarding hosting, party decor and supplies, as well as home security. 

And there you have it – a roadmap for seasonal success on Microsoft Ads. If you’d like to receive our full Q4 Retail Readiness guide, please email us at hello@adzooma.com, and one of our elves will get back to you.