The holiday shopping season is usually a boon for online retailers, but supply chain concerns combined with increased customer demand have put merchants and the PPC management services who deal with them in a tight spot this year. After all, if there isn’t any inventory to offer, advertising those items will merely waste money and leave customers unhappy.
Supply Chain Issues IKEA
While demand is expected to drop off once the holidays pass, supply chain issues may persist. IKEA, for example, has stated that supply chain-related shortages will endure until mid-2022. Retailers may contemplate discontinuing their paid advertisements or perhaps cancelling their partnerships with PPC management firms if there is no clear end in sight. PPC agencies may have faced similar customer attrition at the start of the pandemic.
There are, fortunately, alternatives to turning off your paid advertising that can not only help you weather the storm, but also put your brand ahead of competitors that do turn off their ads.
Closing down campaigns Can Have a Negative Impact
It’s difficult for advertisers to think imaginatively about their customers’ journeys and avoid going completely dark, especially during the fourth quarter. When you have a full-funnel strategy in place, a great Q4 helps set you up for a successful Q1. Stopping the advertising could lead to a loss of market share or brand awareness. According to PPC marketing sources, now is a great moment to reallocate some expenditure to more upper-funnel projects and away from performance-based program, which are more vulnerable to current challenges.
There are other considerations for machine learning, which is used to power many campaigns. When advertising is turned back on after a campaign has been dark for a long time, there may be a new learning period. If this is a worry, a preferable strategy is to cut expenditures so that advertising continue to run at some level while customers are urged to buy an alternative, join a waitlist, or place an order that will be completed at a later date.
Criteria to Assist in Decision Making
The visibility of ads in search results and the top goals determine whether or not they should be turned off. Here are some of the supply chain ideas consider when making a decision:
- If an advertiser who dominated a SERP just turns off ads and cedes the business to others, they risk opening the door to competition. Competitors may move in and take your business now that the regular top player has left. Many PPC management experts have witnessed how difficult it is to dethrone a rival from the top place, therefore those who already hold the top spot may want to avoid upsetting the apple cart by switching to a different landing page or product rather than going black.
- When products become unavailable, advertisers that were not previously dominating may find it less important to keep ads running. While their temporary absence lessens auction pressure and so lowers the CPC for advertisers in higher places, consumers will see little of a difference because the top ads’ choices will remain relatively constant.
Getting around the pause
There are several alternatives to suspending PPC marketing campaigns that can help you recoup more quickly after supply chains have stabilized. Concentrate on the upper funnel to begin with. It’s best to emphasize your brand’s worth and focus on what sets you distinct from the competition. When it comes to gaining a share of voice and pocketbook, keeping your brand front and center while others withdraw will benefit you in the long run. You can also utilize a variety of media to promote more plentiful alternative products. When determining whether or not to do so, consider the following factors:
- Is there a challenger with stock that could eventually become the main product with some further help?
- Is this a replacement or enhancement for the main product you’re having trouble keeping in stock, and how does this change your strategy?
- How would switching to an alternative product effect the overall media plan?
- Will switching to an alternative product result in a different Return On Advertising Spend?
Alternative Options
There are plenty of alternate options PPC management services that you can do, such as:
- You can sell digital things, such as gift cards or other virtual items.
- Another alternative is to make minor changes to your campaigns. Instead of spreading your money too thin, refine your geo-targeting and bid techniques, or spend more in areas where supply shortages are less likely. You can also schedule your adverts to get more bang for your buck. Using ad scheduling, keep advertising on part-time to focus budget on the most profitable hours.
- Back-ordered, low-inventory, and high-sell-through products can be removed from feeds to help you get the most out of your money. Ad effectiveness will be increased by promoting higher average order value/luxury products with a longer click-to-purchase timeline.
- Finally, tweak your messaging. Expectations can make or break a customer’s experience, and setting the proper ones for your target market can help you boost their customer lifetime value. When customers are used to receiving products in two days or less, every hour over that is terrible, so get ahead of this communication when you can.
Conclusion
If you have to throttle traffic to a purchase page in the PPC management services due to supply constraints, make sure you have measures in place to retarget those clients once you are able to meet those requests. Moreover, if you need to cut costs, evaluating sales performance by channel may identify products that are performing well enough organically that you can redirect funds to in-stock items that require additional exposure to compete against other shops.
Despite the inconvenience caused by the epidemic, customers have demonstrated that they are still willing to spend and support the brands. Maintaining a paid media presence can help you demonstrate to those customers that, despite the hurdles, your company is still committed to serving them, even if you don’t have the things, they’re looking for at the exact time they’re looking for them.
