Discovery campaigns with product feeds – what we know so far

Background

In late March, Google announced that product feeds can be used to enhance your Discovery Ads – showing products from your catalogue to users, based on their interests and intent.

Google, after testing in beta, have quoted that it’s possible to drive a 45% increase in conversions at a similar CPA. While these numbers are usually exaggerated, in this case, they could be very close to the truth, based on current analysis. 

Our approach and Initial Results

Our Paid Search team at Journey Further has started to test the new feature. So far, analysis supports that, on average, the CTR on product feed campaigns is 255% higher than the campaigns that aren’t using a product feed. In addition to this, the average CPC is 24% lower on the product feed campaigns, compared to the Discovery campaigns without a product feed. 

The product feed campaigns are also driving a much higher volume of conversions. So far, there is an average uplift of 211% at a 35% lower CPA. 

Similar to the first launch of Discovery campaigns in 2019, it’s expected that a slow uptake and lower CPCs will occur. This is until advertisers start to test this product on a wider scale. 

For retail businesses in particular, we would recommend starting to test this feature straight away to take advantage of the cheaper clicks while they last.

An example of Pandora using product feeds for Discovery ads.

Current Limitations

There is currently no visibility over which products are being served. However, product level reporting is being launched later this month. This will allow advertisers to track which products are performing well in terms of impressions and clicks. 

We are looking forward to seeing full availability as it will allow us to see which types of products are generating more interest and allow us to take action.

Next steps

It’s important to continue to test product feed campaigns across e-commerce clients. This will increase the amount of data and knowledge that we have about this campaign type so that we can follow up with a more in-depth case study.

If you need help with your product feeds, or taking advantage of this new opportunity, let us know!