Google Shopping – PMAX or Standard Shopping, Which Should You Use? with Jeff Pratt

Andy Splichal:

Welcome to the Make Each Click Count podcast. It's your host, Andy Spleckel, and we are happy to welcome this week's guest to discuss today's topic, which is Google Shopping, performance Max or standard shopping? Which should you use? Today's guest has a proven track record for driving online success for both online and brick and mortar businesses. His passion lies in crafting effective strategies that resonate with audiences and delivering measurable results. He is also the newest contributor to Makeeach Click Count University. A big welcome to Jeff Pratt. Hi, Jeff.

Jeff Pratt:

Hi Andy. How's it going today?

Andy Splichal:

Good. Thanks for joining us.

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, happy to be here.

Andy Splichal:

So in this episode, we're going to talk about Google Shopping and specifically performance Max. Google Shopping campaigns versus standard shopping for those listeners that may not know, and you probably don't if you're not actively using Google Shopping. But for people who don't know, what is the difference between performance Max and standard shopping?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, of course, for shopping campaigns, they allow advertisers to show their products on the shopping tab on Google, as well as the search results page. This campaign type really does a great job of showing the product details before the user clicks on the ad. And then for the performance Max campaign, it's like an all in one campaign that allows advertisers to show across all of Google's placements. So think of it like display, Gmail, YouTube, shopping, and even the search function as well. So the performance Max uses that smart bidding strategy to help optimize towards those specific conversions that you have set up.

Andy Splichal:

Now, which do you prefer out of the two, what do you set your clients up with?

Jeff Pratt:

Normally? Yeah, I prefer the performance Max campaign over the shopping campaign, and here's why I like that. The performance Max campaign allows you to reach the buyer across every point of the buyer's journey. So you get to reach them at the top of the funnel with the display aspect, and then you get to hit them in their Gmail, and then you get to get in front of them, in front of their YouTube videos, and then you hit them at the bottom of the funnel when they're on their Google search. So I feel this strategy does a great job of having the advertiser get their message across in front of that buyer at the right time, leading to more overall sales.

Andy Splichal:

And how do you affect. I mean, it's more overall sales is what you're looking for. What about the client who is more roas conscious? They're really wanting as high a profitability as possible.

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I think that then you might be able to lean more towards that shopping campaign, but the performance max allows you to have that return on ad spend or return on action as well. So you can set those different limits on either of the campaigns. And so I think both of them could be a great opportunity for somebody trying out the ecommerce side of things.

Andy Splichal:

You took it right out of my mouth. That was going to be my next question is there's two different bid strategies. I don't know if you call them strategies, almost advisements for Google, but there is the maximize conversion with maximize value, and there is maximize conversion value and maximize conversion. And so you can either set a maximum value of action you want taken or an advertiser, you can set a target. Roas, which of these two do you prefer? Which do you typically use?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I personally like the maximize conversion option the best. The reason being is I want Google to get every conversion action that I have set up in my account. I usually don't like to set up too many conversions that aren't very important to the businesses. And I find when you put on parameters for Google to focus on certain conversions, it actually limits your ads to the point where you're leaving valuable users on the table and you might get a few more of those conversions you value more, but you're leaving a lot of those other conversions out. So I usually like to go with the maximized conversions because I'm trying to get as many conversions as I can from my ad spend.

Andy Splichal:

I recently added a new masterclass inside. Make each click count University, where it shows how you can call it Jimmy rig the system to only show performance Max ads in the shopping network. Have you ever done that?

Jeff Pratt:

I have not tested out that yet. Have you found out that that's been helpful for you or I would love to check out that master class as well to see if that's been helpful for your clients as well.

Andy Splichal:

Yeah, it really depends on the clients who are profitability conscious. So it only allows. One of the things with performance Max is it's going to take over your search campaigns except for your exact match, and then it's starting to send display ads and even retargeting. But this is going to only allow it to be inside of the shopping network. And so I found it to be much more profitable. I just don't know how many sales maybe it's not getting coming out of those other networks. I mean, I usually don't run display ads, but I'm still running some good search campaigns, usually with exact phrase. Now, one thing I'm wondering about it, and I'm not sure if you haven't used that.

Andy Splichal:

You might not know, but you can set up a manual shopping campaign. I don't know if you've ever done this one where instead of manually bidding, you set up an roas guidance and automated bid strategies. Did you use that before you went to performance Max?

Jeff Pratt:

I have not had too much experience with the manual shopping campaign as well, but that definitely sounds like something to try out with some of the clients there.

Andy Splichal:

Well, then I just didn't know what the difference is if you limit the performance max by. Yeah, I don't know, but very interesting, very interesting. Let's talk about your master class. I'd mentioned that you are the newest contributor to make each click count university, and your masterclass is configuring a successful Google performance Max campaign in 2024. Quickly, can you take us through that master class and what someone could expect to learn from it?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, of course. In my master class, I walk you through step by step on how to set up that successful performance Max campaign for your e commerce business. But I also go through all the settings as well as some best practices to get the most out of that performance max campaign because as we know, there's so many different settings that go on in different Google campaigns and so it kind of be a little bit overwhelming. But with some of those best practices, you don't have to guess. You can just kind of fill it out with the video that I provide and then you should be able to have a successful performance Max campaign ready to go.

Andy Splichal:

I'm curious, if somebody is new to Google and they're trying to set it up, I mean, how would they even know what settings to choose?

Jeff Pratt:

That's a good question. I think you got to use YouTube University here to figure out where you'd be able to find out those different settings. And a lot of them just kind of come from the experience of being in the digital advertising world and trying out, like you said, those different type of settings you have on your campaigns. And it could be pretty stressful for somebody who's new to Google Ads and seeing all these different clicks and these different buttons to click. But that's where you definitely have to lean on somebody who has been through it before, for sure.

Andy Splichal:

And, I mean, I know you probably have similar stories, but I have somebody who came with me who set it up on their own, and they set $100 a day budget they didn't know they were doing, but they went and they did it. They launched their campaign, they did some settings, and then they did something else. They got busy and they didn't check it for like two weeks.

Jeff Pratt:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Andy Splichal:

And one thing people should know, I mean, if you give Google money to spend, they typically spend it.

Jeff Pratt:

They'll spend it.

Andy Splichal:

Yeah. And so, yeah, I did that Google campaign. I haven't seen any results. Let me go check it. And they went in there and they had spent $1,400 and no conversions. So, I mean, your master class is great to make sure that people do set up performance Max correctly.

Jeff Pratt:

That's why you got to lean on the people who might know a little bit more than for sure.

Andy Splichal:

Now, tell me, you run Google campaigns for private clients as well. Yes. And how long have you been doing that?

Jeff Pratt:

I've been doing that for, I've been in the digital advertising realm about three years now. So it's just about three years. I've been running for some clients here and there.

Andy Splichal:

Great. And tell me, what type of services are you currently offering for your clients?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I do two main types of services. I do social media advertising, which includes the Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I've been getting into TikTok a lot lately and been seeing some great stuff from there, but I'm also into Google and Bing advertising as well. So I find those are the platforms that find the greatest success for my clients.

Andy Splichal:

And TikTok. That's interesting. That's a very new one. Have you found that certain types of e commerce products, certain verticals, perform better than others using that?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I would say I don't find a certain type of product that works best, but the type of creative that works best is just mainly for awareness, focus. You don't really find much conversions coming from there. So just trying to get your name in front of as many people on TikTok, but it doesn't do a great job of getting those hard sales leads that we like to get from advertising here. But it's a great way to get in front of as many people as you can with that small budget on TikTok.

Andy Splichal:

And I mean we're getting a little off track, but I'm so curious about new advertising methods. I assume it's videos you're using to put on TikTok. Where are you getting that creative content from?

Jeff Pratt:

Usually I have the client who have created it before or I've outsourced it through a different website like fiver or something like that to get a video. But just having that 15 2nd video is all you really need. Doesn't need to be too long, but just usually having the client provide it, they usually have some sort of video that they have taken around their business or whatnot or type of products that they have and utilize that to use for the advertising.

Andy Splichal:

And then the other you said you're doing Google and you're doing Bing. Do you take advantage of the importing Google Merchant center products directly into Bing or do you do different downloads into each?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I've done the merchant center for both Google and Bing and I find that's a great way to really get those specific products in front of the right people. Kind of like for example, a dealership would use vehicle listing ads and that's very similar to those shopping ads. And kind of connecting the inventory or whatever products you have is a great way to get in front of the right people at the right time.

Andy Splichal:

And are you using the same advertising strategy in Bing as you're using in Google?

Jeff Pratt:

Usually they're very similar to each other. Not much has changed between the two different campaigns. So I would say they're very similar between the two of them. It just kind of hits a different market in the Microsoft area with just maybe the different demographics who might be using Microsoft versus Google.

Andy Splichal:

Yeah, and it's really interesting. I found, and I don't know if you've seen the same thing, but some clients actually perform better on Bing than they do. I mean there's not the volume, but I have maybe about 30% of my client base that does better on Bing than they do on Google.

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, it's kind of hard to tell what's that driving factor? Why some people do better on Bing. But the best thing about Bing is that you're not paying a lot for those people to be heading to your website or making that form submission that you're looking for. And just because the sheer volume is a lot lower on Microsoft, so you're going to be paying less than a dollar per click instead of on Google where you're paying two, three, $4 for that same click.

Andy Splichal:

So tell me, what do you have a certain type of client that you guys specialize in that if they're listening, they should get a hold of you?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I think my perfect client is somebody who's pretty passionate about their business and willing to try out new tactics. As we know in digital marketing is always a changing industry and it's important to try those new things in order to succeed. But definitely looking into different industries, and I don't have any specific ones that need to be focused on, so I'm pretty open with that. Perfect client.

Andy Splichal:

Great. Well, this has been really interesting. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap it up today?

Jeff Pratt:

Yeah, I think I just would like to share a quote that resonates with me, and I always find it very helpful in certain times. And quote goes, as long as you're moving forward, you're doing the right thing. And I like this quote because it reminds me to stay positive and to not get down on myself in any time. And just as long as you're doing good and don't have to be looking at other people, you got to be happy with yourself. Yeah, I like that quote.

Andy Splichal:

I think it also says, you always got to be doing something right. You got to be keep moving. You're not going to get anywhere if you're standing still.

Jeff Pratt:

Exactly. Got to keep moving.

Andy Splichal:

Great. Well, hey, thanks for joining us today, Jeff.

Jeff Pratt:

Of course. Happy to be here for listeners.

Andy Splichal:

Remember, if you like this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave us an honest review. And if you're looking for more information regarding Jeff, you're going to find the links in the show notes below. And if you're interested in his master class, visit Make Each Click Count University, where you can currently access his master class and all other content for just $19 a month. Well, that's it for today. Remember to stay safe, keep healthy, happy marketing, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.