• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Retail

Google Piloting Buy Button In Mobile Search Ads With “Purchases On Google”

In a limited trial, Google aims to improve merchants' mobile conversion rates by making mobile purchasing easier for consumers.

Ginny Marvin on July 15, 2015 at 11:47 am
  • More
google-buy-shopping2-ss

The Google buy button in search ads is officially rolling out in an experimental phase, the company announced Wednesday. The new feature is called Purchases on Google and actually isn’t a button at all.

The new feature was rumored about since last year, and Google confirmed last month that the new feature would be coming soon. Purchases on Google is being tested publicly with just a handful of high-volume retailers. “Buy On Google” messaging will appear in eligible product listing ads on Android and iOS devices.

The goal is to make it easier for users to transact on smartphones — and make mobile search more competitive with marketplaces like Amazon that already make it easy for consumers to make purchases on their smartphones. The idea is that consumers will see Google as a place for fast product discovery and purchasing on mobile, and advertisers will be willing to spend more on mobile ads that have higher conversion rates.

That sounds simple, but as anyone who’s worked with e-commerce and payments systems can attest, enabling integrations across multiple systems is anything but straightforward.

CommerceHub is among the few companies involved in the pilot, and they shared details about the process and feature with Marketing Land.

Here’s what we know so far about Purchases On Google.

How It Works

In our keynote interview with Jerry Dischler, who leads Google’s search ad products, at SMX Advanced last month, he said Google had no interest in being a retailer. Google will instead act as the middle-man, handling order intake and payment processing via the new feature.

Retailers first have to integrate their ordering systems with Google to become eligible for the “purchase” button to be displayed in their product listing ads. CommerceHub says it’s not necessary for a site to be verified as a Google Trusted Store, but that it can help speed up the integration process.

Clicking anywhere on the ad takes the user to a merchant-branded gateway landing page hosted by Google where they can buy the advertised product.

purchases on google

Payments can be handled through credit card credentials stored in users’ Google Accounts, or users can add new payment info during the purchase process. This is similar to Google’s current payments test for hotel bookings.

On the back end, Google sends the order to the retailer for processing. Merchants handle all customer communications, including confirmation receipts, just as they would with an on-site purchase.

Merchants will have control over their their customer data for future communication and marketing efforts, not Google.

Pricing

Once the Purchases On Google feature is enabled, the auction process doesn’t change. Ads eligible to show the purchase button compete with all the other eligible ads.

Advertisers are charged the same market-rate CPC for clicks on purchase-enabled ads as a regular PLA would in the same auction.

There is no additional fee or commission associated with Purchases On Google ads.

Reporting

In the AdWords UI, advertisers will see all the standard metrics — impressions, clicks, click-through rate, etc. — for Purchases on Google PLAs just as they do for regular PLAs.

Segmenting by Click Type at the campaign level will break out data on Purchases On Google clicks.

Closed Pilot

This initial testing phase is extremely limited. Google selected pilot partners that span a variety of retail sectors and have the ability to meet the technical requirements for the integration. More retailers and brands will be chosen to participate in a second wave, and the pilot is expected to run through the holiday season.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Ginny Marvin
Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

Related Topics

Channel: RetailE-CommerceGoogleGoogle AdsUncategorized

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

February 23, 2021: SMX Report

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

October 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

December17, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • Digital Marketing Report Q4 2020: Benchmarks and Insights for 2021
  • Data SEO – The Next Big Adventure
  • Getting Started with Email Marketing Automation
  • The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
  • Quality CRM Data: The Key to Delivering Great Customer Experiences
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
  • Meet BIMI: The brand-boosting email security marketers must have for 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.
Marketing Land
Download the Marketing Land app on iTunes Download the Marketing Land App on Google Play

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • MarTech Conference
  • Search Marketing Expo

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Youtube
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok