Jennifer Slegg Makes the Case for Prices in Your PPC Ads

If you run an ecommerce site selling products that can also be found elsewhere, putting your price in your paid search ad could go a long way toward improving your conversion rates. That's the point Jennifer Slegg makes in a post on pay per click conversion rates and ROI at her blog today. Jennifer reminds readers that while many companies spend their time focusing on driving clicks, they would be better served looking at ROI and considering how the information in their ad impacts both click through rates and conversion rates.

According to Jennifer, most ecommerce sites are driving a lot of useless clicks from bargain shoppers. She explains:

When you are selling a product that is not exclusive to your site, especially with high-ticket items or items that people tend to shop around for to find the best pricing, you end up paying for clicks from people who are just checking to see if you have the best price or not, and they don't have the intention of buying from you right then... unless you were fortunate enough to be the last site they checked (which goes against regular PPC techniques where you want to be the first click) AND you had the best price. And obviously, you will have lower conversions and a low ROI (return on investment) when you do have a high percentage of non-buyers.

It's a good reminder and one that she backs up with some good insight. While including prices certainly doesn't work for every industry, there are times where it's a good idea to consider including prices in your posts. For more on this topic, check out her post on the most important pay per click metric and my own posts on The Number One Rule of Pay Per Click and Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign.