Google Checkout retailers say icon boosts click-through and conversion
Several retailers that accept the Google Checkout payment option say consumers are clicking on their paid search ads more often because of the Google Checkout icon on those ads. Some believe the icon helps their ads stand out, which means they don’t have to pay top dollar to rank first among ads on Google search pages.
Ritz Interactive, whose web sites sell cameras and electronics equipment and is No. 114 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, says its click-through rate went up 23% after the addition of the icon and conversion rate from those ads is 24% higher than in the past. SportsCloseouts.com says its click-through rate rose from about 1.2% to 2.2% after the Google badge was added, an increase of more than 80%. Intermix, which sells trendy women’s clothing, says click-throughs and conversions are up 20% since the Google Checkout badge started appearing on its Google ads.
As a promotion for its payment service launched in June 2006, Google is offering free processing of Google Checkout payment transactions through the end of the year. Lanny Morton, CEO of Sportscloseouts.com, says he is taking those savings and putting them into more AdWords advertising, hoping to generate still more sales.
For Don McNichol, director of e-commerce at Intermix, the Google Checkout badge on his ads provides enough credibility for his relatively small company that he feels he does not have to bid as much on keywords to make sure his ad is at the top of a list that may include such well-known names as Neiman Marcus, Saks and Nordstrom. “When I didn’t have the Google Checkout icon, I would have had to bid to be up there with that kind of brand,” McNichol says. “I can be a little further down on that page, but because I have the Google icon consumers still feel this is a viable organization.”
A higher click-through rate improves an advertiser’s score in the system Google uses for determining which ad to place against a particular keyword. The higher rates that resulted from the addition of the Google Checkout icon have led some retailers to adjust their keyword bid strategy, says Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor Corp., an interactive marketing company.
“If I’m bidding on the term iPhone and bidding $1 a click, I’ll show up higher if I have a higher click-through rate,” Wingo says. “If I take Google Checkout, I can pull back to 90 cents and still hang with a competitor that doesn’t take Google Checkout, or I can continue to pay $1 and leap ahead of some competitors. It’s a hidden economic benefit of Google Checkout, but one of the largest economic benefits, aside from the inexpensive payment processing.”
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