Digital advertisers running shopping campaigns now have another potential touchpoint in reaching customers: the email inbox. But not just the email inbox.
The official Google announcement states that as of March 4th, both Product Shopping ads and Showcase Shopping ads will be eligible to appear in Gmail, YouTube, and the Discover feed. Let’s break it down and why advertisers like you should take notice.
What are Gmail Shopping ads?
Gmail Shopping ads will help advertisers expand their customer reach. The ads will allow you to promote your brand and products with vivid, high-quality images or video directly in your prospects’ inbox.
Google extended Showcase Shopping ads to Discover and YouTube last year. Until now, Smart Shopping campaigns were the only way to show Shopping ads in Gmail. Now, though, advertisers can use Showcase Shopping ads to reach potential customers in their inbox.
The official email from Google Ads provides more details:
Data collected from Gmail Shopping ads will be reported under the Google Display Network. Standard Shopping campaigns should be automatically enabled to run on Gmail, as long as the campaigns are opted into “YouTube, Gmail, and Discover.”
How to enable Gmail Shopping ads
In the Google Ads Targeting tab, you’ll already see the option to include YouTube, Gmail and Discover from the Networks section in your Shopping campaign settings. Opting into Search Network opens Shopping campaigns up to show in Image search:
If you’re using the Google Ads API or AdWords API, set your Shopping campaign Network Setting “targetContentNetwork” to “true.”
Why advertisers should care about the update
Advertisers have been steadily shifting more of their search budgets from text to Shopping ads. The addition of Gmail Shopping Ads gives them the opportunity to potentially target users across a wider spectrum of the sales funnel.
Gmail Shopping ads will help advertisers reach more prospects and use the power of email marketing with the ads. More details (and potential future updates) may follow the initial release, but for now, get excited about the opportunity to reach more people through email.
Reach more audiences with Gmail Shopping Ads
Google Shopping campaigns allow you to display more of your products than ever to potential customers and gain enhanced visibility. You get to make a great first impression in front of high-intent audiences with the ad type, with Gmail as a placement option, you’ll get the power of email in your shopping campaigns.
Remember to connect all your Shopping ads to dedicated post-click landing pages. Find out how you can provide personalized post-click landing pages at scale by signing up for an Instapage Enterprise demo here.