Google’s new updates for IOS14 are rolling out. From setting up Google Analytics G4, to Implementing Google Enhanced Conversions, the changes are happening lightening fast. store owners are in a rush to get the pieces implemented so they can take advantage of the new machine learning and automation that could be a game-changer for their business.
One change that is happening in the conversion of smart shopping campaigns to Performance Max campaigns. We’re seeing some accounts have a message that indicates to upgrade their smart shopping campaigns, others say convert your smart shopping campaigns to Performance Max, and others are just saying “Upload customer lists”. Our goal is to demystify what is going on and why.
The End Of Smart Shopping Campaigns
The IOS14 updates will make out-of-the-box smart shopping campaigns perform poorly. Google knows this. They’ve known this for two years. They’ve watched what happened with Facebook and realized they were not going down the drain. The smart Shopping campaign will be transitioned July and September 2022. Google put their best people on it and created what is called the Performance Max campaign. Let’s talk about what makes a Performance Max campaign different.
Google offers campaign types that allow you to reach people all over the web including the display network, google search, youtube Gmail, and more. But those campaigns are all separate. Each campaign works independently and doesn’t help one another in an effort to reach the larger goal. So the Performance Max campaign was created to encompass all the great things Google can offer but house all the data in one campaign. That means the Performance Max campaign can move people from the top of the funnel all the way through purchase because they have all the data about that every step that customer has done altogether. No other campaign type anywhere has been able to achieve this.
Introducing Audience Signals
Additionally, they are using audience signals, where you can provide as much information about your potential customer and they will use that as a starting point to try to find you the best possible customers. We’ve been helping our customers prepare for this in our IOS14 packages by uploading their Shopify customer lists and Klaviyo email lists to Google Ads so they can be used for two things. 1) finding new customers just like them and 2) retargeting. The truth is that the more people that opt-out of tracking, the more important it will be that you have your own data to provide to these platforms. We talk a lot about this topic in our We Need To Change Our Mindset Now blog post.
Want Help Converting To Performance Max?
We are going to be offering a conversion package to help people who are concerned with converting their Google Shopping campaigns on their own. Google will do it for you, but it doesn’t mean it will perform the same. Our goal is to ensure everything will be in place to give your campaign the best chance and perform similarly or better. The package is $50 and we’ll convert the smart campaign to a Performance Max campaign and ensure it's configured properly. We’ll start this on August 1. You can get on the waitlist here. If you have not yet completed the G4 or G4 with Enhanced Conversions (for those with Google Ads) now is the time. If you want our help with that you can see our packages here.