Google is an ever evolving brand with continuous addition of new features for its users. Gmail sponsored promotions are the newest way of highly targeted online advertising within Google platforms. Now one can conduct advertising campaigns based on recent e-mail behaviors and online purchases. When Google originally tested GSPs they used their own UI and not through AdWords. Google saw success when it was released in beta in 2013 and then to AdWords making available to users. However there were some issues with AdWords integration and then put back to original beta state. Recently with a few modifications it is again made available for use to all advertisers and yes that’s a brownie point! It’s a great news for all digital marketing agencies to make their clients happier with better options. Google has been constantly upgrading its services for all digital marketing agencies like providing certificates as Google Partner Agency. We as an online marketing agency which is also a Google Partner Agency hope to see more coming out. Now GSPs could also be called as a part of display advertising services. Google’s display advertising services are already at a great level. GSPs inclusion will just give it new wings.
So, how does it work from a consumer’s perspective?
Let us put it in simple words for you. For example you recently purchased flight tickets online. You would get auto-generated emails on your bookings. This behavior can be targeted to put a few displaying ads from related needs like Hotel Bookings, Car rentals at the destination city.
Basically the process crawls through your mailbox for suitable keywords. And certainly doesn’t mean Google has access to reach your personal emails for advertisements. It’s an extremely customized method keeping all the security purposes in mind. One consumer need not to wonder how the related ads are appearing on their personal mailbox.
From a digital marketing agency’s perspective this is extremely powerful, credible and the base is a data warehouse. Online marketing agencies could leverage this platform to the fullest.
How does a GSP look like?
GSPs appear in the promotional tabs of your Gmail account. These ads appear as emails although they are highlighted as ads. Users are more receptive to the format they are already used to which is the consumer mode. Hence GSPs in email format are preferred the most. Study shows GSPs in this format have 20% higher CTR as compared to the older Gmail text ads. As a part of daily routine all of us continuously check mails. It’s the most crucial time to reach the user base. GSPs are extremely useful to reach new and existent users. Moreover the interface is integrated with all the devices suitable for all the screens. An online marketing agency can reach as many people as you can through GSPs. It allows you to embed lead forms, videos and a call to action to captive your audience.
Like other display advertising services it also comes with many options and could be moulded according to the need. When you click on a GSP it will open as a normal email and take you to three different options.
Save to Inbox– Just like a normal email it will be saved in your Inbox.
Dismiss– Like most of the platform it allows a user to stop seeing the ad.
Forward– Yes. It can be forwarded to a contact and grow potential base.
Let us take you through a few type of GSPs:
a. Rich Promotion Ads: Appear in the desktop promotion tab of your mailbox and serves as advertorials. It’s the initial engagement within your desired demographics
b. Teaser Ads: Serves again as initial engagement with lesser information and available only when you click on it.
c. Fully Expandable Ads: A great way to do call to actions. These open in your mail area after you click on them. Its very credible form of display advertising. Videos, relevant CTA can be embedded.
Bid and schedule management
With a lot of newly added features GSPSs will have same ad rotations, bid management, scheduling like any other advertisement campaigns although the interface doesn’t have much control on ad visibility GSP ads will now have the same ad rotation, bid management and scheduling features as any other campaign and the daily spending target was a guideline and might be exceeded if the campaign was too broadly targeted and had a high CTR. Simultaneously adjustment on bids are not possible on individual targeting criteria. Still improvement is needed for more efficiency. Experienced digital marketing agencies, Google partner agencies would understand the function in a better manner to optimize the platform.
There are different types of targeting methods:
A must have GSP hack:
You can bid on your competitors domains. Yes you heard it right. The best controlled way to use GSP is to have a check on your competitor. E.g. Sunsilk may bid on Dove’s domain (Dove.com). A consumer receiving newsletters, promotional emails from Dove will be eligible to have promotional mails, ads from Sunsilk as well in their mailbox. If an advertiser is with the right digital marketing agency they could very strategically optimize these options. Moreover a Google partner agency has a better knowledge in online marketing and aware of all these hacks to optimize any platform their clients are in.
Another cool way to handle GSPs are to find out similar target market used by others and they need not to be your competition. E.g. hotels could bid on online ticket booking sites because the target market would same for both the domains.
The burning question: ROI?
As a digital marketing agency we often need to answer ROI. Being a Google partner agency adds a lot of credibility still we practice transparency and give an idea on ROI to each and every client which most of the online marketing agencies deny. Study shows similar results in click-through rate and cost per click. While GSP was in beta the average CTRs were higher of about 10%. Although the cheaper price point takes a major stand for measure the same. The most unexpected results are the plentiful conversions pulled through with much lower CPAs as compared to regular search and display campaigns. With the new features added we as a digital marketing agency and also as a Google partner agency would need to wait for more customized and up to date understanding on ROI. From this point the GSPs look to have a great role in paid online campaigns and definitely the ROI is going to get better and paid form is the forte of our digital marketing agency.
Now that every technological advancement comes with a glitch there is something which may bother you. Google’s Display advertising services were always great. Earlier the promotional ads were listed under primary tabs as well. Now all are shifted to the promotional tabs which means lower volume in impressions, clicks for new ad campaigns. While this may rise a question of efficiency one must need to understand the reason behind limiting GSPs only in the promotional tabs of Gmail. Not all the consumers are really happy to see forced ads. Not all the users are happy with display advertising services. Something which is not in user interest directly goes to the spam folder. Hence earlier the click and impression volumes were higher but there were lot of spillage in targeting. With the limitation introduced the volume of clicks and impressions on GSPs might be lower but you are sure those are the target people who are relevant for your ads. The chances of accepting the communications are much higher. It’s always better to do a quality targeting over quantity targeting.
Here comes the major role for a digital marketing agency to choose the display advertising services wisely. As told earlier a Google partner agency would always have a better strategy for compatible display advertising service for their clients. To sum it up as a digital marketing agency and also as a Google partner agency we can say GSPs are a great platform and one of the newest platform in display advertising services for quality interaction with your target consumers at relevant field, relevant time. Like Google always live up to their promises we will wait for some more advancements in GSPs. Till then our digital marketing agency cannot stop ourselves to explore this new platform to take a client’s advertisement campaign to a new high. As always we will keep you updated on the newest happenings in digital marketing and live up to the standard of a Google partner agency as we practice the best!
