PLA Performance Metrics

San Francisco (November 1, 2012) – Kenshoo (www.skai.io), a global leader in digital marketing software, today released key performance metrics based on the analysis of more than 270 million globalimpressions and clicks aggregated from merchants managing Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs) through Skai during the first month following the release of new Skai PLA functionality.

“Skai was first to market among SEM platforms with a PLA solution, and they’ve continued to deliver added-value functionality,” said Daniel Laury, President and CEO at Geary LSF Group. “Through Skai, our teams are able to create and manage integrated PLA campaigns that deliver strong results.”

Overall, retailers managing PLAs through Skai increased sales revenue driven by PLAs by 607 percent during the period, while increasing spending on PLAs by 348 percent. Further, retailers that activated Skai custom PLA bid policies saw 89 percent improvement in return on ad spend. As Google transitions PLAs to be the default ad type for Google Shopping, top retailers have turned their attention toward and invested heavily to optimize Google’s PLA format, expanding the role of PLAs and often making the ad type a foundational element of comprehensive search programs.

Comparatively, Skai found Google PLAs outperformed text search ads in many ways:
  • Click-through rate (CTR) was 73 percent higher
  • Conversion rate (CVR) was 35 percent higher
  • Average cost-per-click (CPC) was 36 percent lower
  • Return on ad spend (ROAS) was 46 percent higher

Skai clients employing Skai’s PLA bid policies boosted results further:

  • CTR increased by an additional 4 percent
  • CVR increased by an additional 34 percent
  • Average CPC decreased by an additional 31 percent
  • ROAS increased by an additional 89 percent
As Skai covered in its recent quarterly report on global search advertising trends, Google Shopping moved to an all paid model in the U.S. on October 17, 2012, with the U.K. and Europe expected to follow in 2013. This means only merchants who leverage PLAs will appear in the search results, making these findings especially significant.

“Retailers using Skai to manage PLAs saw impressive results leading to large increases in spend, and we expect these trends to continue in 2013 and beyond as marketers get more savvy using tools like Skai to drive tangible results,” said Will Martin-Gill, General Manager of Skai Enterprise and Skai Local. “Marketers should consider these metrics when determining their campaign goals, especially since site traffic and sales will only continue to increase as the holiday season nears and they seek to engage consumers and expand visibility for their products.”

Skai’s PLA enhancements include comprehensive product-level tracking, reporting, and management for Google Shopping as well as a custom PLA bid policy. Skai’s patent-pending PLA offering eliminates the need for search marketers to manage tracking within data feeds. PLAs and Product Targets can be managed and tracked directly within the Skai user interface. The Skai algorithm clusters data based on historical performance and predicts PLA revenue per click to set bids. New Skai reports such as the Fusion Report for Product Targets provide marketers with a holistic look at the performance of each PLA placement and its impact on sales conversions. Additionally, Skai’s path-to-conversion reports show the interplay between PLAs and other channels for optimal attribution and bidding decisions. Finally, Skai provides a negative keyword suggestion report for PLA campaigns to prevent irrelevant clicks, reduce costs and improve quality scores.

Please visit Kenshoo.com/PLA to view an infographic summarizing key PLA metrics from Skai’s analysis and learn more about Skai’s PLA functionality.

 About Skai

Skai is a digital marketing software company that engineers technology solutions for search marketing, social media and online advertising. Brands, agencies and marketing providers use Skai Enterprise, Skai Local and Skai Social to direct more than $25 billion in annual client sales revenue. The Skai Universal Platform delivers automation, intelligence, integration and scale to make better marketing investments. With campaigns running in more than 190 countries, Skai clients include CareerBuilder, Expedia, Facebook, KAYAK, Havas Digital, Hitwise, iREP, John Lewis, LendingTree, Resolution Media, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Skai has 16 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital and Arts Alliance. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Skai is a trademark of Skai Ltd. Other company and brand names may be trademarks of their respective owners.