13 Best Ecommerce Advertising Platforms & Tips To Skyrocket Your ROI

Do not index

Imagine this: You’re running an online store that’s gaining traction. You’re churning out quality products, and your visitors love your site. But for some reason, your sales just won’t budge. You want to grow your business but are unsure how to get the ball rolling. If this scenario sounds familiar, ecommerce advertising platforms might be the solution you need to boost your sales. These digital ad channels help you reach potential customers on the internet and promote your products. This blog will help you get started with ecommerce advertising platforms by exploring your options and offering tiktok ecommerce strategy to maximize your return on investment.

Shophunter's Shopify sales tracker can help you achieve your goals. This simple and effective tool tracks your sales and shows you exactly how much money you make from each product and what you earn from each ecommerce advertising platform.

What is Ecommerce Advertising?

Ecommerce advertising promotes online stores, products, and services through paid digital channels. It can take various forms, including:

Display

Social media

Video ads

Ecommerce advertising drives targeted traffic, increases sales, and boosts brand visibility. It differs from traditional advertising because it targets specific audiences, tracks performance, and optimizes real-time campaigns. Ecommerce advertising can attract new customers and retarget those who have shown previous interest in your brand.

The Impact of Recent Privacy Updates on Ecommerce Advertising Strategies

Ecommerce advertising has changed dramatically in recent years due to privacy updates and the impending demise of third-party cookies. “It was literally like a plug was pulled. Almost overnight, we lost sight of 50% of our metrics, which was detrimental and changed how we needed to interact with these platforms and how we use them to find new customers,” says Dara Denney, director of performance creative at Thesis Testing.

As marketers lose the ability to deliver personalized ads to prospects, they target a wider audience in their advertising efforts. This approach can lead to less qualified leads and fewer conversions. For example, cosmetics brand Jones Road Beauty cut its spending on Facebook and Instagram by 25%, while athleisure brand Feat has cut its budget on these channels by 20%. Still, e-commerce marketers agree that advertising is critical in acquiring new customers, so understanding these channels and their changes is more important than ever.

Getting Back to Basics: Common Ecommerce Advertising Strategies

Before diving into strategies to adapt to the changing landscape of ecommerce advertising, let’s get back to basics. Ecommerce advertising generates traffic, clicks, sales, and brand awareness through paid placements using third-party platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, and Amazon. While many ecommerce stores use ads to attract new customers, they can also retarget previous visitors to boost conversions.

The State of Advertising on Facebook and Instagram

Love him or hate him, it’s indisputable that Mark Zuckerberg has made a massive impact on the ecommerce industry. Some marketers insist the success of many early-stage DTC companies, ecommerce businesses, and the industry at large has hinged on Facebook’s advertising capabilities.

“As much as we love to hate on Facebook and Instagram, they deserve credit for creating this industry. Facebook Ads Manager gave merchants following the DTC business model a real shot,” says Nik Sharma, head of Sharma Brands and HOOX. “Everybody talks about how they want to get off of Facebook, but it’s one of the largest drivers of customer acquisition for most brands out there.”

Effective E-commerce Advertising on Facebook and Instagram

This makes sense, considering Facebook and Instagram are still two of the most popular social media platforms, with 2,910M and 1,478M monthly active users, respectively, according to Statista. Marketers must adjust their thinking to make an e-commerce advertising strategy pay off on these platforms and see click-through rates soar.

TikTok Advertising: The New Kid on the Block

Facebook and Instagram pioneered paid advertising, but other platforms haven’t even come close to their combined popularity. Even though TikTok still doesn’t quite compare to Meta’s mega presence, the platform is gaining traction, specifically among Gen Z and millennial consumers, and marketers are noticing.

“What makes TikTok such a good opportunity for ecommerce marketers right now is that the user journey and the way that people interact with the platform is completely different than Facebook or Instagram people are using it as an entertainment platform, similar to Netflix,” says Denney. TikTok has 1.2B monthly active users, officially beating out social media marketing platforms, including Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter. Just last year, it was the most downloaded app worldwide.

TikTok and Its Impact on Marketing Strategies

70% of TikTok users spend an hour or more on the app weekly, according to Statista. The numbers don’t lie, but TikTok also has a certain je ne sais quoi: the music is catchy, the trends are compelling, the content is quick-hitting, and the creators are insanely talented. Suppose marketers can capture the essence of TikTok in their ad creative and manage to entertain to a similar degree as these creators. In that case, they’re almost certain to elicit engagement not only on TikTok’s native platform but across other social media platforms.

In addition to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, brands advertise on several other social media advertising channels, including:

Snapchat

Twitter

Many marketers have started experimenting with paid ecommerce advertising on these channels to diversify their ad spend and move away from Facebook and Instagram post-iOS 14.5.

Nick Shackelford, CEO and managing partner at Structured Agency, emphasizes that, above all else, marketers should consider each channel's daily active users and demographics and understand how that maps to their target customers. “We looked at TikTok in Q1 of 2022, and their daily active users were increasing in the 17-38 age range, which is our target demographic, so that’s the hottest play for brands like ours right now,” says Shackelford.

“Some people are on Snapchat. Some are on Instagram. If you look at YouTube, the daily users are broad and consistently growing. Another brand might want to create an e-commerce advertising strategy to speak to a specific demographic there, and they could do really well because both kids and parents are spending time there.”

Optimizing E-Commerce Advertising: Balancing Proven Tactics and New Strategies

It’s important to compare product margins to each platform's cost per click (CPC) and cost per impression (CPM) when considering which marketing channels will provide the highest returns for your business. “If you have a product that sells for under $40, it’s really difficult to get working, especially on Facebook and Instagram where you have CPCs and CPMs in the $10-$20 range. Whereas on other social media platforms, you probably have a little bit cheaper traffic cost,” says Shackelford.

Testing and Optimization in Online Advertising

You should always test your online advertising strategy and adjust your creative or the channels you decide to spend on if it’s not working for your business. “Test a lot. Every advertisement you launch should leverage A/B testing in one capacity or another,” says Spencer Flaherty, internal marketing manager at Groove Commerce.

“While modifying your copy and images is a great way to test their individual performance, be sure to only change one element at a time in order to correctly attribute success or failure,” he adds. Sharma states that your e-commerce advertising strategy should balance using proven tactics and exploring new ideas. “I’m all about 80/20 80% go with what works, 20% experiment and try new things,” says Sharma.

E-Commerce Advertising

Ecommerce Sales Strategy

Ecommerce Monitoring

Ecommerce Search Metrics

Competitive Product Analysis

Ecommerce Marketing Budget

Ecommerce Marketing Ideas

13 Best Ecommerce Advertising Platforms to Boost Your Digital Presence

1. Google Ads

Google Ads is the holy grail of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing and search advertising. Number of worldwide visits to Google.com (as of April 2023): 83.9 billion. Google Ads harnesses the immense power of Google's search network for advertising. With 8.5 billion searches made every day, Google is a leading search engine, allowing marketers to display their ads prominently when users' searches include relevant keywords in their queries. This targeted approach ensures that businesses can reach potential customers, increasing the probability of conversions.

Key Features And Opportunities

The platform allows targeting based on demographics, interests, and browsing behavior.

Google Ads offers dynamic remarketing, a powerful feature for eCommerce advertisers. It allows you to show tailored ads to users who have previously interacted with your website or products and drive them back to your online store to complete a purchase.

You can access all your Google Ads inventory from a single campaign with so-called Performance Max campaigns.

Powered by AI, this feature allows you to find more converting customers, increase reach, and collect more valuable insights.

What to expect?

While future developments can vary, several predicted trends for Google Ads remain.

Google Ads is expected to further leverage automation and machine learning capabilities to optimize campaigns, improve ad performance, and enhance audience targeting.

With the growing popularity of voice assistants and smart speakers, optimizing ads and campaigns for voice search queries is expected to become more important.

As data privacy concerns evolve and third-party cookies steadily fade away, the platform will likely introduce features and policies to prioritize user privacy while providing effective advertising solutions.

2. Google Shopping Ads

Google Shopping is a specific marketing tool that allows publishers to advertise their products to Google searchers in a visually appealing way. Set up in the Google Merchant Center, Shopping ads are image-based product ads that show a photo of your:

Product

Title

Price

Store name

Reviews

Product listings are displayed at the top of the SERPs. If the user clicks on your ad, Google will take them directly to the product page in your eCommerce store, where they can make a purchase. Like paid search ads, you pay each time someone clicks on your Shopping ad.

Advantages

High Conversion Potential: Google Shopping ads are great for driving traffic that converts, as many people still start their product search on Google.

Easy To Run: Google's algorithms automatically pull product data from your store, create ads for your products, and match them with relevant search queries.

Strong Visual Appeal: Shopping ads get a prime position in SERPs with a visual format to attract clicks.

Disadvantages

It Takes Time To Set Up: Google Shopping campaigns require more time to get started but less effort after everything is set up in Google Merchant Center.

The Best Type of Products for Google Shopping Ads

The bet products for this platform are any. Shopping Ads on Google represent a highly lucrative pay-per-click (PPC) digital marketing tactic for publishers. Sperley says these are serious pros for using Google Ads in ecommerce marketing: “Google Ads is a must for both search, shopping, and testing out PMax [Performance Max],” she says. “This is where you’ll find users with the highest intent to purchase.” The caveat?

Pricing

Depending on your vertical, it can be competitive, and you can have a higher CPC,” she explains. The wide audience reach, diverse features, seasonality adjustments, dynamic remarketing, visually appealing ad types, and purchase intent make it a worthy investment.

3. Instagram Ads

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could transform your existing posts into social media ads with just a few clicks? With Instagram Ads, you can do exactly that. Publishers should consider Instagram as another massively popular advertising platform, though it is important to understand the platform is all about visual ads.

Instagram is a very brand-focused social platform. 81% of Instagram users use the platform to research products and services, and 130 million Instagram users tap into monthly shopping posts. Advertisers can create image-based ads and video reels and use Instagram stories to promote their products and connect with their target audience. Instagram ads can be directly linked to your product page or another landing page, giving users a quick and easy way to engage with your products.

Here are Instagram Ads type

Photo Ads: These ads can feature high-quality photographs, striking designs, and illustrations.

Carousel Ads: The Instagram carousel ads present pictures or videos people can browse by swiping. They may be displayed in the feed and Instagram Stories, incorporating a call-to-action button or swipe-up connection that takes visitors directly to your site.

Instagram Carousel Ads Instagram Stories: Stories ads are integrated natively within the stories section, ensuring that your intended audience comes across the content as they browse the stories of the accounts they follow. This allows businesses to deliver their message naturally, increasing the chances of user engagement.

Video Ads: Video ads are a powerful tool for businesses to showcase their products in action, draw attention to distinctive features, or communicate their brand narrative.

Reels: Instagram Reels ads, displayed between Reels, feature full-screen vertical videos with specifications similar to Stories ads and can run up to 60 seconds. All Reels are marked as “Sponsored’.

Instagram Shopping Ads: Instagram shopping ads enable you to include shopping links in your pictures, allowing viewers to click and explore the product and even buy it directly within the Instagram application.

Advantages

Highly Engaged Users: Over half of Instagram users access the social media network daily, meaning Instagram is the ultimate platform to reach your audience and influence them to consider your brand.

High-Intent Users: 75% of Instagram users take action on ads they see on their feed, and over one-third purchase products. Create effective paid ads as part of a targeted Instagram advertising strategy, and you can drive sales.

Comprehensive Targeting: Because the platform is owned by social media giant Facebook, Instagram advertising gives you access to in-depth targeting.

There Are Many Ad Formats: Choose between stories, IGTV, videos, shopping ads, and more. Test them out to find the ad type that gets the most ad clicks and conversions.

Increase Sales On The Platform: Customers can buy without leaving Instagram such as with Collection ads (on the mobile ad platform only).

Disadvantages

It Takes Time To Master: As with Facebook, marketing effectively takes a long time and may require a specialist's help.

Requires High-Quality Visual Assets: Instagram is a highly visual platform, meaning you must invest in good quality content to stand out.

The Best Type Of Products For Instagram Ads

Products that are visually appealing and easily incorporated into visual media include:

Cosmetics

Fashion

Homewares

Food and health products

The platform offers you serious ease in creating ecommerce ads, which is why it’s such a hit for ecommerce marketers. Hootsuite shares that 44% of Instagram users purchase Instagram weekly. How can you rise above the noise and entice them to purchase? “Users are not necessarily in the mindset to buy, so you need to convince them with engaging creative and content,” says Sperley. But she offers a word of caution.

“Instagram Ads would not be a good platform to test if you have a small following or lack of access to a designer or copywriter for creating engaging ads,” says Sperley. But with interactive ad content, easy set-up for marketing campaigns, automation, engaging video Reels, and visually appealing sponsored products? Instagram Ads is one of the most creative ad networks out there.

4. Bing Ads

While Google is a search engine titan, Bing holds its weight. According to Microsoft, Bing still accounts for 14.5% of the global market share for PC desktop search engines. There are 14.5 billion monthly PC searches conducted on the Bing Network, with 687 million unique PC searchers. 100% of searchers on the Microsoft Search Network have purchased a product or service online in the last week. Bing Ads should be part of your advertising strategy to reach this shopping audience. You can also use Bing Shopping, similar to Google Shopping Ads.

Advantages

Less Competition: Fewer advertisers on Bing means you’ll get more bang from your digital marketing campaign. Reports by Search Engine People have shown that the average CPC (cost-per-click) for a Bing Ad is 70% less compared to Google Ads.

Reach Different Audiences: Advertising on Bing means you will also be advertising on Yahoo, AOL, and other partnering sites, so you will find users you’d be missing if you only run Google Ad campaigns.

Disadvantages

Reduced Reach: Bing has a lower audience reach and search volume than Google Ads.

Less Advanced Features: Bing Ads are usually one step behind Google, which means new features roll out after Google, and reporting needs to be more comprehensive.

Leveraging Bing Ads for E-Commerce: Affordable Options for High-Income Shoppers

About 35% of people who use Bing are in the country’s top 25% income bracket (a great incentive to use Bing Ads if you sell luxury or more expensive ecommerce products). Bottom line? People have money, and they use it on Bing. So what’s the drawback? It must be pricey, like Google Ads, right?

Sperley says it’s a cost-effective option. “Microsoft will always have the lower CPC, as the audience is smaller,” she says. Still, she says brands shouldn’t rely exclusively on Bing for ecommerce. But you can leverage it to test out your budget. “It’s helpful to use Microsoft as an advertising platform for fuller coverage,” says Sperley. “Although the audience is about 10% or less of Google’s audience, it’s helpful to have supplemental shopping coverage.”

5. Amazon Ads

With a whopping 310 million active global active users, you’d think Amazon buyers were each in their lane. They have a lot in common. They’re all in the buying mindset. This means they’re closer to making a conversion than someone just scrolling content on Facebook or TikTok. Think about the last time you flocked to Amazon. You were likely comparing specs for different products or adding one to your cart with Prime-free shipping. It’s a no-brainer that Amazon Ads naturally lends itself to ecommerce businesses.

Imagine your audience browsing through competitor listings, and your ad appears on the bottom of another product page as an alternative. That might prompt them to click through to your page and compare. Strategic ad placements close the distance between you and your potential customers. Your products can appear on banners, email recommendations, or Amazon search engine results.

6. Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads boasts an impressive ad reach of nearly 2 billion people. But what if your Facebook audience isn’t as close to conversion as your Google Ads audience? You can still leverage the platform. Facebook Ads is a fantastic supplement to uplift your Google Ads efforts and reach social media browsers.

How Can You Double Down on Conversions?

Take advantage of detailed targeting options on Facebook Ads. Sperley says e-commerce brands can target buyers by their behaviors: “To target the right audience, you can make the most of first-party data to drive the highest-quality traffic,” she says. You can pair these with different interests to refine your audience further.” It might be hard to rise through the noise of the Feed.

The Solution?

“What matters most here is having strong creative, cohesive messaging with your brand, and engaging video and image assets,” says Sperley.

7. Pinterest Ads

Sperley emphasized the importance of visually stunning creative assets for Instagram and Facebook Ads. But with Pinterest? Visuals will make or break your campaigns because the platform is all images and video content. One benefit of Pinterest Ads is that it’s ideal for newer ecommerce businesses than other social media platforms. That’s because established brand awareness isn’t as relevant on the platform. It’s most important to focus on the ad’s quality and the audience’s perception of the ad.

Pinterest shares that 96% of searches on the platform aren’t branded. That’s great news for fresh brands looking for quick gains. It’s also a more cost-effective platform that tends to have lower CPCs than Google Ads and Facebook Ads. People flock to Pinterest for lifestyle inspo – from interior decorating and style ideas to fitness. For ecommerce businesses in the fashion, retail, arts, and home niches? It could be a treasure trove.

8. YouTube Ads

The number of monthly active users (as of October 2023) is almost 2.5 billion. YouTube Ads are a powerful advertising solution that allows you to reach a vast audience on the popular video-sharing platform. With billions of users and hours of content watched daily, YouTube allows you to showcase your products or services through various ad formats.

Here are Several Marketing Tricks to Help You

In a survey conducted in 2023, big B2C advertisers based in the United States and Canada were asked to share their preferred social platform for generating the best return on ad spend. The findings revealed that for 48% of participants, YouTube was the platform with the highest ROAS for their businesses.

Here are YouTube ad Formats:

Bumper Ads: Non-skippable ads that last 6 seconds can be found at YouTube videos' start, middle, or end. You will be charged based on a cost-per-mile (CPM) model when utilizing bumper ads. This means that you pay for ad views rather than clicks or engagements.

Non-skippable in-stream ads: These are non-skippable advertisements that display before, during, or after a YouTube video, typically lasting up to 15 seconds.

The Ads Adopt The Target Cpm Bidding Method: You will be charged based on the number of impressions in the ad.

In-stream Ads: Are up to three minutes long and can be skipped after five seconds. They may appear before, during, or after other videos. In-feed video ads are visible in search results and the sidebar feeds of videos on YouTube. They appear similar to regular YouTube videos, except they are marked as “ad.”

Masthead Ads: If you aim to create awareness for a new product or service or want to reach a large audience quickly, such as during a sales event, Masthead ads can be a practical choice. They can only be reserved through a Google sales representative.

Outstream Ads: Outstream ads are designed specifically for mobile devices and are exclusively displayed on websites and applications that are part of the Google video partner network. These ads start playing without sound, but viewers can tap the ad to turn on the sound and listen to the video.

Key Features and Opportunities

YouTube Ads include in-stream ads that play before, during, or after videos, video discovery ads that appear in search results or related videos, and bumper ads that are short, non-skippable ads. YouTube offers display campaigns that allow advertisers to place images or rich media ads on the platform.

The platform also provides dynamic remarketing capabilities, enabling you to show personalized ads to users who have previously interacted with your website or YouTube channel. YouTube Ads offer targeting options based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and contextual targeting. You can measure the performance of your YouTube ads with Google Ads reporting, but there are also some additional tools available to collect more insights video creation tools, and templates.

What to Expect?

YouTube has introduced a new purchasing model called the Cost-Per-Hour (CPH) Masthead alongside the existing Cost-Per-Impression (CPM) Masthead. With the CPH Masthead, you gain exclusive share-of-voice during specific hours, encompassing the time leading up to, during, or after priority moments. This addition provides increased flexibility and opportunities to maximize your ad exposure on YouTube's platform.

With the rise in mobile video consumption, YouTube will likely introduce new ad formats and targeting options specifically designed for mobile devices. YouTube may launch more interactive and shoppable ad formats, allowing users to engage with ads and purchase directly within the YouTube platform. YouTube will provide more tools and features to facilitate influencer collaborations and brand partnerships.

9. TikTok Ads

TikTok for business Number of monthly active users (as of October 2023): more than 1.2 billion. TikTok has promptly emerged as one of the leading social media platforms, attracting millions of users worldwide.

Its exponential growth and popularity have positioned TikTok as a prominent online advertising platform. Businesses recognize the potential of reaching a vast audience and leveraging the platform's unique features to promote their products and services effectively.

Here are Tiktok Ad Formats

In-Feed Ads: In-feed ads blend perfectly with the TikTok experience and resemble user-generated content. The only difference is a small “Sponsored” tag beneath the video’s caption.

Video Shopping Ads: With advanced targeting capabilities, video shopping ads strategically display your shoppable video to users who are more inclined to purchase. Video Shopping Ads are exclusively accessible to a limited number of advertisers for beta testing purposes.

Live Shopping Ads: LIVE Shopping Ads can help you reach potential customers on TikTok by showcasing your live videos, displaying your products, and facilitating their purchase.

Key Features and Opportunities

TikTok Ads offers various formats to cater to advertising objectives. These include in-feed native ads, brand takeovers, branded effects, and hashtag challenges. In-feed native ads appear seamlessly within users' feeds, while brand takeovers enable businesses to occupy the full screen when users open the app. Branded effects allow for interactive and augmented reality experiences, while hashtag challenges encourage user participation and content creation. These diverse ad formats provide creative opportunities to promote your products and capture users' attention.

TikTok's primary user base comprises younger demographics, including Gen Z and Millennials. These users are highly engaged with the platform's short-form video content, making it an ideal space for businesses targeting this audience. TikTok has been actively integrating shopping features into its platform, allowing users to discover and purchase products directly within the app. TikTok users are 1.5 times more likely to make immediate purchases after discovering something on the platform.

What to Expect?

With the growing popularity of social commerce, TikTok is well-positioned to become a significant player in the advertising landscape. Its prospects include expanding its shopping features, enhancing targeting capabilities, and integrating with other eCommerce platforms to create a seamless shopping experience.

10. Snapchat Ads

Snapchat has 750 million monthly active users (as of October 2023). It is a popular messaging app that allows users to exchange pictures and videos with lenses, filters, and other effects.

Advertising there can be effective, but you need to consider the specificity of the audience. Users are mainly aged 13 to 34; the largest user group is 18 to 24. People over 35 do not tend to use Snapchat.

Key features and opportunities

The variety of ad types is rather standard. You can launch single images, videos, collections, and story ads. The platform allows you to create ads from scratch and customize templates, saving you some time when necessary. Snapchat Ads offers a tool to convert square or widescreen videos to meet the platform's vertical format. You will not have to look for additional solutions to ensure your content looks good on Snapchat. Targeting options include:

Gender

Location and more

You can upload your contact list, create a Pixel Custom Audience, or benefit from the Lookalike Audience feature. Analytics features allow tracking metrics like the amount spent, clicks, paid impressions, etc.

What to Expect?

Snapchat currently offers little to advertisers. Its ad revenue is forecasted to grow, meaning marketers are still investing in this platform. You can try it, too, but note that it can be effective only if your customers' age is relevant. Snapchat is working on new content partnerships to provide extra advertising opportunities.

Expect new features and solutions, especially those based on AI technology. The platform keeps evolving and gaining users, meaning that in the future, it can become more competitive in the advertising landscape.

11. Twitter Ads

Twitter ads Number of monthly active users (as of October 2023): over 660 million. Twitter is less popular than Facebook or TikTok but still has sufficient users. You can use Twitter Ads (now known as X for Business) to amplify your reach, increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, and generate leads or conversions.

Key Features And Opportunities

Twitter Ads offers various advertising formats and placements to engage users on the platform, including collection, carousel, and image ads. Standard targeting options for Twitter Ads include:

Demographics

Keywords

Devices

Others

Twitter Ads allow you to target followers, meaning you can reach users with similar interests to your existing followers. You can also leverage event targeting to align your eCommerce campaigns with specific events or moments.

Note: Twitter's audience reach extends globally, allowing you to target users in specific geographic locations or languages with advanced analytics features to help you optimize your campaigns.

What to Expect?

After extensive discovery and research, Twitter announced the recategorization and rebranding of its entire ad suite. The transition involved moving away from over 22 individual ad format names to a streamlined structure comprising five advertising categories. These categories come with comprehensive features that can be applied, enhancing advertisers' campaign capabilities.

Promoted Ads: You can leverage these formats to showcase images, videos, and various ad features. Promoted Ads offer versatility, catering to different stages of the marketing funnel and enabling advertisers to maximize their impact.

Follower Ads: This format is tailored to promoting Twitter accounts to targeted audiences, fostering awareness and attracting new followers.

Twitter Amplify: With Twitter Amplify, you can align their ads with premium video content from highly relevant publishers, enhancing the relevance and reach of their campaigns.

Twitter Takeover: This category encompasses premium and wide-reaching placements that deliver results across the marketing funnel. By taking over the Timeline and Explore tab, Twitter Takeover drives substantial impact and engagement.

Twitter Live: With Twitter Live, you can broadcast your most significant moments in real-time, allowing audiences to participate and engage actively.

12. eBay Ads

eBay ads Number of active users (as of 2023): 129 million. eBay, a global online auction, is among the most popular platforms for buying and selling products, especially in the USA. Therefore, launching campaigns via eBay Ads is a necessity if you focus on the US market. The most popular categories are:

Health and beauty products

Clothing

Shoes

Mobile phones

Accessories

Key Features and Opportunities

eBay Ads offers several Promoted Listings: Standard, Advanced, and Express. The Standard option means paying only when the promoted product is sold. Advanced is a CPC model ensuring higher visibility. Express involves an upfront flat fee payment, and your listings will appear on similar listings' pages.

To reach potential customers outside of eBay, you can launch Offsite Ads. These and other ads can be created via eBay Seller Hub. The platform has a cookieless server-to-server targeting technology, greatly benefiting when the cookie era ends. You can collect insights about your audience before launching your advertising campaign. eBay Ads offers some information on such categories of shoppers as:

Gamer Enthusiasts

Millennial Moms

Repeat Christmas Buyers, etc.

You can involve eBay experts to reach even better results besides launching campaigns alone.

What to Expect?

eBay aims to create a seamless experience for advertisers, regularly releasing and updating new features. US sellers can now benefit from AI-generated item descriptions (in most categories). The background removal tool has also been improved recently.

We can expect more AI-powered features that will help you create more effective listings faster and easier, as well as deeper integration between eBay platforms. For example, AI-generated descriptions can now be created only in the eBay app, but this potential inconvenience will likely be solved soon.

13. Google Free Listings

With Google Free Listings, Merchants can showcase their product information to potential customers through various Google channels at no cost. It’s important to understand that participating in this program doesn’t guarantee your product listings will appear on Google’s network campaigns.

Free local product listings

Participating in Google’s free local product listings program may showcase your listing to potential clients nearby, along with relevant store information (e.g., product availability). Free listings for online stores. Your products will be displayed in different places across Google. Where exactly will users see your free product listings?

Shopping tab

The upper section is exclusively dedicated to Shopping ads, while free listings are displayed in the section below.

Google Search

Google presents your free listings to potential customers through several methods on its search engine, including Rich Results, Popular Products (focusing on apparel and accessories), and the Shopping Knowledge Panel.

Google Images

When users look up specific brands or products, Google Images may display product listings with a “product” label resembling a shopping tag.

YouTube

On YouTube, free listings are showcased below a related video or in the search results when users search for a relevant product.

Pros

Your products will appear in the Shopping tab, Google Search, Google Images, and YouTube. For free! By appearing on various Google channels, your products can be showcased to a larger audience of potential customers. Merchants who have physical stores can connect with nearby customers by providing relevant store information.

Cons

The appearance of your product listings on Google’s network cannot be guaranteed, as it relies on the quality of your product data and specific user search queries. Unlike paid advertising options, merchants have limited control over the placement and targeting of their free listings on Google’s platform.

Analytics Tools for Ecommerce

Google Ads for Ecommerce

Ecommerce Video Ads

Ecommerce Ads

PPC Competitor Analysis Tools

Competitor Ads

E-Commerce Social Media Advertising

Ecommerce Ad Intelligence

Facebook Ads for Ecommerce

How to Make TikTok Ads

7 Expert Tips to Drive Ecommerce Advertising ROI

1. Integrate Web Hosts and CRMs with Ad Platforms for Smarter Marketing

If you want ecommerce ads to work well, integrate your customer relationship management (CRM) software with your ad platform. Use e-commerce hosts like Shopify or WooCommerce for your online store, both solid integration options with e-commerce advertising platforms. These integrations foster a smooth connection between your customer data and purchase history. And you can leverage that intel to sharpen your advertising efforts.

If your ecommerce business doesn’t use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool like HubSpot (or if you have a custom site). You might have to take a few extra steps to sync your ads and reporting. It’s also smart to find a web hosting solution that simplifies mobile-first optimizations. Most traffic will likely come from mobile, so mobile-first conversion rate optimization is key. Ensure simple site navigation and integrate with search engines and social platforms where you’d potentially want to show your ads.

2. Understand Paid Search vs. Display Ads for Ecommerce

Which ad type should you choose? Ecommerce brands can certainly find success with paid search or PPC, particularly through dynamic search ads. These ads use content and keywords from your site to target your ads for the right people (all the more reason to have a strong ecommerce SEO marketing strategy). Add a thought-out description, and let the search engine handle the rest. Ecommerce brands can use dynamic remarketing (also called retargeting). These ads appear for people who have already visited one of your product pages (versus those who have clicked an ad).

Display ads offer plenty of opportunities to reach new potential audiences. These ads are a good budget-friendly option since you don’t have to have any other forms of advertising for them to work. You can run these on platforms like:

Google

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon

Display Ads and Shopping Ads for Effective E-commerce Advertising

Display ads don’t offer as much control over bidding as traditional ad campaigns, but they can be effective when paired with proper bidding strategies. Just make sure you’re using daily budgets. With proper feed management, shopping ads can be a highly effective (and lucrative) channel for your ecommerce advertising strategy.

Pro tip: Google recently started serving Shopping ads in organic search results, so if you’re already optimizing your ads and have a product feed set up through Google Merchant Center, you get additional opportunities to garner not only PPC traffic but even free traffic, too.

3. Determine Where Your Audience Already Shops to Boost ROI

Before you go all in on ecommerce ad platforms, understand where your audience regularly shops. The easier you make it for them to purchase your product or service, the higher ROI you’re likely to see. Google Ads will always be a pretty universal ecommerce platform and a great place to start. But to learn where else your audience shops, you can explore website analytics, keyword research, and social media monitoring.

Knowing your audiences can guide you toward the right platforms:

Bing could be more successful than Google, with an older user base 50+.

Instagram is probably better for Millennial audiences in their 30s-early 40s.

If they’re middle-aged, Facebook is likely better than Instagram.

If your audience is mostly male, Reddit Ads may be worth exploring.

TikTok and YouTube Ads will better reach Gen-Z thanks to their visual appeal.

Pinterest will likely land best with female audiences.

Be sure to study each platform’s performance to see if you have a viable audience there.

Data Requirements for Effective Ad Targeting

Google Ads usually needs to see at least 50 conversions before offering realistic audience data. The Facebook algorithm works best when it has time to optimize your ads with its audience pool. It typically needs about 50 conversions to understand who to serve the ads to. Say you found out that most of your audience is on Instagram.

Sperley’s advice? “Dedicate your budget to platforms you already know your audience uses, while keeping a test budget (about ¼ of your total budget), to test out a new platform,” she says.

Need help testing to see what’s working and where to pivot? When you partner with HawkSEM, you get a dedicated ads manager and access to our data-tracking tech system, ConversionIQ, speaking of testing.

4. Perform Tests to Keep Ads Optimized

A/B testing is one of the most effective ways to understand two important things:

How do ads perform on different platforms?

How do individual ad elements perform?

Eliminate variables and change one thing at a time to measure properly.

Does your audience prefer free two-day shipping or a coupon code?

Do they click more on white backgrounds or real-life images?

Consistent testing and measuring will help you answer these questions. Here’s what Sperley says about leaving room in your budget for testing: “It’s always important to test to further grow your digital marketing footprint,” she says. “But make sure that you don’t pull from what you know is working well for you.” With so much online shopping, having ads for your ecommerce brand just makes sense. (Image: Unsplash)

Pro tip: Before you begin, determine your goals. Especially if you work with an agency, everyone must be aligned on budget, KPIs, metrics, and what success looks like. Being on the same page ensures successful partnerships. Even if you’re just starting, look at your spending and product costs to determine what numbers would mean a successful campaign.

5. Know What Makes an Ecommerce Ad Successful

Regarding which ecommerce ads resonate best, feel free to be your test subject. Search for a common item like a blue t-shirt on Google or Amazon, then check the results. Which images and ad copy blurbs stand out most to you? The elements of a successful ecommerce ad will vary:

Product

Industry

Audience

But a few good rules of thumb will likely benefit brands across categories. Clear, high-quality images without cluttered backgrounds are a good place to start. From there, be sure your products are easy to view on smartphones as mobile commerce or m-commerce continues to rise in popularity.

Consider launching a dynamic landing page with flawless user experience, compelling copy, and engaging visuals that drive people to purchase. Social ads are a great option when working with a limited budget but want a decent-sized reach. For these ecommerce ad platforms, consider how to make your ad seamlessly fit in with organic posts. Depending on which site your ad will appear on, consider elements like:

Emojis

GIFs or videos

Hashtags

Platform-relevant verbiage like “Pins” on Pinterest

Of course, don’t forget to include a strong call to action (CTA).

Pro tip: Do you have a brick-and-mortar location? Ensure your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) page is set up correctly with the most up-to-date information and tags in place.

6. Don’t Forget About Seller Ratings

Seller ratings on your ads can be a game-changer for your CTR, especially if you’re in a competitive market. Peer recommendations, research, and product reviews are some of the most influential factors that affect purchasing decisions.

Ever opted for a product with 5 out of 5 stars over one with 3 out of 5? You know what we mean. For high ratings, follow these tips: Ensure product functionality before you ship, always incentivize customers to write reviews with a discount, Respond to all reviews, and rectify poor customer experiences.

7. Plan for Seasonality

Of course, shopping seasons ebb and flow depending on holidays and the time of year. That’s why it’s important to plan budgets and ad spending according to how your brand historically drives sales throughout the year.

For example, an ecommerce brand probably shouldn’t spend the same amount of money on ads in June that they might spend over Black Friday or Cyber Monday unless there’s a reason they drive huge sales during that time. Perhaps you sell winter boots or swimsuits. Allocate greater portions of your budget to drive sales during those impactful times of the year. During the slow months, pull back a bit to support your annual ROAS and overall profitability.

ShopHunter's Shopify sales tracker offers a unique tool for ecom founders, particularly those in the Shopify ecosystem. At its core, it is a custom algorithm that estimates sales for entire stores and specific products, helping users quickly validate product potential.

Powerful Tool for E-commerce Analysis

The platform goes beyond basic sales tracking, featuring an ad spy tool that monitors advertising activity across stores. This combination lets users spot trending products and successful marketing strategies early on. Whether you're a dropshipper, a Shopify store owner, or someone looking to enter the e-commerce space, ShopHunter aims to streamline product research and reduce the risk of investing in low-performing items.

Sign up for a free trial (no credit card required) to our Shopify sales tracker tool find your next eCom opportunity, or to level up your current eCommerce store by learning from your competitors.