Outrun the competition with eBay Promote Your Listings

Many sellers find it difficult to climb the Best Match algorithm via organic search alone. That’s why eBay introduced Promote Your Listings – to help merchants increase exposure for popular, highly competitive items. And it seems to have worked – eBay report that Promote Your Listings have enabled merchants to boost visibility by up to 30%.

So - is it time you gave Promote Your Listings a whirl?

HOW DO THEY WORK?

Like Amazon Sponsored Ads and Google AdWords, Promote Your Listings are a form of paid advertising designed to help merchants boost visibility and brand awareness.

But Promote Your Listings have a unique advantage over these typical pay-perclick (PPC) models. With Sponsored Ads and AdWords, an advertiser pays when someone clicks on their ad. With Promote Your Listings however, you only pay when your item sells. You’re not charged until a buyer clicks and then actually purchases your products, within 30 days of clicking on the ad.

Promote Your Listings is essentially a low-risk form of advertising – because you don’t have to risk wasting money on clicks that aren’t converting (the ones that don’t add to your bottom line).

WHERE DO PROMOTE YOUR LISTINGS ADS SHOW UP?

Promote Your Listings help you put your best merchandise in front of people who are actively searching and shopping for those items. Ads show up in prominent positions in search on both desktop and mobile devices. They could appear on the Search Results page – as well as on other key pages – for example ‘View Item’ and ‘My eBay’ pages. On mobile they’ll appear at prime positions in search results.

There are more than 50 placements across desktop, mobile web and mobile app where Promote Your Listings can appear.

Ads will only appear on the site (e.g. UK) where you registered – not on other international eBay sites.

Some tips to help you get started with eBay

• USE PROMOTE YOUR LISTINGS FOR YOUR POPULAR ITEMS

  eBay advise that Promote Your Listings are best suited to your popular products rather than items that are lagging behind. If your conversion rate is low, Promote Your Listings may attract more traffic to these listings – but they’re unlikely to convert.

  So, think about the items that would benefit most from added exposure and traffic – taking into consideration the current sell-through rate of your products. Which of them are consistently strong? Consider Always On items, your bestsellers, or seasonal musthaves.

• CONSIDER NEW PRODUCTS

  Promote Your Listings could help convert items that are doing moderately well in
  organic search, turning them into star performers. They could also kick start sales for
  new listings - getting you an early foot up the search rankings.

• THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT YOUR AD RATE

  Your ad rate will play a big part in where and when your ads get seen so choose your ad rate with care. Checkout the current ad-rate averages for each category before listing so you can see what other sellers are spending to help you decide.4 In general, it makes sense to invest more heavily in items that have lots of competition.

• MAKE SURE ADS ARE RELEVANT TO A BUYER’S SEARCH

  While ad rate is important, it’s not the only thing to bear in mind. To get your ads shown your items must also be relevant to the buyer’s search. Ensure your listings are fully optimised, in the right category with the relevant keywords in the item title. Your picture should be top quality too – and don’t forget to include all required product identifiers.

• PLAN AHEAD

  Plan your promotions ahead and create targeted campaigns to coincide with holidays, events and seasons to attract motivated buyers. For example, the start of the fashion season or an upcoming special event (maybe a Royal wedding?) Ask yourself if your products could tie in?

• STAY COMPETITIVE BY CHECKING YOUR PERFORMANCE

  Check your campaigns regularly and tweak ad rates to remain competitive. Keep testing new inventory and adding new listings to your campaigns. There’s no risk involved, because you only pay when you sell. ChannelAdvisor can take over this time-consuming task for you, with filters that can scale your campaigns automatically – adding or removing items according to the criteria you initially set.

What else should you know about Promote Your Listings?

• Promote Your Listings are currently available to all active eBay Stores subscribers in the UK.
• You don’t have to have a high-ranking in Best Match to use Promote Your Listings (the increased exposure can, however help boost your Best Match rankings).
• You can’t use Promote Your Listings for auctions. They’re not highly suitable for rare, collectors’ edition or limited-edition items. Which makes sense – if you’re selling something highly specific these items will likely show up in search to interested buyers – so no need for an extra promotional push.

Summing it up…

Promote Your Listings offer a great way to boost your brand on eBay. If you select the appropriate items and set your ad
rate with care you have little to lose, and potentially lots to gain.

For more information about how ChannelAdvisor can help you navigate the world of marketplaces, get in touch.