Running promotions on your Google Shopping Ads can be a great way to attract more customers, increase basket size, and set your listings apart from the competition by displaying special offers to buyers on Google.com & Google Shopping (or replicating other channel promotions). Merchant promotions are a free feature of Google Shopping, setting up product promotions is easy and once added, your "special offer" will be shown to buyers with a link to view and take advantage of the promotion.

Merchant promotions are currently available in Australia, France, Germany, India, the UK, Canada, and the US. 

 

*Stat* Google research shows Shopping ads with promotions see an average +28% uplift in conversion.

 

Benefits

1. Increase your clickthrough rate by highlighting your shopping ads with promotional offers, driving increased traffic through to your website
2. Increase your Google Shopping conversions by providing customers with a reason to "buy now" to receive a special offer
3. Engage customers that are multi-screen browsing with special offer link shown in various places across devices and desktops
4. The simplified setup of promotions makes it easy to launch and manage special offers

More information about Merchant promotions basics.

 

Criteria to participate 

Merchants must meet the following criteria in order to use merchant promotions:

1. Promotion must be redeemable at the time of purchase
2. Expire within 6 months (183 days) from launch
3. Comply with all merchant promotions policies and editorial requirements

Brands & retailers also need to ensure to create promotion types that can be redeemed by anyone shopping through Google. Avoid creating promotions at targeted groups of buyers (such as first-time buyers)

For more information on participation criteria & policies.

 

Promotion types allowed

Below are the promotions types available. You can have 500 open promotions at any given time. It is also important to note that any promotion must state the floor discount. 

Promotion	Type	Additional details
Discounts	% off or $ off the price	Must be at least $5 or %5 off
	x% off, maximum discount $y
	$x off $50+, $y off $100, or $z off $150	Setup tier-based discounts when customer spend more
	x% to y% off	Must state floor discount (i.e. minimum $ or % saved)
	Buy one get one free or buy one get 2nd x% off
	$x cash back or $x cash rebates	Must be reflecting at cart/checkout
Free gifts	Free item	The free item must be clearly stated. Free item cannot be a sample or trial
	$x gift card on purchase	The gift card must be for your store and the card value clearly stated in the promotion title
Shipping	Free or discounted shipping	Must have active/valid redemption code unless the promotion is combined with another promotion (free shipping + 15% off)

 

Merchant promotions implementation

With Codisto, you'll only need to create your promotions in Google Merchant Center (GMC). Use Promotions builder in GMC to create a promotion manually, you'll then have full control over which products are participating from within Codisto.

Note: Cost per click (CPC) rates still apply.

1. Sign in to Google Merchant Center
2. Click marketing in the navigation menu, then click promotions
3. Click the blue + icon
4. Choose the promotion categories that best match your promotion. 
5. Follow the prompts and then save

For a detailed summary of creating promotions in GMC.