Partner Article

Smartwatch PPC battle heats up as US retailers hog the eyeballs and clicks

Smartwatches are currently one of the most eagerly sought after tech products, and with NextMarket Insights predicting an increase in sales from 15 million devices in 2015 to 373 million by 2020, the craze has yet to reach its peak. Apple has yet to officially reveal its iWatch and we are still at the very beginning of an upward curve. Despite intense media interest and surging consumer demand, many retailers still struggle when it comes to how they should effectively advertise smartwatches. In PPC specifically, there is a lot UK retailers can learn by analysing the approach of US commerce heavyweights such as Amazon and Best Buy.

Although search traffic for the smartwatch is predominantly coming from the US, European search traffic, specifically from the UK, is growing rapidly. In the past 12 months, UK search traffic for the term “smartwatch” has increased by 34%, according to Google Trends. For the term “iWatch”, results have almost doubled in the past year. Research from deltamethod show that on average there are 143,700 monthly searches for the term “smartwatch”.

With strong growth in consumer interest plainly evident, it is becoming increasingly clear that UK retailers need to strike while the iron is hot in order to make the most of growing smartwatch demand.

In the US, Amazon, Pebble and Best Buy are leading the way when it comes to identifying relevant smartwatch traffic and tapping into it. For example, Amazon ads are triggered for nearly 40% of all smartwatch related searches. While Amazon generates plenty of AdWord coverage, its ads aren’t the top performers when it comes to relevance and quality. Instead, retailer Target has the most effective approach when it comes to matching the searched keyword with a fitting ad and linking to a landing page which is highly relevant to the keyword and displayed ad.

UK businesses looking to take full advantage of smartwatch demand would do well to take note of the successes and failings of US commerce giants such as Amazon, Best Buy and Target. There are several key takeaways.

Firstly, as with all campaigns it is important to optimise your landing pages. By improving the link between your keywords and corresponding landing pages you will greatly increase your conversion rates and increase your AdScore, lowering your CPC. In order to do this, ensure you create highly specific ads for each well performing keyword in your portfolio and link those keywords to the most relevant landing pages you have on the website.

The second top tip to bear in mind is the importance of continually refining your keywords. This will involve staying up to date on breaking developments and amending your campaigns to reflect the changing demands of the market. A great way to do this is to monitor your competitor’s websites and ads. By staying abreast of all related news you will be able to quickly and deftly cater for new search terms while also deleting any irrelevant and potentially costly keywords.

As with many AdWords campaigns, the key to cracking the smartwatch market rests on tracking the actions of your competitors and understanding the needs of your customers. With new products being announced constantly, smaller businesses often face an uphill struggle when it comes to catering for consumer demand. However, smaller retailers do have one advantage in that the market is still relatively unknown, this is proven by the continued struggles both American and European e-commerce outlets face with their coverage of relevant keywords for smartwatches. Also, with companies such as Apple yet to play their hand, the market could effectively be reshaped overnight. As a result of these factors, smaller retailers which are agile enough to adapt their AdWords campaign in order to capitalise on last minute developments stand a good chance of equalling, if not beating some of the major commerce players.

Elias Russezki is Managing Partner of deltamethod

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Elias Russezki .