All You Need to Know About the Google Shopping Promo Code

There is a reason why big shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are characterized by deals, discounts, and sales. We all love deals – getting something for a cheaper price. In fact, we love deals so much that a significant number of shoppers have a favorite cashback site. Survey data shows that in 2018, 55% of shoppers in the US were highly likely to use cashback during a purchase.

As a merchant, you can add a Google Shopping promo code to your promotions on Google Merchant Center to allow shoppers to take advantage of discounts.

Continue reading to learn more.

What is a Google Shopping Promo Code?

This is a keyword or a set of characters that you add as part of your promotions in the Merchant Center. The code then gets listed on products that have promotions on Google Shopping Ads, which are characterized by a ‘special offer’ label.

Shoppers use the code at checkout in order to get their discounts or offers. Note that the promo code only shows after a shopper clicks on the product listing.

Google Shopping Promo Code vs Google Ads Promo Code

It is essential to differentiate between the foregoing concepts. While a Google Shopping promo code is created by the merchant for shoppers, a Google Ads promotional code is created by Google for the merchant.

Google has specific criteria that an advertiser has to meet to get credits. You are nonetheless more likely to get credits if you are a new Google Ads user (meaning that you actually have a new account and are running ads on it). Other factors like the country that you are in also determine whether you are eligible for promotions.

Why Should You Use a Google Shopping Promo Code?

There are several advantages of incorporating a promo code in your promotions. Let’s look at some below:

• Your Products Get to Stand out from the Rest

As we have mentioned, the promo code will be shown alongside a ‘special offer’ label on Google Shopping Campaigns and the Shopping Tab. This additional little feature is a small detail that can help your products stand out.

• Increased Conversions and CTRs

It is observed that adding a promo code could see your conversions increase by even 30%, and CTR (clickthrough rate) by 7%. The best part is that the ‘special offer’ label is seen on both desktop and mobile, so you are sure to capture your audience despite the device they are using.

How does a Google Shopping Promo Code Work?

By now you know that you need to be running promotions for you to incorporate a promotion code. And better still, you need to have active products on your Merchant Center feed.

If your Merchant Center is not set up, you need to do so first even before reading on. Google Ads must be set up too.

Let’s explore how these promo codes work:

Types of promotions

The first thing that you need to know is that there are different types of promotions accessible to you on the Merchant Center:

• Free shipping.
• Discounted shipping.
• Free gifts – this can be an item or a card whose value is specified.
• Discounts – this could be cashback, a certain percentage off, for example, 20% off, or an offer like buy one item and get one free.

You can use your Shopping Promo Code with any of the above promotion types.

Some Don’ts

Promotions on the Merchant Center have to be approved by Google. The following things may result in your promo being unapproved, meaning that you cannot reap the benefits of using your codes:

• If your promos run for over 6 months.
• If you have over 500 promos running simultaneously.
• If your product landing page already reflects the discount.
• If your promotions are too audience-specific, for example, for only first-time customers or 10% off when you complete a short survey at check-out. The promo code needs to be usable by everyone. However, promos for discounts for paid members is an exception.

How to Incorporate a Google Shopping Promo Code in Merchant Center

Let’s now look at how you can incorporate a promo code in your promotions.

• Log in to your Merchant Center.
• On the left panel, go to ‘growth’ then ‘Manage Programs’. You will see various options like ‘Free Product Listings’, ‘Shopping Ads’ and ‘Dynamic Remarketing’. Scroll down to ‘Promotions’.

• You will see a summary about ‘Promotions’. The last line states that you need to meet some requirements, followed by a ‘learn more’ hyperlink.
• Click ‘Get Started’ or the above-mentioned hyperlink to understand whether you are eligible to run promos.
• The link redirects you to a Google support page that further breaks down promotions. The feature is only available in the countries listed here: Australia, Germany, UK, Canada, US, France, and India.
• Here, you will also find a form that you will need to fill to express your interest in participating in Google Merchant Promotions.

• Some of the details that you need to enter here include:
• The reason why you are contacting the Merchant Center (choose ‘I want to enroll in Merchant Promotions’).
• Your contact name and email.
• A Google Ads customer ID (auto-fills since you are logged in) and a Merchant. Center account ID (find it at the top right of your Merchant Center account).
• A merchant name and URL.
• The name of the promotions management contact (in the Merchant information section).
• Region (if you are not in the above-named countries, then your country/region will not be on the dropdown list).
• A Google Account manager’s name and email.
• The feed agency.
• Be on the lookout for compulsory information (the one that is starred).
• The form is approved within 2 business days.

Note that you cannot proceed to set up promotions without approval from Google. As you await the approval, you can read on and get some information to help you be adequately prepared.

Google’s Definition of a Promotion

Well, it turns out that Google has its own definition. It is better to check your promotion against this list before you set it up on the Merchant Center.

Promotions must:

• Expire within 6 months of the start of the promo.
• Meet Google’s editorial standards and policies for promos.
• Be redeemable by the time a user makes a purchase or at checkout.

How about a promotion code?

By extension, the above definition can be applied to a promo code. For example, a promo code needs to have an expiration date. It is a good idea to have a shorter time frame for a promo code, as it creates a sense of urgency in the shoppers to take advantage of the promotion before it ends.

We could also ensure that a promo code is redeemable by the time a user makes a purchase, or at checkout.

In terms of editorial standards, you can call your promo code anything. A general rule of thumb is to make it easy for shoppers to remember and relatable to the promotion. You may go with something like HOLIDAY20, 20OFF, SAVE50, or LOVE.

HOLIDAY20 could mean that you are running a Christmas Holidays offer, while 20OFF may stand for a 20% off offer, and LOVE could be relevant to a brand selling flowers.

Creating a promotion

There are two ways to go about creating a promotion: using the promotions builder or via a promotions feed. Let’s explore each below:

Using the promotions builder

This option allows you to set up promotions individually and is ideal if you only have a few promotions to work with.

Here is how to use it to set up promos:

• Ensure that you are signed in to your Merchant Center account.
• On your navigation, go to ‘Marketing’ and then ‘Promotions’.
• Click the plus button (the blue one).
• Fill in the required fields – promo ID, target country, title, a Google Shopping Promotion Code, category, product availability as well as the dates and time zones where your promotion will run.

Promotion Categories Supported by The Promotion Builder

Note that the promotion builder only supports the following promotion categories: amount off, free gift, percent off, and free shipping. Here is a summary of each category:

• Amount off – the discount is a reduced amount from the usual selling price. For example, if you sell an item for $100, then a 20OFF‘amount off’ promotion would be $80.
• Free gift – this is a gift that a user does not pay for, and is a result of a purchase they make.
• Percent off – the discount is a reduced percentage from the usual selling price. For example, if you sell an item for $100, then a percent off promotion could be 20% off.
• Free shipping – this is where the shopper does not get to pay for shipping after purchase.

Why is it necessary to know the promo category to go with? Because every category has different options available.

• You may want to list specific products for promotions. In this case, choose ‘Create Custom Filters Based on Product Attributes’.
• Several attributes are available to help you choose the products that you want to choose to include in your promos: product_type, item_group_id, item_id, and brand.

Using a Promotions Feed

This option is ideal if you want to promote a large number of items. It basically involves submitting a spreadsheet (this could be an XML, Google Sheets, or .txt file) with all the information about the promos you want to run.

Ideally, your feed should be tab-delimited (an entry cannot take more than one line, each entry must have a similar number of fields, and the fields are separated by tabs).

Once you have your feed ready, you need to register it in the Merchant Center. The good thing is that you only need to register once for each country you want to run promotions in. Here is how to go about it:

How to Register Your Promotions Feed

• Ensure that you are signed in to the Merchant Center.
• Go to ‘Marketing’ then ‘Promotions’.
• In the right corner, click ‘Promotions Feeds’, then click the blue plus button.
• Enter the country of sale, the name of your feed, mode, and the language of your content.

Note:

• The country you choose affects your language. If your country of sale is France or Germany, then you must choose the language as French or German.
• On the other hand, if you choose Canada, your language options are English or French. If you want to run promotions in different languages, then you need to submit separate feeds for each of the languages.

• You then need to choose your input method (Google spreadsheets or other formats).
• If your feed is on a Google spreadsheet:
• Select ‘Google Sheets’.
• Click ‘Continue’.
• You can choose to have a Google spreadsheet generated from a template or use an existing one.
• If you go with the template option:
• Select ‘Promotions’ then choose ‘Feeds’.
• Select your feed.
• In the upper right hand corner, there are 3 vertical dots. Click on them and choose ‘Access Google Sheets’.
• A template is generated where you can enter your promo data.
• If you go with the ‘existing Google spreadsheet’ option:
• Navigate to your feed file on your computer.
• Click ‘Select’.
• Upload it to the Merchant Center.
• If your file’s feed is in another format (apart from spreadsheets):
• Select ‘Upload’ then choose ‘Continue’.
• Enter the name of the feed’s file.
• Choose ‘Upload a file now’.
• You can drag and drop your file into the dotted box or choose ‘Browse’ to allow you to access it on your computer. Click ‘Open’.
• Click ‘Continue’ to upload it to the Merchant Center.
• Note that you need to upload your feed on the same Merchant Center account your product feed is on.
• Your promotions must be reviewed by Google before they are displayed, based on two main criteria: policies and editorial requirements.

A Brief Look at Promotion Policies

Google uses policies to determine whether your promo is eligible. Here are some:

• Promotions must:
• Add value.
• Not be too restrictive.
• Comply with editorial requirements.
• Comply with redemption requirements.
• Clearly show what products have promos.
• Adhere to Google’s Shopping Ads policies.

A Word on Free Shipping and Google Shopping Promo Codes

As we mentioned, there are different kinds of promotions that you can use a promo code with. However, if you are using free shipping as a promo, then a promo code is a must-have, otherwise, your promo will fail to meet the first criterion of the promotion policy, ‘adding value’.

On the other hand, if you already offer free shipping on your website without any promo codes, then for your Google Promotions, you not only need to add a code but also cap the amount for which a shopper can get free shipping for.

For example, if you offer free shipping on your site if a customer spends $50 or more, then for your promotions you can add a promo code like FREE35 and have shoppers who spend $35 or more get free shipping.

Note:

• Free shipping in the case of Google promos can only be offered to items below the offered amount, which is $35 in our example.
• You cannot offer the free shipping promo on products that are priced above the ‘usual’ threshold, which is $50 in our example.
• The shipping offer must also apply to specific products.

Combined promotions

Sometimes, promotions may violate the just discussed promo policies when used in isolation. However, when combined with other promos, they can provide value to shoppers. Here are some examples:

• The free shipping promo can be combined with a percent off promo even without a code. For example, 15% off on all products with free shipping.
• A rebate (email or mail-in) and instant discount promo can also be combined, for example, a $20 rebate and $10 instant discount for a $200 purchase.

A Brief Look at Editorial Requirements

The final piece to ensuring that you submit promotions that Google will approve is ensuring that you meet the editorial requirements. Here, we briefly look at some of the editorial requirements:

The Title

• In terms of length, it must be less than or equal to 60 characters.
• Words or phrases should not be repeated, and unnecessary text is highly discouraged, for example, ‘buy more save more’.
• Specific details included in the redemption fields must not be included in the title. This means that we cannot include our Google Shopping Promo Code here.
• Specify the maximum discount possible, where you still have some characters left to your 60 character threshold. For example, 20% Off Refurbished Laptops (Maximum Discount $100).
• The title must adhere to grammar rules as well. It should not have typos and needs to be properly capitalized and punctuated, with proper spacing taken into account (extra space is also not allowed). However, commonly used abbreviations are allowed, for example, min and max.
• Other applicable grammar rules:
• Exclamation marks are not allowed.
• Symbols, letters, and numbers that depart from their meaning.
• Excessive capitalization is not allowed. For example, 20% OFF REFURBISHED LAPTOPS
• Repeated punctuation and symbols are not allowed, for example, ***Free Laptop Bag with purchase***
• You must specify your promo’s value in the title. Let’s break this down further:
• Do not add the promo code in the title.
• Free gifts must be specified, for example, Free Laptop Bag with Purchase.
• If you have a monetary discount, the currency must be region-appropriate.
• The specific discount or promotion must be specified in the title. Generic titles are not allowed, for example, ‘Christmas Sale’
• Clearly state when the discount is applicable. This means that:
• You need to match your title with the applicability that you set in the promo’s attributes. For example, if your title is ‘$10 Off All Orders’, ensure that your applicability is set to ‘All Products’.
• On the other hand, if the applicability is only for specific products, for example, ‘$50 Off Refurbished Laptops’, then ensure that your applicability attribute reflects ‘Specific Products’.
• If the discount is applicable after a purchase worth a certain amount, include it in the title. For example, $10 Off Purchases over $50. This way, the shopper sees that they have to make purchases worth at least $50.01 for the $10 discount to apply.
• Specify the minimum value possible, especially where the promotions are tiered, rather than the maximum value possible. Some examples include:
• $20+ off
• $20 – $25 off
• You can choose to submit tiered promotions as multiple promos instead, with the only difference being the value of the promotion.
• If you choose to submit one tiered promo instead, ensure that your title is a maximum of 60 characters and include the minimum value discussed above, for example, $15 Off $80+ (which is a ‘$15 off for a purchase of $80 and above’ shorthand)

Examples of great promo titles

So, how does a ‘Google appropriate’ for your promo look like? Here are some examples:

• $15 Off All Orders
• $20 – $25 Off $100+
• $10 Off purchases over $50
• Free $20 Voucher with Purchase

Approvals

Promo code approvals take 12 to 24 hours. You have an opportunity to make the recommended changes if your promos are not approved the first time.

Monitor Your Promo Performance

Once your promos have been approved, you can track how they are performing (especially where they will show in your Google Shopping campaigns). To do this:

• Go to your Ads account.
• Segment your active campaigns based on click type.
• You will see your Shopping Ads as well as those with promos (denoted by the promo code).
• Note that there is a possibility of the Shopping Campaigns with promos to have a higher number of clicks as shoppers will be attracted by the ‘special offer’ label. They may not have clicked the promo code, though.

Do I Get to Pay When I Use a Promo Code?

There is no extra fee for this, you are only being charged when the ad is clicked.

Wrap Up

The Google Shopping Promo Code may be a tiny detail in your Google promos strategy, but it can make a huge difference. It helps users feel like they are actually getting more value for their money. All you need to do is make it easy to remember and relatable to the promotion. Don’t forget to follow Google’s guidelines too. Even if the setup process may look long and complex, isn’t a 30% increase in conversion rate worth the effort?