EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
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Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#2A bit of a misleading title. Ebay is questioning whether an big established, household brand like them still need to pay ads in Google search, because those users would come to them anyway.
In the same vein, google search ads probably have low value for facebook too.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#3Ironically, Google has been pushing brands way up in search for 4-5 years now, and it may come back to bite them. Many said it was due to brands being more profitable for Google, but long term it builds brands to the point of users bypassing Google. Ah the challenges of being both an 'impartial' judge of content and the world's largest ad engine.
Another thing is the price, it has skyrocketed lately. What may have made sense at $0.40 a click, no longer does at $2 a click.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#4A bit of a misleading title. Ebay is questioning whether an big established, household brand like them still need to pay ads in Google search, because those users would come to them anyway. In the same vein, google search ads probably have low value for facebook too.
I could imagine a user using Google just to circumvent the category hierarchy of a site like Ebay, e.g. searching for "Ebay washing machines". If this user clicks an ad on the result page, it is super painful for Ebay.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#5A bit of a misleading title. Ebay is questioning whether an big established, household brand like them still need to pay ads in Google search, because those users would come to them anyway. In the same vein, google search ads probably have low value for facebook too.
I could imagine a user using Google just to circumvent the category hierarchy of a site like Ebay, e.g. searching for "Ebay washing machines". If this user clicks an ad on the result page, it is super painful for Ebay.
It may have to do with search boxes being built in browsers already. Type and search, instead of going to ebay and then type-search. eBay may be bookmarked but it's still not as easy to pull up as searching from a browser's window.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#6I should disclose that I haven't shopped on eBay in many years.
Here's why, and why it's relevant:
I have a terrible experience on eBay.
The prices are great until the excessive shipping is added. Until payment I can generally get a response from the seller but after that it's like I don't exist. Then there are the outright scams.
And please note, I'm a _buyer_. I shudder to think that I should ever be a seller on eBay; sellers are left empty handed if a buyer claims "not as described." Example: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57352136-501465/paypa...
When I try to shop for something online, even adding "-eBay" to a google search to drop eBay listings can be risky (it will eliminate any page that mentions eBay).
I believe this is relevant because the study is basically claiming eBay is well known enough that they don't need to advertise on Google. I'd argue exactly the opposite is happening: eBay is hemorrhaging users and a successful marketing campaign could change that. eBay needs Google more than Google needs eBay.
Amazon (mentioned in the article) and Apple are definitely innovative in the retail space. I notice they focus on targeted ads more than eBay does, because eBay's model is more hands off. And I think a direct consequence is Amazon and Apple can make good use of Google ads.
There's nothing wrong with "hands off" automation of big parts of your business. It works for Google.
But I can't really take eBay's study very seriously: if there are lots of customers and businesses who have grown tired of eBay (and PayPal), their advertising has got to be hurting.
Straighten out your house, eBay, and then people will want to stop by.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#7I should disclose that I haven't shopped on eBay in many years. Here's why, and why it's relevant: I have a terrible experience on eBay. The prices are great until the excessive shipping is added. Until payment I can generally get a response from the seller but after that it's like I don't exist. Then there are the outright scams. And please note, I'm a _buyer_. I shudder to think that I should ever be a seller on eB…
I agree, eBay basically shares all of the bad aspects of a flea market with the faceless bureaucracy of the DMV. eBay cannot effectively police it's environment, and it's fee structure is outrageous.
If I want to deal with sketchy people to save a few bucks, Craigslist lets me do that with a higher chance of a positive outcome for $0.
Also, you can exclude ebay from search results by entering "-site:ebay.com"
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#8I should disclose that I haven't shopped on eBay in many years. Here's why, and why it's relevant: I have a terrible experience on eBay. The prices are great until the excessive shipping is added. Until payment I can generally get a response from the seller but after that it's like I don't exist. Then there are the outright scams. And please note, I'm a _buyer_. I shudder to think that I should ever be a seller on eB…
I agree, eBay basically shares all of the bad aspects of a flea market with the faceless bureaucracy of the DMV. eBay cannot effectively police it's environment, and it's fee structure is outrageous. If I want to deal with sketchy people to save a few bucks, Craigslist lets me do that with a higher chance of a positive outcome for $0. Also, you can exclude ebay from search results by entering "-site:ebay.com"
Thanks for the "-site:ebay.com"
I started with a longer paragraph there, talking about how annoying it is to go on google shopping, find a great price, then look to the right. Oh, eBay.
Then I edited down my wall of text.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#9A bit of a misleading title. Ebay is questioning whether an big established, household brand like them still need to pay ads in Google search, because those users would come to them anyway. In the same vein, google search ads probably have low value for facebook too.
Ebay's taken a bit of a scattershot approach to advertising on Google from what I can tell - they seem to have bought ads for a huge number of almost random keywords.
Re: EBay study questions value of Google's main ad service
#10So, a big company with a strong brand that a lot of people recognize did a study to see how effective their PPC ads are. During the course of this study, they discovered that buying these ads didn't cause an appreciable increase in sales...
Consumers go through stages until they finally adopt your product (if they ever do). In the beginning, they have never heard of you, so they certainly can't become customers. Then, they gain some basic awareness that you exist. Once they gain some basic awareness, some may choose to learn more about you. And, after they gain more knowledge, some people will choose to make a trial purchase. Finally, if your product/service is good (and the experience is good), some consumers will choose to adopt your service - they will become long term customers (and a good source of word of mouth)...
I'd argue that PPC is great for awareness, knowledge and even (maybe) convincing people to make a trial purchase. But after that, the company itself has to provide a good service. Further, it's rather obvious that once the marketplace knows that you exist and knows a bit about you, you won't gain as much from this type of advertising...