Google Digital Agencies offer Google Shopping management services for online retailers. They create and manage Google Shopping Campaigns and promise to generate profitable returns with their experience and ‘proven’ strategies so that you can focus on generating revenue elsewhere.
In other words, they’re the people you go to when you’re struggling to make sense of the constantly evolving Google Shopping Ads strategies and the latest platform changes.
But are these so-called experts really all they’re cracked up to be? Or, are they cheating you out of your hard-earned money? Let’s talk about it:
Google Shopping Agencies 101
We know that Google Shopping campaigns are a great way of drawing in more traffic to your store. And not just any traffic either, but traffic that has a very high chance of converting. But what are these Google Shopping Agencies actually doing to achieve such ends?
Well, it can depend. There are many Google Digital Agencies out there. Some promise everything from Google Campaign Setup, Product Feed Optimization, Insights, Negative Keyword Targeting, etc. at various intervals, pricing plans, and business models.
The better question is: Is it worth trusting them? Or are you better off going your own way and trying out an automatic bidding solution like Bidbrain™? Let’s break down the pros and cons.
The Good
When it’s good, it’s good. There are Google Digital Agencies out there that boast incredibly high success rates. So, it’s not like the prospect of trusting one of them is totally unreasonable. They can be reliable. And, it’s convenient that they take over not only the management of your campaign strategies but also execute them in a way that promises the best results. Allowing you to find some peace of mind and to expend your efforts elsewhere.
Some agencies are even titled as “Google Premier Partners” which is a certification that Google reserves only for agencies that have proven to be credible sources for such success. So, it’s not all bad. You can expect a certain level of success while working with these agencies. It’s just a matter of how much trust you’re willing to put on an unaffiliated third-party. This brings us to our next point of discussion.
The Bad
To get anywhere with one of these Google Digital Agencies you would have to be willing to put 100% of your trust in their service and remain confident that every single thing that they are doing is for the sake of your business and your brand.
What’s more, a question can be raised as to whether the money that they’re asking for in exchange for their services, is even equal in value. They claim that they work tirelessly to optimize your campaigns to the best of their abilities, but what’s stopping them from just turning on Google Smart Shopping and taking advantage of the advanced algorithms offered there? In fact, quite suspiciously, in most cases, the successes that these agencies boast so proudly are equal to the success one might expect when using Google’s Smart Shopping tools.
And this isn’t even considering how suspicious Google’s Smart Shopping already is with its unreliable black-box bidding methods that Google refuses to share with anyone.
The Ugly Truth
When it comes down to it, it’s very difficult to say whether or not you should hire a Google Digital Agency for the sake of your online retail store.
They can promise you some level of success. But, the ugly truth is that a lot of these digital agencies just turn on Google’s own Smart Bidding tools and then claim that they’ve optimized your account. When, in reality, you can have done the exact same thing yourself easily without having to pay for a retainer or a fee in order to get the same result.
If this is not something you want to risk, then it’s better to use the best-in-breed method and try out a product like Bidbrain™ that you can utilize to get the results that you want.
At least then, you’ll have full control over how your campaign is going. You’ll know exactly how the tool’s AI is bidding for you, and even gain additional insights as to how future campaigns may go. CEO Fredrik Lindros also describes the expected results of using Bidbrain as follows: “Bidbrain, in the hands of our customers, can multiply sales up to 5 times at the same CoS or ROAS percentage. With average results boasting at least a 10-40% increase of sales (at the same CoS/ROAS %), or a reduction in CoS at a given amount of sales.”