How to master GWP promos without draining SEO & ad spend

A guide to promo automations without manual product creation & discount codes

Promotions are part of the package in ecommerce - they’re an enticing lure to reel in those proverbial fish (read: customers). Often, we see businesses set up gift-with-purchase offers around the EOY holiday season and other special occasions like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc.

But just like setting up a Christmas tree can lead to a tinsel explosion in your living room, poorly planned promotions can undermine your SEO performance and drain your ad spend.

Let’s useHAPP Brand’s storyto illustrate the challenge at hand. Mother’s Day is their biggest revenue-generator of the year as a motherhood accessory brand. Each year they launch a Diaper Bag gift-with-purchase (GWP) promotion, but to maintain their luxurious brand image, they’re a strictly no-discount code company.

HAPP’s GWP Promo

Their Mother’s Day GWP promo was simple and enticing: purchase a Diaper Bag and get a bag charm and chain for free.

Virtual bundling was initially the chosen route for HAPP. It involves grouping multiple items under a single new SKU. Simple, right? Well, not quite. While it might streamline the promotion process and incentivize bigger purchases,HAPP Brandencountered a serious hiccup.

Their star player, the 'Diaper Bag,' was incorporated into a virtual bundle with lure-the-customer-in promo products—a bag chain and charm. The problem? Google and Facebook couldn't recognize the original Diaper Bag product in this bundle, leaving their SEO and retargeting ads to be a serious drain on their bottom line.

“Google and Facebook don’t recognize the original Diaper Bag product. It hurt our ads badly; we were losing money and unable to retarget potential shoppers...”

The role of Google and Facebook in product recognition

Google and Facebook ads perform best when they can identify your individual products - it's like feeding your ads an SEO-healthy diet. They digest the information on each product, allowing for efficient spend and effective targeting based on users' preferences and habits.

But HAPP's virtual bundle confused these platforms. Their star product- the Diaper Bag, played hide-and-seek and was lost on the stage. Ad spending spiraled, and retargeting potential went missing.

Shining a light on automatic solutions

This scenario, while a hard pill to swallow for HAPP, led them to another path: Cleverific Order Editor's Shopify Flow promo automation workflow. This solution allowed them to automate their GWP promotions, saving ad resources and improving their SEO performance.

Cleverific's solution is designed for Shopify merchants, instilling an automated easy-breezy workflow. We're talking hands-free, mind-free, tension-free. When a customer purchases a product, any attached promo items are automatically added to their order, complete with their SKUs and subsequent discounts. Now, the spotlight's on every product, no more hide-and-seek!

Sticking to HAPP's example, if a customer purchased their star Diaper Bag, the bag chain and charm products are automatically added to the order with their accompanying SKUs and discount. Fulfillment is streamlined, SKUs are celebrated, and the shopping experience remains undeniably luxurious, without the necessity for manual promo additions or customer-reliant discount codes.

Luxury experience ≠ discount codes

Luxury brand positioning often steers clear of discount codes. With the automated system, you are no longer compelling your customers to remember and punch in codes at checkout. Instead, they enjoy a seamless, luxury experience as promos are directly added into their orders.

Avoiding SEO and ad spend pitfalls

The major hiccup HAPP Brand faced initially was damaging their SEO and wasting ad spend. Integrating Cleverific's promo workflow, however, tackles these issues head-on.

Since each promo item carries its own SKU and isn't masked within a bundle, Google can recognize and index the products more efficiently. The pot of gold at the end of that SEO rainbow? Improved organic rankings.

Furthermore, unlike the virtual bundle strategy, this automatic add-to-cart system doesn't cannibalize your ad spend or derail your retargeting efforts. You're getting more bang for your buck, and who doesn't love the sound of that?

SEO and ad spend best practices

While Cleverific Order Editor’s Shopify Flow workflow reduces risks, maintaining a regular health check on your SEO and ad spend strategies is key. Here are some actionable practices to optimize your promotion strategy:

1. Monitor your promo product’s rankingsTrack the SEO ranking of your promotional products. Free tools like Google Keyword Planner can be useful for checking how your items rank for relevant keywords. If the rankings dip, it's possible that Google isn't indexing your products correctly. Reach out to SEO experts or use Shopify’s SEO audit tools to fix these issues.
2. Target the right audienceEnsure your ads are reaching people most likely to purchase. If you're selling sophisticated watches, your ads should focus on an audience that values luxury items. You can micro-target with Facebook and Google ads based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. Regularly review and tweak these settings for better ad performance.
3. Optimize product descriptionsAdd high-ranking keywords to your product descriptions, make them engaging and appeasing for potential customers. The more relevant your descriptions, the better they'll perform in searches. Remember, though, stuffing keywords can have negative effects. It's about providing essential, valuable information—not just incorporating as many keywords as possible.
4. Use Google Ads’ ‘negative keywords’Minimize wasted ad spend by using Google Ads’ ‘Negative Keywords.’ These allow you to exclude certain search terms from triggering your ads—think of it as keeping unwanted guests from crashing your party. For example, if you’re selling 'luxury watches,’ you can add ‘cheap’ to your ‘Negative Keywords’ list to avoid attracting deal-seekers who are less likely to purchase.
5. Monitor ad spending regularlyCheck your ad spend on each platform you use—Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc. While it's tempting to 'set and forget' your ads, regular monitoring allows you to catch poor-performing ads before they drain your budget. Lower-performing ads could indicate issues with audience targeting, ad content, or bid amounts.
6. Harness the power of remarketingDon't overlook customers who showed interest but didn't finalize their purchase. Remarketing—targeting ads at people who've previously engaged with your website or app—can be a beneficial way to coax those potential buyers down the sales funnel.

Final thoughts

Just as a satisfied customer is more than the sum of their purchases, successful promotions are more than just a discount provided. HAPP Brand’s journey highlights this, underlining how a properly managed gift-with-purchase promotion can boost your customer's shopping experience, preserve your brand image, optimize your SEO, and protect your ad spend.

So whether you're an ecommerce newbie, or an experienced shark in the waters, take a leaf out of HAPP Brand's book—try implementing automatic promo product addition.