Omnichannel bidding uses Google AI to meet customers where they shop, both online and in stores. Omnichannel bidding helps you maximize your return on investment by combining your online and offline goals.
On this page
- Benefits of omnichannel bidding
- When to use omnichannel bidding
- Get started with omnichannel bidding
- Keep in mind when setting up omnichannel bidding
Benefits of omnichannel bidding
You can maximize your digital marketing investments with omnichannel bidding. Omnichannel bidding blends online goals, such as e-commerce purchases, with offline goals like click to call, get directions, store visits, or store sales.
Google AI can identify the most relevant users by incorporating both online and offline conversion actions into your Smart Bidding strategies. This approach allows you to optimize for total omnichannel value.
Take into consideration: On average, advertisers who use omnichannel Smart Bidding with store conversions see a 15% increase in omni ROAS at a similar cost.1
1Google Data, Global, Mar 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2024. This claim was developed using Google recommended Store Visit Value.
When to use omnichannel bidding
Use omnichannel bidding when you want to reach potential customers who may visit your website or visit in person. Omnichannel bidding allows you to reach potential customers online and give them reasons to visit your physical stores to make purchases.
Get started with omnichannel bidding
To set up omnichannel bidding, focus on measuring your valuable offline interactions. Then integrate them into your Google Ads campaigns.
Measure store goals and assign a value
Choose which store conversion type you want to optimize toward, make sure you meet eligibility requirements, and assign a value. These store conversion types include:
- Local actions: Measure local engagements, such as call and direction requests for your physical store. Learn more about local actions conversions.
- Store visits: Measures foot traffic to your physical locations. Learn more about store visit conversions.
- Store sales: Tracks in-store transactions completed after an ad engagement. Learn more about Google Ads store sales measurement.
Set your account or campaign conversion goals
When you set up or edit your campaigns, you can add local actions, store visits, or store sales. These can be added as campaign-level or account-level goals. Learn more About campaign-specific conversion goals and About account-default conversion goals.
Select a compatible bidding strategy and campaign
Omnichannel goals work with various campaign types and Smart Bidding strategies. Depending on whether you want to optimize for conversion counts or values, you can choose:
- Conversion-based bidding
- Target CPA (tCPA)
- Maximize conversions
- Value-based bidding
- Target ROAS (tROAS)
- Maximize conversion value
Compatible campaign types and conversion goals
| Campaign type | Local actions: Get directions | Local actions: Click to call | Store visits | Store sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance Max | ||||
| Search | ||||
| Shopping | ||||
| Display | ||||
| Demand Gen | ||||
| App |
Keep in mind when setting up omnichannel bidding
When you use omnichannel bidding and follow these best practices, you can gain a more comprehensive understanding of your digital advertising's impact and effectively optimize for increased sales across all your channels.
Best practices for setting up omnichannel bidding
- Choose the most relevant offline action: Consider whether your business objectives align better with store visits or store sales.
- Set store goal values strategically: Optimize your store goal values to align with your overall omnichannel goals.
- You can choose discounted, balanced, or full store goal values depending on your focus. Learn more about store visit conversion value.
- For store sales, consider using dynamic values for the most accurate representation of offline revenue. Learn more about Google Ads store sales measurement.
- Tip: Avoid setting low store values to prevent undervaluation of your offline action.
- Review store conversion window settings: Google recommends a 1-week conversion window for omnichannel Smart Bidding. This allows the bidding system to react quickly to recent behavior. Adjust this based on your typical purchase cycle.
- Plan campaigns and targets thoughtfully: Consider which campaigns have a strong in-store performance compared to online and start with those. You can bid at the account or individual campaign level.
- When adding offline goals to existing online campaigns and using ROI targets, adjust targets gradually over time.
- Allow 1-2 conversion cycles for Smart Bidding to hit new targets.
- Performance planner and target simulators: Use these tools to plan for a given budget or to target campaigns with existing omnichannel goals. Learn more About Performance Planner.
- Align targets with historical performance: When beginning, align omnichannel targets with your historical performance. You can calculate your historical omnichannel ROI using these formulas.
- CPA target = cost / (all conversions used in bid optimization + store visits/sales/local action)
- ROAS target = (conversion value of all conversions used in bid optimization + store visits/sales/local action * current conversion value per store visit) * 100 / cost
- If you want to use omnibidding with store visits or store sales, make sure to use data from at least a 30-day period before the conversion delay. For example, if your store visit conversion window and maximum online conversion delay is 30 days, set the historical period to be from 60 to 30 days ago.
- Consider using conversion value rules: Further customize your store goals with conversion value rules to adjust values based on specific conditions. For example, you can increase the store conversion value for higher value categories. Learn more About conversion value rules.
Best practices for performance evaluation
- Evaluate performance holistically: Assess results based on omnichannel success metrics. Keep in mind that there might be a shift in conversion volume between online and offline.
- Allow time for the bid strategy to adjust: It takes time for Smart Bidding to learn and optimize to the new conversion goals.
- If ROI targets are set, allow 1-2 conversion cycles to reach your new targets.
- Evaluate performance for at least 4-6 conversion cycles after the learning period has ended.
- Monitor reporting delays: Store visits and store sales conversions may have longer reporting delays.
