eCommerce Pay-Per-Click Benchmarks

If you’re looking to grow and scale your eCommerce brand effectively, one of the most important elements that you need to incorporate into your digital marketing plan is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. But it can sometimes be difficult to tell what a successful campaign looks like or what you’re even shooting for if you aren’t familiar with the process.

Don’t worry! Our CAKE team totally understands. That’s why we’re publishing this report with information on various Google Ads benchmarks our clients have hit and why the process works so well for their online stores. By giving you the clearest and most transparent information possible, we’re able to help you improve your own marketing while looking at the possibilities of where you could be after working with our team.

Check out the results our CAKE customers are seeing with Google Ads and learn why this is such an important part of the perfect omnichannel marketing mix.

Average Cost Per Click in Google Ads by Industry

When it comes to Google Ads industry benchmarks, cost per click (CPC) is another really important metric to pay attention to. Essentially, this is how much it costs each time someone clicks on your advertisement. If this number is too high, it can really affect your bottom line and your overall digital marketing budget.

Cost Per Click By Industry

The average CPC across all industries is $1.27, with the most expensive being in the Home Goods industry at $1.97. While the lowest CPC was the Apparel & Accessories industry with $0.75.

 

Average Click-Through Rate in Google Ads by Industry

It’s also important to pay attention to average click-through rate (CTR). This figure takes into account the number of people who are actually clicking on your ad versus the ones that see it and take no action. A low CTR is sometimes a sign of a struggling campaign, but not always, depending on other factors such as cost per click and your overall conversion rate.

Average Click-Through Rate By Industry

The average CTR across all industries is 8.36%.

Wondering which industry came in with the highest CTR? At 20.57%, Apparel & Accessories had by far the sweetest results. This coincides with their super low CPCs during Q1, as they could get more clicks for cheap.

The Home Goods industry came in at 4.38%, with the lowest CTR. We are starting to see the weather warm up, so people are no longer focused on the interior of their homes.

Average Return on Ad Spend in Google Ads by Industry

Finally, we have the really sugary sweet data that tells us if a Google Ad campaign is working. Average return on ad spend (ROAS) is a benchmark used to measure how much money an eCommerce store earns for every dollar spent on paid advertising. For some clients, this is the absolute most important metric we track, as it tells them whether or not their money is actually gaining them new customers and bigger orders.

Average ROAS By Industry

The average ROAS across all industries was 3.99.

For us, it was not all that shocking that the Interior Design + Furniture industry had the highest ROAS of 13.99. The high price point of these products leads to naturally high returns.

The Nutrition + Food industry, however, had a 1.32 ROAS, which was one of the lowest. As we mentioned before, this industry sees very little activity during the warmer months, so it’s more than likely that users are clicking and not purchasing currently.

Why Does Benchmarking Matter?

There are many reasons why PPC industry benchmarks matter. First, having our finger on the pulse of paid advertising trends is important for us to know as an agency. That’s why we are constantly tracking various elements to ensure our clients’ paid marketing campaigns are as successful as possible.

This report is designed to help businesses and decision-makers view what competitors and other organizations in the same niche are experiencing with Google Ads. The data shown is designed to give an idea of whether this marketing channel is successful and help you determine if you should consider adding it to your marketing mix.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Now that we’ve given you all the good information, it is time to go over a few questions you might have.

Where Does This Data Come From? 

All of the information in this digital marketing benchmark report comes directly from Google Ads. For clarity, we’ve broken down the information into the industries and niche categories as seen above.

How Should an eCommerce Brand Use This Information? 

If you're an eCommerce brand in one of the industries mentioned in this Google Ads benchmark report, it is a good idea to compare what you see here to the results you’re currently getting with your campaigns. If there’s a big discrepancy between the numbers, it might be time to get in touch with us to discuss how CAKE can help make an improvement in your results.

What is the Most Important Benchmark Metric to Pay Attention To? 

While each of these metrics is really important to track, the biggest and most key factor is ROAS. If you know approximately how much you’re making on each ad dollar spent, you can make decisions to scale up your campaigns for even more success. Or, you can also go the opposite way and quit funneling your paid advertising budget into something that has a low return.

Does Cost Per Action Mean Sale? 

Sometimes with eCommerce, CPA can mean a customer buys an item. But this isn’t always the case. Certain marketing campaigns are geared at getting users to take other actions, such as joining an email list or downloading a coupon. This really depends on what part of the customer journey you’re driving traffic to for that particular campaign.

What is the Current State of Paid Advertising and Should eCommerce Brands Still Use PPC?

Overall, paid advertising is still an incredibly strong method for advertising your online store. However, best practices have changed over the last few years, so it is always important to make sure you’re up-to-date with the latest methods before engaging in a PPC campaign.

Working with CAKE to Improve Your PPC Results

Of course, the data in this report comes directly from clients we’ve worked with here at CAKE Commerce. These eCommerce brands are not engaging in Pay-Per-Click advertising alone and they have the backing of our entire team to ensure their campaigns are as sweet and successful as can be. In order to see similar results, it is highly advised to work with a professional team to create campaigns that encompass all best practices for eCommerce success.

If you have questions about other benchmarks or if you would like us to compare your results against the benchmarks, please contact us for a free consultation.