Hey there!
I'm Benjamin from Loves Data.
In this video you're going to learn how to use Countdown Customizers in Google AdWords.
Using a countdown customizer in your text ads allows you to include dynamic details
about when an event is going to take place.
For example, we can use a countdown customizer to highlight when a sale is ending, when a
product is launching or anything other event.
The countdown will automatically update depending on when someone sees our ad.
So let's take a look at countdown customizers...
Let's get started!
// Here are two examples of ads that include a countdown customizer...
We can see that the ad on the left says that sale ends in 3 days and the ad on the right
tells us that there's a free webinar in 3 days time.
And here's what happens if we saw these ads the next day...
We can see that now the ads says 2 days instead of 3...
And in the hours leading up to our specified date and time the ads will look like this...
We can see that they now say 4 hours.
As we can see, using the countdown customizers can make our ads more dynamic and more engaging
as people see our ads.
So let's head to Google AdWords to see how e add a countdown customizer to our ads...
The first thing we need to do is create a new ad, so let's select a campaign...
Then an ad group...
And select 'ads and extensions'...
Now we can create a new ad...
We need to create a text ad.
We can add the customizer to the headings or the description of our ad.
So let's start by adding in a description...
And then let's add an opening curly bracket to our description.
We can see that we can select from different types of ad customizers.
We can choose from 'keyword insertion', 'countdown' or 'if function'.
Let's select 'countdown'.
We can now set the date and time that our countdown ends and when we want the countdown
to start.
Your ad will only start showing during this period, so if you leave the default of '5
days', then the ad will only be shown for those 5 days leading up to your event.
Your ad will also automatically stop showing once the event's date and time has been reached.
You can also choose if you would like the countdown to be based on the timezone of your
AdWords account or the timezone of the person viewing the ad.
If you're running a sale or promotion that hasn't been scheduled at different times around
the world, then you will probably want to use the timezone of your account, so that
people only see the ad when the promotion is available.
Then when you're happy you can click apply.
The ad now includes the countdown customizer.
You can also use this function without needing to use the visual editor in AdWords, but as
we've seen, it does make it easy to get your ads up and running quickly.
So that's how you can add a simple countdown to your text ads in Google AdWords.
You can also use a countdown customizer for recurring events.
This is useful if you have a series of events or promotions that you have planned.
This requires a little bit more work, but let's take a look...
First you'll need to map out all of the events and dates you want to include in your ad.
We need to create a spreadsheet that includes these details.
In this example we can see we have a series of promotions we are going to run during the
year.
We have a column for the promotion and a column for the date the promotion ends.
It's important that the date is in the right format.
It needs to be year, followed by month, then day and then time in 24 hour format.
This file is actually a different type of customization.
This is an example of an 'ad customizer' and now that we've created our spreadsheet we
need to head back into Google AdWords...
And we need to upload this into the 'business data' section of AdWords...
You'll find this under 'setup' on the right of the tools and settings menu.
We need to name the ad customizer data source.
Now we can preview the ad customizer data...
And we can see that looks correct, so let's apply this.
Now let's head back to our ad group and create another ad...
And let's add an opening curly bracket to the ad...
We can now see there is an additional option that let's us pull in our ad customizer which
we just uploaded.
So let's select this option...
And select the data source...
And we can now choose the name of the promotion.
Let's add 'ends in' and now let's add opening curly bracket, equals, countdown, open bracket,
promotions, dot, date.
This will allow us to countdown to the date and time.
We can then add comma, the language in quotes, comma, and the number of days before the date
that we want the ad to start displaying.
That's it!
You can even enter additional promotions and dates to the business data.
You have the option of adding new rows manually or uploading another file.
// So that's how you can use a countdown customizer to make your ads more dynamic and engaging.
And as we've seen you can even use the countdown customizer for recurring events and promotions.
Just remember that your ads will only show for the days before the event that you've
specified and will automatically stop showing when the event date and time is reached.
So just make sure you're ready with other ads when your customized ads aren't running.
Are you using countdown customizers with your ads?
Have a countdown idea you'd like to share?
I'd love to know!
Let me know in the comments below!
And if you found this video helpful, then please like it, so I know to make more videos
like this.
See you next time!