How does the 20% discount work?

Modified on Mon, 22 May 2023 at 08:39 AM

By using Producthero CSS, you save up to 20% on your CPC bid because Google Shopping uses a margin. CSS partners get an advantage to be able to "compete" against Google Shopping CSS. Shopping campaigns work just like Google AdWords through an auction in which the advertiser can bid on the cost-per-click that he wishes to pay. Because of this discount, you can achieve a better position amongst ads and get a higher number of impressions. 


In practice, this means a bid of 
0.80 via a CSS partner has the same value as a bid of 1.00 via Google Shopping CSS. This means an advertiser has to bid 25% more via Google Shopping to match a bid via a CSS partner. More information about the 20% CSS discount can be found in this article.

How you notice the effect of the discount

The most frequently asked question is how you see the discount in your account. The 20% discount on the CPC is not an amount that is refunded or displayed in your Google Ads account. It is a bidding advantage compared to Google CSS. The effect is the same as if you were to stay with Google CSS and increase your bids by 25%. You realise better positions of your product displays and you will be included in more auctions because your bid is higher. The number of your campaign(s) displays will therefore increase. In short; switching to a CSS-partner while leaving your bids untouched results in higher volume. Lowering your bids results in the same results against a lower CPC.


The volume increased by raising your bids in shopping campaigns can be visualized by an S-curve. This is because higher bids bring you into new keyword auctions. What basically happens is visualized in the charge below: the chart moves to the left.


When you switch to a CSS-partner, the S-curve moves to the left. The absolute and relative effect of the 20% CSS-discount depends on where you are on the curve. The effect is the CSS-partner discount can depend on the level of your bids or CPA/ROAS goals. You can read more about the effect of the 20% discount in this article.



The benefits of the 20% CSS discount:

  1. Better position of your ads

  2. More revenue whilst keeping the same ROAS-target

  3. More efficiency when increasing your ROAS-target

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