In 2011, with 13 years of interior design and window covering work under her belt, Sandra Anderson set off on her own to start Anderson Custom Window Coverings, Inc. She offered high quality support at a lower cost than many competitors, and was driven to get things right on the first try. But when she opened her business, she found it difficult to bring customers through the door with traditional methods like flyers and a listing in the phone book. That’s when Sandra decided to try Google advertising.
Today, Sandra says 80% of her new customers come from Google ads, and she relies on AdWords Express, our smart advertising tool, to manage campaigns for her so she can focus on running her business. For small businesses without a professional marketer on staff, AdWords Express can lighten the load – and over the last year, the number of businesses using AdWords Express has nearly doubled, with more signing up every day.
We’re thrilled to see business owners finding success with AdWords Express, and are determined to make it a one-stop shop for helping to grow your business. To reach this goal, we’re introducing 3 new features to help you reach a larger audience and understand exactly how your ad is impacting your business.
- Ad Scheduling – Choose to run your ad at specific timesNearly one third of searches for local businesses in the US come from consumers who want to make a purchase immediately.1 Ad scheduling is a simple way to make sure your ad only runs at times you choose, (during your hours of operation, for example), so you reach your customers at exactly the right time.
You can choose custom hours or link to your Google My Business account to automatically run your ad only during your business hours. - Map Actions – Understand how your ads drive people to your store
Map Actions shows you how many customers who’ve viewed your ad go on to view your business on Google Maps – which can be vital, since over 1/3 of visitors in the US use online maps to find local businesses.2 If you care about whether your ads drive people to your storefront, Map Actions might just be your favorite new tool.
Map actions shows how many customers interacted with your
Google Maps listing after viewing your ad. - Verified Calls – Get better call tracking
Right now we’re piloting a new way for advertisers to track which phone calls they receive come from customers who clicked “Call now” on an ad on their mobile phones. Advertisers who opt into Verified Calls will also see detailed information about incoming calls, including the area codes and call duration. We’ve already rolled this out to many AdWords Express advertisers, and hope to expand it to all users soon.
New insights into verified calls allow you to see time, duration, and location of each call along with overall trends in call volumes.
1. Google Consumer Barometer
2. Google Consumer Barometer
