$0.89
Avg CPC
-15% vs all ecommerce
1.91%
CTR
2.1%
Conv Rate
4.2x
Avg ROAS
+12% vs all ecommerce
$85
Avg AOV
$42
Avg CPA
Source: Common Thread Collective 2025
Different campaign types have vastly different CPCs for ecommerce. Here's what to expect:
Product-focused ads with high purchase intent. Best for catalog-based advertising with visual products.
Blends Shopping, Search, Display, and YouTube. CPC varies widely based on where Google shows your ads.
Your brand name keywords. Cheap CPCs but don't let PMax cannibalize these—run separately for control.
Generic product keywords. High competition drives up CPCs. Only profitable with high AOV or strong conversion rates.
Retarget cart abandoners with specific products. Low CPC because you're targeting warm audiences.
Focus your budget on these high-converting keywords:
Category + attribute searches (e.g., 'men's running shoes') have strong purchase intent and reasonable CPCs
Branded product searches convert at 8-12% and should always have dedicated campaigns
Use-case searches (e.g., 'gifts for runners') indicate purchase intent with less competition
Comparison searches show research phase but strong purchase timeline
Users searching alternatives are ready to buy, just need convincing
Lower CPCs = more clicks for your budget = better ROAS. Here are proven strategies:
[Gender/Audience] + [Product Type] + [Key Feature/Material] + [Brand] + [Size/Variant if space] Well-structured titles improve Quality Score and lower Shopping CPCs by 15-25%.
Create separate campaigns for Winners (high ROAS), Potentials (volume), and low performers. Bid aggressively on winners, conservatively on the rest.
Run branded keywords in a separate Search campaign. This prevents PMax from claiming credit for cheap brand clicks and inflating your actual CPC.
Fix disapproved products, add GTINs, include all recommended attributes. Higher feed quality = better auction eligibility = lower CPCs.
These keywords drain your budget with low purchase intent:
Zero purchase intent, wastes budget on freebie seekers
Users want to make it themselves, not buy
Informational intent—save for advertorial strategy, not direct product ads
Job seekers, not customers
Unless you're B2B, these are resellers not end customers
As you scale, your CPC dynamics change. Here's what to expect at each phase:
Foundation ($0-5K/month)
$1,500-5,000
Focus on profitability. Run Standard Shopping only until you hit 50 conversions/month. Use manual CPC or maximize clicks with CPC cap. Build conversion data before smart bidding.
Growth ($5K-25K/month)
$5,000-25,000
Add Performance Max with product segmentation (top sellers, new arrivals, clearance). Keep Standard Shopping as a control to verify PMax performance. Implement tROAS bidding once you have 30+ conversions per campaign.
Scale ($25K-100K/month)
$25,000-100,000
Expand PMax asset groups by category. Add YouTube/Demand Gen for awareness. Implement proper brand exclusions. Test advertorial strategy for 90% cheaper prospecting CPCs.
Enterprise ($100K+/month)
$100,000+
Multi-market expansion. Sophisticated feed optimization with supplemental feeds. Custom label strategies for margin-based bidding. Feed multiplication for carousel domination.