Do you have a discount code you'd like to showcase to attract more potential buyers and make your ads stand out? Google Merchant Center promotions are designed to help you do just that!
At the time of writing this article, Google supports the following promotion types:
- Amount off
a) Amount off - Offer a fixed monetary discount on products.
b) Buy quantity of products, get amount off - Provide a fixed monetary discount to customers when they purchase a specified quantity.
c) Buy quantity of products, get the same item at a discount - Offer a discount on an additional item of the same product when customers purchase a specified quantity. - Percentage off
a) Percentage off - Apply a percentage discount on products.
b) Buy quantity of products, get percent off - Provide a percentage discount when customers purchase a specified quantity of products.
c) Buy quantity of products, get the same item at a percent off - Offer a percentage discount on an additional item of the same product when customers purchase a specified. - Free gift
a) Get a free gift - Include a free gift with the customer’s purchase. A minimum purchase amount or quantity can be set as a requirement.
b) Get a gift card - Offer a free gift card with the purchase. A minimum purchase amount or quantity can be specified.
c) Give a free gift from your inventory - Add a free product from your inventory to the customer’s basket. A minimum purchase amount or quantity can be specified. - Free delivery
a) Free standard delivery - Provide free standard shipping.
b) Free overnight delivery - Offer free overnight shipping.
c) Free 2-day delivery - Provide free two-day shipping.
How to set it up?
To set up your promotion, go to Google Merchant Center under Marketing > Promotions (https://merchants.google.com/mc/promotions/list) and click the Create promotion button. This will open a form where you can enter your promotion details:
(If you don’t have access to this section, ensure it is enabled in the Add-ons section - https://merchants.google.com/mc/addons)
- Country and language of your promotion
This setting allows Google to determine the country and language for displaying the promotion, as well as to identify the appropriate feed and items to attach the promotion to. - Title
This is the callout for your promotion, e.g., "Get 10% off when spending £100." - Promotion id
This is a unique identifier for your promotion, useful for advanced filtering within your product feed. It can include only letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores, and is not visible to customers. Unlike a coupon code, this ID is unique and cannot be reused after the promotion expires. - Filters/items applicability
There are currently three ways to specify which items a promotion applies to:
a) All products - Apply the promotion to all items in your feed.
b) Attribute filters - Filter applicability based on specific attributes:
- Feed label
- Item id
- Product type
- Brand
- Item_group_id - Promotion id
This method allows you to determine eligibility by including a matching promotion_id in the product feed alongside relevant product details. It is the most flexible option for complex or dynamic promotions, such as applying only to full-price items. You can set detailed rules and assign relevant promotion IDs through our platform. - Promo/coupon code
The code required for customers to redeem your promotion at checkout. - Start and end date
The dates when your promotion begins and ends.
After saving, Google requires at least 24 hours, and up to 72 hours, to review your promotion before it can go live.
Common rejection reasons
Despite your best efforts, some promotions may be rejected. Below are some of the most common rejection reasons and how to resolve them:
- Unmapped items
This occurs when the applicability filter does not match any items. For regular filters, this might be due to a typo or the absence of the specified attribute in your product feed. If using promotion_id, it could be due to Google reviewing the promotion before their system has updated items with the relevant promotion_id. If you’re confident that the promotion_id was assigned correctly, you can request Google to re-test it. In most cases, this resolves the issue and gets the promotion approved. - Your landing page price is the same as the checkout price
If the discount is already applied on the product page, and there’s no additional discount at checkout, the promotion may be rejected because it does not offer anything extra for the user at checkout. This usually happens with regular sales or if the coupon code isn’t working and no additional discount is applied at checkout.
In such cases, verify that your coupon code is working and request Google to re-test the promotion. If it's a regular sale, note that promotions may not apply, though a sale badge might display depending on your price history. For more information, refer to this guide on Google Shopping sale badges and price annotations.
We hope this article helps you set up successful Google Merchant Center shopping promotions, but if you need further assistance, please get in touch with us.