Don’t Let Bots Steal Your Budget

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Bots and Inefficient Campaigns Are Draining Your Ad Spend 

The race to optimise ad campaigns in eCommerce has never been more competitive. With automated bidding tools like PMax and tROAS becoming staples in digital advertising, performance marketers might feel they are maximising their Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). But lurking just beneath the surface, unoptimised campaigns and non-human actors, yes, bots, are eating away a significant slice of your budget. 

Our infographic sheds light on this twofold problem and, most importantly, provides actionable solutions. But first, let's examine the challenge in more detail.

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The Hidden Gaps in eCommerce Ad Spend 

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1. Wasting Ad Spend on Existing Buyers 

Automated bidding tools like PMax and tROAS often direct budgets to audiences that are easy to convert. Why? They've already purchased before. These customers click through branded keyword campaigns not to discover something new, but to return to an eCommerce site they already trust. 

Here’s the issue:

• Automated bidding prioritises existing customers. These are users likely to convert, which inflates Cost Per Clicks (CPCs) significantly—up to 5X higher in some cases.
• High CPAs (Cost Per Acquisition) and risky LTV:CAC ratios (Lifetime Value to Customer Acquisition Cost) leave you with diminishing returns.
• Opportunity cost with new buyers. Every pound spent on a returning customer is a pound that could have attracted fresh shoppers. 

Fact check from TrafficGuard data: 8-12% of eCommerce ad spend is wasted on already-engaged buyers. 

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2. Bot Traffic is Draining Budgets 

Bot activity is rampant in eCommerce campaigns, particularly in areas like Shopping and Display ads. Competitor bots and price-scraping crawlers artificially inflate traffic metrics and pollute automated bidding tools and strategies with false intent signals from clicks, but they don’t bring conversions. 

Consider these common offenders: 

• Price-Scraping Bots: Competitors use bots primarily to scrape pricing data from your ads, targeting pricing promotion ads in the process. These clicks, aimed at gathering data, also end up consuming your ad budget without any intent to purchase
•  Competitor ISP Traffic: Some less ethical competitors use bots hosted on specific ISPs to sniff out your advertising strategy. 
• Fake Host Servers: Fraudulent servers execute bot clicks, sometimes as part of scams around loyalty rewards or fake credit cards. 

On average, we see 12% of Search ad budgets in eCommerce are lost to this fraudulent, non-human activity. While Google may refund some bot clicks, it doesn’t fully mitigate the impact on campaigns. This not only wastes spend but also distorts reporting data, training algorithms to chase more fake traffic. The result? Higher CAC (Customer Acquisition Costs) with little to no ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

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The TrafficGuard eCommerce Solution 

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1. Stop Inefficient Ad Spend 

TrafficGuard’s innovative platform identifies inefficiencies in your ad spend using click-level and user-level data, providing clarity on the full customer funnel. The outcome is twofold:

• Reduced Waste: Redirect ad spend away from returning buyers, ensuring PMax and Shopping campaigns focus on net-new customers with genuine potential. 
• Higher Returns: By eliminating waste and maximising targeting accuracy, marketers see improved ROAS, higher customer LTV, and healthier LTV:CAC ratios. 

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2. Combat Click Fraud in eCommerce 

We take click fraud prevention seriously. TrafficGuard offers real-time detection and blocking, targeting bots before they interact with your eCommerce campaigns. Immediate benefits include:

• Cleaner Algorithms: No more skewing AI-powered campaign settings with bot-inflated metrics. 
• Reclaimed Resources: Saved budgets can be invested in acquiring real customers, not fake clicks. 
• Stronger Strategy: Reliable data empowers marketers to build smarter, more effective strategies over time. 

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3. Real Results from Smarter Redirect Strategies 

By pushing Google's algorithms in smarter ways and using features like shadow campaigns and bid modifiers, your campaigns funnel traffic where it matters most. This isn’t just optimisation, this is game-changing innovation. 

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Key Stats You Need to Know 

We’ve distilled the issue into hard data you can take to your next marketing meeting:

• 8-12% of eCommerce ad spend is wasted on audiences already engaged. 
• 5X higher CPCs when targeting existing customers via automated bidding platforms. 
• 12% ad spend loss to bots in Search ads without proper fraud prevention. 

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Learn More With Our Infographic 

Numbers, visual insights, and clear solutions, "Don’t Waste Ad Spend on Engaged Buyers and Bots," is a toolkit for combatting inefficiency. Highlighting the full buyer funnel, bot impacts, and actionable strategies, it’s a must-read for performance marketers looking to stay ahead.

Download the infographic now, to see exactly where you're losing ad spend and how to stop it. 

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Protect and Grow Your ROAS with Enterprise-Grade Precision 

The eCommerce ad space is rife with challenges, from inefficient budget allocation to the rampant scourge of click fraud. But solutions, like those offered by TrafficGuard, mean businesses no longer need to suffer in silence. With tools that deliver comprehensive click fraud protection, smarter user targeting, and bot prevention, enterprises are reclaiming their budgets and refocusing on growth. 

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Ready to start protecting your campaigns and maximising your returns today? Reach out to the team!

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