How To Create A Promotion In Google Merchant

by Emmanuel Flossie · Updated on 8 April, 2017

Adding promotions to Google Merchant is pretty easy once you understand the steps that need to be taken. I will explain how to add promotions to certain products or all products. I have also written an article explaining how promotions works.

Check if promotions option is available

First check that the promotions option is available, please login to Google Merchant and check in the left hand side menu if you see Promotions under Products.

Currently as of writing, not all merchants will have the promotions option available, however you can activate this by filling out Google’s Promotions Interest Form. Within 24 hours you will have the option available.

The promotions option is available for : US, Australia, Germany, France, UK and India.

Before you start

You can create promotions directly in Google Merchant or in FeedArmy, however there are some extra features available in FeedArmy.

FeedArmy Extra Features :

Set a pre approval date (useful for getting your promotion approved before launch to avoid any delay)
- Make sure during pre approval the promotion can be tested by Google
Minimum purchase amount
Automatically adds the correct timezone
Submit multiple promotions

Creating Promotions In FeedArmy

Country

Select your target country

Promotion ID

Create a unique promotion ID.

If you want to target specific products than take a note of this ID as later you will need to add the promotion ID to your specific products, a guide is written at the bottom of this page.

Tip:
Do not reuse an active or stopped promotion ID

Product Applicability

Choose Specific Products if you want to target certain products or choose All Products.

Offer Type

Choose Generic Code, if you have a discount code that customers need to use. If non is available simply choose No Code.

Long Title

Create your promotion Title, ensure you read up on the policies.

Promotion Effective Date

Add the dates here to allow Google to test your promotion before it is live to the public. This is great for avoiding any delays in launching your promotion.

At this point the promotion needs to be active on your website for Google to validate and test.

Promotion Display Date

When the promotion is available for the public.

Minimum Purchase Amount

You can create promotions that must have a minimum checkout value.

Generic Redemption Code

If you have selected Generic Code in the Offer Type, you can than add the discount code here.

Click on Add Promotion

You can also edit the promotions in the right hand side table.

Adding the promotions feed to Google Merchant

You only need to do this once.

Go to Data Feeds and copy the link under Google Merchant Promotions Feed by right clicking and copy link address

Step 1

Select your target country and enter a feed name

Step 2

Select Scheduled Fetch

Step 3

Enter a filename, this can be any name (no spaces or special characters)

Enter when you would like Google to collect the information

Paste the copied URL in File URL and click on save

For the first time click on Fetch Now

Creating Promotions In Google Merchant

Promo ID

Create a unique promotion ID.

If you want to target specific products than take a note of this Promo ID as later you will need to add the promotion ID to your specific products, a guide is written at the bottom of this page.

Tip :
Do not reuse an active or stopped promotion ID

Target Country and Language

Select your target country

Title

Create your promotion Title, ensure you read up on the policies.

Redemption Code

Choose if customers needs to add a discount code in the checkout, if yes than add the code.

Product Applicability

Choose if the promotion is for all products or specific products

Effective Date Range

Add when the promotion is active

Please remember that the timezone is not automatically added

Adding Specific Promotion ID’s To Your Products in FeedArmy

When promoting for specific products, you will need to add the promotion ID to all applicable products. There are many methods to carry out this task.

Manually

Login to FeedArmy and go to Edit Tools > Edit Products, click on add columns under Column Categories choose Additional Attributes than select Promotion ID

You can now edit or add the promotion id to specific products

Tip :
You can use the search tool to find specific products

Search and Replace

You can bulk add or edit promotions by using the search and replace tool which is available under Edit Tools > Search & Replace

I have written a guide on how to use the search and replace tool

Bulk Edit Using A Spreadsheet

You can also bulk edit using your favorite spreadsheet editor, here is a guide on how to bulk edit in FeedArmy