[Event Report] Growth Meetup ~ Shopify x Ad Operations ~

What is Growth Meetup?

Growth Meetup is an offline event hosted by our company where participants can learn the know-how to continuously grow their businesses using Shopify. It is held every Wednesday at our office. We plan panel discussions on a variety of themes with all attendees, followed by a networking reception. We run this community with the goal of providing a space where participants can exchange information with one another and make the most of their time together.

Growth Meetup Held on 5/22

This session's theme was Shopify x Ad Operations, where StoreHero's Kurose served as moderator and led participants in a discussion about Shopify-specific ad operation tips. Here are some highlights from the event.

Topics Discussed

On the day of the event, participants raised the following questions, which were then discussed among attendees.

• What are the advantages of Shopify from an ad operations perspective?
• Is there a way to tell good apps from not-so-good ones?
• The workflow of ad operations
• Does following Google's recommended settings and best practices pay off?
• Planning before launching ad campaigns
• P-MAX
• Video ads

What Are the Advantages of Shopify from an Ad Operations Perspective?

• If you don't obsess over design, a Shopify store can be launched within a few days, making the time-to-market impressively fast. The features you need can easily be assembled by combining Shopify apps.
• Native API integrations with Google and Meta ads are built in, so you can set up tracking even without deep technical expertise. Product data feed integration is also available, making it easy to leverage P-MAX and catalog ads.
• The limited customizability of the checkout page is often cited as an area for improvement.
• While Shopify itself does not support automatic audience data syncing, it can be done through CRM apps.

Is There a Way to Tell Good Apps from Not-So-Good Ones?

• Shopify itself has high standards for security and scalability, but Shopify apps vary by vendor, so careful evaluation is necessary.
• For apps that handle personal information, it is a good idea to research the app vendor and the country where it was developed.
• App conflicts are common, so it is best to test in a staging environment before going live.

The Workflow of Ad Operations

• Creating ad creatives has become much easier than before thanks to tools like Canva and generative AI for background editing.
• Products that work well with video tend to generate conversions through Reels and similar formats, often outperforming catalog ads, text ads, and standard image ads.
• With Meta ads, collection ads — which combine images, catalogs, and videos into a single unit — can be effective to test. Even if individual formats don't perform well on their own, combining them can yield better results.

Does Following Google's Recommended Settings and Best Practices Pay Off?

• Google's recommended optimizations are generally aimed at increasing reach — they help boost impressions and clicks, but don't necessarily contribute to improving CVR (conversion rate).
• How far you take these settings should depend on your business category, the size of your target audience, and your overall scale. For products where a complex journey — such as searching, watching a video, then seeing a display ad — is unlikely, there may be no need to prepare video assets.

Planning Before Launching Ad Campaigns

• Base your strategy on how customers actually think when they make a purchase — identify the information they need, your differentiation points, and define your positioning. Research your industry and think about how you yourself would behave as a customer of that service.
• Also consider comparisons with competitors. For example, in the case of toilet paper, your real competition might not be other online retailers, but the drug store down the street.
• Some products simply won't sell through ads, so you should also question whether running ads is the right approach at all.
• Personas and customer journeys aren't always accurate when taken at face value, so I try not to create them too much. If anything, a positioning map is about as far as I go.

P-MAX

• With P-MAX, audience targeting options are fairly limited — you can set signals, but that's about it.
• P-MAX is an automated bidding system that determines bid amounts based on expected click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-click. If the calculated CPC is too high, it may stop bidding in auctions altogether.
• On a separate note from P-MAX, there is also a Shopify service called Shopify Audiences — exclusive to Shopify Plus merchants in North America — that provides audience data aggregated from Shopify stores around the world. It is not yet available in Japan.
• For ads like P-MAX and Dynamic Search Ads that delegate targeting to Google, it is important to build a store that is easy to crawl. If a site is difficult to crawl, Google cannot understand its content, making it harder to serve ads effectively.

Video Ads

• For B2C e-commerce video ads, starting with vertical video is the most versatile approach. Vertical video ads can be run on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more.
• A recent trend is that organic videos with high engagement and strong response can often be repurposed directly as ads with good results. CTAs and similar elements may need to be adapted for the ad format.
• In terms of equipment, videos shot on a smartphone can feel more relatable and sometimes perform better.
• Video editing itself is not that difficult. The best approach is to have someone who genuinely enjoys watching videos create them.

Summary

This session brought together a diverse mix of participants — from those who use Shopify regularly but have little experience with ad operations, to those who are seasoned in ad operations but haven't had much hands-on time with Shopify. Everyone shared their questions openly, discussed them together, and exchanged valuable insights with one another.

Even during the networking reception after the discussion, participants were able to dive deeper into conversations about Shopify and advertising, as well as share thoughts on their day-to-day work. We hope everyone had a great time.

Growth Meetup is held almost every Wednesday to build momentum around Shopify and growth. If you're interested, we'd love to have you join us.