"Free delivery" text in Adwords

[Bones]

We've recently started a promotion which gives free delivery on UK mainland orders over £75.

I've re-written our adwords to state: "Free UK delivery on orders over £75".

But, I've since noticed one of our competitors adword campaigns stating simply: "Free delivery", when in actual fact they too offer free UK mainland delivery on orders over £75.

Obviously, the competitors ad will sound a lot more attractive than mine, as it reads as if it applies to all their orders.

Are there any Google guidelines that state how accurate claims in Adwords ads need to be? Should I follow suit (and possibly risk disappointing customers when they arrive at the site)?

[rj87uk]

Well you have to think, if the person clicks their ads looking for free delivery on products and finds out its on products over £75 they might go back and search for someone else meaning thier conversions will be lower.

My advice would be: "Be as specific as you can in your ads." The more information a person has on an offer / deal / store the more comfortable they are when going to buy from you!

[RhinoFish]

I concur.

And remember, you can't see your competitors results, just his ad and position. He might be getting killed with a high bounce rate or disappointed customers.

Stay honest, be precise as you can.

If you think it puts you at a genuine disadvantage, restructure your prices so you can offer free shipping on all orders and then advertise that.

[RhawnJ]

Capitalize on it, add "True Free Shipping" or Real, etc

[poster_boy]

Are there any Google guidelines that state how accurate claims in Adwords ads need to be?

Yes -- from Google's Help Center:

Support Advertised Prices, Discounts, and Free Offers

* If your ad includes a price, special discount, or 'free' offer, it must be clearly and accurately displayed on your website within 1-2 clicks of your ad's landing page.

Example:
If you mention that you are selling socks for 20% off in your ad text, your Destination URL should link to a page that clearly displays socks at the discounted price.

However... although a bit shady, I'm not sure this situation would qualify as an outright violation? I oftentimes see advertisers stretching the boundaries of promotions with fine print.

[sailorjwd]

I would have a dozen friends call the competitor to order products and then ream them a new you know what when they back off their advertized policies.

I would then complain to your equivalent of the better business bureau too.

[Bones]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I've changed the wording on specific ads for products that are over £75 to simply state "Free UK delivery", as those products will automatically qualify anyway.

I'll leave the other ads as they are, to see how we get on.

That's what I was looking for poster_boy. We already display a prominent banner with details of the offer on every page, so we should be OK there.

CTR has increased across the board, mainly by a percent or two, but in some cases going from 4% to 12%. So things are looking promising.