YouTube just got a “Buy Now” button — here’s what it means for your brand

Google just dropped a new feature for Demand Gen campaigns.

This one’s specifically for YouTube In-stream ads.

Users can now add products to their cart or head straight to checkout—right from the ad.

Here’s what it looks like:

What this means is…

People can now go from watching to buying in just a few seconds.

Our take on this?

This is a big win for eCommerce brands.

One of the biggest reasons people drop out of the buying process is friction.

Every extra click they have to take increases the chances they'll bail.

This new feature cuts out those extra steps.

It lets brands capture buying intent in the moment—before prospects drift away in a multi-step funnel.

That way, you can rescue a ton of sales that would normally slip away.

Google’s internal data backs this up:

Advertisers who provide checkout URLs have seen an 11% boost in conversion value.

While maintaining a similar CPA.

Setting it up is simple.

You can add a checkout or cart URL template at the account level inside Google Merchant Center…

Or you can enable it for individual products by including the checkout link template in your product feed.

This feature is available to all users running product feed ads in the United States.

It’s an exciting rollout.

But there’s an even bigger signal behind:

Google is clearly investing big in Demand Gen.

This is their push to compete with Meta and TikTok in the social ad space.

We’re seeing a wave of new features, all designed to optimize this campaign type.

It feels a lot like the early days of Performance Max.

And we all saw how that turned out.

From what we’re seeing, results for Demand Gen vary from brand to brand.

But one thing’s clear:

Google is positioning this as its next flagship campaign.

And they’re setting this up to be a major pillar of their ad ecosystem.

If you get in on the ground floor and master these features…

You’ll be miles ahead of the curve by the time Demand Gen hits full power.

Jackson

Founder and CEO of Echelonn.

How we can help:

• Get a free Google ads audit: For brands spending more than $20k/mo. or making over 1 million annually, we’ll identify the key bottlenecks in your account, and turn it into a free 90-day scaling plan. Click here.

• Get our E-commerce Growth Toolkit: Get access to our free resources and tools including the Product Feed & GMC Optimization Checklist, YouTube Shorts Ads Playbook, and 12 Plug-and-Play Dashboards. Click here.

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