Advertising to Christmas shoppers
08th December 2010 Posted in Search
This year so far, we have seen that Christmas sales for ecommerce clients has taken a lot longer to kick off, with many conversion levels remaining fairly stable during October and November. This is something Google predicted in early Autumn, due to the economic climate. However, last Monday was “Cyber Monday” – the biggest online shopping day of the year.
Cyber Monday effect?
Here at Periscopix, we weren’t convinced that we would truly see the effects of this in our PPC campaigns, however after analysing a mixture of ecommerce clients accounts, the effects of this were clear to see.
Ecommerce sales volumes
Consumer behaviour
As both charts show, there was a clear difference in consumer behaviour on Monday 29th November, many more users converted, and we clearly saw a peak in conversions. I suggest this is for a number of reasons for example, it was the beginning of December, it was pay day for a lot of people and people may have shopped around over the weekend, and then purchased on the Monday.
Unfortunately, since then, conversion numbers don’t seem to have remained as high. They are still higher than normal, but are yet to match the figures of the 29th November. I speculate that over the next week we should see an increase in conversion volume, which will then reduce in the week before Christmas.
One strategy for maximising sales during this “down” period, might be by offering new promotions, a lot of advertisers are going into sale early, however, we have noticed that by offering a special online offer, such as a 10% off voucher code in your advert or free delivery, users tend to convert (as the opportunity seems too good to miss).
Therefore this is a good way to increase conversion rate, whilst people are in the market to buy, this also gives people an incentive to buy their last minute Christmas gifts from you rather than from your nearest competitor.
Last minute shoppers
Interestingly, Google have suggested that although traffic volumes in the week before Christmas should decrease as expected, conversion rates should actually increase. This is because people that are still searching are likely to be last minute shoppers who are eager to buy presents when they find the right gifts, or people who are looking for a last minute bargain, rather than customers who shop around.
This is something that should definitely be considered in both your bidding strategy and advert copy in the week leading up to Christmas.
Once Christmas is over?
So once Christmas is over, what does this mean for online shoppers? This year should be interesting, as a lot of retail clients have gone into sale or have offered promotions early this year. (If you look at voucher code websites, they are inundated with discount and free delivery codes for online retail stores). Additionally, in early January we will see prices start to increase due to the VAT increase in the UK. Surely this means that the UK consumer is going to be more bargain hungry than ever?!
Stats from Google show that last year, shoppers who clicked on ads in the week post Christmas were more likely to convert than at any other time of year; conversion rates during the post Christmas week were 8% higher than during the week of 7th December 2009. This is really interesting, and shows that it is crucial to have updated ad text with a good offering, in good positions during this week, in order to maximise returns. It is also crucial that you have updated your budgets, so that you don’t run out early!
Additionally it is important that your website checkout process is working successfully, and your website text is updated (for example delivery dates and times) in line with your ads!
Check back soon for more updates on retail trends and advertising strategies!
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