Tips & Trends For Holiday Paid Search Advertising
With the holidays right around the corner, now is the perfect time to start brainstorming holiday specials and advertising strategies. For many retailers, the holiday season contributes a significant amount of their annual revenue. Online advertising is just one of the many marketing outlets to reach potential customers. The National Retail Federation predicts that 2018 will have the largest increase in online holiday sales with an expected 14% increase from last year. Here are a few paid search trends to keep an eye on this year to help maximize your paid advertising efforts.
Timing Is Everything
Every year it seems that department stores bring out their holiday decorations and start playing Christmas music earlier and earlier. According to data from the past few years, about 27% of shoppers start planning and researching holiday shopping in October. In November of 2017, search networks such as Google and Bing saw a significant increase in retail traffic starting November 5th for pre Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping research. Cyber week, which is the week from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, accounts for 32% of holiday revenues. With the top revenue producing categories being toys, electronics and clothing.
After Cyber Monday, the percentage of online shoppers will continue to increase, however shipping options become very important. Many shoppers will look for quick delivery options or to purchase online and pick up in store. This way, last minute shoppers can ensure they will receive their purchases on time. December would be a good time to push e-gift cards for last minute shoppers as they are immediately available after purchase.
In January, businesses will continue to see an influx in shoppers as people wrap up their holiday returns/exchanges and use their gift cards. This is a good opportunity to upsell to gift card holders who tend to spend $38 on average over the gift card amount.
Remarketing
Holiday shoppers tend to have a longer sales cycle, as most people shop around and research before buying gifts. Be sure to have remarketing lists set up on your paid search campaigns to track users who have visited your site but have not completed a transaction, submitted contact form or clicked to call. This will allow you to advertise to shoppers who are already familiar with your products/brand and retarget shoppers at different points in their shopping journey. Remarketing campaigns also tend to have lower cost per click compared to general search and display campaigns.
Rise Of Mobile Devices & Tablets
While 78 percent of survey respondents said they plan to shop in-store during the holidays, 58 percent will go online and 43 percent will use a mobile device. Over the past few years, phones and tablets made up 60% of paid search traffic share. Phones and tablets now account for more paid search traffic than desktop, and the click share of these devices will likely continue to grow this Q4. Be sure to monitor your paid search traffic and adjust devices bids accordingly to increase the chances of producing conversions.
Key Takeaways
- Start announcing holiday deals and implementing holiday shopping ad copy as early as October. This will help your business build traction for Cyber week.
- Implement remarketing tracking codes on your website and landing pages to help keep track of users who have visited your site but have not converted. This will allow you to retarget shoppers who are more likely to convert at a lower cost per click.
- Make sure your website and landing pages are mobile friendly and be sure to monitor mobile device traffic for opportunities to optimize device bids.
Let us know if you are still looking to better understand online advertising or need help running your campaigns. Motoza is here to help!
