Ok, so this is a blatant attempt to jump on the “top X reasons” wagon, but something occured to me today as I was compiling some information for my colleagues – most people don’t use Firefox. They just don’t know why it’s useful. So let’s remedy that. 1. It’s not a Microsoft Product. I’m not […]
Yes it's that time already!
Following on from Chris' post about the credit crunch, it's time to think about the run up to the holiday season. Although this post is written from a UK perspective, most of the tips are applicable to most markets around the world.
The online UK retail landscape this year has seen steady growth with IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) reporting 15.2% year-on-year market growth to July 2008. Despite there being challenges associated with a slowing economy and the credit crunch, UK shoppers spent over £26.5 billion online in the first six months of 2008, up 38% on the £19.2 billion recorded for the first half of 2007. Online sales accounted for around 17% of the total UK retail market during the first half of the year. (Source: The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index – June 08).
So, challenges aside, early indicators look good for a merry online Christmas, with analysts predicting strong sales as savvy shoppers hit the web instead of the high street and out-of-town shopping centres for Christmas bargains.
1) Be like Red Robin: The Early Bird Catches the Worm
So when do people in the UK start to prepare for the festive season? According to Hitwise, a leading competitive search intelligence company, and Microsoft adCenter’s historical data the first tentative searches for Christmas-related keywords started as early as August! However, the first major rush coincides with when people get paid at the end of October.
The second and final push for the season coincides with when people get paid at the end of November. Searches reach critical mass in the first two weeks of December. Impressions begin to slow and click rates escalate as the postal deadlines for packages and parcels loom between the 17 – 19 December.
![clip_image002[4]](https://adcentercommunity.com/blogs/advertiser_drafts/WindowsLiveWriter/Top5TipsforWinninginRetailOverandBeyondt_9246/clip_image002%5B4%5D_thumb.gif)
2) Christmas Wish Lists: Supply and Demand
Christmas is a time for caring and sharing, and peace to all men on Earth. However, try telling that to the tearful six-year-old on Christmas morning who’s just realised that Santa wasn't able to bring them the latest High School Musical toy they asked for.
Gather insights into what customers will be demanding this festive season and what you should be stocking. If you sell toys, keep an eye on the Toy Retailers Association website for the release of the 2008 Dream Toys on 15 October which is a comprehensive list of what’s hot and not for kids of all ages this Christmas.
Finally, encourage customers to pre-order and buy early to avoid disappointment through your ad copy.
3) Stand and Deliver: Money or Your Brand Reputation
Delivery is everything to Internet customers, and it's even more important to get it right during the festive time of year. Undelivered gifts can spoil Christmas day, which could impact brand equity and even lose customers.
Ensure delivery is a priority in your Christmas copy. Be transparent about delivery costs and delivery deadlines. If you use a third party courier service mention these because they can usually deliver beyond the Royal Mail postal deadlines. If your website offers free delivery on shopping baskets over a certain spend then use this unique selling point to entice buyers.
4) Security Matters: Santa Claus is Coming to Town (And So Are The Credit Card Hackers!)
Christmas is also the time when people are likely to take to shopping online for the first time. However with recurring stories in the media that Internet fraud and identity theft are on the increase, how do you get a nervous first-time Internet customer to shop with you? If your website is accredited by ISIS (Internet Shopping Is Safe) or you use a secure, encrypted payment system such as PayPal or World Pay, mention this in your copy to reassure buyers that you take their security and custom seriously. For more advice on e-commerce security messaging visit: GetSafeOnline.org.
![clip_image004[6]](https://adcentercommunity.com/blogs/advertiser_drafts/WindowsLiveWriter/Top5TipsforWinninginRetailOverandBeyondt_9246/clip_image004%5B6%5D_thumb.gif)
5) Snowballing not Snowball Fights: Forget Christmas Past and look to the New Year Sales
Christmas past: before the web was a mere twinkle in the eye of Tim Berners-Lee, shopping was a 9 – 5 affair and Sunday opening hours a veritable sin. Christmas was the highlight of the shopping year. Small and medium size retailers went into hibernation between the Christmas and New Year lull as the high street giants did a roaring trade.
Christmas present: 24/7 shopping with no real geographic, calendar or time constraints. If you’re a customer, there are always a number of shops open and willing to do business. Christmas is still the highlight of the year, but so are the post-Christmas sales!
So why do a number of retailers still hark back to the methods of Christmas Past by shutting up shop and turning off their PPC ad campaigns? In Jan 2008, IMRG and Hitwise reported that the largest shopping days online were actually post-Christmas dates with 26 December (Boxing Day) and New Year’s Day setting new online traffic records.
See the example below of what happened when an adCenter account was turned off between Christmas and New Year last year versus one of their competitors who remained active for the same period. (Source: Microsoft adCenter Jan 08)
![clip_image006[5]](https://adcentercommunity.com/blogs/advertiser_drafts/WindowsLiveWriter/Top5TipsforWinninginRetailOverandBeyondt_9246/clip_image006%5B5%5D_thumb.jpg)
![clip_image008[6]](https://adcentercommunity.com/blogs/advertiser_drafts/WindowsLiveWriter/Top5TipsforWinninginRetailOverandBeyondt_9246/clip_image008%5B6%5D_thumb.jpg)
So how do you make your accounts snowball and avoid the fights?
Season's greetings and may your cash registers ring like Christmas bells!
Cheers,
Kate
The longer I manage PPC accounts the more I fully realize the importance of Google Analytics. It is of the utmost importance in truly finding the ROI and ROAS that one is looking. This is true regardless if the site is E-Commerce or Lead-Gen. Many of my clients have the base Google Analytics Code installed […]
Arrange your keywords and ads properly to help you achieve better results
This is advice taken from Yahoo!’s Smart Start guide, which is packed with helpful content to assist you in making your campaigns as effective as possible. Whether you’re an expert search marketer or just starting out, the tips from Yahoo!’s “Sharon Goodsense” offer practical […]
Building a successful campaign requires picking effective keywords—and the proper match type to go with them
Keywords are the foundation of your search marketing account, as they help lead customers to your website. Think of them as the main building blocks you’ll use to construct your Sponsored Search marketing account.
As you work with your keywords, you’ll […]
Are you frustrated by ads and keywords getting disapproved by editorial ? Do you want to make sure your campaign is firing on all cylinders as soon as it goes live? Would you like to convert more site visitors into sales? When there’s a clear connection between the information contained in your ads and keywords and the information found on your landing page , your campaigns are more likely to pass through editorial with a clean bill of health and increase conversions . The landing page is one of…(read more)
And 5 factors that can help you get users’ attention
The question “What’s a good click-through rate?” is a little bit like asking “What’s your favorite movie?”, in that it really comes down to personal preference. Just as some people might lean toward “The Godfather,” as their fave flick, others might prefer something a little more […]
If you’ve logged into your adCenter Analytics account this morning you’ll be pleased to see a number of new features have been added by our product teams over the past few days.
I’ll take you through each one but do expect deeper dives here on the blog over the next couple of weeks!
This functionality lets you choose which information is most important to you. It gives you an up-to-date snapshot of your website’s traffic activity. It’s fully customizable so you can tailor it to your needs.
We added this to make it easy for users to take a quick peek at their data without having to run any reports. This way, soon after logging in you can immediately spot any traffic spikes or potential problems with your site that might need deeper investigation.
The default view includes:
You can use the Gadget Library to add any other snapshots you wish to view quickly and easily.
This report helps you understand the path that users are taking in order to get to a particular page on your website, or where they go after they access that page. This might include scenarios such as from landing pages or to specific points like account sign up or conversion pages.
You can use this kind of information to optimise their navigation experience so they convert quicker or find what they might be looking for more efficiently.
Knowing on which page people land when they find your website is crucial, because it may not always be your homepage. This information tells you which pages your users entered via most often, the average page views per visit they browsed, and how long they spent on the site.
Having an idea of which pages visitors leave your site the most is equally important.
If they’re going elsewhere from pages they “shouldn’t” and hence are not converting, you can do some analysis and maybe try to ferry them through a different path or change/add some text to help them navigate a little better.
We’ve made improvements to the Campaign Timeline Report which allows an overview of referrals and conversions that were generated by your tracked marketing campaigns over the past year. You can compare individual campaigns within a group, and compare groups of the same campaign type or across campaign types, and spot trends in campaign performance over the last year in conversion rates and ROI.
Back in April we talked about the Treemap Report and how it could be used to help optimise your site. In this release we’ve added enhanced navigation and enabled you to see demographic segmentation of page views and referrals. This is an awesome feature, as you can now see who is interacting with your website from an age and gender point of view, right down to which pages they see and how they arrive at those pages.
We also made some changes in the back end of the system to improve the performance, reliability and data quality in response to your comments and suggestions here on our web analytics blog, via email, and in person.
We’re very excited about this release and would love to get your feedback here on the blog, or on the analytics forum.
If you’ve not signed up and want to give adCenter Analytics a try, check out our analytics information page on the Microsoft Advertising site.
Do check out the blog later this week for more info on the tools and features in this major release.
Cheers Mel
There are lots of places we can go to find advice on improving conversions for our websites. However, some of the suggestions “feel wrong” or seem counterintuitive. This is why I like to go look into other people’s research. There’s a term used in marketing – basket recovery – that describes a somewhat counterintuitive method […]
Here on the blog I've been writing about a new section of the Microsoft Advertising website that can help you find your ad in Live Search results. The Find Your Ad pages include tips for what to do when you don't see your ad in Live Search results. Last month in Finding your ad on Live Search , I spotlighted the "Where's My Ad?" Checklist . This month I want to call your attention to the Where Is My Ad? Flash tutorial . During the research the team conducted earlier this year…(read more)
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