As the complex retail environment continues into 2023, and sales promotions become almost routine for many, the average CEO may be asking their CMO if there is still a need to plan themed sales weeks like Cyber Week, until 2024.
According to recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023 promotions, the answer is a resounding yes. According to Abode Analytics, online sales during Cyber Week, including the five days after Thanksgiving, increased 7.8% year-over-year, with online sales totaling $12.4 billion, not just Cyber Monday.
For many brands, paid digital marketing has been an essential driver of traffic, but it inevitably comes with the constant challenge of converting it into sales once a buyer has successfully reached your platform. However, this market is rapidly evolving and it is always difficult to stay abreast of the latest ROI opportunities.
The most commonly used channels include Google Performance Max (Pmax), Google Search, Meta, Bing and the newbie TikTok.
According to Neil Andrew, CEO and founder of Lunio; This holiday season marks the first time the overall click volume for campaigns has changed significantly, and more marketers are relying on automation platforms to scale their campaigns faster and improve the efficiency of their auction management. Andres said: "More and more retailers are shifting more of their advertising budget to Google's maximum performance (Pmax), which shows that their campaigns are more effective against Google search." The data we see bears this out. We see this shift to PPC automation only gaining momentum as we prepare for increased holiday sales through 2025.”
So what can CMOs learn from this situation before the crucial holiday season ends?
Incorrect traffic handling
The average level of invalid traffic also remains an important factor for advertisers. According to Andrew, this is something digital marketers need to address ahead of the holidays. “During BF/CM 2023, we saw an increase in invalid traffic levels on four of the top five channels compared to the annual average. Advertisers who invest heavily in non-Google channels like Bing and TikTok should be aware of huge spikes in invalid activity during peak season. Advertisers who spend heavily on meta without IVT prevention systems can also face significant ad spend inefficiency or worse, wasted ad spend, which can negatively impact their ROI and overall campaign performance.
When it comes to spotting signs of illegal activity during peak season, there are a few things to keep in mind, including:
Average session duration is less than 5 seconds.
A low dwell time may indicate that your landing page is not relevant to the user's search intent, or it may indicate an influx of bots.
Higher traffic with lower conversion rates
If you see a significant increase in traffic without a corresponding increase in conversions, it should be investigated.
Bad robots are a big problem now. Thanks to advances in automation and artificial intelligence, we've seen invalid traffic become more sophisticated over the past three years. Complex IVT mimics real human behavior much better, making it much more difficult to detect and increase average bids on ad platforms.
According to Andrew Turner, CEO of Incubeta, optimizing the performance of paid media during seasonal demand peaks can be critical for many CMOs; "The main thing is to fulfill sales tasks. Automatic detection and blocking of robot traffic ensures that ad spend is focused on audiences with real purchase intent.
Ad networks have little financial incentive to aggressively target more complex IVTs. Perhaps the advent of tools like ChatGPT has also made it easier for potential attackers to create bots with very limited technical or coding skills, leading to a heightened environment. Invalid online activity.
According to Paul Oates, director of media performance at Forge Holiday Group, prior to the implementation of the zero-traffic solution, there was monthly volatility in metrics such as conversion rates. "Many factors go into determining these performance metrics, and optimizing landing pages to provide the best customer experience can be difficult when a site is full of bots." Sykes Holiday Cottages was able to do this by actively blocking bot clicks. Achieve more sustainable and predictable growth across our core paid media channels and be 100% confident that the metrics we report only reflect the actions of real people. Customers:
Improve page orientation and UX
Landing page optimization should also be a focus. It doesn't matter how attractive your ad copy is or how optimized your campaigns are; If your landing pages aren't relevant, you'll drive yourself crazy (and lose a lot of money in the process). Google is supposed to evaluate the quality of a landing page based on parameters such as relevance, originality of content, transparency and navigation.
Automated campaign types rely heavily on keyword placement on landing pages to reach the right audience. This potentially means that CMOs need to focus more on:
Targeted landing pages with over 90% bounce rate
Bounce rates for PPC landing pages are usually quite high, but rates of 90% and above may require further research.
Improve page orientation
Make sure your landing page clearly states what the product is and who it's for. Don't try to target multiple audiences with a single page.
Align company goals
Make sure the goal of your PPC campaign matches the conversion goal of your landing page. Are your customers getting what they expected?
Optimize user experience
A lightning-fast landing page with an intuitive and engaging user experience increases the chances of your ad being shown. For maximum ROI, aim to spend 25% to 30% of your total PPC budget on landing page and conversion rate optimization.
Clearly, for most CMOs, paid digital marketing requires constant improvement in order to generate a consistent amount of high-quality, converting traffic. It is clear that things are constantly changing and new technologies and approaches are emerging. So it's important to stay on top of the latest opportunities, refine your approach, and improve your ROI to make the most of the lessons learned during the holiday season and beyond.