Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Thanksgiving Weekend: Results, Trends, Insights
About NetElixir
Mission: To Help Digital Marketers Succeed Online.
Incorporated: 2005.
Global Offices: Princeton (HQ). London. Hyderabad.
Team: 75+ fanatically analytical search marketers with over
5.5 MM hours of hands-on retail search marketing
experience.
5
Client List
6
About NetElixir University
NetElixir University was launched in 2012 with a vision of “democratizing the
digital marketing industry through exceptional knowledge and expertise
sharing.”
Our goal is to share the best practices in retail + digital marketing with 10,000
businesses worldwide by 2015.
NetElixir University
7
About Udayan Bose
Founder & CEO, NetElixir.
Founded PartyBingo.com (PartyGaming, Plc).
Guest Lecturer:
• Johnson School of Management, Cornell University.
• City University of New York, Baruch.
• Indian School of Business.
RESULTS: IMPRESSIONS, CLICKS, CONVERSIONS
5 INTERESTING INSIGHTS
HOLIDAY MARKETING CALENDAR
TOPICS
Basis of Our Analysis
50,000,000+ Paid Search Impressions Analyzed
Holiday Marketing Calendar
• 12 Holiday Categories.
• Nov.27-Dec1,2014 (Thanksgiving Day – Cyber Monday).
• Hourly Tracking of Results.
• Estimates based on analysis of 2011-2013 data.
• Re-calibration because of an “abnormal start to holiday season”.
9
10
11
Key Metrics Table (Y/Y Comparison)
Y/Y Change (%)
Impressions 21%
Conversions 14%
AOV 0.6%
CPC, Google ($) -7.2%
Y/Y decline in CPC was due to a
higher % of mobile searches.
Average mobile CPCs are 15-18%
lower than non-mobile clicks.
12
13
When Did Shoppers Search and When Did They Buy?
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
8.00%
9.00%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hourly Contribution - Black Friday
Impressions Clicks Orders
Shouldn’t the shoppers be
in stores during these
hours?
Maybe shoppers had checked
their local store deals on
Thanksgiving Day and were
not impressed.
Maybe the possibility of better deals online caused this shift.
In any case, there appears to be clear evidence that buyer behavior
is changing..
Or, has it changed?
{ }
14
When Did Shoppers Search and When Did They Buy?
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
8.00%
9.00%
10.00%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Hourly Contribution - Cyber Monday
Impressions Clicks Orders
44% of all online
purchases happened
between 6pm-midnight.
11am-3pm was a strong
“search-period”.
However, the purchases
happened post office
hours.
{ }
Thanksgiving Day Continues to Gain Importance as a Big Shopping Day
17%
20%
37%
26%
Impressions
21%
26%28%
25%
Clicks
17%
25%
35%
23%
Orders
From less than 10% of total Thanksgiving weekend sales just two years back (2012) to
17% this year... the emergence of Thanksgiving Day as a key shopping day has been dramatic.
In 2012, Black Friday sales were 3.7x higher than Thanksgiving Day sales.
This year, that ratio dropped to 1.4x.
Thanksgiving
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
Weekend
15
Unique Observation #1
Sophisticated Marketers: Changing Promo Based on Real-Time ROAS Tracking
Predictive Analytics helps retailers in finding the right time to introduce the appropriate deals
16
Unique Observation #2
Retargeting & Gmail Sponsored Ads Delivered Exceptional Results.
59% of online shopping occurred outside of working hours on Cyber Monday
Evenings, 6 PM to Midnight, turned out to be
the best converting hours.
RLSA Campaigns were very impactful in
converting visitors that had visited the site
but didn’t buy earlier.
Gmail Sponsored Ads delivered an incredible
R/C of 4x (normally, less than 2x).
17
Unique Observation #3
Mobile Search Queries Go “Bottom-of-Funnel”
Arguably, the most interesting observation was
the increase in search query length of mobile search queries.
Search Trend YoY Comparison
Avg. no. of Words in Search (All Device) -7.79%
Avg. no. of words in Desktop Searches -7.97%
Avg. no. of words in Mobile Searches 23.98%
18
Unique Observation #4
Product Listing Ads on Smartphones Outperform Desktop and Tablets
CTRs for PLAs on mobiles
were higher than the desktop
counterparts on Thanksgiving,
Black Friday and Cyber
Monday.
CPCs for PLAs on
smartphones were 50% lower
than desktop. This presents an
enormous opportunity for savvy
marketers.0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
3.00%
3.50%
Thanksgiving Black Friday Cyber Monday
2014 Holiday CTR : Product Listing Ads in Electronics
PCs Smartphones Tablets
19
Strategic search
advertising to lower post-
purchase dissonance as
well as re-affirm the
service commitment.
Has been proven to
“lower the return rate.”
Unique Observation #5Addressing the Post-Purchase Dissonance
20
{ }
Holiday Calendar 2014
21
DECEMBER
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24
Expect more frequent Promo Changes by
larger retailers. (Promo-changes by day parts)
Forecasted Y/Y CPC increase:
40%+ 25%+ 15%+
Mobile Search will be critical from 12/15-12/19.
(% mobile searches and purchases will increase
as we get to the end of holidays)
Recommend “Go Local Strategy”
from 12/20-12/23.
{ }
NetElixir Prediction: Biggest Online Shopping
Day in December: 12/15
15
22
Summary
• Overall 14% Y/Y growth in online sales over Thanksgiving weekend.
• Change in consumer behavior is quite clear based on Black Friday mid-day spike in
searches and orders when shoppers are supposed to be in stores.
• Thanksgiving Day is cannibalizing Black Friday sales. But, is it also causing
“shopping fatigue”?
• Increase in mobile search query length indicates that mobile is also moving down
the search-to-purchase funnel. Thus, mobile orders accounted for over 20% of
online orders this Thanksgiving weekend.
• Re-look at your marketing plan based on NetElixir’s Holiday Calendar.
• % sales during the week of December 14 is going to hit an all time high. In fact, we
believe Dec 15 has the potential to beat Black Friday as second biggest online
shopping day for 2014.
23
Learn More About NetElixir’s Search Marketing Services & Technology
Follow Us @NetElixir
Fill Out the Survey About This Webinar
bit.ly/netelixir{
24
{
