Search engine data from Bing last holiday season showed that consumers who clicked on Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads converted relatively quickly, within eight days on average. 77% of searches are based on non-brand terms, which means there are plenty of opportunities for savvy advertisers to attract sales from consumers who are shopping around.
As the influx of back-to-school shoppers arrives, marketers’ thoughts turn to the holiday season and the biggest retail days of the year: Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The number of searchers clicking through to holiday deals is increasing, especially on mobile devices. According to Microsoft internal data, mobile devices accounted for 28.4% of Bing retail clicks during the 2018 holiday season, and mobile is expected to grow 18.5% year-over-year. Additionally, Bing Shopping Campaigns are expected to achieve 23.3% year-over-year growth in 2018, with Bing Shopping Campaigns accounting for 20% of ad clicks during the 2018 holiday season.
There are so many people searching online, so it’s essential to have a solid search marketing strategy in place if you want to enjoy a bigger piece of the festive holiday season. To help, we’ve compiled some insights and tips to help you fine-tune your Black Friday / Cyber Monday (BFCM) search marketing plan.
While most shoppers start following after 12 days, engagement is highest within three days of conversion.
What have we learned about timekeeping?
To better understand the decision-making process of BFCM customers, Microsoft Advertising dug deep into the data. Specifically, we examined digital research behavior collected from Bing users who visited or searched for websites related to “Black Friday deals” or “Cyber Monday deals” at least six times from October 2018 to December 2018. We identified 1,000 users with 9.3 million page views as high-quality shoppers.
The first thing we learned was that two-thirds of BFCM shoppers converted within a day during the week, three-fifths of users converted, and the average BCFM journey lasted eight days. For comparison, consider that the average Christmas shopping trip takes 23 days. Outside of vacations, a typical laptop trip takes 62 days, and a special-occasion dress trip takes 89 days.
We also found that while the BFCM shopping journey was compressed, when comparing both journeys side by side, searches on Black Friday took longer than those on Cyber Monday. This means more time to promote your deals on Black Friday, less time to promote on Cyber Monday, and the most clicks during the cyber holiday.
Not surprisingly, we found that page views increase as shoppers get closer to making a purchase. While most shoppers start following after 12 days, engagement is highest within three days of conversion. We found that 55% of these people shopped on two or more websites.
What we learned from clicks and queries
What do holiday shoppers click on? We found that 77% of clicks during the holiday season are non-branded (queries do not include a specific company or brand name), meaning there is an opportunity for savvy advertisers to influence decisions. Additionally, popular search queries include phrases such as “Black Friday deals 2018” and “Best Black Friday deals 2018” as well as “Cyber Monday deals” and “Best Cyber Monday deals 2018.”
Black Friday queries grew at a slower rate than Cyber Monday, indicating Black Friday had more time to influence consumers’ decisions. Enquiries increase more rapidly on Cyber Monday, so it is imperative to provide competitive offers during the week leading up to the event. It’s also important to note that searches for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday continued after both holidays.
Boost BFCM results with these tips
So how do you make the most of BFCM? Here are some tips to help you boost your results.
1. Make the most of your time
BFCM +/- 7 days is the most important day for attracting shoppers, while BFCM +/- 14 days is the second most important day.
Use remarketing to attract users with increased engagement.
Offer Black Friday deals in the market in advance to attract consumers who plan to shop.
2. Influencing consumer decisions
Use conquest marketing to capture comparison shoppers who visit multiple sites. For example, highlight offers and discounts that have special discounts for home page visitors.
Showcase popular new products on your deals page.
3. Keep consumers engaged
On specific product or category pages, make sure to have a product comparison page for reviews.
For people who abandon their carts, promote limited-time offers, free shipping, or in-store pickup for online purchases.
Use automatic expansion to expand on surface products that consumers have searched for in the past.
4. Budget wisely
Competition is fiercest during Cyber Week, so CPCs are higher, but it’s imperative for advertisers to win conversions. The good news is that CPCs are expected to drop 3% overall, with mobile CPCs expected to drop 11.5%.
When preparing your search advertising plan, keep in mind that there is more activity during the holiday season than on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Holiday shopping starts to ramp up in October and lasts until January, so make sure you allocate your budget throughout the season, including after Christmas. October has the lowest CPCs, so now is a great time to influence early brand discovery and decision making.
