Eight weeks today, many Canadians will be gathered around the tree, unwrapping gifts and, depending on what’s inside, planning their Boxing Week purchases. The shopping season is upon us: Is your SEM strategy holiday ready?
The Canadian E-Tail report from J.C. Williams Group called the 2013 holiday shopping season a “breakthrough” for online, with two-thirds of Canadians going online to buy gifts (for themselves or others). Online shoppers spent on average $746, double the $382 spent by those who took the bricks and mortar route.
With that in mind, the 2014 season is gearing up to be an epic battle for the attention and wallets of online consumers, with SEM being a key weapon of choice. Last year, holiday advertisers spent 34% more on paid search, and that’s expected to jump again this season.
Last week, Yahoo Bing Network experts gathered with advertisers and agencies to share insight into making the most of the holiday season.
“The goal is to maximize campaign potential and optimize the performance of their spend,” says Cameron Hourd, head of Canadian search partnerships for Yahoo.
As part of that effort, Yahoo has expanded publisher-supply partnerships, adding 14% gain in retail focused incremental searches leading into the holiday season.
“A large portion of that traffic is mobile, so having their campaigns enabled for mobile and targeting the right terms will expand their reach even further as our query volume expands,” says Hourd.
Mobile readiness is essential—48% of Canadians with mobile devices say shopping on their smartphone or tablet is better than shopping in store during the busy holiday season, according to a Pollara survey. One-third expects to purchase a gift from their mobile device and 50% will use it to research prices and products.
Research shows people are already in shopping mode so there’s no better time than the present to reevaluate and ramp up your holiday SEM plan:
• Evaluate keyword coverage by running keywords that worked last year (don’t forget to change the 2013s to 2014s). Introduce new terms to cover additional products, trends and holiday-specific searches.
• Increase campaign budgets to accommodate increases in search volume during the holiday season—you don’t want your efforts to peter out while shoppers are still active.
• Start now and test on an ongoing basis to be well positioned for the biggest shopping days of the season.
• Boost budgets in key shopping days, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday and Boxing Day.
• Use Ad Extensions to take over more SERP and enhance the effectiveness of basic search ads—Sitelink Extensions drive more traffic to your website, while Location Extensions push consumers to your bricks and mortar stores.
• Give users a mobile-friendly destination, as well as mobile-specific ads and extensions.
• Set mobile bids high so your ad hits in location #1 or #2, which will boost your mobile presence.
• Use native ads to connect with target audiences and drive brand engagement on a more personal level.
• Tweak ad copy to match shoppers’ interests: Discounts and free shipping always resonate, however searchers tend to respond to guaranteed and overnight shipping as Dec. 25 approaches.
• Efforts should start early and last well into the January to capture those holding out for post-holiday sales.
For more insights or to speak to an expert, visit Advertising.yahoo.com.
