how to forecast and plan the holiday season by sophie newton

#SMX #32D @Brainlabs

Four tactics to maximize holiday sales

How to forecast and plan for the holiday season


§ Studied math at Oxford University

§ Director at Brainlabs, the fastest growing UK digital agency

§ We do all things biddable

Hi there, I’m Sophie from Brainlabs!


The holiday season is important.


For paid search think about both message and spend.


We need to plan and forecast.


And also think about technology; humans can’t do everything.


Hourly Tracking

URL Checking

Bulk Sale Ads Tool

Budget Modelling


of holiday shoppers started buying in October

Look at the run-up as well as the holidays

25%


Look at the run-up as well as the holidays

48% Before Cyber Monday

of holiday shoppers had done most of their shopping


§  Black Friday sales peak in the morning §  Cyber Monday sales peak in the evening

Look at hourly data Source: IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark


Look at devices

Smartphone and tablet traffic was

of online traffic in 2014. Up from 41% in 2013.

53%


Look at devices

27.9% Last Black Friday in the US

of online sales came from mobile


§ Use all your data to work out when to spend your budget to best effect

Basic Budget Modelling

Hour of Day Device

Day Product Line

Budget

Location


§ How can we use technology to improve our budget model?

Taking this to the next level...


Google Prediction API

Insert

Predict

Update


Connecting the AdWords API to the Prediction API allows the forecast to change as the facts change.


Budget Modelling URL

Checking

Bulk Sale Ads Tool

Hourly Tracking


§  Start with a basic hourly cost and sales email to keep on top of things

The facts can change hour to hour


§  Compare spend relative to historical hourly data to see if we are on track

Track against historical data


§  Group tracking by account, or even by campaigns and keywords to easily watch for anomalies

Look for anomalies on an hourly basis


Budget Modelling

Hourly Tracking Bulk Sale

Ads Tool

URL Checking


Don’t waste money on broken links

URL Checking


URL Checking – not just broken links!

Green Shirt – Size 12

Sorry – none in stock!

A lovely shirt made of finest verdant lorem ipsum, lined with dolor sit amit. Machine washable.

Plain Green Shirt $30

2 results found for ‘green shirt’

Plainer Green Shirt $36

§ Stock levels § Product depth

12%


Big Red Button

@Brainlabs #SMX #32D


Budget Modelling

Hourly Tracking

URL Checking

Bulk Sale Ads Tool


§  Use automation to pause ads when their time is up.

§  Don’t forget to update §  landing pages too!

Messaging – Stay Up-To-Date

@Brainlabs #SMX #32D


Bulk Sale Ads Tool

Before sale During sale After sale

•  We made a tool to label and pause non-sale ads while a sale is on.

•  The tool unpauses non-sale ads after the sale.


Use Parameters and Customizers

§ Update ads without the hassle of replacing them. § Use accurate values for each product line.

§ Combine with countdowns for urgency


§  Prediction API Spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iB07Uz88nnRqKwhooN7mra5iEkYomCw7Z8XGc8fodTk/edit#gid=10

§  24/7 Bidding (now with mobile and shopping!) http://searchengineland.com/247-bidding-going-mobile-100-shopping-223943

§  Bid to position in real time http://www.brainlabsdigital.com/blog/adwords-script-real-time-position-bidding/

§  How fast does your AdWords data update? http://www.brainlabsdigital.com/blog/real-time-bidding-adwords/

§  Broken URL checker https://econsultancy.com/blog/64979-adwords-scripts-scan-your-landing-pages-and-put-an-end-to-errors/

DIY: Open source solutions


THANK YOU!

SEE YOU @SMX WEST SAN JOSE, CA

MARCH 1-3, 2016

how to forecast and plan the holiday season by sophie newton

Retail