Get in the festive spirit: top PPC tips for online retailers

Is PPC on your Christmas list?

‘Tis the season to be jolly. It’s time to purchase the biggest tree you can find, decorate it with decorations, purchase gifts for your loved ones and send cards to everyone you know. ‘Tis also the season when e-commerce retailers have to stay ahead of the game and have a clear strategy on how they plan to execute Christmas profitably.

The festive season is fast approaching, but don’t panic – there’s still time to review your paid media advertising strategy in the run up to Christmas! The manic rush typically begins the day after Halloween, where businesses change their focus from Halloween to Christmas.

Giving you the gift of PPC

In order to get the most out of your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising this winter, we’ve put together a few of our top tips on how to utilise your Christmas PPC campaigns – just call us Santa’s Little Helpers.

Key dates to remember:

• Black Friday – 23^rd November
• Cyber Monday – 26^th November
• Green Monday – 10^th December
• Christmas Day – 25^th December
• Boxing Day – 26^th December

Tip one: Add a little festivity to your ad copy

This may sound straightforward, but using Christmas specific ad copy can increase click-through rates and is a simple yet effective way to drive traffic to your website. Don’t be a scrooge – customers are more likely to engage with your ads if they are relevant to the season.

Not every buyer knows exactly what they’re looking for. Reduce their uncertainty by doing the hard work for them. Make the ad relevant to the person they’re buying for (stated in their search query).

For example: “the perfect Christmas gift for the Dad who has it all.”

This can be implemented successfully by organising ad groups for specific audiences (gifts for mum, gifts for friends, gifts for partner) and associating relevant keywords to each ad group. Don’t forget to include deadlines for ordering in time for Christmas and, for all those offering free delivery, include this vital information too!

Tip two: Decorate your ads with a touch of magic

Christmas is a competitive time of year for online retailers, so make sure you utilise all available ad extensions to include as many unique selling points as you can to differentiate yourself from competitors. Key extensions to note are promo extensions on both search and Google shopping campaigns for the following popular occasions: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and Boxing Day.

Buyers are always budget-conscious, especially around Christmas, so including a promo extension may encourage their decision to make a purchase. Google automatically chooses relevant extensions for each ad based on the search query so ensure you make use of all available extensions, so you’re covered whatever the search query.

Tip three: Increase pre-Christmas sales

A lot of research goes into finding the perfect gift, so a percentage of your website visits may well be part of this process, with some potential customers leaving without making a purchase. Remarketing is a great chance to gently remind past visitors to return to your website and complete a transaction. When doing so, it’s important to segment your remarketing audience into the different stages of the buyer process. For example, all visitors to your site, all visitors who have viewed a specific product page, all visitors who have placed items in the shopping cart but abandoned it and all past customers.

Could you do with some PPC advice from our Paid Media elves to help take your brand further and drive revenue? Drop us a line or give us a call with your marketing problems and we’ll be happy to talk to you about how we can help!