The holiday season is finally here, so we pulled together a quick checklist for advertisers using Pacvue to maximize their campaign performance this Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. Here are the most common automation and campaign adjustments users make leading up to Cyber 5.
Budget Increase
According to the previous three years of Cyber 5, advertising costs start to rise about four days prior to Black Friday, and remain elevated until about four days after Cyber Monday.
- Use the automated Budget Calendar feature in Pacvue to set a budget template for specific time periods, and then apply across campaigns. You can schedule budget increases ahead of time for a set number of days, with lead-in and lead-out, and reuse the same settings again.
- Some users also like to use Budget Auto-Refill feature, also available in the Budget Scheduler in Pacvue. You can use this alongside the calendar template, and set parameters to automatically refill campaign budgets when they run out, if the campaign is hitting performance goals.
- You can also manually change daily budgets in bulk on the Campaign page, but remember to revert budgets to normal levels after the holiday!
Bid Increase
Last year, Amazon Sponsored Product CPC rose 23% week-over-week for Black Friday and 39% for Cyber Monday.
- Stay competitive over Black Friday/ Cyber Monday weekend with increased bids.
- For automation, set up Cyber 5 rules, with thresholds different from regular bidding rule, such as a higher maximum CPC or run based on higher expected impressions. You may also want to run rules more frequently, such as every 2 days, with a 2-day lookback window. Make sure to pause current bidding rules!
- Dayparting can be particularly helpful during holiday events, especially if you’re running deals.
- Similar to increasing budgets in bulk, you can also increase bids in bulk on the Targeting page. Again, make sure to revert bids back to normal levels a few days after Cyber Monday.
Other bid adjustments:
- If you’re running fixed bids, try Dynamic Bidding – Up and Down. This allows the auction to automatically increase the bid and win more ad placements when the ad is more likely to lead to a conversion.
- Increase placement bid modifiers to boost top-of-search placements, especially for items with deals.
Monitor Item Status in Real Time
Pacvue Product Center enables users to monitor item inventory, buy box, and eligibility status. You can receive alerts if a status changes and set up rules to automatically pause campaigns or reallocate budget.
Diversify Campaign Strategy
- Use Pacvue Category Intelligence to identify which items are the most popular for high-ranking search terms, and add them to existing Sponsored Display Product Attribute Targeting campaigns or create new seasonal campaigns with higher bids. When your ads appear below the buy box on high-traffic detail pages, you have the opportunity to reach new customers, especially when promoting your items with lower pricing, higher ratings, or other competitive attributes.
- Add seasonal keywords to your campaigns. You can look at previous’ years top search terms in your category, or look at terms that are starting to surge now, as many consumers begin researching deals weeks before the actual Black Friday / Cyber Monday event. One trick is to include “Black Friday [+ category]” as keywords in your campaigns.
- Use Pacvue Share of Voice to monitor which competitors are investing in paid ads for the holiday event, as well as open keywords that are ripe for targeting. After the event, you can also measure the impact that Cyber 5 had on items’ organic rankings.
Prepare for Another Year of Unpredictability
Supply chain challenges will surely be a factor this holiday season, not unlike the uncertainty surrounding Q4 2020. To better prepare for the holiday season ahead, take a moment to catch up on our key takeaways from last year’s Cyber 5 event.
