5 Ways Ecommerce Beauty Brands Can Prepare Paid Search Campaigns For Cyber Week
Cyber Week is the time to go big or stay home! Beauty shoppers have been conditioned to expect a deal during this special week. A strong Cyber Week strategy can help your beauty brand website stand out above competitors and even resellers. Follow these tips to take full advantage of Cyber Week.
1. Choose the Right Cyber Week Promotions
Choose a sitewide discount instead of a single product or category. Discounts on a single product or category can end one of two ways – lack luster sales because the product isn’t a customer favorite, or selling out of the product, causing a scramble to change ads and inevitably, some dissatisfied customers with corresponding negative reviews. A sitewide discount avoids both scenarios.
Choose a tiered promotion to increase Average Order Value (AOV). Consider providing 10% off $50+ orders, 20% off $100+ orders, 30% off $150+ orders. This type of discount encourages shoppers to spend more to get to the next tier discount. And consider pairing this promotion with ad messaging that encourages shoppers to “stock up now”.
Have promotional ad copy uploaded and ready to go at least a week ahead of time. Start planning now so you can let your PPC account manager know the specifics of your promotions in plenty of time to craft copy. Google may need extra time to review ads during this busy season, so upload ad copy early, in a paused state, to get a head start on the editorial process.
2. Offer A Gift With Purchase
Consider including sample sized gifts with each purchase. A Gift With Purchase (GWP) doesn’t have to be a full sized product. Even a small packet of a moisturizer or travel-sized lipstick can be a differentiator. Google Shopping is a perfect example of how a GWP can make your ad stand out. More on that later.
Another option is giving a premium sample at a certain purchase level. If you do have a full-sized sample to give away, make the most of it! Offer the sample only on purchases over a certain threshold (for example, a free full-sized lipstick with $75+ purchase) to encourage bigger shopping carts at checkout.
3. Rethink Your PLA Strategy
Try Smart Shopping. Smart Shopping leverages machine learning to maximize product ad performance across Google Search, Display, YouTube and Gmail networks (vs Standard Shopping which appears only on Google Search Network).
I know what you’re thinking, what’s the catch? Well, Smart Shopping is a bit of a black box. Unlike Standard Shopping where you have insight into search terms and exactly how ads appear, Smart Shopping reduces the level of visibility. After testing Smart Shopping with five different ecommerce brands, I saw positive improvements in campaign efficiency, ad reach and in most cases, conversion volume. My conclusion? The potential performance improvements with Smart Shopping are worth the loss of transparency.
Always add your promotions to Google Merchant Center as special offers. Google Merchant Center allows advertisers to add a promotion or a gift with purchase as a special offer. A WordStream case study showed a 36% increase in conversions when special offers were included. Your GWP can be the tipping point for shoppers trying to decide where to purchase their beauty products.
Here’s an example:
For the above search for Urban Decay eyeshadow primer, the first three PLA results are the same product. Hovering over the Special Offer tag shows the user that she can buy two and get one free, making this item the best value of the three visible products.
4. Double Check Your Keywords
Add branded and nonbranded keywords themed around Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Your keyword list should include your brand name black Friday deals, your brand name cyber Monday deals, etc. You can even venture into nonbrand keywords like black Friday beauty deals, beauty gift sets, etc. Just make sure you narrow your targeting – I recommend remarketing only – so you don’t break the bank.
Audit paused and negative keywords. Are there any negative keywords you’ve added this year that might be blocking relevant traffic? Are there keywords you paused due to budget constraints that might make a comeback during high traffic Cyber Week dates? Search for any keywords with a conversion in the last year to make sure you are not missing any opportunities.
Test Dynamic Search Ads in October. Before CPCs start going too crazy, take a small portion of your budget (maybe 5-10%) to test DSA. This will help you discover if there are any keywords you are missing out on.
5. Consider New Ad Formats
Uncover YouTube opportunities. Beauty brands and YouTube is a match made in heaven. In 2018, the beauty category on YouTube generated 169 billion views and this number continues to grow every year. One of my clients capitalized on this trend when a beauty influencer posted a makeup tutorial featuring their products. After the video went live, PPC traffic increased 93% and PPC revenue increased 89% compared to the two days before. I could write an extensive blog post about all of the YouTube strategies and opportunities available in the beauty industry, but neither of has time for that, so I’ll leave you with this – if you’re a beauty brand and you aren’t leveraging YouTube, start today!
Test Responsive Display Ads on the Google Display Network. If you don’t have a display ad strategy, or want to expand your current reach, Responsive Display Ads are a must. It’s easy to set up and Google automatically tests ad variations to choose the best options. After adding this ad type to a traditional Display Campaign, I was able to increase ad impressions by 750% and clicks by 433% with a CPC of $0.06.
So there you have it, five major tips to get your PPC campaigns in top shape for Cyber Week. Start making plans today and this could be the best Cyber Week ever!