Woo your Customers this Valentine’s Day!

January 20, 2011
by Retail Champions

When do people start searching for Valentine’s Day?

Using Google Insights for Search we can see that search interest for ‘Valentine’s Day’ starts to gain momentum around the 17th, with search impressions increasing significantly during the two weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day – and going into over-drive in the final week.

Starting early with you Valentines messages and campaigns will allow you to target a larger audience, giving you better exposure. People will also be more likely to recognize and engage with your brand which will help with CTR and ultimately conversions.

Having a strategy in place before the competition starts to intensify ensures you don’t lose out on potential conversions while maintaining a competitive edge.

What are people looking to buy?

Just because you aren’t selling chocolates, cards or flowers does not mean you can’t get jump on the Valentine’s Day band wagon! In fact research shows that evenings out, clothing and gift cards are becoming increasingly popular gift choices. People are moving away from the traditional gifts and selecting something more unique to the person who they are buying a gift for so don’t be afraid to add a valentines slant on a campaign for a product which doesn’t initially scream Valentine’s day.

Increasing Coverage on Display

Display ads in January are the most effective way to target early shoppers and future shoppers who may not be looking for Valentine’s gifts at the time but will perhaps return nearer the date.

Comscore research shows that after being exposed to a display ad, consumers were subsequently

136% more likely to search the brand’s keywords
140% more likely to click on an organic link

Creative

The creative needs to have the Valentine’s theme in order to attract attention from the relevant consumers. So think reds, pinks, love, hearts, bows and arrows. Make it imaginative but don’t stray too far from the traditional as consumers need to instantly know what you are promoting. So romance your consumers with an amazing creative and make sure you stand out from the competition

Ad Copy

Whatever the occasion we can be pretty confident that online shoppers will be price sensitive and looking for a quality and efficient service so you should stress this in your ad copy. We can also be safe in the assumption that many people will leave buying their loved one a gift until the last minute in mad panic. So an effective way to increase sales or traffic to the landing page is to create a sense of urgency to encourage buyers to act now rather than shopping around. Fast delivery if you can offer it is also an added bonus and this should be highlighted in the ad text as well as easy to find delivery information. (See examples below).

“Limited Supply”

“Order today for February 14^th Delivery”

“Valentine’s Day delivery Guaranteed”

“Ships today”

The Ad copy should be made relevant to Valentine’s day so use ad text to promote special Valentines offers (or discount codes), as well as gift idea messages. Users looking for Valentines gifts will consider your adverts more relevant because of the wording and it can also discourage irrelevant traffic.

“Valentines Gifts under £30”

“Gifts for Him/Her”

‘Treat your Valentine’

Give recommendations because people often find it difficult to decide what to buy for their partner and be aware that your audience might change over Valentine’s day as people browse their partners favourite shops in attempt to find the perfect gift.

It’s not enough to just get potential customers to the site, once they are there make sure that landing pages are also Valentine themed in order to increase your overall quality score!

Site Links

Site links are an excellent addition to any PPC campaign and should be part of your PPC checklist for Valentine’s promotions.

Following our advice on ad copy, think of the site links as an extension to your ad copy space. Display further key messages and link these through to specific pages. You can also changed and update these simply and at any time on the run up to Valentine’s Day.

Using site-links on your campaign really helps your adverts to stand out from the competition as they take up more ‘real estate’ on the SEPS, helping to improve your CTR.

Competition

Competition becomes even fiercer around calendar events such as Valentine’s Day and therefore it is even more important to stay ahead of the game.

During the run up to Valentine’s day check your account, notice trends, pull off reports, stay alert and you can hope to make a healthy return on PPC.

Consider your specific offers and the ways you can use those to differentiate yourself from the competition. Ensure that your Ad copy and Site links differentiates itself from the rest of the ads too.

Budget

Search interest increases on the run up to Valentine’s Day which is normally followed by an increase in CPC’s. If you plan ahead and optimise now you can benefit from the lower CPCs.

It’s always best to plan ahead for the busy periods and a good place to start is to review any previous PPC trends e.g. your ad spend, traffic and conversion rates in order to make forecasts. Be prepared to increased bids in the final week running up to Valentines Day and monitor your PPC budgets to make sure your ads do not stop appearing due to budget caps.

Mobile

Mobile advertising is becoming an even more powerful tool and increasing numbers of consumers are using their mobile devices for shopping. This is particularly relevant for events such as Valentine ’s Day – typically many people will leave shopping to the last minute and mobile provides a perfect platform for the busy / lazy individual to buy a gift whilst on the move without the stress of hitting the high street!

Mobile vouchers, special offers and coupons offered by advertisers around Valentine’s Day can help build brand loyalty for future occasions.

Check out our ‘best practice guide’ for getting the most out of mobile marketing.

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