Holiday Optimization Guide 2013

Contents

Yahoo! Bing

Network Drives

Value for the Retail

Industry

Audience Behavior

Optimization

Strategies and

Timelines

Audience Insights

in Retail Category

Must-Haves for

the Holiday Q&A / Appendix

Executive Summary

Holiday Spending

• The 2013 Holiday retail season will see a rebound

in consumer spending. eMarketer forecasts US

retail ecommerce sales will grow 15.1% for the

holiday season—defined as November and

December—to reach $61.8 billion.

• Consumer electronics—newly released gaming

consoles, smartphone models (including the new

iPhone)—will drive significant demand.

• Spending on gift cards will also continue to grow

while spending on apparel will see a modest

increase.

• The 2013 holiday season will be shorter than

2012, which will change spending patterns.

Advertiser Actions

• Key in on device targeting and

optimize your message and

offering to match differing

customer behaviors by device.

• Test ad copy early to capture

the 20% of consumers who

start holiday shopping in or

before September.

• Include promotions in your ad

copy and promote in-store

pick-up to drive traffic and

incremental sales.

The Yahoo! Bing Network at a Glance

Reach an Audience that Spends More than Google

Audience Buying Power Index

100116 123

138

Average Internet

User

Google Yahoo! Bing

Network

Exclusive Yahoo!

Bing Network

(Not reached on

Google)

more than average online population23%

The Yahoo! Bing Network audience spends

more than Google searchers6%

Total Yahoo! Bing Network audience spends

more than U.S. Google searchers18%

Exclusive Yahoo! Bing Network audience spends

Connect with Searchers You Can’t Reach Elsewhere

Retail searchers not reached on Google

Total retail searchers Total retail searches

of all retail paid clicks

Total retail paid clicks31M

65M

22%117M

510M

Optimization Strategies and Timelines

The OpportunityWinter holiday season is the number one season for retail sales.

• eMarketer projects digital holiday season

sales will rise about 15% again this year,

matching last year’s gains. US retail

ecommerce sales for the holiday season—

defined as November and December—

will grow 15.1% to $61.8 billion.1

• The top ten heaviest days for online

spending in 2012 all occurred during the

holiday shopping period.2

• Most retailers expect their holiday online

sales to grow at least 10%3 in 2013 and

one-third of retailers say they'll begin

promotional offers before October 1.4

US Retail Ecommerce Holiday Season Sales

Planning for 2013

When people planned to start holiday shopping in 2012…

…and when and how to prepare for 2013

NovemberAllocate additional budget.

Monitor your ads’ position and adjust your bids.

Prepare and launch specific ads for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Offer additional incentives and discounts.

DecemberCreate urgency with updated ad copy.

After last-ship date, drive traffic to brick-and-mortar stores.

Don’t forget post-season sales continue after the holidays.

SeptemberReview and analyze last year’s campaign.

Build out your keyword list.

Start testing ad copy.

Familiarize yourself with new Bing Ads features.

OctoberCheck your account health.

Launch your holiday keyword list.

Target early shoppers.

Create seasonal ad copy.

Monitor your competition.

Advertisers need to allot sufficient budget to prepare for increasing sales through November and December.

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Week 1(11/4)

Week 2(11/11)

Week 3(11/18)

Week 4(11/25)

Week 5(12/2)

Week 6(12/9)

Week 7(12/16)

Week 8(12/23)

Week 9(12/30)

$ M

illio

ns

Week Ending

2012 Weekly Online Holiday Season Spending vs. Corresponding Days in 2011

Y 2011 Y 2012

2013 Key Dates

Sep–Oct Early Shopping

11/28 Thanksgiving

11/29 Black Friday

12/02 Cyber Monday

12/09 Green Monday

12/17 Last Ship Date

12/27 Post Holiday Sales

2013 Top Gifts

Gift Cards (59.8%)

Clothing (49.1%)

Books, CD, DVD and video games (45.7%)

Electronics (35.8)

Jewelry (24%)

Home Décor (20.2%)

Sporting Goods (17.4%)

2012 Weekly Online Season Spending vs. Corresponding Days in 2011

2012 Holiday Season – CTR by Vertical

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2.50

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3.50

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4.50

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5.50

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6.50

7.00

2012 Holiday Season - CTR by Vertical

Clothing & Shoes Electronics Jewelry & Watches Toys Beauty & Fragrance

Clothing & Shoes were

in high demand on the

Yahoo! Bing Network

last year and delivered

strong CTR through the

holiday season.

2012 Holiday Season – Click Trends by Vertical

Clicks and CTR spiked

across all verticals

shown here around

Thanksgiving.

11/1/2012 11/8/2012 11/15/2012 11/22/2012 11/29/2012 12/6/2012 12/13/2012 12/20/2012 12/27/2012

2012 Holiday Season - Click Trends by Vertical

Clothing & Shoes Electronics Jewelry & Watches Toys Beauty & Fragrance

2012 Holiday Season – CPC by Vertical

Costs per click showed

minimal variations

within each category but

increased for toys and

jewelry shortly before

Christmas.

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2012 Holiday Season - CPC by Vertical

Clothing & Shoes Electronics Jewelry & Watches Toys Beauty & Fragrance

Keywords

• Create holiday keyword list

• Use competitive bids

• Monitor position

• Bid on all Match Types

• Identify negative keywords

• Solve editorial issues early

Ad Copy

• Test ad copy early

• Create dynamic ad copy

• Include pricing and incentives

• Match your competitors’ offers

• Adjust during season: Target early-bird and last-minute shoppers

• Pause underperforming ads

Targeting

• Use incremental bidding to reach your demographic audience

• Physical stores can use radius targeting

• Separate search, content, and mobile campaigns for easier adjustment

Budgeting

• Define your goals

• Plan for growth

• Increase budget each month

• Prepare for peak days

Reporting

• Monitor your campaigns

• Run regular reports

• Implement campaign analytics

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CTR

Clic

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tage

Click Volume & CTR by Position

Clicks CTR

Keyword Best Practices Holiday Action

For broad match

implement broad

match modifier

Create specific holiday

campaign with

seasonal keywords

Set competitive

bids and increase

during the season

Bid on all match

types with highest

bid on exact

Why Competitive Bids are Important

• Position 1 receives 60% of all clicks.

• Click volume and CTR drop rapidly below

position 5.

Learn More

Click Volume & CTR by Position

Ad Copy Best Practices Holiday Action

Use Click to Call

and/or Location

Extensions

Test ad copy early to

determine which ones

perform best

Add sitelinks

Use Dynamic

Insertion for

increased relevance

Why Sitelinks are Important

• Sitelink extensions are additional

links in your ads that take searchers

to specific pages on your website

and can significantly increase CTR.

• For retailers using sitelinks CTR

improved by 13.3%.

Learn More

Targeting Best Practices Holiday Action

For physical stores

create a radius around

your business location

Develop and

execute mobile

strategy

Create individual

campaigns for PC,

phones, and tablets

Use incremental

bidding to target your

specific audience

Why Device Targeting is Important

• Mobile sales are expected to grow by 55%

in 2013.

• With Bing Ads giving the flexibility to

target by device, advertisers have full

control where their ads will appear.

Learn More

US Retail Mcommerce Holiday Season Sales (billions)1

Budgeting Best Practices Holiday Action

Define your ROI

goals early and

align budget

accordingly

As competition

heats up, have

enough budget

left for peak dates

Decide which

budget setting

works best for the

holiday season

Use the

“opportunities” tab

to get recommended

bids and budgets

Why Budget Settings are Important

• Depending on your settings you run the risk

of your ads not showing due to depleted

budget.

Learn More

Feature Budget Type

Daily-Standard Daily-Accelerated Monthly

Allows you to set the maximum amount that you want to spend each day. X X

Allows you to take advantage of changing market conditions, such as a

holiday season or special promotion.X X

Suited for advertisers who expect to make frequent changes to budget

throughout the month.X X

Suited for advertisers who do not want to monitor their budget regularly X

Suited for advertisers who monitor their budget daily. X X X

Provides for even distribution of impressions throughout a daily 24-hour

period.X

Your daily budget will be spent as quickly as possible each day until it’s all

gone.X

Your monthly budget will be spent as quickly as possible until it’s gone. Bing

Ads does not try to evenly distribute impressions across the entire month

and there is no daily cap on the number of impressions that can be shown.

X

Reporting Best Practices Holiday Action

Use keyword reports

to check performance

and optimize for CTR,

costs, and position

Schedule

reports to be

sent to your

inbox regularly

Install Bing Ads

Intelligence for advanced

insights across all Bing

ads accounts

Implement

conversion tracking

to better understand

the purchase funnel

Why Bing Ads

Intelligence is Important

• BAI suggests new keywords

and keeps you up-to-date

with average bids, CTR and

performance by position,

match type and device.

Learn More

Keyword Device Match type Position Clicks Impressions CTR CPC Total Cost Avg Bid

buy gift card Desktops and laptops Exact MainLine 01 7 863 0.81% $0.38 $2.65 $0.93

buy gift card Desktops and laptops Phrase MainLine 01 3 212 1.42% $0.77 $2.32 $1.39

buy gift card Desktops and laptops Broad MainLine 01 11 1,210 0.91% $0.44 $4.83 $1.70

buy gift card Desktops and laptops Exact MainLine 02 4 932 0.43% $0.34 $1.37 $1.02

buy gift card Desktops and laptops Phrase MainLine 02 0 328 0.00% $0.00 $0.00 $1.22

buy gift card Desktops and laptops Broad MainLine 02 13 1,839 0.71% $0.62 $8.04 $1.27

Keyword Performance

Quick Tips for New Advertisers

Import campaigns

directly from

Google with only a

few clicks

Bing Ads Express is a new tool to help local businesses quickly and

easily launch Bing Ads campaigns.

• If you already have campaigns in other online advertising

programs, you can import them to Bing Ads, saving you time.

Directly import your Google account with your credentials.

Learn More

• Bing Ads Express is a quick and easy way to reach millions of

customers looking for businesses like yours. Just tell us about

your business and we will do the rest.

Learn More

The Must-Haves for the Holidays

• m-Commerce growth is significantly

outpacing e-Commerce and brick-and-

mortar stores.

• A study of 100 million “conversion

events” across 4 major verticals (telecom,

retail, auto, and travel) and multiple

devices – mobile phones, desktop

computers, and tablets – reveals that 31%

of these conversions took place on a

mobile device.1

• The proportion of conversions taking

place on a mobile device has grown by

28% over the past year. 1

Q2 2013 Y/Y Retail Spending Growth by Channel2

US Total Device Owners

Mobile phones are primarily used

for research on pricing and

products. But 27% of mobile

shoppers also made a purchase.1

Ways that US Mobile Shoppers Used Mobile Retail Sites and Apps During the 2012 Holiday Season

Having a

mobile site

or app this

season is

crucial for

success.

• In Q2 of 2013, more than half

of online transactions involved

free shipping.

• During the 2012 holiday

season, consumers actively

sought “free shipping” terms

across all search engines. 1

Percentage of e-Commerce Transactions with Free Shipping2

• Free shipping was the most

successful online promotion

during the 2012 holiday

season.

• Free shipping offers in the

2013 Holiday season are

essential to stay competitive.

Most Successful Online Promotions Used During the 2012 Holiday Season According to US Retailers, Jan 2013

Audience Behavior

Reach Receptive Audiences Along Their Complex Shopping Journey

Our visitors

purchase 23%

more home

and garden

products

Our visitors

purchase 22%

more jewelry

and watches

Our visitors

purchase 15%

more furniture,

appliances and

equipment

Our visitors

purchase 24%

more apparel

& accessories

Compared with Google, the Yahoo! Bing Network Audience is…

20% more likely to spend $2,500-$4,999 on consumer

electronics

18% more likely to spend $500-$999 on personal

electronics

17% more likely to spend $200-$499 on fragrances

16% more likely to spend $500 or more on gourmet

cooking equipment

13% more likely to buy classical music/ballet/opera tickets

9% more likely to buy online audio books (MP3 or other electronic format)

Q&A / Appendix