{"id":23032,"date":"2023-11-29T12:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T06:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=23032"},"modified":"2023-11-29T00:13:16","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T18:43:16","slug":"ppcchat-bfcm-2023-how-did-it-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-bfcm-2023-how-did-it-go\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | BFCM 2023 – How did it go? | 28th November 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During this week’s post-Black Friday review chat, host Julie F Bacchini<\/a> sought experts’ views on Black Friday\/Cyber Monday promotions, How were the results of the promotions? For what types of products or services they did the promotions for and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1: Did you run any promotions for Black Friday and\/or Cyber Monday this year? If so, for what types of products or services?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I do lead gen so nothing special for BFCM. @Pete_Bowen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned, I am not an e-comm PPCer, so none for me. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

yep! a few ecomm – one kitchenware and one in d2c healthcare products. @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonprofit focus right now – so no BFCM – but\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0in the middle of Giving Tuesday! @Galliguez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel for you\u00a0@Galliguez<\/a>– I love the concept of Giving Tuesday but all the ones I was part of back in the day were tough slogs. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good example:<\/strong> Outdoor chair finessed its 3PL situation to take in more margin, so passing\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0of those savings to customers via a discount on BFCM still meant they pulled in more profit. They also had a bundle & save deal, which further preserved their margins. Poor example: <\/strong>25% off select products for a supplement company, trying to chase a competitor offering 30% off sitewide. It ends up being a race to the bottom. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

66% of our ecom\/DTC clients did something for BFCM. Some started last week Monday and some started the week before last.Overall everyone seems happy right now with early results. Have to do a postmortem to look at things from 100 feet. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2: How were the results of your promotions or sales this year? How did they compare to last year\u2019s BFCM?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Overall, we spent more, brought in more customers (mostly new, ~85%), and earned more revenue, so it was a success. I still feel strongly that blanketed discounts are lazy and pander to this shopping culture of only buying when businesses cut prices. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which platforms did you advertise on\u00a0@teabeeshell<\/a><\/a>? @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Ads personally, and partner advertisers tackled Meta. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, this year was tough. CPCs were higher for both of my industries, and that paired with the significant discounts resulted in lower ROAS, even with a significantly higher CVR. However, one of my clients is a subscription-based company, so depending on churn could turn out profitable. We did get more new customers, but not sure it was worth it. Also, several competitors started their BFCM pricing in like the 1st\/2nd week of Nov, so it\u2019s possible we lost some market share then (we didn\u2019t launch until a week before BFCM, and we brought even that up from the initial plan). I\u2019m not totally sure who wins in BFCM. @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

wait I do know who wins\u2026.google @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, surely the ad platforms won. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a post in here asking if others saw broader\/looser matching happening in G Ads during this period too. https:\/\/ppcchatgroup.slack.com\/archives\/C0XM9UTL0\/p1701107808236739<\/a>\u00a0 @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tbh, I didn\u2019t. but the cpcs were like, WAY higher for some of my tROAS campaigns. especially shopping. @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@MicheleJaeger1<\/a>\u00a0the churn vs. 60d LTV conversation is make-or-break IMO. That can dramatically turn the tides one way or another. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@teabeeshell<\/a>\u00a0– I bet. This is really what I\u2019m hoping for. Having a hard time accessing that data, but we will get there. @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stuck with mostly tCPA for most campaigns. I still see tROAS as too short-sighted (algorithmically) for most businesses’ acquisition efforts. Again, this keeps LTV in mind, not just the immediate equation of dollars in, dollars out. (I get that Google is pushing hard for tROAS.) @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s so interesting\u00a0@teabeeshell<\/a>\u00a0– theoretically I completely agree with you, but have had a hard time getting the tCPA campaigns to perform as strongly as the tROAS. Might be something specific to my client, not sure. @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@teabeeshell<\/a>– what analytics platforms do you put the most weight on? @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, is tROAS even \u201caccurate\u201d during a time like BFCM? You are actively trying to buy more customers by offering discounts? @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@MicheleJaeger1<\/a>, for now, I’m trying to make GA4 work. It’s powerful if you lean into its capabilities, albeit, with a learning curve. I find that GAds counts about 10-15% more conversions, but between GA4 and Shopify\/other, I can calculate % new and back into an efficiency read on the week. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where machine learning hits a wall. At least where it is right now. The circumstances of BFCM are not at all like any other time. How are the machines handling and calculating this? We can\u2019t see that. Not really. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah\u00a0@teabeeshell<\/a>\u00a0– I\u2019ve been relying on comparing gads w\/ shopify. @MicheleJaeger1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the brands who were going from win to win and strength to strength. They nailed it out of the park. For other brands who were maybe down 5% – 20% revenue this year. They did well and did better then last year but it was not easy to get that win. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/a>\u00a0it puts the impetus on brand\/company leaders (owners) to really understand their business math. If you typically enjoy a 65% margin, and you simply cut into that for BFCM, you cut off you nose to spite your face. If you preserve margin (bundles, min AOV thresholds, customer-paid shipping on low-value orders, etc.) you can rest easier discounting. And retention becomes vital in either scenario, esp. with purchase behaviour being so volatile this time of year. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It amazes me how many DTC businesses, particularly in the zero interest rate era, did none of that type of thinking\u00a0@teabeeshell<\/a> For example, if the vast majority of your sales happen when you do a semi-annual big discount, then your product is improperly priced and\/or being marketed to the wrong audience. There is a lot of legacy from those times getting shredded right now. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q3: Did you notice any trends this year as a PPCer?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Big ones for me were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n