PM Digital Blog

February was another good month for paid search campaigns for online retail, continuing the pattern of online retail growth outpacing growth for retail overall.  PM Digital’s February 2011 Rewind Index, which measures monthly paid search performance for online retail clients, shows that revenue from this source was up 36%, achieved with a corresponding 29% increase in paid search spend.  Clicks were up slightly year-over-year, but the bigger factor contributing to sales growth was especially strong improvement in the average conversion rate.  The traditionally promotion-laden Presidents’ Day emerged as the top day in February for several key paid search metrics, namely spend, clicks and revenue.

YoY Performance Metrics for February 2011

February 2011 Top Sales Days:  Mon 2/21 (Presidents’ Day), Tues 2/8
Other Key Days:  Fri 2/25 (Revenue), Thu 2/10 (Orders)

February’s top paid search revenue day for PM Digital retail clients was Monday, 2/21, which was also Presidents’ Day.  Tues 2/8 was a close contender and ended up the second highest day for paid search revenue, as well as the top day for order volume.  In general, sales indexes remained solidly above average during February’s first ten days and final four days.  Valentine’s Day may have exerted some influence on consumers during the first third of the month, while spring merchandise previews may have had more of a role as March approached.

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If the holidays were marked by the return of meaningful growth in paid search, then post-holiday may long be remembered for…snow, more snow, and even more snow.  But the past month can also be credited with another type of accumulation:  more sales generated by paid search.  PM Digital’s January 2011 Rewind Index, which measures monthly paid search performance for online retail clients, shows that year-over-year revenue from this source was up 36%.  PM Digital clients achieved this growth with a 28% increase in spend.  Clicks and conversion also showed healthy increases, while average order (AOV) also continued to climb.

YoY Performance Metrics for January 2011

January 2011 Top Sales Days:  Sun 1/30, Mon 1/17 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
Other Key Days:  Sun 1/2, Fri 1/21 (Orders); Fri 1/21, Mon 1/31, Sun 1/2, Sun 1/23 (Revenue)

Mon 1/17 and Sun 1/30 shared the spotlight as the top overall days for PM Digital’s online retail clients in January, measured by paid search order volume.  Revenue also indexed highest on these two days, with Sun 1/30 just edging into the top spot for that metric.  Sundays in general indexed high for sales in January, a departure from the primary focus on Mondays seen during the year-end holidays.

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One of the ways marketers can improve their paid search performance is to ensure that they are in competitive positions on the search engines for whatever days of the week typically perform well for them. Most paid search advertisers see consistent trends in this regard that are unique to their businesses.

In addition to the patterns of when sales come in based on the natural rhythm of the customer base, securing high positions on the search engines is also important when emails drop, when catalogs are due to be in home, when sales are running, and peak holiday days. On these days,  results will be stronger than normal, so it’s necessary to inflate bids and override bid management algorithms, if necessary, to maximize the share of impressions.

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Holiday 2010 was the best season online retailers have had in several years, by all early accounts.  You may have read some of the welcome growth figures that have been released so far:  12% year-over-year from comScore, 15.4% from MasterCard SpendingPulse; those are for holiday e-commerce overall—but what about sales driven only by paid search?  The December edition of the PM Digital Rewind Index, which measures monthly paid search performance for online retailers, shows that year-over-year revenue for this source was up 47% for PM Digital clients during this most important shopping month, and that the top sales days came early in the first and second weeks.

December 2010 Top Sales Days:  Mon 12/13, Mon 12/6, Sun 12/5, Tue 12/7, Sun 12/12

Mon 12/13, a.k.a. “Green Monday,” was the top overall day for both revenue and order volume for PM Digital’s online retail clients in December.  Other peak days were Sun 12/12 and those surrounding Monday, 12/6.  As expected, sales began to slow after Green Monday and continued dropping as Christmas neared and shipping deadlines passed.  “Free Shipping Day,” Fri 12/17, was the last day with average or better sales figures for the month.  The rebound started on 12/26, typically spurred by gift card redeemers and After-Christmas sales.

YoY Sales Metrics for Noteworthy Dates in December 2010

In addition to being the top sales day, Green Monday also saw considerable growth in revenue and orders metrics on a year-over-year basis.  Even more impressive, though, was the growth for Free Shipping Day, Fri 12/17 vs. prior year.  While that day’s revenue was average compared to other December 2010 days, when compared to the same day last year, revenue had shot up 80%.  If marketers decide to allocate more search budget to this day in future seasons, Free Shipping Day could potentially become another Cyber Monday or Black Friday in terms of pent-up consumer demand.  Sales are already typically strong in that mid-December week.

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