In the wake of Apple’s iOS 14 security updates, e-commerce brands were braced to face a more challenging and competitive marketplace this past BFCM weekend than ever before. Success in this climate despite these new challenges hinges upon employing specific vital strategies to maximize ad performance and results.
Here at The Snow Agency, we are proud to share that we had a smooth and successful BFCM weekend for our clients. We will share crucial takeaways and key insights you should keep in mind for next year’s BFCM and as we move forward into the new year and beyond.
Without further ado, here’s a closer look at some of our results.
Black Friday 2022 vs 2021 Facebook Results
- Spend up 101% (FB NOT DEAD)
- ROAS down 10%
- CPM down 24%
- CR up 5%
- AOV up 4%
- Overall Store Revenue up 39%
Cyber Monday 2022 vs 2021 Facebook Results
Top 10 spenders increased their spend this year as compared to 2021.
- Spend up 102%
- ROAS down 3%
- CPMs down 24%
Black Friday-Cyber Monday 2022 Weekend Insights (Nov 25-28) vs 2021 (Nov 26-29)
- FB CPMs were 35% lower this year as compared to last
- Clients spent more on ads
- High AOV brands were the biggest winners: 8 of top 10 spenders had AOV >$100
- LAAs (FB and Shopify Audiences) outperformed cold audiences
- Store Revenue was +49%
- Brands without compelling offers did NOT yield significant results over 2022’s BFCM weekend.
Key Insights For Next Year’s BFCM
1. Clearly Display Your Offer In Ads Using The ½ Second Rule
Remember, during the most impactful weekend of the year for your brand’s performance, your customers don’t necessarily care about your brand. They only care about the deal you are offering and are actively searching the Internet for the best deals they can find.
So, it is crucial that your ad creative and copy clearly display the deal you are offering within .5 seconds aka “the half-second rule.” It is back to the drawing board to remake your creative if your ad does not pass this half-second test.
2. Make Sure Your Offer is Clearly Displayed Throughout Your Site
Don’t only put your offer on your homepage. Remember, traffic will also be navigating to your collection pages, product detail pages or landing pages and if your offer is only on your homepage, prospective customers may miss it altogether.
Pro Tip #1: Include a large sticky banner with your offer on your web pages that also passes the .5 second rule.
*Bonus Points: Incorporate a daily countdown timer in the sticky banner which expires at 11:59pm (and resets at midnight if your sale takes place the following day as well). Even better if the time is also included in the fly-out cart.
3. Make Sure Your Discount Code is Easily Accessible to Customers to Identify and Use
We sometimes see marketers using a manual discount code make the mistake of not having it easily accessible to customers.
Pro Tip #1: Code your offer directly into the site underneath the price and have the deal appear in-cart with a field for customers to easily enter the discount code.
Of course, if you are not using discount codes and are instead holding a sitewide sale, make sure that is clear to your customers as well. Call out clearly on your site with *NO CODE NEEDED* on all your sales materials.
4. Use Countdown Timers To Create Urgency
Success during BFCM also hinges upon not only making customers excited about your deals – but also getting them to act on them fast before they expire. This is why it is crucial to include countdown timers on your site and have them expire daily to create even more urgency.
Once you code in your countdown timer, watch your ATC – IC (Add-to-cart 👉 Initiate Checkout) rate skyrocket!
5. Allocate Proper Budget For Retargeting Audiences
A common mistake we see marketers make is not allocating enough budget for retargeting audiences. Consider how many people are in each of your retargeting audiences and how much it would cost to reach all of them (multiple times). This gives you a baseline understanding of how to scale each audience, assuming you have ROAS.
Pro Tip: To prevent customers from seeing the same ads, make sure you are showing different creatives to each audience in your retargeting campaign. An even better way to avoid ad fatigue is to run different ads from different social pages (influencer pages, publisher pages, etc).
6. Run BFCM Ads From Non-Brand Pages You Have Access To
Speaking of running ads from different pages to prevent ad fatigue, maximize conversions and results from running BFCM ads from other pages you have access to. These include influencer pages, persona pages and Black Friday Deal Pages. Don’t have a Black Friday Deal Page? Make one!
Bonus Tip: When you run ads from non-brand pages make sure you adjust your copy to reflect the appropriate tone of voice, as if it is coming directly from the influencer, persona page pr publisher (Black Friday Deals) page.
7. Use These Critical Audiences to Maximize Performance
-Pixel Purchase and order export past 180 days.
We also see marketers make the mistake of not using their order export and pixel purchase audiences past 180 days where the pixel cuts you off. Keep in mind, your order export audience is low-hanging fruit and the best-performing audience, so it is to your advantage to use it!
-Website Visitors up to 180 days
Segment day ranges as you see fit. Make sure you at least segment 0 – 7 days if your audience is in the thousands of people.
-Engagement (FB and IG)
-Video View (75%) – You can consolidate VV and engagement into one audience if <100,000 people are in either of the audiences.
Scale Growth and Maximize Results in The New Year and Beyond
2022 is coming to a close and another year and Q1 is ahead of us. It is the perfect time to rethink your marketing materials and strategies, and make adjustments as you head into a new year of growth.
Looking to take your marketing operations and performance to new heights? Partner with the digital marketing experts at The Snow Agency who have the savvy and knowhow to help you make moves that propel the needle forward and your business to new levels of success.