Why You Should Look At The Timings Of Your AdWords Campaigns
Our time spent online today is very much pattern-driven. During the day throughout a working week, we are more likely to be on a computer at work, whereas around 5 pm, when we are traveling home, there may be a spike in mobile device traffic. Of course, each day there will be peaks and troughs of activity whilst people are engaging with the internet, dependent on the schedule for their day.
For example, a general rule parents will look later in the day, after the children are asleep and they have some time to relax. Analytics has shown us that we are driven to online behaviour quite predictably during the week and this ultimately has an effect on business campaigns enormously in terms of when and how they are seen.
Predicting Online Engagement For Consumers
Some research has shown that we spend approximately 15 out of 24 hours more in a typical weekday on mobile than either on computers or tablets. This trend continues over the weekend too – where most of us are out and about or searching from the sofa via a mobile phone.
It’s vital to understand how your business fits into the ‘time-targeted’ strategy. If your office closes at 5 pm and customers have to wait till the next day to get a response from your team from an enquiry, then you might consider scheduling your ad so staff can act and customers will immediately get a response if they need it for closing a deal. You need to think about accessibility, can you respond quickly to enquiries generated by ad campaigns?
On the other side of that argument, for e-commerce B2C sites, you may want to schedule ads on the Sunday evening when it is likely that people will be making purchases online, to be delivered in the week.
Your customers will have their own online habits. Put yourself in their shoes and ask – when are they most likely to be online? You should put some work into getting data or research to gauge how they interact online, so you are not wasting time or money on an ineffective campaign.
Use your research data and apply bid modifiers for days, hours and devices based on the results from this. This will spread out your budget much more effectively and will be more likely to hook relevant consumers.
It’s worth keeping an eye on social media engagement to give you an idea of when people are engaging online, as this is often the first port of call for users. There is research to suggest that there are the most tweets between 4-5pm in Central Europe and the highest click-through rates are across the weekend.
Does ‘Time Online’ Targeting Work?
You may now be thinking – will this extra attention to detail pay off?
One statistic shows that ads that take into account online habits can increase conversion by up to 70%. That’s one powerful statistic. The days of advertising that is equivalent to mindless carpet bombing are coming to an end. Smart ad campaigns are now becoming very precise and are more often taking in to account demographic and user behaviour data, and of course, the most likely time at which they are online and potentially buying.
Micro-moments is a term Google constantly pushes and that’s because people make purchase decisions in-the-moment. In fact, 62% of smartphone users are more likely to turn to their phone if they need to take action right away to solve an unexpected problem or to complete a new task. This is ultimately because a mobile device is much more convenient than logging on to a computer. Your Google AdWords campaign can play a vital role in the micro-moments of your customers but it is worth remembering to optimise across the user journey as a whole. Throughout their journey online your brand needs to be consistent and seamless in order to win their custom.
For more information on how to run a successful targeted AdWords campaign or to integrate Google AdWords as part of your digital marketing strategy, simply get in contact with us at Varn.
