As Performance Max continues to evolve, more options become available for marketers to better plan ahead and stay informed with performance data to utilize for the upcoming holiday season. Arm your programs with common setup best practices coupled with new features launched just in time for Q4!
Asset group scheduling & performance details
If you’ve run Performance Max campaigns you’re well aware Google implemented asset group scheduling last year in time for holiday (can I get an amen?!). At Revel we strongly believe holiday/sale asset groups are key to successful promotional launches within PMax during such a busy time of year. Scheduling your asset groups, similar to ad copy, allows Google to go through the approval process early so you don’t launch your assets the day of sale, and run the risk of not showing due to the approval process taking longer.
The shiny new feature launching this year is performance data at the asset group level (cue the angels singing)! Now you have the necessary data to inform you of what asset groups are your strongest drivers, and ultimately if your goals are set appropriately. You may identify a need to break out different Performance Max campaigns all together. The possibilities are endless when you’re armed with traffic, cost, revenue and return on investment data, so start digging in!
Seasonality & budget adjustments
Seasonality adjustments aren’t groundbreaking news but they will shake your digital foundational ground if you don’t use them for big promotional periods. Budgets adjustments is the latest tool Google has launched to better prepare your programs for success during and after high sale periods. By preparing Google to take note of upcoming timeframes where you’ll have either a high increase in spend, a large increase in your conversion rate, or both, is key to ensuring you don’t have performance disruption post sale. These resourceful and new tools give us additional signals to inform Google of what we know to expect to further provide sound strategies and optimizations going forward.
Creative & Audience needs
Ok ok we know content is king, right? Take this a step further. Is your asset group creative speaking to the holiday season and the correct product groups you’re targeting? Do you have holiday products in your imagery? What about video? Do you have different orientations to ensure you’re visible across all available placements? Even if you aren’t able to get a full video from your client, are there GIFs you can put together to create a video? Partner with your clients and advise them what creative works for their customers based on recent performance data and last year’s learnings.
What about your audiences? Do not set it and forget it; this is one lever of control you want to fully optimize. Fueling Google with audience data of who your customers are is critical to efficiently utilizing your budget within Performance Max. Thinking about how your holiday shoppers may differ from your evergreen shoppers warrant seasonal updates to your Performance Max audience signals.
If new customer acquisition is part of your holiday strategy, also consider a Performance Max campaign strictly focused on driving new customers to site. Ensure you know the value of what a new customer is as this will impact your performance data and how you should be reporting.
Alright, deep breaths, you got this. Now on your mark, get set, GO! Get your holiday strategies planned ahead and may Q4 be ever in your favor!
Photo: ©Sunny Studio