With the Good Friday / Easter long weekend coming right up, we’re all pretty pumped about the extra days of rest.
But one thing worth considering before we head into the Easter break is whether or not you've prepared your campaigns to run at optimal levels, taking into account the fluctuations so characteristic of Meta's advertising market.
Future planning is best done upon looking back at what’s worked and what hasn’t. And this isn’t just another clichéd saying that’s easier said than done…
To help our clients get ahead this long weekend, we’ve done what we always do and ran an analysis of Meta trends from this time last year – generating insights into key account metrics per industry.
Save the digging, the searching, and the fretting for your Easter egg hunts.
Our data experts have done the heavy lifting, and unearthed some trends that are worth thinking about when you’re looking to effectively pace your investments through the month of April.
As different industries drive different results, we’ve organised our findings into six core categories, deriving the data from every account we manage.
Overall
Across the board, Good Friday performance last year saw a dip for all industries.
Paying attention to CVRs in particular, trends reflect that rates of purchase are at their lowest (in the month of April) this week.
On the bright side? They clearly pick back up to ‘healthier’ levels by Tuesday.
Given the anticipated slowdown, it might be a good idea to be more conservative with spend from Thursday – before driving it back up once performance bounces back after Easter Monday. While CPMs are relatively lower this long weekend, it is likely indicative of other advertisers similarly conserving budget during a period of low CVRs, per the decrease in CPMs after Saturday.
After all, the market is reactive to clear conversion drop-offs in the days prior, and advertising costs reflect collective behaviour in the Meta space.
Baby Industry
If you’re part of the Baby industry, CPMs are relatively consistent throughout the month – which suggests that investment in ads may not need to be substantially adjusted. But looking at CVRs, this metric peaked on Saturday.
While benchmark CVRs hover around 1-1.5% for the “Baby” vertical, brands can try achieving a greater efficiency of ad spend by capitalising on the possible uplift in Saturday conversions, and adjust to accommodate the dip that follows.
Keep in mind that for this sector (and all other ones that follow), advertisers should use their discretion when optimising accounts, and not assume that 2022 trends will play out the same in 2023.
Insights should be used as a guide, not a definitive source of truth.
Beauty Industry
The Beauty industry demonstrates the clearest indicators that CVR bounces back on the Monday after Good Friday weekend.
It may be because within the “Beauty” vertical, products are typically of lower price points (and easily fall under the impulse purchase category). From a buyer behaviour standpoint, this might explain the uplift on the last day of a public holiday weekend, when shoppers have spare time to browse online.
Even TOFU ads with no discounts whatsoever are extra enticing when you’re rolling in bed and scrolling through social media on a day-off.
But in terms of CVR, high fluctuations are expected for the “Beauty” vertical. A healthy CVR here sits at 2.2% and it’s crucial to keep in mind that the accounts we analysed above were anomalies, having averaged close to 10% on Monday.
Electronics Industry
Part of the Electronics industry? You might find that CVR fluctuations are highly sporadic, making it difficult to predict.
Amid most BAU periods, however, the “Electronics” vertical frequently hovers around 1.6-1.8% CVR by healthy standards.
But this time last year, CVRs peaked on Saturday, before drastically falling back down on Sunday and even more on Monday. Due to this volatility, it’s a tad risky to use only CVR to decide upon changes to spend levels over the long weekend.
However, CPMs here are at their most expensive from Friday to Saturday (of the long weekend), and mirror the trends reflected in CVR metrics.
This indicates that advertisers may understand the conversion trends within their sector well – and with that, brands can derive insights into competitors’ bidding strategies, which reveal opportunities to score greater efficacy of investment.
Fashion Industry
For the Fashion industry, there are especially clear indications that CVRs are at their lowest throughout the long weekend (i.e. not the most valuable time for brands looking to drive conversions via increasing traffic driven on-site)
From Good Friday to Easter Monday, we see the month’s lowest CVRs, which gradually increase back to BAU levels from Tuesday forth.
Though CPMs are relatively lower / consistent throughout the month, other metrics (incl. dip in CTRs midway through the week) further indicate that slower returns should be anticipated, due to both on-site and ad-level factors.
Brands in the “Fashion” sector can be comfortable spending at more conservative levels during the long weekend, and up investments again after Easter – wherein performance picks back up.
Food Industry
Brands that are the crème de la crème in the marketing world (aka. the Food sector) can also expect CVRs at their lowest throughout the long weekend.
From Good Friday to Easter Monday, we see the month’s lowest CVRs, which fortunately – and dramatically – spike back up to a peak on the Tuesday after.
During the month of April, CPMs in this vertical undergo a consistent and gradual decrease as the month progresses. It shows that advertising costs are falling, but with CTRs decreasing as well, accounts may not be running ads that fully capitalise on these low CPMs.
We recommend considering a creative refresh after the Easter break.
Regardless, advertisers in this space can comfortably decide on lowering ad spend during the coming long weekend, per shortfalls that come from both on-site conversion levels and ad performance (according to CTRs and CPCs).
Don’t forget to up budgets again after Easter! Graphs above will tell you why.
Lifestyle Industry
Last but not least, the Lifestyle industry’s CVRs during the Good Friday / Easter long weekend are low, but not necessarily the lowest points of the month.
What is notable, however, is that the days following the break (i.e. from the Tuesday forth), is where conversion rates peak in April for this specific vertical.
It might be viable to invest heavier on spend following the long weekend.
CPMs similarly reflect the value of this period post-holiday as well, with a slight decrease in advertising costs that brands should capitalise on before it increases again toward the end of the month.
To close, it’s important to call out once again that the ups and downs of marketing results may not repeat themselves – but being equipped with crucial data points can ensure you’re making educated decisions in a time where the economy feels a little like being on a plane soaring through waves of turbulence.
If you’d like information that’s even more bespoke to your brand, or get recommendations that consider additional factors, get in touch with us today!
Our Data Science experts are obsessed with finding the patterns us mere mortals can’t see, then solving problems you didn’t know you had.
This long weekend, make sure that even despite the haunting prospects of plummeting CVRs, you’re beyond ready for it.
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