Search & Performance Max
- Ensure no limited by budget campaigns (uncapped budgets) and lowest possible ROAS set for Search & Shopping. Have at least 30%+ headroom in Search & Performance Max budget over the average daily spend in October.
- Check feed health & proper set-up of remarketing tags and conversion tracking
- Ensure customers keep the above set-up for at least 2 weeks Post-BF to capture demand resulting from new consumer behaviour
- Search Coverage: Utilise Dynamic Search Ads & Broad Keywords using value-based bidding.
- Ensure new ads & campaigns are submitted for a minimum of 3 days (or more if possible!) in advance to avoid disapprovals on the BF day.
- For Performance max, upload creatives for holiday products in separate asset groups to avoid disrupting evergreen products.
- Check for disapproved ads, shopping feed items and keyword conflicts. Fix disapproved ads/items or extensions, and remove conflicting negative keywords.
- Check Optiscore Recommendations and implement all the missing extension.
- Promotion specific Performance Max Campaigns can be created, but make sure they are active 2weeks+ in advance of the event. It is not recommended to start a fresh Performance Max campaign on the peak day as it might not bring the expected results.
Display & Video for Action Campaigns Tactical Checklist:
- Think full funnel when talking about video, display & discovery creatives and audiences. Solve the messy middle by being always on.
- Add the product feed to your YouTube VAC campaigns.
- When it comes to top funnel, use Video for Reach or Video for Awareness to optimise your CPM. Aim for a reach of at least 60% of your target audience at 1+ frequency. The ideal average frequency is in the range of 4 to 5.
- Plan for this using Reach Planner.
- Use Instant Reserve to plan ahead and be cost effective.
- Adjust Frequency Capping (FC) and Ad Schedules
- FC for video of at least 3 impressions per week
- Budgeting for VAC: Set a daily budget that is at least 15x tCPA for tCPA campaigns and 10x the expected CPA of your Max conversions campaigns. Consider a budget that is 20x your Display CPA or 30x your Search CPA if you’re not confident in expected CPA.
- Bidding: for short flights (1-3 days) we recommend Maximise conversions or Maximise Conversion Value.
- Showcase your products – add product feeds to your VAC campaigns: On average, advertisers that add product feeds to their Video action campaigns achieve over 60% more conversions at a lower cost.
- For Short flights use campaign total budget instead of daily budget. Ideally you want to set up your new creatives using an Always On campaign to not go through learning period again and avoid delays.
- Consider adding a light conversion action to ramp up campaigns more quickly.
- Audiences: Start with either “Custom Audiences – search terms” Use 10-15 of the highest converting search keywords. If you have no data on this, then start with Similar & Remarketing Audiences.
- Use Sitelink Extensions in VAC Remember to use sitelink extensions to link out to specific areas of your website. We recommend at least four.
- Complement Video for Action with Discovery Ads: follow Discovery Ads creative best practices, use all available banner formats and low-funnel audiences for best results.
- Avoid pausing good performing creatives. If your campaign message will change, include a creative with a general message as well, so your campaigns can have continuity.
- Check the Attribution report to see cross-network results & analyse the paths to conversion
Generic
- Double check logistics readiness and set up ‘fast lane’ comms channels with customers to ensure speedy resolution of any issues popping up through the day (website issues, technical issues on customer side)
- Phone check in: quick call with top customers to understand how they closed the event versus their targets; understand what’s top of mind for them after the event (wins, challenges)
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Source: Google Priemer partner agency newsletter
