It’s True—Today Really is Cyber Monday

Happy Cyber Monday, everyone! That’s right, today is the big day for online retailers. At least that’s what we predicated in our article “Will the Real Cyber Monday Please Stand Up” based on our findings from the 2006 holiday shopping season.

If you’ve never heard of Cyber Monday, I suggest you put away your whittling knife and knitting needles, and start paying attention to the news (although, if you’re reading this blog, you’re most likely familiar with online marketing; therefore, I apologize for the condescension). But just in case, Cyber Monday is essentially the online version of Black Friday—the one day in the holiday shopping season with the highest sales volume. Last year, we found that Monday, December 18 was the highest sales volume day in the 2006 holiday shopping season, as reported in “The Real Cyber Monday”; therefore, we came to the conclusion that this Monday, two weeks prior to Christmas, would be the highest sales volume day this season. Today is generally the last day that individuals can make purchases online and receive those items in time for the holiday.

This forecast is contrary to the predication made by most online marketing agencies—the Monday three weeks prior to Christmas. Apparently, these agencies believed that online shoppers are punctual enough to make the normal shipping deadline; however, this was not the case in prior years. Online shoppers are just as procrastinatory as their brick-and-mortar shopping counterparts—they wait until the very last minute to make purchases, even if it means paying more for rushed delivery.

To account for the high-volume shopping day, we’ve boosted all PPC management campaigns for our online retail clients. We’ve also included messages in search engine ad copy that reflect the most-likely frenzied temperament of online shoppers (e.g., “Guaranteed shipping,” “In-store pickup,” etc.). Check out the ads highlighted in red below to see how some online advertisers are capitalizing on the impending holiday.

With the data we’ve gather so far today, we can already discard the other predications as misguided. Conversion rates have seen a drastic spike, cost per sale amounts have decreased significantly and we’ve seen a record-breaking number of sales across the board for all online retail clients. It’s not even halfway through the day and we have sufficient evidence to christen this day as the true Cyber Monday. So if you haven’t done it already, now is the time step up your search engine marketing campaign and benefit from the anomalous sales volume.