A fellow member of the list, Arnaud Adam, wrote in with this question the other day (name shared with permission):
“Sometimes, we run Sales promotions (e-commerce). CVR is increasing, Google is happily spending money. Then the promotion stops but it takes a while for Google to figure it out. What are the options to limit the spending after the promotion?”
Great question! Here’s how I like to approach it (for e-commerce with short conversion delays).
FIRST:
- If I expect the sales promotion to have a significant impact on the conversion rate of a significant portion of the clicks in one or more campaigns -> use a seasonality adjustment (for one or more campaigns).
- If I expect only a small change in conversion rates or a significant change in only a small portion of the clicks -> do nothing.
SECOND:
- If I have applied a seasonality adjustment, I’ve seen a significant impact on conversion rates for a significant portion of the clicks during the sales promotion, and if I also see smart bidding not scaling back the bids after the promotion -> use Data exclusions.
A little bit of background from the horse’s mouth:
“Seasonality adjustments are an advanced tool that can be used to inform Smart Bidding of expected changes in conversion rates for future events like promotions or sales.
If you’re expecting conversion rates to increase by 50% during a 3-day sale, you can create a seasonality adjustment that increases the conversion rate by up to 50% for those 3 days. Your campaigns will optimize their bids during the events and return to their pre-adjust performance after the event is finished. No negative adjustment is needed once the promotion is over.”
Source: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10369906?hl=en
NOTE: I think Google made a mistake in the documentation. I think they meant this: “You can create a seasonality adjustment that increases the CPC bid by up to 50% for those 3 days.”
Use with care:
- Use historic data to estimate changes in conversion rates and desired changes in CPC when possible.
- Use data exclusions only when needed, and read through the best practices before applying. See https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10276486?hl=en
– Nils