Execution

Vongo was a good sport and allowed us to experiment with their campaign. Initially, we tested day/time parting tactics; the second test utilized the searcher’s gender. These strategies were distinct enough not to warrant separate experiments; therefore, we continued to utilize day/time parting during the demo targeting investigation.

Campaign performance was first analyzed by keyword category to determine the most effective days/times. Relying on Media Agent and Vongo’s data, we discovered three categories were converting exceptionally well: brand, movie download and online movie terms. Concentrating on these three categories, day of week and time of day statistics were pulled. Reports revealed that every day of the week experienced an increased conversion rate from six to ten at night; the weekend days rated even higher with Sunday at the apex.

The following procedures were implemented on January 17 for the three keyword categories: 

• 20% bid increase 6 p.m.–11 p.m.
• Normal bidding parameters all other times
• 20% bid increase Friday and Saturday
• 30% bid increase Sunday
• Normal bidding parameters all other days

Screen shot of initial increased bids within MSN adCenter. Bids were increased by 30% on Sunday, 20% on Friday and Saturday and 20% everyday from 6 to 11 p.m.

MSN has set hours (e.g., 6 p.m.–11 p.m. or 11 p.m.–3 a.m.); therefore, the higher bid could only be implemented during one time slot. The accumulating nature of bid optimization is of note—increased biding for certain times is tacked on to increased bids for specific days. For example, on Sunday at 7 p.m., we were prepared to pay 50% more for the chosen keyword categories (30% for day parting plus 20% for time parting).

Monitoring and tweaking campaigns is essential to securing success. After the initial implementation of day/time parting parameters, we saw the leading day switch from Sunday to Saturday; consequently, Sunday was dropped to 20% and Saturday rose to 30%. 

On February 8, we began the gender targeting process. Based on current customer information and data gleaned from adCenter, Vongo had a good idea of their most lucrative target audience: males. We increased Vongo’s bid by 10% for males of every age.

Bids were increased by 10% for male searchers. This images also displays the previous bid swap between Saturday and Sunday; Saturday increased to 30% and Sunday decreased to 20%.

Searchers were offered a free download of the Vongo program and 14-day free trial of the service. Confident in the customer’s continued interest, we employed no additional strategies after initial program download. Once registered, users received unlimited movie downloads for a monthly fee. We composed two ad creatives for each keyword category and utilized one or both of these offers in that copy.