Online Shopping Times

[cyberworkspace]

i currently seem to have picked a product, that seems to have a peak time during which (most) sales happen.

it seems, that all purchasing decision are made from 3pm to 10pm. so, generally i could close down the shop (campaign) during the reminder of the day.

now, my question is:

a) do you happen to see this pattern for some of your campaigns as well?
b) is there anything like a lag in adwords when setting times during which ads should be shown? (like you set 10 am starting point but it really starts at like 12am?)
c) is there any negative consquence for my account's qs when i go for "opening hours"?

thanks a lot for your answers.

 

[audax]

a) Yes, definitely.
b) In my experience, there is no lag.
c) No negative impact to QS.

 

[thedamian]

Just remember the timezone. (Just putting in my 2 cents)

 

[johu]

Does your conversion rate go down for the other period in the day? If fewer people are buying, but fewer people are clicking as well, it makes no sense to only show during part of the day. If your cost per conversion is higher earlier, then it might be worth it.

 

[Mahzkrieg]

this won't affect your CTR. the only difference between "buying hours" and non-buying hours is volume.

i don't understand the point.

if you're doing this because you're using a lot of broad keywords in your campaign and you see higher CTR during hours where more people buy, then you need to use negative keywords or expand your list of targetted keywords.

 

[cyberworkspace]

thanks a lot guys, for all the feedback.

ok, i customized my campaign to close my shop ouside of those hours, where i haven't recorded a sale yet.

regarding those other questions:

- my conversion rate doesn't simply go down, it is zilch, zero, nada ouside of these hours
- my ctr is just as good as during open shop hours, so by eliminating the clicks outside of "purchasing mode" hours i hope to shift the campaign into a profitable zone.

in the profitable zone, i would get an eCPC of 1.50 USD, including those "out of the zone"-hours it is down to .50

from a psychological perspective i could understand why people would only want to buy at these times and at other times just look at the offer but not really grab their credit card and buy. i would probably show the very same behavior. it is something where you would really need to be in the comfort of your home, spending some leisure time, when you miss this service the most.

 

[audax]

"Closing down shop" certainly makes sense for some markets. For a client of mine in the auto loan business, a large majority of poor credit and low income shoppers (read: unqualified) apply during the middle of the day when the average joe would be working. Eliminating those hours from the campaign saved a lot of wasted clicks/conversions.