eCommerce - Mason Interactive

Holiday is here. We’ve frozen PTO, we have twice a day check-ins with most clients, and most of those, seven days a week.

Challenges

We have tons of data showing that “holiday” is actually a 2.5 month event, from mid-Oct., through the end of December. We’ve counseled our clients to start their sales earlier, and we track each client’s actual daily revenue against their target daily revenue.

Meaning, if you want to make $1,000,000 in November, you need to make $33,333 a day. If you’re actually making an average of, say, $25,000 a day, that’s a delta of $8,333 a day. That seems like it might be small enough hill to climb, if you’ve got a 35% off sale starting Saturday the 19th

But if you want to make $1,000,000 in November, and you’re actually making an average of, $10,000 a day, that’s a delta of $23,333 a day. That is a big hill to climb.

Solutions

Be Proactive – We’re recommending that partners supply creative with an increased discount (20% vs 25%) in the event that we need to swap in order to be more aggressive in market
Be Flexible – Base and stretch goals are going to be key to winning your Holiday push
Be Nimble – ROAS floors are a great way to strike while the iron is hot. Confirm ROAS bands with your team to speed up decision making in the moment

Results

We do have clients who exceeding their goals. In that same hypothetical example, imagine client who is making an average of $40,000 a day MTD – they’re ahead of their goals by 7K a day. It’s the 15th of the month – that means that they’re $105K over their target.

I’d much rather be in a place where we’re ahead of targets on Thanksgiving, than behind. Even if that means starting a sale ealier.

If you’re not already a Mason client, book a consultation with our team and we’ll work on a tailored approach for your brand, together.

On Oct 13th, Mason Interactive welcomed colleges, K-12’s, and more, to Google’s NYC HQ. We shared insights into changes in the Education industry since the pandemic, and talked about how schools can “future proof” against changing demographics.

Side note: It’s three years – to the day! – since we presented at the annual HighEdWed conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; we are thrilled to be back to hosting in-person events with industry leading brands and digital experts.

Even with the rise in important new platforms like TikTok, it is our perspective that the first marketing dollar should always go to Google. Google Search is where the search for a school begins, and it pays to be there, at the start of a prospective student’s journey.

Key Challenges & Observations

Demographic Trends:
Due to declining birth rates post 2008’s “Great Recession,” there are fewer students in market.
- This decline is causing a looming “enrollment cliff.” There is an expected 15% decline in college-going students over the 4-year period between 2025 and 2029.
Changing Behavior:
Students are looking at investing in themselves, and see education as a cost/benefit analysis. They’re asking themselves “is the cost of this degree worth the money I’ll make from it?” This is reflected in changing search patterns.
- Specific Brand Searches are down. People are not searching for specific schools as much as they were.
  - Traditional Schools: -3%
  - Community Schools: -7%
  - Career Educators: -11%
- General Category Searches are flat/down. Interest in specific degrees are flat/neutral.
  - Programs: +12%
  - Degrees: +13%
- Searches that reflect a student’s interest in a positive Return on Investment are up.
Students + Parents/Guardians are more ROI conscious than ever:
- 78% of students say that their degree, short course or bootcamp will be the most important financial expenditure they’ll make this year
- There is a high correlation between earnings and growth in search volume:
  - Ex. music production certificate vs. wealth management certification programs – the first of those is seeing a smaller increase in volume than latter.
- Students are looking for the certifications and short courses that are going to bring them the “biggest bang for their buck” not only in the questions that they are asking, but also in the subjects that they want to study.
- Students still believe education is critical, with optimism for up-skilling and re-skilling. This is an opportunity for education leaders to drive strategies that focus on growing offerings in these areas and for students looking for these new learning opportunities to help them up-skill & re-skill.

**Ways Your School Can Win**

Be Early
- The average student looks at only 3 schools. If your school is not in that three-school list, your chances of enrolling them drop dramatically, because…
  - 75% of prospective students do not consider beyond their initial school & program list
Be Persuasive
- You are competing with 2 other schools – get to the applicants before them. Speed matters.
- Meet students where they are: flexible, part time, hybrid demands are here to stay
- Match degree offerings to job and student demand > push to short course / micro-credentialing
- As competition for student consideration increases, double down on brand awareness / upper funnel media
  - 77% of prospective degree and non-degree students agree that it is important for the school they select to have a strong national reputation
- Add value during the admissions process
Set Goals
- We have clients who are growing enrollments in this environment.
- The #1 thing these clients have in common, is a set of clearly-articulated, globally-shared goals.
  - “More” is not a goal.
  - “I want ‘R’ incremental enrollments, I want them from ‘X’ location, I need them by ‘Y’ date, and I can afford to pay ‘Z’ for them” is a goal.
- Goal Setting:
  - Set a goal for incremental number of new students
  - Melt Rate: The Student journey is not linear. Supply valuable and reinforcing content based on where they are
  - Budget: Use seasonality data to your advantage

A Look Back + Look Forward – Quick Stats with Google:

The decline in college enrollment is something higher education leaders have been expecting for some time.
1. Even before the pandemic, enrollments were already on a downward trajectory and admissions professionals have long been aware of the enrollment cliff projected for 2025.
- Universities will need to be nimble and make sure their strategy is aligned with the ever-changing market

33% increase in students reporting that their graduation plans have changed:
- There’s a 33% increase in students reporting that their graduation plans have changed, with a third of students reporting that they will be delaying their graduation, transferring to another school, or dropping out completely.

83% increase in current degree students reporting that they are spending more time digitally:
- Google Search and YouTube are the most used applications among current and prospective students
- 79% of students using YouTube use no other video platforms for supplemental learning, 10% use TikTok.
- 58% of students watch YouTube daily (vs. 44% of general population)
- 36% of students watch vlogs / influencer videos weekly (vs. 27% of general population)

If you’re not already a Mason client, book a consultation with our team and we’ll work on a tailored approach for your school, together.

Holiday planning for e-commerce brands is underway, and every year we proactively take this time to position our clients for success in preparation for the busy Q4 holiday shopping season. Historically, Cyber Five was the key revenue driving period for brands, but YoY data indicates that consumers are starting their shopping earlier, and many have already made a purchase.

In the current macroeconomic climate, we are preparing for another year of uncertainty. As your agency partner, we want to be transparent about the market trends and data we are gathering from our partners at Google and Meta.

Key Challenges & Observations

Consumer purchasing is split making each month critical
- October = 32%, November = 32%, and December = 36%
- One miss = ⅓ of holiday
Consumers are shifting away from branded searches
- Aggregate total:
  - Branded: -3%
  - Generic: +1%
Consumers are on the lookout for deals and open-minded about who they buy from
- 36% said they purchased a brand different from their preferred brand to get a better price
- 30% shopped at a store that was not their preferred store
- 56% will hold off on buying gifts until they are on sale
Free shipping options and fast delivery have become table stakes for retailers during Holiday
- Besides price, the top factor that determines where holiday gifts are purchased from:
  - Free Shipping/Shipping Speed
  - Convenience/Proximity to Store Location

Source: Google Internal Data, 2020-2022.

Ways to Win Your Holiday

Be Proactive – We’re recommending that partners supply creative with an increased discount (20% vs 25%) in the event that we need to swap in order to be more aggressive in market
Be Flexible – Base and stretch goals are going to be key to winning your Holiday push
Be Nimble – ROAS floors are a great way to strike while the iron is hot. Confirm ROAS bands with your team to speed up decision making in the moment

Quick Stats: Think With Google

People are shopping earlier than ever
- 26% of shoppers globally have already begun their holiday shopping.
- Many people research and shop months in advance of events, and this year is no exception

Those who have already begun their holiday shopping want help with:
- 47%: Gift ideas and inspiration
- 44%: Starting gift lifts
- and 18% have already made a purchase

Unboxing videos, written recipes, home improvement blogs, and more all help to inform buying decisions

67% of YouTube viewers surveyed have made a purchase as a result of sponsored content
- Video ads can help brands deliver relevant, personalized experiences to audiences at their most engaged moments

64% of U.S. holiday shoppers who used Google said they did so for “discovery and inspiration”
- Visual shopping experiences such as lifestyle photography, videos, and customer reviews can make lasting impressions

Omnibuyers: Searches containing “near me in stock” have grown in the US by more than 90% YoY
- Omni Buyers are paving the way for “intuitive shopping,” where people browse and find inspiration concurrently, online and offline, across multiple product categories
- In the US, people are shopping across seven categories in a two-day period
Searches containing “cheap and best” have grown globally by over 40% YoY
76% of US shoppers want to buy higher-quality products that last longer
- Promote your deals, shopping, and return benefits, in-store inventory, and store pickup options in your messaging and on Search

Best practices for making your holiday advertising shine

If you’re not already a Mason client, book a consultation with our team and we’ll work on a tailored approach for your brand, together.

Introducing Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

It’s no secret that Meta platforms’ performance is impacted by Apple’s iOS 14.5. Apple’s relentless focus on user data privacy resulted in signal loss, changes to targeting capabilities, and most critically, measurement.

Our view: Instagram and Facebook aren’t broken, they’re different. As industry standards evolve, so do the platforms we use, whether for social connections, community and brand building, or business growth and development. This makes the landscape more uncertain, the data more difficult to read, and the insight more challenging to articulate.

Meta has rolled out Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns globally. ASC use artificial intelligence to enable e-commerce and retail direct-to-consumer brands to potentially achieve better performance, greater personalization and more efficiency through advancements in AI + machine learning. These campaigns provide greater flexibility to control creative, targeting, placements and budget, and more opportunities to optimize campaigns that drive conversions.

What are Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns and how does it work?

Simply put, ASC falls under Meta’s new suite of Total Advantage tools. While Advantage tools are designed to automate a specific part of a manual campaign, Advantage+ focuses on automating a campaign from beginning to end or part of a manual campaign (e.g., placements or creative).

Here’s a simple overview:

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns offer end-to-end automation and support dynamic and static ads

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns combine Prospecting and Remarketing strategies in one campaign

Meta does not see ASC replacing existing products, and it is recommended to test and learn across current Business as Usual (BAU) campaigns

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns are designed for Broad reach, removing campaign restraints

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns are designed to automate creative, resulting in less audience saturation

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns can test up to 150 creative combinations, reducing creative fatigue

If you’re looking to make your advertising operations more efficient and drive performance at the same time, Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns are worth looking into. If you’re not already a Mason client, book a consultation with our team and we’ll work on a tailored approach for your brand, together.

Many brands depend on Cyber Five, the days between Black Friday & Cyber Monday, to put them into the black for the year. Though Cyber Five 2021 was complicated and busy, it was also one of the most profitable to date. Our clients closed out the year on a high note thanks to a few pretty simple actions. What were they? Let’s take a look together in our 2021 Q4 After Action Report.

1. Start with a Plan

Everything starts with a plan. The sooner you have one, the sooner you can review it, make adjustments, and execute. Our winning clients invested heavily into prospecting in the months leading up to Black Friday, emphasizing list-building for owned 1st party data, allowing owned channels like email and SMS to scale. Thanks to the work they did early on, our clients were able to get in front of consumers well before their competitors and convert with assets they had ready to go.

What This Means for You

When you don’t plan ahead, you give up sales to your competitors who do. Fret not, this isn’t our first time at the Cyber Five rodeo. Send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com and we’ll help develop a strategy with you.

2. Grow With the Flow

Scaling a digital marketing operation isn’t easy, and frankly, it’s not getting any easier. Industry research points to consumers being spread out across more platforms than ever before, and it’s only getting more difficult to track and target consumers across the digital landscape. More on that in just a bit.

Our winning clients isolate top geographical markets and focus on their most actively engaged audiences, letting us double down on purchase intent from two separate angles. Additionally, clients who met or exceeded their goals were in (on average) 6 advertising platforms.

What This Means for You

Brands that diversify into more platforms and begin planning for the Holiday season earlier, ultimately see more success during the Cyber Five. Planning ahead and building diversification into those plans enables you to layer on complexity to your marketing mix as the year progresses towards Cyber Five. More on how you can do this in our After Action Report.

3. Own Your Data

In case you haven’t heard, the data game has changed. Apple’s iOS14 update has impacted advertisers’ ability to target users online, and Google’s new policies expected in 2023 will only affect things more.

Where do you turn? Your own data. 1st party data, or the data your company collects about its customers (interactions, purchase history, behavior, preferences, etc.), is becoming more valuable than ever. Since the changing attribution methods of digital platforms makes them a less-reliable partner, 1st party data gives you a solid single source of truth to rely on.

What This Means for You

There are many ways to start collecting 1st party data. A lot of it can live in a platform like Shopify, Salesforce, or Google Analytics. Organizing, interpreting, and acting on your 1st party data can be a headache. We can help with that too.

You have the keys, now let’s open doors.

The digital landscape changes all the time. You know that. We know that. What we don’t know yet, is how we can use our 13 years of experience to help you keep up with the shifting tides. Download the report, send us a message, and let’s get you started with a free marketing analysis today.

We’re thrilled to announce that Mason Interactive is partnering to deliver a best-in-class owned media (SEO) strategy for New York fashion brand, Marcella.

Designer Fashion Within Reach

“Marcella grew out of the practical reality of living in New York City: big bills and small closets. Even as we design in NYC and handcraft all of our pieces in Europe using only locally sourced fabrics and trims, we price our designer apparel and accessories at 25% and 75% less than the competition. Our promise is to democratize minimalist designer apparel and accessories for the benefit of women everywhere.”

The Marcella Mission:

This exciting new partnership will focus on growing awareness and improving organic traffic and visibility through a long-term digital marketing strategy. The Mason SEO team will be responsible for assessing owned media opportunities through robust technical, content and performance strategies, with an emphasis on new customer acquisition, visibility and holistic channel approach to growth.

Learn more about Marcella NYC and their social impact pledge with The School Days Project.