So another Cyber weekend has been and gone. The once American event has gained solid ground in European markets and is now known by many as a week-long bargain hunting opportunity.
Black Friday has grown over the last couple of years to the point where, today, this once single day of sales is now flooded with offers and deals from clothing retailers to hotel chains. Not only are local shops hosting sales, but the turn towards Cyber Monday, and now Cyber Weekend, has drawn discounts online and expanded the opportunity for promotion globally.
Despite the potentially overwhelming implications of joining an already heavily saturated sales period, success is always in the numbers and this year was no exception.
Our initial learnings from some of the many successful campaigns run this season for our hotels show that it isn’t as simple as running an offer and the customers will fly in. The true success or failure of a campaign lies in the quality of the offer and the way in which you market it.
So, What Key Findings Did Our Data Show?
Black Friday was the biggest day for revenue over the 4-day event, with Cyber Monday a close second. (It was the reverse in 2017)
Amongst our client data-set, there was a 46% increase in conversion rates. Perhaps unsurprisingly reflecting the nature of the holiday and the psychological pressure of time running out on a one-time offer. A year on year increase of 7%.
Compared with a regular pay day weekend, we recorded a significant increase in performance; 75% increase in transactions, 61% increase in conversion rate & 43% increase in revenue.
Often with discounted activity, we see an impact on the AVB of the bookings our clients receive. The Average Booking Value was down by 18% across our clients during the 4 key cyber days.
Over 50% of transactions happened on mobile on Saturday and Sunday, Desktop delivered 44% of revenue and tablet trailed behind at 11%
We generally saw desktop decline steeply over the weekends with mobile picking up the slack, which is in line with normal consumer behavior throughout the rest of the year and in line with what we reported in 2017.
Social performed strong this year, with clients seeing 45% of all social transactions taking place over the 4-day event. This is the strongest we have seen over the past.
Compared with a regular pay day weekend, social performed astonishingly! Transactions were up by a massive 340% and revenue from this channel was up by 246%.
Clients were also investing in their social channels over the Black Friday period, with a 170% increase in spend. Clients invested heavily in the Facebook platform this year, with a 58% increase in spend when compared to 2017.
Interestingly, Social activity started gaining traction 2 weeks prior to Black Friday, peaking on the Sunday of Cyber Weekend.
A strong deal is critical for performance over this busy weekend. If you are not willing to commit to a low rate or large discounts to guarantee the success of your campaign, it is advisable to forego running campaigns over Cyber Weekend. A 10% discount isn’t going to help you stand out for this highly competitive weekend.
Social is a must. We recorded the strongest performance for clients who invested in integrated campaigns across all channels with a strong focus on Social.