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đ€Tracking & Analyzing BFCM Marketing Data
Here be changes: newsletter refresh, plus digging into BFCM
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2d7ce556-0a01-4f9d-9fe1-08b17d4a54f5/image.png?t=1697675637)
Hello!
Welcome back for another bite to chew on.
COT Community
Weâre making some changes to our newsletters. We hope youâll like them, but weâd love to hear your feedback either way.
Polls: Expect the occasional question or two to create proprietary data-driven content, inform our content direction, collect feedback, and more.
Wednesdays: Shorter. Tactics (snacktics?), play-by-play, extra-digestible info, and wins. A few bites to chew on.
Sundays: Longer. In-depth. Weâre serving up a meal to sink your teeth into.
Speaking of pollsâŠ
Would you be interested in an additional newsletter day every week, centered around brands, founders, and their stories? |
Would you be interested in being interviewed for that potential content? |
Weâre talking about analyzing & reacting to intraday holiday data. AKA what weâre doing on holidays themselves (BFCM and other):
Our actual computer setup: what weâre looking at, when, and why
The other KPIs we care about: metrics for success
Howâd BFCM go for Obvi? A lilâ overview
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0c75bce4-f9e1-4b06-a063-0c1c2ff19c86/giphy.gif?t=1701887645)
Bite 1: BFCM/Holiday Computer Setup & Tracking
Thanksgiving Day was pretty slow, but we saw a small uptick in sales in the evening (6pm): thatâs when the early buying started and when we first started to push our bids and budgets.
From there, we were pretty much locked in looking at the screen from Black Friday at midnight to the following midnight.
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/13493081-4b1d-42f2-8c49-a03d39e7bbb1/giphy.gif?t=1701887731)
And we put whatâs most important front & center:
Our Triple Whale Dashboard: We used Triple Whale to pull all our numbers and get an overall look at efficiency during the day.
(Thatâs also what we do every day.)
A Google Sheet: Hereâs how we* set up our spreadsheetâŠ
![spreadsheet showing 5 columns: hour, amount spent, new revenue, blended ROAS, notes](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e2d11196-634d-4055-b260-9a8b962d2334/Screenshot_2023-12-06_at_1.15.01_PM.png?t=1701886564)
âŠAnd we updated it every hour.
If the trend was increasing, and we were seeing an increase in spend, could we push it even further?
By later Friday evening, thatâs when efficiency started to drop for usâthat was the sign to pull back.
đAfter a couple hours of falling ROAS, we dropped the bid and budget by 20%.
*Shout out to Dave Rekuc for showing us this spreadsheet strategy!
Ads Manager: Although we were updating data in the spreadsheet every hour (and obsessively checking, letâs say, a lilâ more than that), we were only adjusting actual spend every 2 to 6 hours or so.
Bite 2: The Other BFCM/Holiday KPIs
What not to look at: BFCM is not the time to be looking at leading indicators, e.g., CPC and CTR. That weekend (and on any other holiday), thereâs nothing actionable you can do in the moment to influence those metrics.
Theyâre reflective of LPs, ad assets, and other creative.
On a related noteâŠ
A reminder on assets and creatives: Weâve said it before, but weâll keep saying it until the đźs come home. The holiday itself is not the time to be making adjustments and trying to fine tune there.
Itâs like trying to stand up on your surfboard when the waveâs 2 inches from your face.
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/e3195017-4773-45ec-88af-a38e6b12855d/giphy-1.gif?t=1701887791)
What else to actually look at:
Profitability: The actual metric depends on your organization and your preferences, but it could be gross margin or contribution margin, for example.
CPA: On a non-holiday, it can be helpful to look at both CPA and CPO, but on acquisition-heavy days, you want to have a specific understanding of your acquisition cost.
New Customer ROAS: Besides the acquisition spend itself, we care about efficiency of our acquisition budget and keep it in line with our expected margin over time (i.e., LTV:CAC).
Bite 3: Howâd We Do on BFCM, Tho?
TLDR: This BFCM was quieter (relatively) on DTC than in previous years because weâre in retail now.
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/6ac9f863-7cba-44c6-9ff6-72ccd0bb31bc/Screenshot_2023-12-05_at_6.19.55_PM.png?t=1701886306)
Turns out, retail had an impact on our DTC performance.
How? Why?
Our analysis:
Weâre all in search of a better deal. Our customers are no different. We get that.
Obviâs top-selling product is our Collagenic Burn. Itâs $39.99 on our website, and we offered a 30% discount there. But on Walmart.com, itâs at $19.99.
So, even with our DTC discount, youâd be saving 8 bucks at Walmart.
And our customers know about Walmart.
Weâve done a lot of Walmart marketing. Folks know that we're nationwide. We've promoted this in our community. We've sent out emails, text messages saying, âHey, here's the everyday low price in Walmart.â
You would never want to pay full price for the product, right?
How weâre applying this learning to next year: Rather than simply doing major DTC BFCM discounts, weâre going to launch a new product(s) onsite!
đ§ Thatâs a certified customer-coming-back hack.
Tool of the Week
Letâs talk email:
â
Paying for contacts who you actually contact
âPaying for all of your contacts
â = Sendlane.
We switched to Sendlane to pay for actual usage rather than a way-too-high base platform + total contacts fee. We got tired ofâŠ
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Besides⊠If youâre emailing everyone, youâre emailing wrong.
Beyond the fees, we love the support (24/7/365 Slack channel where you can raise any issues), and weâre big fans of Jimmy Kim (heâll work to implement functionality ideas that people tweet at him).
Plus:
Rapid implementation
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To check out Sendlane for your brand (and pay for what you actually use), click here.
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Catchew Later!
We sincerely appreciate every moment you spend with us and reading our work. Weâll see you soon.
All the best,
Ron & Ash