Podcast Title: Marketing Operators
Episode: E037: BFCM Debrief! The Marketing Strategies That Paid Off - And The Ones That Didn't
Release Date: December 10, 2024
Hosts: Connor Rolain, Connor MacDonald, Cody Plofker

1. Introduction and Post-BFCM Habits

The episode kicks off with the hosts sharing their personal experiences and habits developed after the intense Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) period.

• Connor (00:00): Initiates the conversation by asking about any new habits formed post-BFCM.

• Cody (00:06): Jokes about frequently refreshing Shopify but then elaborates on engaging in recreational activities like buddy workouts, hiking, and pickleball to divert attention from constantly monitoring Shopify.

  "Doing the activities where you... have to focus on something else during this time is a good little... maybe it is." ([00:12])

• Connor (00:56): Shares the difficulty in being present with family during Thanksgiving due to work commitments, contemplating shifting the celebration to a weekend next year for better work-life balance.

2. Marketing Performance Insights

a. Meta (Facebook) Advertising Performance

The hosts delve into the performance of Meta’s advertising platforms during BFCM, highlighting mixed results.

• Jason (01:59): Expresses disappointment with Meta's performance, citing high CPMs without corresponding conversion rate increases.

  "We spent heavily year over year at way less efficiency... but there's a lot that I think could have been done better." ([02:04])

• Cody (24:18): Contrasts Jason’s experience by stating that Meta performed well for his brand, doubling ROAS and increasing conversion rates during promotional periods.

  "Meta was good. We saw the one day click go up a bit over Cyber 5 compared to the previous five day." ([24:34])

• Connor (24:18): Agrees on experiencing similar conversion rate declines and discusses potential reasons, including changes in consumer behavior and traffic quality.

b. Creative Testing and Scaling

Cody discusses the importance of scaling paid social through creative testing to maintain ROAS and drive growth.

"We probably 2, 3, maybe even 4x our creative output in 2023. And that allowed us to scale our Facebook account efficiently." ([04:24])

c. Utilization of Tools: Motion, Prescient AI, and House

The conversation shifts to the tools that assisted in measuring and optimizing marketing efforts.

• Motion: Helps in understanding which creative ads perform best, enabling efficient scaling of Facebook campaigns.

• Prescient AI: Jason praises Prescient AI for its role in measuring the effectiveness of upper funnel channels like TV and streaming.

  "Prescient has become a really important part of our marketing workflow." ([18:32])

• House: Introduced as an experimentation platform to measure incrementality and control experiments across marketing channels.

  "House is built with cutting edge methods by PhD economists and data scientists." ([49:14])

3. Operational Challenges During BFCM

a. Inventory Management and SKU Mix

Cody elaborates on the operational hurdles faced, such as managing inventory constraints and manipulating SKU mixes to meet demand.

"Another big one was the 12 piece set up sell... increased our take rate by 40%." ([42:20])

b. Meeting Structures and Communication

The hosts discuss their team meeting structures during the busy BFCM period, highlighting approaches to forecasting and real-time decision-making.

• Cody (41:10): Describes daily standups focused on SKU mix adjustments and inventory management.
• Jason (45:12): Details an asynchronous communication approach using Slack and dashboards to manage operations without constant in-person meetings.

4. Strategies and Adjustments Moving Forward

a. Adjusting Marketing Offers

Post-BFCM, the hosts discuss strategies to maximize sales in December by adjusting offers to better align with consumer behavior.

• Cody (52:42): Explains the shift from high-value set offers to more flexible individual product discounts to cater to different customer spending appetites.

  "We want to give more optionality... encouraging customers to mix and match products." ([52:42])

• Connor (55:36): Talks about rolling out gift-with-purchase offers to clear excess inventory.

  "Using gift with purchase to move through over inventoried items... it crushed." ([54:21])

b. Enhancing User Experience (UX) and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Cody shares insights on improving the website’s UX to boost conversion rates, including significant A/B testing and redesigning collection pages.

"We saw a 21% lift in revenue per user with the new collection page experience." ([61:21])

c. Experimentation and Testing

Both Cody and Jason emphasize the importance of aggressive experimentation to identify effective marketing strategies and pivot as needed.

• Connor (34:22): Discusses launching different campaign structures to test heavy exclusions and top-of-funnel content.
• Jason (37:35): Advocates for bold experimentation to avoid complacency and adapt to changing platform dynamics.

5. Lessons Learned and Takeaways

a. Importance of Diversifying Marketing Channels

Jason and Cody highlight the necessity of not relying solely on one platform (e.g., Meta) and the challenges associated with overspending on underperforming channels.

"We ended up spending way more than expected on other channels... net worse outcome for the business." ([17:15])

b. Need for Real-Time Data and Accurate Reporting

Both hosts express frustration with the manual efforts required to track real-time spend and revenue, advocating for improved analytics tools.

"Shopify has got to fix their hourly year over year reporting... someone needs to improve this experience." ([48:25])

c. Flexibility and Responsiveness in Campaign Management

The ability to quickly adjust marketing strategies, offers, and operational tactics in response to real-time data is underscored as crucial for success during high-stakes sales periods.

"Always getting better at pivoting, getting stuff done quickly, turning it around quickly." ([59:19])

6. Specific Tests and Results

a. Holdout Tests and Campaign Structuring

Connor discusses implementing holdout tests to isolate the impact of Meta advertising, leading to more informed budget allocation decisions.

"We're going to do heavier exclusions, more top of funnel content... to optimize our campaigns." ([34:47])

b. Website UX Overhaul

Cody shares the success of a comprehensive redesign of the sale collection page, which significantly improved conversion rates.

"The new experience did outperform it was like greatly outperforming... a 21% lift in revenue per user." ([64:24])

c. Gift-With-Purchase Initiatives

Both Cody and Connor highlight the effectiveness of gift-with-purchase offers in driving additional sales and clearing excess inventory.

"Using gift with purchase... it crushed." ([54:21])
"We found some opportunity just doing gift with purchase." ([59:37])

7. Conclusion and Future Plans

The episode wraps up with the hosts reflecting on the BFCM outcomes, discussing plans for upcoming holiday sales, and emphasizing continuous improvement through experimentation and data-driven strategies.

• Cody (58:11): Outlines the holiday offer strategy focusing on incentivizing individual product purchases.
• Connor (57:26): Shares plans to transition into a refreshed holiday sale with new content and offers, targeting key sales periods in December.

"We're just going to be more experimental over the next couple of weeks and months." ([35:42])

Notable Quotes:

• Cody (04:24): "We probably 2, 3, maybe even 4x our creative output in 2023. And that allowed us to scale our Facebook account efficiently."
• Jason (02:04): "We spent heavily year over year at way less efficiency... but there's a lot that I think could have been done better."
• Connor (24:18): "We saw a very bad one in the EU because... our website translation tool slowed down the whole site."
• Cody (52:42): "We want everyone to come in and buy our... but we need to switch it up... more optionality."
• Connor (48:25): "Shopify has got to fix their hourly year over year reporting... someone needs to improve this experience."

Final Thoughts:

This episode provides a comprehensive analysis of the successes and challenges faced during BFCM, offering valuable insights into marketing strategies, operational adjustments, and the importance of data-driven decision-making. The hosts emphasize the need for flexibility, continuous testing, and leveraging the right tools to navigate the complexities of high-volume sales periods effectively.