Weatherlytics

UK Snow arrived during the first weekend of February 2012  gracing the UK with temperatures plummeting across the country and bringing public transport to a standstill with Heathrow having to take the decision of cancelling flights.

For online retailers, the arrival of UK snow provides a time to think creatively in promoting their product range to capitalise on the impact of a return to colder temperatures. Lessons were learnt from December 2010 when the UK experienced the coldest winter on record and with it, a number of examples of retailers utilising the extreme weather conditions to assist with their online marketing tactics to fuel additional sales.

Analysing the cold spell of 2012, Google trends provides an interesting snapshot in the increase in searches associated with “snow” at the tail end of 2011 and moving into the New Year as provided in the chart below. The chart refers to UK searches:

For online retail, the return of the cold weather provides a perfect time to push their product range associated with cold weather – an example of one such retailer to do this was through an email campaign received over the weekend from Men’s clothing retailer, Samuel Windsor with the headline on “Beat the Big Freeze”

For other online retailers, this is a perfect opportunity to capitalise on the extreme winter weather to also push their product range, retailers such as clothing, sporting goods and in house entertainment (as people decide to remain at home and opt for DVD/Music entertainment). 

With this in mind, below are a few digital marketing tactics online retailers could embrace to maximise their sales opportunities during the winter weather: 

*Google Adwords – Current analysis of  the competition for weather related keywords within adwords suggests a low competition i.e. there is minimum bid activity on some key search terms. Below is an image for generic “snow” related search terms – notice there is no PPC bidding activity around these terms – a perfect opportunity for a retailer to capitalise on a tactical adwords campaign?

For clothing retailers looking to target their product range (e.g. ski jackets, overcoats, scarves, hats) this is a perfect opportunity to promote their products and capitalise on the growing trend for searches associated with “snow” related keywords and phrases.

*SEO – Similar to an adwords campaign, retailers should look to create an optimised web page to use as a tactical promotion to target keywords and phrases. *Twitter – A tactical tool to target users and collaborate with other retailers/news sites by promoting your product range around relevant hashtags (e.g. #snow) Listed below is for Tweets associated with the snow

*Affiliates – Optimise your product feed/banner inventory associated with cold weather/snow to reach out to affiliates with your relevant range of products. A timely promotion but something your pool of affiliates could engage with in promoting a targeted range of products.

These are just a few suggestions on how to create a digital marketing strategy associated with the weather impacts, for further reading I would recommend an industry post by Econsultancy that lists in detail on how online marketers can adapt to the weather

For all cloud spotting fans, you’ll be pleased to hear the Met Office has recently launched a Cloud spotting infographic -

Source: metoffice.gov.uk

Complete with an informative list of popular cloud formations and the correct pronunciations, this cloud infographic is perfect for weather enthusiasts and for educational purposes within schools and colleges. Together with the cloud inforgraphic, a cloud spotting video has also been created to provide further information on how clouds are formed.

A recent press release by The Weather Channel provides an insight into the ambitions of the US weather company and how it is launching its advertising model which was developed in the US to provide a platform for its UK Weather operation.

It seems correlating weather data to product/service sales is a key USP for online retailers to stay ahead of their competitors. The Weather Channel has realised this hunger and has incorporated a location based technology to allow advertisers to not only align their advertising around key weather parameters but also based on specific location based models.

Google itself has identified the rise in location and local search trends now making up the a larger search share of the market as more users now search for local based products and services to suit their wants and needs. The decision by Google to merge local search content to now appear within its main SERPs provides an indication on how important this sector is.  Secondly, with the rise in smartphone penetration and an increase in mobile search as users demand the latest products and services on the move- this provides an apetite for expansion through correlating weather data.

From a previous post on Weatherlytics, entitled Weather Codes , It referred to the fact there is a massive opportunity for voucher codes websites to tailor their product offering to how key weather parameters may impact the uptake in specific voucher codes.

However, to capitalise on the benefit of location/local search, a key component which can provide further targeting for an advertiser is to  incorporate weather data – matching up your business products and services to key weather parameters that dictate fluctuations in product lines. As an example, LL Bean, a specialised clothing retailer catering for the outdoors has realised how weather can impact key product lines depending on change in temperature. As quoted in the Marketing Week article: “Retailer LL Bean in the US uses the service to advertise particular types of clothes dependant on temperature, whilst travel companies have used AdAptor ads to tempt consumers abroad on a cold, rainy day”

A recent article released by the Retail Bulletin referring to a correlation between the warm UK weather that was experienced during April 2011 and an uplift in specific product lines that are regarded as “outdoor” namely alocohol and home and garden furniture: http://www.theretailbulletin.com/news/warm_weather_drives_online_sales_20-05-11/

On May 4th, I blogged about how the warm weather of April 2011 was correlating with an uplift in search activity for seasonal retail products, associated with the warmer weather, namely garden furniture, BBQ’s and the like: http://www.weatherlytics.co.uk/blog/warmest-april-helps-heat-up-searches-for-garden-furniture/

Confirmation that this indeed did convert searches into sales was highlighted by a recent BBC News post on how retail sales rebounded for the positive during April highlighting products such as garden furniture and ice cream and BBQ food products as being some of the key product champions.

April 2011 also saw an upward trend in online sales, rising 14%, double the rate of March 2011 and it was also a month that continued to stress the importance to online marketers that weather should play an active role in their decision making and provide key analytical, actionable insights into promoting what products, when.

So how exactly could weather information provide you with an actionable strategy to increase a specific products sales or visit metrics? As an example, let’s take garden furniture, which from evidence mentioned above, had an impact in an increase in sales due to the warm April.

Weather plays an excellent opportunity for the online retailer to strategically move quicker to market key weather impacted product lines to optimise their product promotions accordingly before the competition in their online market. 

Over the course of these posts, I hope to focus on other online marketing tools that can benefit from weather analytics – for this post, I have laid out a mini action plan that could be implemented within your affiliate program. The plan is not exhaustive, it is more to provide an actionable strategy to take forward.

Weather Forecast

Ensure you have identified favourable upcoming weather conditions that can be seen to provide a positive impact in sales for garden furniture. From my previous post on the warm April weather - these findings suggest the warmer weather demonstrated an uplift in this product line.

Inventory -Through your product feed, categorise the relevant garden furniture products available and in stock and create a category. This will become the list of relevant inventory and will form the basis of this targeted affiliate marketing strategy. Ensure the products included within this category have enough stock availability to please your affiliates to drive incremental sales.

Affiliate groups – Communicate to your affiliates of the planned promotion and background due to the fact the specific weather patterns are expected to see an uplift in this product category.
 

Commission Rate – Based on the favourable weather conditions for an uplift in sales for this inventory, Are you looking to set a promotional commission rate and for how long? Has this been communicated to your affiliates? If so, ensure the affiliate network has made any necessary commission amendments to your product category and you’ve communicated this to your affiliates.

Communication – Secure coverage through your affiliate network of the promotion to coincide with the weather forecast and when to expect an uplift in product sales. Look to securing affiliate network newsletter coverage and ensure you have set up an action plan to communicate directly to your affiliates through email, phone, messenger and relevant affiliate forums, e.g. www.a4uforum.co.uk

Both the netword and your affiliates love give-aways and promotions so to secure additional coverage, how about looking to run a competition  surrounding the product category e.g. “Generate £XX worth of commission and be in with a chance of winning…..”

Analysis

Analyse the performance of your affiliates on weather this promotion took effect through the favourable weather conditions and was there an upturn in sales through promoting this strategy around weather? Ensure you feedback performance to affiliates so they begin to engage in how weather can play an important role in promoting your product lines for future campaigns.

Have you looked to correlate weather into your affiliate strategy? Are there any insights you can provide?

With news breaking across the UK of the volcanic ash cloud approaching the UK, it has put the country on high alert and with many airlines already imposing cancellations, the half term holidays may mean a different choice of vacation for many families.

A perfect opportunity then for the UK tourist market and UK holiday companies to make a positive impact across the UK and capitalise on the volcanic ash situation. The graph below displays the increase in search volume on Google UK for related search terms for volcanic ash

The rise in search volume of real-time search terms on Google such as “volcanic ash”, “ash cloud” also indicate zero sponsored listings – something UK based companies could take advantage of by promoting their services and holiday options for people now looking for a UK holiday alternative.

With zero competition (currently), the cost per click on such search terms would be very low, a perfect opportunity to take advantage of a low barrier to entry into an adwords category and engage with a high volume search opportunity.

STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!

Great to see Eurotunnel take the initiative and run an adwords campaign around volcanic ash with an adwords campaigns – hats off to you, this is displaying great initiative and turning this into a positive.

Has anyone else seen retail/travel companies take the initiative around the current volcanic ash incident? Would be keen to hear

During 2011, sales of hayfever treatments have risen 40% partly impacted by one of the driest April on record. With an estimated 10 million hay fever sufferers in the UK, there is a hunger to to capitalise on the hay fever remedy market.

Below is a graph taken from Google trends displaying the rise in searches for the following searches: hayfever, hay fever and pollen count

The graph displays the fluctuations in searches for these 3 terms with a notable rise in search volume during March – June and from the latest figures released by Experian Hitwise searches for “Hay fever” and associated keywords have recorded early seasonal searches.

 Hayfever Symptoms

For those who suffer from hay fever, the symptoms range from sneezing, blocked nose, itchy eyes and throat and headaches and to arrest these hay fever symptoms, remedies are available, notably through market leaders and own brand alternatives

Online Marketing Tactics

The digital marketing effort seems to predominantly focus around Google adwords to generate direct sales and with the three most popular search terms of: ”hayfever”, “hay fever” and “pollen count“, both branded products appear within the top positions -  e.g. search term: “hay fever”

A quick look at Google displays how competitve the PPC rankings are with a number of hay fever remedies appearing on page 1 for adwords placements. It is quite obvious that the the demand for such search terms is buoyant and with this so the cost per click increases.

But what about organic listings within Google? Interestingly, for the same search term, “hay fever” page 1 of Google displays no retailers selling hay fever remedies,  by browsing Page 2 of the Google listings only then displays the first retailer (Boots).

The absense of page 1 ranked retailers continues for other high volume search terms e.g. “hay fever remedies” “hay fever medication”. Clearly SEO does not seem to be the route to market such products

There is an opportunity for these retailers to take advantage of the gap in organic listings by optimising a targeted landing page around their product for relevant search terms. In the example below, search term: “hay fever” and what actions can be taken:

Content - By analysing the Google page 1 listings, it seems to be saturated with authority websites providing information based content on the causes and effects of hayfever. Websites such as NHS, BBC, Patient.co.uk and BUPA command the first four listings all providing relevant, authority led content around the subject area.

ACTION: Creating informative commentary around causes and impacts of hay fever. Target 2-3 specific keywords on this subject area. To understand what keywords, perform a keyword analysis search on terms to target

Weather – From analysing the pollen count forecast as well as monitoring UK long term forecasts, this would provide an indicator as to when they need targeted content around the hay fever remedy and to begin to improve page rankings commencing in March (beginning of the pollen count forecast).

ACTION: As this is a seasonal product, by creating web content that sits within the site map, ready for the following pollen season, will mean this page will retain organic listings.

Link Building – Analyse key authority websites that rank highly within search engines around the key terms associated.

ACTION – Reach out and connect with these website to engage with specif ccontent and encourange natural links to your website with the emphasis on product terms and keywords associated to the product within the anchor text

A few thoughts….

April 2011 was seen as one of the warmest on record. The majority of the UK has experienced mediterranean temperatures, perfect timing for the Easter break as the month drew to a close. Coastal seaside towns have experienced an early influx of tourists as the summer months draw in, with estimates that over 100,000 people have made the trip south to bask in the sun.

For those that depend on sunny weather to boost sales, It’s clear to see that the tourist industry, B&B’s, Hotels and Ice-cream sellers to name a few, have had an Easter to remember and a much needed cash boost to their respective industries.

But how has the warm April weather impacted internet searches and what online sectors have benefitted from the lack of April showers? Let’s take a look at two products associated with warm weather – BBQ’s and Garden Furniture. Analysing Google trends below, you can see the increase in search traffic associated with Garden Furniture (below)

Search traffic for Garden Furniture

An obvious decline in searches for this sector occured during the winter months, but with the mild spring, an increase in search volume continues to rise throughout Feb, March and into April. A recent report from Experian commented that there is a direct correlation between an increase in web traffic to garden furniture retailers and an increase in temperatures during the spring months.

The benefit for online retailers operating within this sector is to take advantage of these weather trends and look to integrate specific weather data to provide insights to their online marketing strategy. A few examples are below highlighting the benefit weather could play for the retailer as well as move strategically ahead of their competitors operating in the same sector.

But how can the weather provide a retailer operating within the garden/outdoor furniture market with a unique selling point and to outwit their competitors?

A few suggestions below:

Firstly collate a portfolio of associated products e.g. BBQ’s, Gardening equipment, Lawn mowers that are associated with such weather. This should essentially be a datafeed of products providing name of products, inventory available etc

Then think about what tools within your online marketing strategy are to be used to promote these products e.g.

PPC – Strategically bid for long tail keyword associated with you product range. As explained above, from a set inventory of products associated with the warmer weather, you can then begin to research long tail keywords and to bid strategically before competitors move in and increase the CPC.

Affiliates – Engage with your affiliates to push this portfolio of products, based on the above evidence there is a correlation between warmer weather and outdoor garden furniture, now is the time to communicate this range of product for affiliates to push by offering % commission increase, voucher code or run a competition?

SEO – From research taken from Experian, Amazon was seen as the preferred choice of retailer to buy a new lawn mower during April. This should provide an insight to analyse Amazon product pages associated with this product range. Research your keyword strategy and refine your content strategy and product pages

Email – Set up timely email communication based on the sunny weather and associate the body of the email by promoting this range of outdoor garden furniture. A timely email before the competition follows could mean the a first mover advantage to capitalise in incremental sales

Until next time…

There has been much debate on the meteoric rise of the voucher code and how this has impacted a change in online shopping habits..There are a number of voucher code sites that have successfully built and launched their online offering.

With severe weather impacting retail sales through December 2010, online retailers should be looking towards their voucher code strategy and to understand how it could assist to drive incremental sales.

What the severe weather of 2010 has provided us with is an insight on how the weather can impact a change in shopping habit as well as demand.  It also gave food for thought on how your voucher code strategy could be synchronised dependent on a weather forecast. 

Many voucher code sites operate specific, tailored voucher promotions dependent on:

1) Location based (e.g. London voucher offers)

2) Product/services – choose the type of products you are interested in.

Once you have chosen your preferred options, tailored incentives and discounts are provided through the voucher code site.

So what about the weather?

By analysing the latest local weather forecast – and marrying up what type of voucher to offer  – this in turn could provide a better redemption rate of the offer. For example, let’s think of the type of voucher offers that could be timed to be promoted around certain weather parameters:

Example 1: Should the upcoming weekend weather forecast for London be rain – this could trigger specific voucher codes with an associated theme e.g. dining, cinema, museum offers.

For retailers they may want to promote latest fashionable wellington boots, rain jackets. DVD’s could be pushed for weekend offers.

Example 2: Should the next 5 day forecast for Brighton be sun, this would trigger voucher codes for outdoor experiences – e.g. cycling offers, train, car hire and family days out at theme parks

I’ve clearly simplified the logic but hopefully it provides food for thought on how a company’s voucher code proposition could be more target orientated depending on the various weather.

Until next time…

It’s the middle of winter, it’s cold, it’s damp and it’s miserable.

Whilst the temptation to head for the pub might be too hard to resist for some, for those of us with families and young children, the reality is unfortunately somewhat different. There are of course plenty of other places to go and see but when the weather is not up to much it restricts our choice somewhat.

And when you read about the effect that weather can have on our moods and general wellbeing it is not hard to see why many people zip off to the cinema for a bit of Hollywood sunshine and escapism to cheer them up.

Anyone who has been to the nearest multiplex recently though will tell you that it’s not a cheap afternoon out. By the time you’ve bought the tickets, popcorn, drinks and sweets you’re looking at £25 upwards. Do it a few times a month and it starts to become a serious outgoing. In fact, for the price of a few months worth of trips to the cinema you could have bought your own home cinema….

Home cinema systems are an easy way to get the cinema experience in your own home. They are pretty much plug and play, and in no time at all you could be enjoying glorious surround sound whenever you want! A good branded system from Panasonic or Sony starts at only £200, and will pay for itself pretty quickly.

Sunday afternoons in February start to become a pleasure again, and as well as the enjoyment and escapism from watching a good film, you’ve also got that precious family time together. And of course you can also pause the film for the inevitable toilet breaks – try asking your local multiplex to do that!

Whatever the weather, a home cinema system makes the sun shine every day!