As Christmas and New Year approach, it’s important to remember that we are in the middle of the dating industry’s ‘peak time’.
January, often known as National Break-up Month, typically sees the same trend of a huge peak in dating site sign-ups every year – it seems there is no better way to make a new year’s resolution than with online dating!
More members than ever before are accessing our sites via a mobile device. So whilst they’re in the comfort of their own homes watching cheesy Christmas sitcoms and munching on a box of Quality Street this festive season, thinking about finding the one, remember to ramp up your advertising spend particularly for mobile. Ensure your mobile landing pages provide a smooth user journey from click to registration. Think about testing a variety of mobile landing pages to offer variety and determine a best performing page, maximising return on investment and taking advantage of the increase in available traffic.
Take a look at the below data from Google on results from the last 3 years, looking at the two weeks pre-Christmas and the two weeks post-Christmas. As you can see the increase in traffic is fairly significant.
Post-Christmas increases (based on last 3 years data)
Dating Category – Desktop
Queries: 35%+
Clicks: 51%+ – a high portion would be brand related based on heavy branding period
CPC: 11%+
Recommend increased investment: 55%
Dating Category – Mobile
Queries: 37%+
Clicks: 51%+
CPC: 19%+
Recommend increased investment: 80%
If you’re already using our Campaign Tracking tool in the WhiteLabelDating.com Partner Portal, you’re in luck – there’s no better insight than historic data, particularly when it’s relevant to your individual sites. We appreciate that the market changes and you are continuously optimising your campaigns, but take time to review your strategy from the previous year and revisit tried and tested traffic sources or keywords.
Consumers have a good level of awareness of the online dating market nowadays; nine times out of ten, they know what they’re looking for or where they want to start. Use this time as an opportunity to make your brand really stand out and speak to your audience. If a consumer is new to the scene and isn’t sure exactly what they’re after, catch their eye with an advert that speaks directly to them, with seasonal copy, about why they’re searching and what they’re looking for. For example, think about phrases such as;
‘Tired of being alone under the mistletoe?’ or ‘Make 2014 a year to remember. Start your search for The One now.’
A good advert or banner that stands out will increase click-through-rates and the opportunities available to you to acquire traffic.
As the dating marketplace becomes fairly competitive at this time of year, you must ensure that you regularly optimise campaigns before costs run away with you. Check in on campaigns daily to amend bids to ensure your campaigns are being run within budget.
Lauren Barnes, Head of White Label Dating.