Bing Ads shares Valentine’s Day CPC & CTR trends, including surprising mobile stats

Mobile plays a significant role, accounting for nearly half of all Valentine's Day-related searches on Bing.

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bing-valentines-day4-ss-1920Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and Bing has released insights based on last year’s shopping behavior and advertising performance in the US to help inform marketers’ plans for this year.

Just over half of US adults say they celebrate Valentine’s Day, and they continue to spend more, online in particular, according to the National Retail Federation. Who’s spending the most? Unmarried men ages 25–34, according to a composite of studies. However, when it comes to search, it seems women are more active. Bing says that last year, 17 percent of “Valentine’s Day gifts for …” search queries on the engine were for “boyfriend,” whereas just 4 percent were for “girlfriend.” “Husband” topped the list at 22 percent, while “wife” came in at 16 percent of Valentine’s Day “gifts for” queries.

Most Valentine’s Day-related searches occurred within two weeks before February 14 in 2015. Last-minute shoppers sent searches soaring on Valentine’s Day. Clicks on ads rose significantly in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day and peaked the day before.

 

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Interestingly, that final week is also when CPCs have historically trended down from the highs of January. They then rise again starting February 11, when panic presumably sets in. Bing also notes that CTRs are highest and CPCs are lowest on weekdays.

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In 2016, Valentine’s Day searches on Bing were split nearly evenly, with 48 percent occurring on mobile (up from 40 percent the previous year) and 52 percent on PC/tablet from January to February. That’s somewhat surprising given Bing’s relative weakness on mobile compared to Google, and it’s something for advertisers to keep in mind when optimizing their Bing Valentine’s Day campaigns this year. Mobile click share rose less significantly year over year on Bing, increasing from 18 percent in 2015 to 21 percent in 2016.

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See the complete report on SlideShare for more on Valentine’s Day trends and optimization recommendations.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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