Noticed higher prices last quarter? You weren’t imagining it.
The holidays always offer something to look forward to: vacations, family gatherings, and some serious seasonal shopping. But for marketers, there’s one more “tradition” that comes with the holidays: Q4 price hikes. Almost without fail, digital ad prices rise across platforms between Q3 and Q4. This is often attributed to one or more of the following:
- Holiday shoppers starting their research,
- B2C brands ramping up spend, and
- Industry-wide competition to reach customers before New Year’s.
Consumer brands respond accordingly by ramping up their media spend. Q4 brings about major shopping events like Black Friday and Christmas, making it a key season for consumer acquisition teams. These groups tend to set aside large advertising budgets in order to bid aggressively for more ad impressions. Ad auctions across platforms consequently experience bidding spikes, forcing other marketers to raise their bids as well.
Won’t prices return to normal after New Year’s?
CPMs on other channels fluctuate back to their pre-holiday costs during Q1, but these drops don’t immediately happen on January 1st. CPMs can take weeks to stabilize, leaving marketers with hard-to-predict costs.
The good news is that Quora’s CPMs remain competitive heading into the new year. In 2021, Quora’s average Q1 CPM was the lowest compared to platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. We also had the lowest percent change, giving Quora advertisers predictable and stable CPMs to bid against.
Does this translate to CPCs?
PPC marketers rejoice! Like our CPMs, CPCs on Quora flat-line quarter over quarter. In fact, Quora had one of the lowest percent increases in 2020 compared to platforms like YouTube and Facebook. Our average Q1 CPCs also remain consistent, offering untapped potential for new year’s campaigns.
Why does Quora make sense for Q1?
While price hikes and fluctuations are common on other channels, Quora is a unique outlier.
Why is this the case? Quorans are knowledge seekers. Whether it’s shopping hacks, or specific product comparisons, they are prepared to consume long-form content. In fact, 57% of Quora visitors conduct research online before making major offline purchases (Comscore Plan Metrix, December 2020).
This is a different mindset compared to when users consume visual content. Predominantly visual platforms (i.e. Instagram and YouTube) can showcase different facets of a product through carousel or video ads, lending to more spontaneous clicks once a viewer’s interest is piqued. While plentiful, these clicks don’t always have purchase intent, so costs and ad auctions can snowball.
Quora’s users, in comparison, have high-intent on the platform. Ads can appear in contextually relevant locations, effectively becoming the ‘answers’ users seek. Tailored ads contribute to more meaningful clicks and lower chances of price surges. This makes Quora perfect for products that require more research.
However, it’s still possible to acquire purchases. Headphone Zone found the best of both worlds after adopting Quora’s Promoted Answers. Their primary goal was to build awareness through thought leadership, but the team was pleasantly surprised to see their content generate 90+ purchases in only two months. With 2022 kicking off, now is the perfect time for your team to try Quora Ads as well without worrying about fluctuating Q1 costs.
