Fast Web Media, the digital marketing company, has introduced weatherFIT, a new solution that enables pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to be tailored in real time according to the weather. weatherFIT helps to boost conversion rates and online sales for products, services, events or leisure activities where consumer demand is influenced by regional weather conditions.
weatherFIT is a cloud solution that seamlessly integrates with Google Adwords, acting as wraparound for any existing PPC campaigns and enabling them to be adjusted in real time by taking into account local weather data. This helps companies and brands to quickly capitalise on weather-related opportunities, tailoring their online adverts and promotions to suit prevailing conditions.
The solution has already been used by specialist lingerie and clothing retailer Bravissimo to boost PPC-driven online sales revenues in two concurrent campaigns which ran from March to May this year. With online sales representing around half of its total business, Bravissimo wanted to explore new methods of optimising its campaigns to increase sales, and so decided to trial weatherFIT.
During the campaign, revenues from PPC-driven online sales of Bravissimo swimwear grew by 599.5% when compared with revenues from March to May in 2011, with the conversion rate of browsers to buyers also increasing by 103%. These sales were achieved despite the fact that 2012 has been one of the wettest years ever recorded in the UK.
Bravissimo also used weatherFIT on a campaign promoting its Pepperberry-branded range of dresses. This saw a sales increase of 77.95% and an increase in average order size of 77.96% compared with figures from March to May in 2011. These increases far exceed the average growth in UK online retail sales of 18.3% during March, April and May 2012, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Fiona Lomas, Senior Marketing Manager at Bravissimo Ltd, said: “{{The results of our first campaigns using weatherFIT really speak for themselves, helping us to drive a major increase in PPC revenues.}} Using it to fine-tune our PPC advertising and promotions by taking into account local weather conditions really boosted sales in the crucial run-up to the holiday season – especially as the poor weather earlier in the year meant that consumers were spending more time at home. We will certainly continue to use weatherFIT as part of our online campaigns strategy.”
Mike Flynn, CEO of Fast Web Media said: “The weather doesn’t just influence peoples’ leisure activities, it also plays a key role in their buying decisions for everything from clothes and food, to cars and holidays. weatherFIT gives almost any company a way to build local weather conditions and forecasts into its online campaigns, so they can promote the right products or services in the most appropriate way, at the right time to boost conversion rates and sales.”
According to accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the poor weather earlier in 2012 contributed to an increase in insolvencies, with 426 UK retailers going bust between April and June 2012, compared with 386 a year ago. Similarly, the hospitality and leisure sector saw 332 insolvencies during the same period. Adverse weather conditions are also known to drive increases in online travel sales, which grew 17% year over year in June 2012.
weatherFIT has already won multiple awards, including Best PPC Management Software at the UK Search Awards, and Best Innovation and Grand Prix prizes at the European Search Awards. weatherFIT is used by leading brands including Molson Coors UK and others. weatherFIT is priced at 995 GBP for a 12 month contract, with an additional 2 months free (14 months usage in total). Customers can also cancel at any point in the first month, and receive a full refund if they are not satisfied with the service.
For more details, and to see the video of iconic TV weatherman Michael Fish encountering the weatherFIT service, visit: http://weatherfit.co.uk
