Campaign Setup FAQ: Part 1 of 2

lgallardo

Below we answer the most commonly asked questions surrounding campaign setup. This post covers Campaign Budget, CPMs, Campaign Flight Dates, Dayparting, and Frequency Cap.

Please click here for part 2, which covers Persona Targeting, Device Type, Inventory Type & Viewability, Domain, Brand Safety, Ad Groups and Ad Sizes, and UTM Parameters.

For an overview of 6sense Creative Services, visit this discussion.

Campaign Budget 

Q: What is a recommended advertising campaign budget and daily spending cap? 

A: Generally speaking, budgets are contingent on the total amount you wish to spend and the scope of your advertising aspirations. If you have multiple campaigns, allocate budget across them such that the sum of all budgets is less than or equal to your spending cap. Note that it is often a good idea to split your total budget into at least two campaigns so you can balance multiple objectives or test different targeting and price settings (for instance, setting one campaign with wide targeting and a lower CPM bid, then another with narrower specifications at a higher CPM). 

Rule of thumb: To ensure steady delivery, make sure the max daily spend is at least the total campaign budget divided by the number of days in the campaign. For example, if the campaign budget is $3,000 and you’ve set it to run for 30 days, the max daily spend should be at least $100. (The platform will automatically calculate this for you.) Given expected variations in daily delivery, we often recommend that you set a max daily cap that is +10% more than this calculation (in the above example, that would be $110/day). 

Q: Why is my advertising campaign not delivering its daily budget in full? 

A: There are a number of factors that may prevent a campaign from meeting its daily budget. Some of the most common are: (1) The ABM segment that you are targeting is too small and therefore not targeting enough accounts or people within those accounts; (2) Your CPM bid may be too low, so your bids are losing in competitive auctions against other advertisers; (3) The combination of campaign settings may be too restrictive, negatively impacting the total pool of impressions available. This could include narrow dayparting, low frequency caps, or very specific persona targeting (especially if the campaign is running in the European Union where privacy laws are more restrictive). 

CPMs 

Q: What is the suggested CPM? 

A: CPM pricing should reflect your campaign setup. Generally speaking, if you are targeting U.S. accounts and using the ‘Global Exclusion List’ or ‘Global Exclusion List + Campaign Exclusion List,’ display CPMs usually range from $5-$12. If you are using the ‘6sense Preferred Publisher List’ or a custom list, CPMs should be set higher to remain competitive. Preferred Publisher List bids typically range from $8-$15. If you are targeting a very specific segment (with relatively few accounts), you should expect to bid higher, often $15+.  

Note that industry competition pushes up rates the most in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Australia, Singapore, and Japan. Most other geographic markets will see lower average CPMs by ~20%. 

For broader awareness campaigns, or if your ABM segment is large and you are not using persona targeting, we recommend starting at the low end of the CPM range. If your campaign is in the middle or late-stage journey, your ABM segment is small, or you are using persona targeting, we recommend the mid to upper range of the recommended CPMs. In either case, we recommend that you test higher or lower CPMs throughout the first weeks of your flight in order to find the optimal bid to match your budget and goals. 

Q: When should CPMs be increased? 

A: If a campaign status is under delivery, there are certain parameters that could be impacting performance, such as frequency cap, dayparting, domain, and inventory. Campaign settings would need to be revisited to determine if a boost in CPM should be considered. Ultimately, if your campaign is running slower than desired, try removing restrictive targeting criteria first, then incrementally step up your CPM bids (day by day) until you achieve your desired volume. 

Q: When should CPMs be decreased? 

A: We recommend customers lower their CPM if they are consistently hitting their daily budget cap. In these cases, it’s better to lower bids until the campaign just barely meets its daily volume target without capping. 

Q: How do you determine how much you should increase or decrease CPMs? 

A: We consider campaign settings and the presumed reason for a pricing change, and make an assessment based on that. While there can be exceptions, we typically try to update pricing in $1-$2 increments to monitor if changes are having the desired effect.  

It also depends on how much time you have to test and learn. If you are running a campaign that will remain active for weeks or months, you can make smaller incremental moves until you find the optimal bids. If you are under time pressure and need quicker impact, make larger ‘coarse adjustments’ by changing the CPM more dramatically (2X or 3X the initial $1-$2 increments), then if you overshoot, step back with ‘fine adjustments’ of smaller increments. 

Campaign Flight Dates 

Q: What are the recommended flight dates?  

A: It often takes several weeks to ramp up a campaign and optimize the results. For this reason, we recommend campaign durations of at least 1 month or more, if possible. 

Dayparting 

Q: What are the best practices for dayparting? 

A: Unless a particular campaign requires it, we recommend removing dayparting as this restricts the delivery of the campaign and will limit the auction opportunities that you have to reach your target segment. 

Frequency Cap 

Q: What is the suggested frequency cap? 

A: The suggested frequency cap is 5-6 impressions per day. Consider limiting frequency cap to a smaller number (~3) for awareness campaigns to expand reach.