UK Bing Search Insights: Top 10 Christmas Gadgets of 2011

Christmas is nearly upon us and increasingly shoppers are choosing to avoid the crowds (and the cold) of the high street and instead, do their shopping online. It’s been an interesting year for technology, with e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle becoming ever more popular, Nokia unveiling their new smartphone offering with the Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” operating system, and Apple continuing their dominance of tech with their latest wave of new iPods and iPads.

Many of us will be waking up to a stocking full of tech and gadgets on Christmas morning, and we wanted to give you a run-down of the top 10 pieces of tech this festive season based on number of UK Bing searches since October 2011.

10. 3D TV

Although 3D TV features in our top 10 Christmas gadgets it’s failed to make the impact that manufacturers may have hoped. Impressions have remained steady over the year with no significant increase in the run up to Christmas; meaning many of us may have to make do with the Queen’s speech in only 2 dimensions this year. Consumers may however be waiting until the Boxing Day sales before investing in this expensive piece of tech.

9. XBOX Kinect

The XBOX Kinect was voted Gaming Gadget of the Year and Overall Gadget of the Year for 2011 by T3 magazine and it’s no surprise that it still features in the top 10 gadgets list over 12 months since it’s launch.

8. HTC Sensation XE

HTC’s Android smartphone with HD camera was announced in September 2011 and has seen a strong number of searches ever since. Mid-way through December impressions are already greater than the whole of November meaning many of us will be enjoying watching back the kids opening their presents for years to come in glorious HD.

7. Samsung Galaxy Tab

It’s been a great year for tablets this year, but the iPad isn't the only tablet in this year’s top 10. Galaxy Tab terms have been performing well all year but particularly throughout November and December.

6. Nintendo 3DS

Searches for the 3DS have increased 220% between November and December so far, making the Nintendo 3DS an incredibly popular choice for the kids this Christmas.

5. Samsung Galaxy S

A very popular Android smartphone that has received consistently high searches throughout the year, helped by the late release of the iPhone 4S

4. Nokia Lumia 800

A big marketing push from Nokia (including amazing 4D projection on London’s millbank tower) and rave reviews from tech publications have meant that the Nokia Lumia 800 handset with Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” has reached number 4 in the most popular Christmas tech of 2011.

3. Apple iPad

Unsurprisingly, iPad searches have remained strong throughout the year helped by the launch of iPad 2 in March 2011. It’s number 3 in this year’s Christmas gadget list and December looks to be the strongest month for iPad searches this year.

2. Amazon Kindle

It’s currently Amazon’s top selling electronics product and is likely to be on many peoples Christmas list this year which has helped push the Kindle up to position 2 in this years list. 2nd Christmas in the UK for the Amazon Kindle – it’s popularity continues to grow despite competition from the Sony E-reader and WHSmith’s Kobo.

The Kindle was voted as number #1 Commuter Gadget of the Year by T3 Magazine beating Apple’s iPad. Look out of the Kindle Fire in 2012!

1. Apple iPhone 4s

Apple announced the iPhone 4S complete with personal assistant Siri in October 2011. Searches have remained high since then which makes Apple’s iPhone 4S by far the most popular gadget for 2011.

Optimising your Christmas gadget campaigns

If you want to take advantage of the peak season, now is the time to clean up your campaigns. Eric has written a great blog on how to optimise your campaigns ready for Christmas which you can read here.

• Introduce conversion tracking and leverage adCenter’s robust reporting options to manage your account at the keyword and ad copy level.
• Ensure your landing pages are relevant to the paired keywords and ad copy – product specific queries landing on product details pages, fore generic queries landing on category level pages, etc.
• Adjust your bids. Increase you bids on the keywords that are driving profitable conversions to increase your traffic volume.
• Investigate poorly performing keywords. Before reducing bids, check to see if the landing page is appropriate, if the ad copy is appropriate for the keyword, or if applying negative keywords could improve traffic quality. If everything else fails, consider dropping your bids.
• Be prepared to adjust your campaign budgets to accommodate the increase in traffic. Shift budgets from poorly performing campaigns and ad groups to higher performers
• Build out 3 – 5 ads per ad group, testing value propositions, promotional language and syntax to ascertain which ad(s) resonate with your audience
• Leverage promotional language in your ad copy (free shipping, price discounting, flash sales, etc.)
• Employ dynamic ads to reflect product level pricing, description and promotions
• Keep your keyword lists and ad copy up to date with new products, promotions and pricing changes

So get optimising your campaigns, and ensure you focus on the top 10 products this year. Any questions or feedback please feel free to post a comment below! Merry Christmas!

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