Be Found 24/7 Creates Custom Temperature Bid Modifier for Southern States
**Overview**
Southern States is a company that specializes in garden and farm equipment, with retail outlets spread throughout the southern United States. A key aspect of their business involves providing home heating and agricultural fuels, particularly propane for residential use. According to Reportlinker.com, while many homes utilize propane for various energy needs, approximately five million households rely on it as their primary heating source, which includes 20% of mobile homes. As a commodity, propane operates in a competitive market, with prices frequently varying by region and season, typically rising during the winter months. To capitalize on these demand fluctuations, Be Found 24/7 conducted a test for Southern States to explore the potential of linking digital advertising bidding to temperature changes, aiming to enhance efficiency and increase home propane leads and sales.
**Solution**
Be Found 24/7 selected one test location and developed a tailored Google Ad script that accessed local temperature data from openweathermap.org. This temperature information was then utilized to automatically adjust bids for the campaign’s Google Ads. On colder days, when the demand for propane—and consequently prices—increased, the script would raise the bids. Conversely, as temperatures increased and the demand (and likelihood of conversions) decreased, the Google Ads bid modifier would lower the bids.
**Results**
Over a 30-day testing period, we compared two Google Ads campaigns: one utilizing the temperature bid modifier and another with constant bids. The findings were remarkable in favor of the bid-modifier campaign, showing a 37% reduction in costs, a 39% boost in click-through rates, and a 62% improvement in conversion rates, all while decreasing the cost-per-conversion by 33%. This test illustrates how public data, like weather and temperature information, can be effectively leveraged to enhance visibility, clicks, and conversions during peak periods.