January RPM drops are Normal

Whether this is your first January with Journey, or your first January serving ads on your site, it's important to know that ... the first week of January (and often the first half of the month) is always a little bit of a shock, particularly because Q4 tends to be excellent in terms of performance.

It's typical for RPM to drop 40-50% from December to January, and that can sometimes be even higher depending on the variables of your specific traffic.

Why RPM is lower in January

Advertisers plan budgets based on their fiscal year, and for many companies, the fiscal year ends in December.
[Pro Tip: For many other companies, the fiscal year ends in June so there is a similar dip at the beginning of Q3 in July]

January budgets are more conservative because it is the first month of the next twelve for brands that have just ended their fiscal year. Buyers need to stretch those ad dollar budgets across the entire year. Consumer behavior also changes in the summer, and so advertisers adjust as well.

What you can do

While you can't change advertiser budgets or influence economic trends, you CAN always do something.
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• Identify your traffic. Advertisers spend more when they can correctly target the audiences they are looking to reach.
  ​Here are a few easy ways to increase identified traffic:
  - Use the Links Toolkit to add Email Connect links to all of your outbound emails.
  - If you have a recipe site, try Print Pass
  - If you are not sending emails currently, let Automailer do the work for you!