Schedule-Based Bidding (Dayparting)

Control When Your Ads Run, Maximize Your ROI

Dayparting is one of the most powerful optimization techniques in digital advertising. Instead of running your campaigns 24/7, you can control exactly which hours and days your ads appear, and even adjust your bids based on time of day.

WallyPilot's Dayparting Manager gives you complete control over your campaign schedules with an intuitive weekly grid, automatic enforcement, and bid modifier support.

This comprehensive guide will teach you everything you need to know about dayparting your Walmart campaigns effectively.

What is Dayparting?

The Definition

Dayparting (also called ad scheduling) is the practice of controlling when your advertising campaigns run by specifying active hours and days. This allows you to focus your ad spend on the times when your target customers are most likely to shop and convert.

Why Dayparting Matters

Reduce Wasted Spend: Stop showing ads during hours when your target audience isn't shopping

Increase Conversions: Concentrate your budget on peak shopping hours

Better ROAS: Optimize bid levels for different time periods

Strategic Control: Align ad spending with business operations and inventory

When Should You Use Dayparting?

Perfect For:

• B2B products (target business hours)
• Products with clear peak shopping times
• Limited budgets needing optimization
• Seasonal or time-sensitive offers
• Testing different time periods
• Managing inventory availability

Consider Carefully:

• New campaigns without performance data
• Products with global audiences
• Very low traffic campaigns
• Campaigns already at max ROAS
• Products people buy at random times
• When you lack conversion data

Getting Started with WallyPilot Dayparting

Navigate to Dayparting Manager

From your WallyPilot dashboard, click on "Dayparting" in the main navigation menu. This will take you to the Dayparting Manager.

Tip: The Dayparting Manager is located between "Campaigns" and "Strategies" in your dashboard navigation.

Select Your Campaign

Choose your advertiser account from the first dropdown, then select the specific campaign you want to configure dayparting for.

Each campaign has its own independent dayparting schedule. This allows you to:

• Run different products at different times
• Test various schedules simultaneously
• Optimize each campaign independently

Enable Dayparting

Toggle the "Enable Dayparting" switch to ON. This activates the schedule controls and allows you to configure your campaign hours.

Important: When you first enable dayparting, your campaign will remain active 24/7 until you configure and save a schedule.

Select Your Timezone

Choose the timezone that matches your target market or business operations. This ensures your schedule runs at the correct times.

Available Timezones:

• Eastern Time (ET) - Default
• Central Time (CT)
• Mountain Time (MT)
• Pacific Time (PT)

Build Your Schedule

Use the weekly schedule grid to set your active hours. The grid shows all 7 days of the week (rows) and 24 hours per day (columns).

How to Use the Grid:

Green: Active hour - ads will run

+25%

Blue with badge: Active with bid modifier

Gray: Inactive hour - ads paused

Quick Actions Available:

Select All

Enable all 168 hours (24/7)

Weekdays

Enable Mon-Fri all hours

Weekend

Enable Sat-Sun all hours

Clear All

Disable all hours

Add Bid Modifiers (Optional)

For advanced optimization, you can set bid modifiers on specific hours to increase or decrease your bids based on time of day.

How to Add Bid Modifiers:

1. Right-click on any active (green) hour in the grid
2. Enter a percentage between -100% and +400%
3. Click "Apply" to save the modifier
4. The hour will turn blue and show the modifier badge

Positive Modifiers

+10% to +400%

Increase bids during peak hours to win more auctions and capture high-intent traffic.

Negative Modifiers

-100% to -1%

Reduce bids during low-performance hours to save budget while maintaining presence.

Save Your Schedule

Once you're satisfied with your schedule, click the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the page.

Automatic Enforcement

WallyPilot automatically enforces your schedule every 15 minutes. Your campaign will pause during inactive hours and resume during active hours without any manual intervention.

Common Dayparting Strategies

Business Hours Only (9am-5pm, Mon-Fri)

Perfect for B2B products, office supplies, or professional services.

Setup:

1. Click "Weekdays" button
2. Manually disable hours 0-8 (midnight to 8am)
3. Manually disable hours 18-23 (6pm to 11pm)
4. Click each weekend hour to disable

Peak Hours with Bid Boost

Run 24/7 but increase bids during your highest-converting hours.

Example Strategy:

• Enable all 168 hours (24/7 coverage)
• Add +25% bid modifier to 9am-11am (morning shopping)
• Add +25% bid modifier to 7pm-9pm (evening shopping)
• Add -20% modifier to 1am-5am (low traffic hours)

Weekend Warrior

Focus on weekend shoppers for leisure products, entertainment, or home goods.

Setup:

1. Click "Weekend" button to enable Saturday and Sunday
2. Optionally add bid modifiers to peak hours (10am-8pm)
3. Disable all weekday hours

Night Shift

Target night owls and late-night shoppers (10pm-6am).

Best For:

• Entertainment products (games, streaming devices)
• Snack foods and late-night essentials
• Products with lower competition at night
• Testing new markets with reduced budgets

Dayparting Best Practices

Do's

Start with data: Analyze your campaign performance by hour before setting schedules
Test gradually: Try dayparting on one campaign first, measure results
Use bid modifiers wisely: Start with +10-20% adjustments
Monitor weekly: Check performance and adjust schedules based on results
Consider seasonality: Adjust schedules for holidays and special events

Don'ts

Don't guess: Use actual conversion data, not assumptions about when people shop
Don't over-restrict: Being too narrow can reduce overall conversions
Don't set extreme bid modifiers: Avoid +100% or more until proven
Don't forget time zones: Match your target market, not your location
Don't set and forget: Review performance regularly and optimize

Advanced Dayparting Strategies

Data-Driven Schedule Building

Before setting a dayparting schedule, analyze your campaign's hour-by-hour performance for at least 2 weeks:

• Export campaign data from Walmart Ads Manager
• Look for patterns in conversion rate and ROAS by hour
• Identify your top 3-5 peak performing hours
• Find hours with high spend but low conversions
• Build your schedule based on actual performance data

Progressive Bid Modifier Strategy

Instead of flat bid adjustments, create a tiered approach:

Tier 1 Hours

+30% to +50%

Best converting hours

Tier 2 Hours

+10% to +20%

Good performance hours

Tier 3 Hours

0% baseline

Average hours

Seasonal Schedule Swapping

Create different schedules for different times of year:

• Holiday Season: Extended hours, higher bid modifiers on peak shopping days
• Back-to-School: Focus on weekday afternoons and evenings
• Summer: Shift to weekend-heavy for leisure products
• Tax Season: Increase bids during tax refund period (Feb-Apr)

Competitive Timing Strategy

Use dayparting to outmaneuver competitors:

• Run during off-hours when competition is lower (cheaper clicks)
• Boost bids during competitor downtime for maximum visibility
• Test night hours for reduced CPC and better ad positions
• Monitor when competitors pause campaigns and capture that traffic

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Schedule Not Saving

• Ensure you clicked "Save Changes" button
• Check that bid modifiers are within -100% to +400% range
• Verify you're selecting a campaign before configuring
• Try refreshing the page and reconfiguring

Campaign Not Pausing/Resuming

• Schedules are enforced every 15 minutes (allow time for changes)
• Verify dayparting is enabled (toggle should be ON)
• Check that you have active hours configured
• Confirm timezone is set correctly for your market

Performance Decreased After Enabling

• Your schedule may be too restrictive - try enabling more hours
• Bid modifiers might be too aggressive - reduce to +10-20%
• Review actual conversion data by hour to validate schedule
• Consider running 24/7 with bid modifiers instead of pausing hours

Measuring Dayparting Success

Key Metrics to Track

ROAS Improvement

Compare before and after dayparting

Conversion Rate

Should increase by focusing on peak hours

Wasted Spend

Reduction in spend during low-performance hours

Expected Results Timeline:

Week 1:

Initial data collection, monitor campaign status changes

Week 2-3:

Early performance trends emerge, make minor adjustments

Week 4+:

Clear performance improvement, optimize bid modifiers

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