10 Pre-Holiday Digital Marketing Tips for Retailers

The holiday shopping season is a huge opportunity to drive incremental revenue, and if you want to make the most of it, you need to start planning early. We’ve put together this list of tips so you will be ready to launch your holiday campaigns with confidence and results.

1. Start holiday marketing campaigns earlier than normal. Half of shoppers do not make a purchase until November, but holiday browsing begins as early as September. We recommend that you have your digital campaigns set by October and slowly increase spending as traffic and conversions increase.
2. Offer free or discounted shipping. Some type of free shipping is critical to success during the holiday shopping season. According to a Holiday Shipping Survey, over 88% of holiday shoppers use free shipping to decide where to purchase. Be aware of your competition and the shipping promotions they are offering. It is very easy for online shoppers to shop elsewhere if free shipping is not an option on your website.
3. Take advantage of abandoned shopping carts and drive shoppers to complete checkout. Leverage trigger campaigns to remind shoppers they have items still in their shopping carts. Offer free shipping or a discount code to incentivize shoppers to complete their purchase.
4. Increase the frequency for remarketing campaigns. Holiday shopping is a very competitive marketplace and it is essential to keep your brand top of mind for shoppers. Reaching shoppers through remarketing is a must-do during the holiday season. Targeting past site visitors who have not converted is the perfect place to start.
5. Optimize your digital ad budgets and bids for increased holiday volume. As the competition increases during the holidays, so do the costs. Ensure all top performing campaigns are funded appropriately and keyword bids are increased.
6. Support your big promotions through SEM ads, ad extensions and shopping promotions. It is important to make sure your promotions are visible as shoppers begin their shopping through search. Use dynamic headlines to match what your customers are searching. Also, use the dynamic countdown feature to create more urgency for promotions that may be ending soon.
7. Utilize your SEM sitelink ad extensions to highlight holiday portions of your website. Include these direct links to seasonal pages, such as gift guides, which can significantly increase traffic and sales.
8. Have a presence on Google Shopping. Google Shopping is becoming increasingly more important in driving conversions. It is good practice to review your product feed and ensure inventory levels are updated daily, if not several times throughout the day. Take advantage of Google Shopping promotions as this will help your products stand out from your competitors and draw more traffic to your site. Prioritize shopping campaigns based on high, medium and low priority. This will help spend the Google Shopping budget more efficiently by focusing spend on top gifting products during the holidays.
9. Personalize your customer’s holiday shopping experience. Give your shoppers personalized suggestions through targeted email campaigns. Leverage segmented audiences to enhance the holiday shopping experience for your customers by offering personalized product recommendations.
10. Lastly, but most importantly, create consistent messaging across all digital marketing campaigns/channels. Provide shoppers with a relevant and consistent experience so they can shop with confidence in any channel.