It’s that time of year again, the crisp mornings and sparkling dewy lawns, the trees that light up the sky with flames, the cinnamon scent of pumpkin spice lattes and the marketing preparations for the holiday shopping season. Early autumn is the perfect time to kick off your holiday search marketing plan so you can make the most of the gift-giving season. You’ll gain some useful insights from Microsoft advertising data to help you reach and influence online searchers. You’ll also get some planning tips to help you improve your results.
Get involved now to dial in your time during the holiday season and return your marketing dollars with more effective campaigns and greater marketing returns. While the holiday shopping season traditionally begins on Black Friday, there are plenty of early bird shoppers looking for deals. This means that if you want to attract these shoppers, you need to have your search marketing plan ready to launch this month. The good news is that October has the lowest cost-per-click (CPC) of the season, giving you budget-friendly opportunities to influence early brand discovery and decision-making. It’s also worthwhile to make sure you have a plan to capture mobile users. Last year, we saw a significant increase in mobile searches and clicks during the holiday season. Overall, mobile searches grew by 59%, clicks grew by 27%, and mobile sales are expected to grow by 28% in 2023.
Key Tips for October
Increase awareness early and differentiate your brand to influence shoppers who are deciding to buy the brand/product. Consider using conquest strategies to capture non-branded clicks, which account for the majority of searches. Pay early attention to the differences between mobile and PC/tablet and use device targeting. Monitor performance to see when customers are most likely to click. We have found that PC/tablet clicks peak on Mondays and mobile on Sundays, so increase mobile bids over the weekend and PC/tablet bids during the week.
November adds to Black Friday and Cyber Monday Clicks start to increase before Black Friday and Cyber Monday – along with CPC most of last year’s click days occurred during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday seeing the most clicks. Additionally, we are seeing engagement increase as shoppers get closer to conversion. From a time perspective, when we examined the decision-making process of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers, we found that 64% of shoppers took less than a week to convert and 19% took between 15 and 30 days. We also saw that Black Friday queries grew slower than Cyber Monday, giving marketers more time to discourage consumers. Cyber Monday queries speed up, so making competitive offers in the week leading up to the event is mandatory. Also, keep in mind that Black Friday and Cyber Monday searches continue after both holidays.
Key tips for November
Host Black Friday offers within the marketplace as early as possible to attract consumers, who are planning to shop around the deals. Prior to Cyber Week, highlight promotions to be competitive and allow customers to experience what’s available during Cyber Week. Ensure deals are in the marketplace during Cyber Week to drive sales during peak shopping periods. Optimise CPC and reach your ideal customers by strategically targeting your audience. Use remarketing to engage these shoppers.
Build on December’s momentum into December, when the holiday shopping season is in full swing While the week leading up to Black Friday and the entirety of Cyber Week are high in click-throughs, there’s still a lot of gift-buying to be done. Holiday click share after Cyber Week through Christmas is 35%, with the highest number of clicks expected on December 9th and 10th and December 16th and 17th.
Key Tips for December
Continue to emphasise flexible shipping, returns and in-store pickup options to maximise Cyber Week After to Christmas sales. Continue to use remarketing to entice shoppers to take advantage of discounts and product recommendations. Showcase product comparisons and reviews on category and product pages. Re-engage abandoned shopping carts with limited-time offers, free shipping or in-store pickup.
Make it past Christmas and New Year you are in the final stages. 9% of total clicks during the holiday season after Christmas and up to 6 January. In fact, 52% of shoppers return their purchases within a week of the holidays, while 42% use their gift cards immediately – and 59% spend more than the gift card amount. Key tips for the final stretch save room in your budget to attract these last shoppers. Emphasise post-holiday sales to attract customers to your shop to process returns and use their gift cards. Use auto-extensions to display products consumers are searching for. Keeping a voice throughout the holidays can help you engage and influence searchers. With the right plan, you can get more share of the holiday dollar.
