Part 1 of our Search Ads & Holiday Planning Webinar that I did with Google back in July shared data on the holiday shopping timeline and shopper mindset. (You can review the webinar deck here or watch the webinar in its entirety here.)
The second part of the webinar was my thoughts on how to take that information and best position paid search advertisers to be ready for the holidays. So if you don’t want to watch the webinar or review this deck, this next section is the highlights, all about strategies and tactics.
Consumer Sentiment
Before we get into the details, let’s discuss consumer sentiment. Harika mentioned it in her slides, but I thought it important to show some statistics based on surveys done. 65% of people plan on spending the same as they did last year, and 21% will spend less. Only 15% will spend more.
And something else I found while researching this – Salesforce says that 63% of western consumers plan to purchase from Chinese Shopping Apps this year (Temu and Shein). So there’s some stiff, very price-conscious competition.
Holiday Planning
To plan for the holidays appropriately, there are three parts. Once you have done your planning, share them with the team that manages your advertising.
- Plan Your Calendar
- Decide Your Budget
- Update Your Messaging
1. Plan Your Calendar
Think through important days for your business, and keep in mind that there are five fewer shopping days than last year. As you are thinking through dates, here is a PDF of a November/December calendar so that you can do your planning. I want to highlight the dates in Yellow – Google calls those CYBER 12 – as sales have moved from the normal Cyber 5 of Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday to the two days prior to Thanksgiving and the week following, which you’ll see continued on the December calendar.
So first, figure out your shipping cutoff day, and decide if you’ll offer two-day and overnight shipping after the ground deadline.
Then decide your promotions now so you aren’t scrambling. Ask yourself these questions:
- Will you offer a pre-holiday promotion?
- What will you do during Cyber 5 or even Cyber 12?
- Will you offer a post-Cyber 5 offer or offers?
- What about the important post-Christmas sales?
Hot tip: When thinking of Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions from a paid ad standpoint, it’s not ideal to offer different promotions on different days. Ads don’t respond well to changing on a daily basis, so consider having one main promotion – start it on Thanksgiving (or even the Tuesday before) and continue to at least the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Also, when considering your promotional offer, if you don’t already offer free shipping, that may be a very strong incentive to consumers (Amazon Prime has trained us to hate to pay for shipping); we’ve done tests of a percentage off versus free shipping, and even when you might save more with the percent off, free shipping tended to win every time. If you offer free shipping but at a higher amount, consider dropping the price – if it’s at $99, drop it to $29 or $39 – checking your average order value and going just slightly above that can be helpful to get slightly bigger carts.
And then let’s talk about the election. While Google says they expect a week to nine-day lag after the election, but we’ve seen it actually affect holidays and continue through to the inauguration. This will be my fifth presidential election doing paid ads, and the last two have really affected our clients.
2. Consider Your Budgets
My team has some clients who are willing to continue spending as long as revenue is at goal, and there are others who have a finite budget. Here are some stats to consider as you decide your holiday budgets.
People have started shopping earlier and earlier. 55% of people start shopping in October or earlier – Amazon’s October Big Deal Days and other retailers who have followed suit have affected this. Those early shoppers are planning, deliberating, and researching early.
If you do have a finite budget, talk to your advertising team about staging your budget by week and increasing the further you get into November.
Be ready for the big push just prior to Thanksgiving. Don’t wait to ramp up budgets until Black Friday, but increase on Thanksgiving or even on the Tuesday prior. Monitor budgets past Cyber Monday if your ROAS is holding.
Super Saturday is the last Saturday before Christmas, and this year falls the day after ground delivery cut-off service for most shippers – so if that’s the case and you don’t offer printable gift certificates, I would consider cutting the budget but not turning it off completely. And then raise your budget again on Christmas Day, as people are home and will really start buying for themselves. Hanukkah also starts on Christmas Day.
And speaking of buying for yourself, 62% of shoppers plan on buying gifts for themselves this holiday – especially GenZ (68%) and Millennials (47%). And that’s where those promos can come in – Gift with purchase, or BOGO can be great for self gifters.
3. Holiday-ify Your Message
You need to update three things: your website, your ad text, and your images and videos.
Your Website: Your website is your storefront – think about brick-and-mortar stores, and how they decorate. Holiday music and decorations – all help get shoppers in the mood. You can do the same with your website – update the look and feel like banner images (and we’ll talk more about images in a minute). Make sure you update your return policy if you extend it into January for gifting which can help people be more confident in buying from you. If you have a shipping cutoff, add that so people know when they have to order by, and also include your shipping time – 62% of shoppers expect their orders to arrive in just three business days (thanks, Amazon Prime). And make sure you communicate your promotions prominently and everywhere.
Also, if you have Buy Now Pay Later, it’s important to showcase – 45% of people make purchases they wouldn’t normally make, and the average order value is 85% larger with Buy Now Pay Later.
Your Ads: Update your ad language with new ads and use labels to start and stop them. If you are running PMax, create new asset groups. Update Sitelink extensions, promotion extensions, and promotions in Google Merchant Center. (One note, you can’t do free shipping as a promotion extension. But you can do it if you have a code as a Promotion in Google Merchant Center.) Update your ad language with new ads and use labels to start and stop them.
Use Labels and automated rules to start and stop ads on a schedule; asset groups can also be scheduled when viewing from the table view.
Images & Videos: Holiday-ify your images and videos for your ads. If you have added holiday banners to your website, share the images with your advertising team.
You can use Google’s Tools to edit your images to add holiday backgrounds where there are none, or you can erase parts of an image and replace them with something else (think replacing fall decor with Christmas decor). Google Merchant Center Next also has Product Studio, where you can add backgrounds to product images and those you are able to download, so you can use them on your website.
Either way you create them, the images can then be used in videos using Video Creator in the Asset Library.
In conclusion, as we navigate the complexities of the 2024 holiday season, it’s clear that a well-crafted search ad strategy will be crucial in connecting with consumers during this pivotal time. By planning your calendar, optimizing your budget, and tailoring your messaging, you can ensure that your brand remains top of mind and ready to capitalize on every opportunity. As we move forward, staying agile and responsive to these shifting dynamics will be key to making every holiday connection count.
