1. Target past shoppers

This is probably the easiest way to start off. First target those who have bought from you in the past; it’s a no-brainer! Consumers who are familiar with your product offerings will most likely consider purchasing from you again, particularly if they are targeted with products/offers relevant to them.

2. Optimise your Dynamic Creatives

Tailor your ads to engage consumers on a personal level. Tap into your data, find out the likes and dislikes of individual shoppers so you can better customise your dynamic creatives towards them. This is because consumers are more easily enticed by creatives that reach out to their personal tastes in real-time. Also, be creative! Get inspired by the season, by adding skins to your dynamic creatives to make them look festive, and to maximise engagement.

3. Create a seamless shopping experience

Digital-centric consumers have become choosy with how they spend their time; thus, convenience plays a huge role for them in picking their method of shopping. According to PwC’s Total Retail Survey 2017, more shoppers use their mobile devices than any other means to make purchases; with 35% saying it will become their main purchasing tool. Therefore, advertisers should ensure the UI of their website is responsive cross-device, and allow for a quick and user-friendly shopping experience, i.e. click & buy buttons.

Christmas shopping can get overwhelming, as consumers are conscious of budgets etc. and are faced with multiple marketing touchpoints that attempt to convert their visit into a sale. Retail volumes are strongly related to the merchants’ delivery options, such as the time and type; will I get my purchases in time for Christmas, or can I shop online and collect in store? Therefore, consistency is expected by consumers throughout their journeys, from the purchase to the delivery stage.

4. Use ‘real’ or ‘implied’ urgency

Offer time-sensitive promotions that urge your customers to make instant/quicker purchases. This is called ‘real’ urgency. Or you could create ‘implied’ urgency, by using words such as ‘buy now’ or ‘today’ in your call to action, prompting visitors to take immediate action (Optinmonster, 2015). Ensuring there is a clear CTA on your creatives, especially for the traditional last-minute shoppers, is secondary to all points mentioned above.

5. Budget carefully

Advertisers need to consider revising their budgets when they work programmatically, especially for their bids. Post-Christmas, supply surpasses demand by a large scale, as less people are online to make purchases. Although advertisers adopt aggressive bidding strategies for Christmas, decreased impressions after the festivities means advertisers could end up overspending if budgets are not kept flexible and rectified accordingly. Therefore, the need to be careful and aware is vital.

This Christmas, online retailers have no choice but to push their ad budgets, if they want their brand to stay relevant and top-of-mind, and to outdo rivals. With consumers being spoilt for choice, brands continuously need to look for strategic ways to better harness consumer behaviour insights to understand individual preferences, and boost conversion rates through better targeting. Providing a consistent and tailored message throughout a consumer’s shopping experience is vital for maximising engagement to drive conversions.

If advertisers are able to juggle narrative, promotions, customisation and consistency for their target consumers, it can produce a winning combination for the season. Happy holidays, we wish you success!

References:
https://optinmonster.com/how-to-use-urgency-to-hack-your-conversion-rate/
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/retail-consumer/total-retail/total-retail-key-findings.html
http://www.reachdynamics.com/3-holiday-ecommerce-marketing-tips-for-2017/