Cutting-Edge Performance Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Holiday Sales

• Learn cutting-edge performance marketing strategies to help boost your holiday sales. 
• Let Interest Media boost your sales even further. We utilize proprietary first-party data and precisely targeted first-party offers.
• Interest Media helps its publishing partners earn more from their inventory than through anyone else in the industry today.

Holiday Sales: Early Start and Extended to End of Q4

“US holiday e-commerce sales expected to return double-digit growth in 2023 at 11.3% year-over-year across all retail channels return to pre-pandemic normalcy,”– eMarketer

The traditional holiday shopping season was focused on November and December. But in recent years, mid-October has become the kickoff date. And the season doesn’t end on Christmas Day. More and more retailers are pushing after-Christmas sales. Deals continue right up to New Year’s Eve to keep the shopping season extended to the end of the fourth quarter.

3 trends to expect for the holiday shopping season

Inflation in the state of the economy has today’s consumers prioritizing what they purchase and taking a more cautious approach to spending.

Recent research by Meta indicates the following three trends to be a priority among shoppers this holiday season.

1. Shoppers seeking meaningful savings

Again, the shopping season won’t end on December 25. After Christmas, shoppers continue to be on the lookout for savings that matter.

For retailers, that means offering substantial discounts and promotions.

2. Buyers are open to new brands

More than any other time of the year, during holiday gift-giving, buyers are more open-minded to discovering, considering, and engaging with unfamiliar brands.

This makes the holiday season the most opportune time to promote new and lesser-name brands and products.

3. Relevance is the ultimate factor

Price is one thing, but what users focus on the most during holiday shopping are products that meet their interests and needs.

Therefore, holiday advertising should consider making value an important part of the sales proposition. Likewise, shoppers are more open to receiving and engaging in ads that are targeted and tailored to their interests, and needs, and solving their problems.

5 Cutting-Edge Performance Marketing Strategies for Boosting Your Holiday Sales

The very definition of cutting-edge means going beyond the boundaries. This holiday season, we offer several ideas for doing the unconventional to achieve advanced results. The same old thing typically gets you the same old thing. Don’t be afraid to be inventive and innovative in your quest to expand your sales and customer base.

Interest Media can also help you with cutting-edge performance marketing through our proprietary data and tools.

1. Use past holiday season data for segmentation

Look at past holiday season behavior and use that data to create audience segments. For example, there might be segments such as luxury gift buyers, deal-seekers, or early bird shoppers. Create tailored marketing messages for these segments.

To enhance further, merge this data with look-alike modeling.

2. Enhance look-alike audience data with holiday data

As outlined above, holiday shoppers tend to be more open to new brands. They may become more spontaneous. Value seekers may be more open to considering perfect products. This can be especially true in the spirit of gift-giving.

Building on the fact of these shifts and shopping habits, it can be an effective technique to enhance your look-alike audience data with holiday data. Your otherwise highly-evolved personas may keep your offers segmented away from impulsive shoppers. Therefore, rethink your segmentation approach during the holiday season.

3. Segment your “deal-seeking” customers and target them with special offers

“66% of consumers consider discounts to be what influences their holiday shopping decisions most,” –NRF

User customer data to create an audience segment of “deal-seekers.” Create a campaign targeted specifically to this audience offering discounts and/or special offers.

4. Use multivariate testing

Standard A/B testing will only provide a binary viewpoint by testing two distinct versions. By contrast, multivariate testing can help you understand the various components within a campaign and their interdependencies.

However multivariate testing can simultaneously evaluate multiple components: Headlines, visuals, calls-to-action, and more. Further, multivariate testing looks at how variations of these work together.

We hear your response: Who has the time? The holidays encompass a short time period. We need answers now. The solution is to add AI to your toolset.

Utilize AI for testing

Seek out artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can help you both administer and analyze your multivariate testing. AI can speed up and/or free you from the process.

5. Combine AI with RTB

Combine artificial intelligence (AI) with real-time bidding (RTB) to take your holiday season advertising auctions to the next level.

Use AI to make analyses that will then drive your decision-making about your advertising bids. AI can accomplish this in real-time.

Here are 5 advantages that combining AI with RTB provides:

1. Optimization on-the-fly: AI can not only react in real time but anticipate. AI can analyze and optimize to achieve cost-effective and optimal ad placements.
2. Precision targeting: AI can analyze a wealth of user behaviors and nuances in data. AI can then fine-tune your ad targeting accordingly.
3. Automate ad budgeting: AI can analyze your ROI metrics in real-time. AI can adjust your resources to the platforms and times that are the most lucrative.
4. Analysis and prediction: AI can analyze and then anticipate shifts in user behaviors. Your preemptive bidding strategy can be altered on the fly.
5. Self-optimization: AI not only analyzes and adjusts as it goes, but it learns as well. AI will use the knowledge it has gleaned to further refine your bidding strategies through continual feedback. The use of AI practically guarantees consistent enhancement and adaptability.

Interest Media Can Help You Boost Your Performance Marketing

Perfecting your performance marketing can make all the difference for your holiday sales. The good news is – you don’t have to be an expert yourself – you can work with experts.

Interest Media can help you send the right offer at the right time to the right customer, not only during the holiday season but year-round.

Utilizing proprietary first-party data, in conjunction with precisely targeted first-party offers, Interest Media publishing partners earn more for their inventory than anyone else in the industry today.

Interest Media offers a consumer-centric advertising solution that utilizes first-party data combined with real-time optimization that maintains a positive user experience while driving higher earnings.

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5 Selling Techniques for Boosting Holiday Sales

In addition to the above techniques to improve your marketing efforts, we offer 5 selling techniques to enhance your holiday sales.

1. Tips for creating special offers

A. Highlight savings in your advertising

Make sure your ad creatives and copy clearly communicate the discounts and savings in your offers. Attention-grabbing headlines and visuals must emphasize the savings and value customers will receive.

B. Use tiered discounts

Create tiered discounts to reward higher spending. Set thresholds that offer larger discounts based on spending. This incentivizes customers to add more to their cart.

C. Offer “Buy One, Get One” (BOGO) deals

Offer an Additional Product for free or at a discounted price when customers make a purchase.

D. Create deal bundles

Create bundles of complementary products at a discounted rate. Customers will buy more items while feeling they’re getting an excellent deal.

2. Offer flexible payments

“BNPL will account for 1% of total US retail sales in 2023 and grow 1.5 percent by 2027,” – eMarketer & Insider Intelligence

With inflation lingering, many holiday spending budgets could be strained. If you are able, offer your customers flexible payment options. For example: “4 Easy Payments of $X” or “Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL).” Options such as these can greatly increase purchases.

If you can’t offer these things directly through your company, you might be able to implement other payment providers such as PayPal, which have their proprietary credit programs to make BNPL offers.

Maximizing flexible payment offers

Here are four additional tips to maximize flexible payment offers.

• Communicate the flexible payment option clearly and prominently. Make sure your website and all your sales and checkout pages display the offer prominently and explain its benefits.
• Incorporate the flexible payment offer in advertising campaigns. Make sure the offer is in all your creatives, ad copy, and sales are informational content.
• Offer exclusive flexible payment offer promotions. Create special promotions or discounts to further entice customers to choose the flexible payment option.
• Ensure seamless integration with payment processors. Make sure your payment processor can provide your flexible payment offer. Also, provide a dedicated customer support channel or FAQ to address questions about your flexible payment option.

3. Add social proof and/or user-generated content

For most companies today, a huge part, if not most, of their audience are Millennials and Generation Z. These are your consumers that range in age from 11-26 (Gen Z) and 27-42 (Millennials).

These are the shoppers who go to TikTok and other online platforms before shopping to get ideas, recommendations, and reviews from influencers and their peers.

Knowing how much these shoppers are influenced by others, it’s vital to leverage as much social proof end user-generated content as you can on your website and shopping pages. Make sure to:

• Encourage testimonials and customer reviews.
• Feature user-generated content in your advertising. Showcase photos, videos, and testimonials with happy, satisfied customers using your products or services.
• Highlight reviews and ratings in your advertising. Even snippets and star ratings can go a long way.
• Collaborate with influencers. If you have the budget, collaborate with influencers to create content aimed at holiday shoppers.

4. Offer free shipping and returns

“75% of global shoppers prefer stores that provide free shipping,” – Google survey

According to statistics, an offer of free shipping can make the deciding difference in a consumer’s mind when it comes to choosing between a product offered by two similar vendors.

When it comes to the holidays, not only is free shipping an important factor in purchase decision-making, but customers also look for free express shipping and extended return periods.

Tips for free shipping offers

• Offer expedited shipping options. With so many stores offering free shipping, another way to stand out is to offer expedited shipping that ensures gifts arrive in time for the holidays. Make sure to clearly communicate a purchase deadline to deliver by or before December 24.
• Offer extended return periods. Many companies will offer more than their standard return period during the holiday season, typically 30-45 days.
• Offer and promote membership programs. Encourage customers to sign up for membership programs that offer exclusive benefits, such as free shipping and hassle-free returns. As a result, you’ll gain subscribers to your mailing list.
• Make sure your free shipping offer is clearly communicated. Make sure it is displayed prominently in your ads, on your website, and your checkout pages.
• Set clear thresholds for free shipping. If a purchase threshold is required to qualify for free shipping, make sure to communicate it clearly.

5. Leverage urgency

With recent disruptions in supply chains, people are already accustomed to having difficulty finding what they want or items selling out.

Leverage this situation and create a sense of urgency around your products. Here are a few tactics for encouraging potential buyers to act now.

• While supplies last. Communicate to your audience that your products or services are limited in availability. Motivate them to buy now so they don’t miss out.
• Limited-time deals. Communicate to customers that certain products or services are only available for a limited time. This will encourage them to purchase before time runs out.
• Flash sales. These are sudden and very short-time offers that create the greatest sense of urgency. This might be a 24, 48, or 72-hour sale. This will encourage customers to act swiftly to grab the special discounts.
• Create countdown offers. Leveraging limited-time offers further, create a countdown campaign. There are many ways to do this. You can highlight the shopping days remaining during the holidays. You can highlight the days and offers that will be available.
• Exclusive limited offers for early access. Leverage your loyal customers with exclusive offers that give them access to special holiday promotions not offered to the general public. This technique combines both a sense of urgency and privilege.