The holidays are a magical time of year, filled with joy, family, and... shopping! For brands, it’s a golden opportunity to boost sales and reach new customers. But with the increased competition, making your brand stand out can be a challenge.
That’s where Q5 marketing comes in.
The festive season doesn’t always end mid-December, but extends into the month of January — a period known to many as Q5 or the fifth quarter.
Why is Q5 important? Look at these eye-opening stats:
- Q4 2022 saw a 20% surge in conversions compared to the previous year’s holiday mayhem. Consumers are still in a gifting mood, but without the frantic pressure of holiday deadlines.
- Over half (56%) of festive shoppers discovered new brands and products on Meta platforms during the season. They’re primed for exploration and ready to find their next favourite thing.
- The post-festive window of opportunity isn’t just browsing – it’s buying! A whopping 75% of shoppers who discovered brands on Meta during the holidays were already engaged, receptive, and ready to convert.
Q5 is an excellent time to engage potential customers because festive purchase intent remains high, and competition on Meta decreases, resulting in lower CPMs, which can help you drive leads and sales.
Top 3 Tips to Maximise Performance in Q5
Marketing data helps brands connect with customers across their shopping journey. This is important during Q5 as people may be interested in making new purchases from a brand that they’ve discovered during the festive season.
Here are 3 tips to keep in mind to maximise campaign performance:
Minimise Campaign Changes
When a campaign starts running, each ad set goes through an initial learning phase. Avoiding significant changes to your ad sets helps to accelerate machine learning and maximise post-festive season investments.
Improve Targeting With Conversions API
Conversions API helps businesses better understand and connect with shoppers. It optimises performance by creating a direct connection between you and your marketing data and can help improve measurement capabilities
Automate For Better Performance
Advertisers can use automation to optimise across multiple campaign levers, including creative, targeting, placement and budget.
How To Capture Festive Season Demand into 2024
Capturing festive season demand into 2024 requires a proactive and strategic approach. One of the first steps is to analyse 2023 data and divide your action plan into three stages — pre-festive planning (Now-Jan 2024), festive season execution (Feb-March 2024) and post-festive retention (April 2024 onwards).
Pre-Festive Planning (Now-Jan 2024)
- Dive deep into 2023 festive sales data. Identify your top-selling products, peak sales periods, marketing channels that drove the most traffic and conversions, and customer segments most actively engaged during the festivities.
- Plan your promotions: Develop festive-themed sales and promotions, considering upcoming holidays like Christmas, New Year's, and Valentine's Day. Offer early bird discounts, bundle deals, gift card options, and limited-edition products.
- Secure your inventory: Anticipate demand and estimate necessary stock levels for your best-selling items. Factor in potential supply chain disruptions and ensure timely deliveries to avoid stockouts.
- Optimise your website and online store: Enhance your website’s user experience for the festive season. Prioritise mobile responsiveness, ensure smooth checkout processes, and update product descriptions with festive keywords.
- Prepare your marketing campaigns: Plan your marketing initiatives across various channels. Utilise email campaigns, social media ads, influencer partnerships, and festive-themed content to spread awareness and generate excitement.
Festive Season Execution (Feb-March 2024)
- Launch your campaigns: Execute your planned promotions and marketing campaigns on schedule. Leverage social media trends, holiday hashtags, and festive visuals to grab attention.
- Offer seamless customer service: Anticipate increased customer inquiries and prepare your customer service team to handle them efficiently. Provide extended support hours, live chat options, and easy return/exchange policies.
- Track and analyse data: Monitor your campaign performance in real-time and make adjustments as needed. Track website traffic, conversion rates, and customer engagement to optimise your efforts.
- Create a sense of urgency: Leverage limited-time offers, flash sales, and countdown timers to encourage immediate purchases.
Post-Festive Retention (April 2024 onwards):
- Retarget seasonal customers: Follow up with customers who engaged during the festive season through personalised email campaigns or targeted ads. Offer exclusive deals or loyalty rewards to encourage repeat purchases.
- Gather customer feedback: Conduct surveys or collect feedback to understand customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement in future seasons.
- Leverage post-festive trends: Analyse buying patterns after the festivities and utilise insights to adjust your product offerings and marketing strategies for upcoming seasons.
Additional tips:
- Collaborate with other businesses: Consider partnering with complementary brands for cross-promotions or joint marketing campaigns to reach a wider audience.
- Personalise your approach: Use customer data and purchase history to personalise your marketing messages and product recommendations, enhancing the customer experience.
- Embrace omnichannel marketing: Integrate your online and offline channels to provide a seamless shopping experience for customers, regardless of their preferred touchpoint.
Here are a few more targeted recommendations to make the most of your ads:
Try Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns: During late December and early January, purchase intent is still high and the time that shoppers spend on Meta can be significantly longer.
In fact, 41% of festive shoppers surveyed agree that their shopping usually continues past the season. Continue running Advantage+ shopping campaigns throughout the new year to help maximise your sales.
Implement Retargeting Campaigns: Many shoppers will continue showing interest in your business after the festive season, especially if you're offering promotions or discounts. In fact, 82% of festive shoppers say that they care about discount offers when making purchase decisions.
Follow these tips:
- Create a Lookalike Audience based on website traffic information from the pixel dashboard.
- Run Advantage+ catalogue ads, and let Meta AI create ads using images and details from your product catalogue to show to interested shoppers.
- Run ads that click to message featuring a special offer or discount.
Capitalise on New Year’s Resolutions to Generate Leads: Costs per impression are often less expensive in January, so it’s typically more cost effective to reach customers with your lead ads during this time of year. There’s also less competition in the auction as big brands have left and delivery deadlines have passed.
Lean into messaging that promotes self-gifting and self-improvements, while consumers are making resolutions for the new year. Measurement can help businesses make data-driven decisions to improve their strategies. Q5 offers a great opportunity to test new tactics cost-effectively. Use A/B testing to optimise elements of your Q5 campaign, such as creative or media setup.
Remember, Q5 is a treasure trove of potential. Implement these tips, tailor them to your audience, and watch your sales rise well into the new year!
Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
At 360 OM, we specialise in helping businesses take their marketing efforts to the next level. Our team stays on top of industry trends, uses data-informed decisions to maximise your ROI, and provides full transparency through comprehensive reports.
