The 2024 holiday season has begun.
With a condensed shopping season and economic uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to make each customer interaction meaningful.
360 OM attended Think Retail 2024 and here are some key insights on how brands can use Google AI to deliver personalised experiences and drive sales. Pockets of opportunity on when consumers shop, where they shop and what they buy:
- When: Focus on all phases of the holiday season. Don’t just concentrate on the busiest days. Compressed peak means wins are needed on all days in between too.
- Where: Understand generational preferences to tailor your approach for each group. Take unique desires, expectations, and tactics relevant to each generation into account while targeting your audience.
- What: Win on pricing and promos to drive long-term engagement. Use the increase in demand during seasonal sale moments to drive long-term engagement with your brand.
Here are three powerful statistics to drive relevance this holiday season:
- Overwhelming choices: 63% of European shoppers were overwhelmed by too many options and abandoned their purchase.
- Informed decisions: 77% of shoppers felt more confident about their purchases after conducting thorough research.
- Personalised content: 85% of European shoppers want to see products and information that match their personal interests.
European consumers are more likely to say that they trust Google “to provide them with the most relevant information and content” as compared to other top online platforms.
How To Master Each Stage Of The Shopper’s Mindset With Google AI?
To make the most of the season, understanding mindset shifts is critical. Here’s how you can use Google AI to maximise each stage of the shopper’s journey.
Deliberate (Oct-Nov)
Capture attention before the peak season. Encourage research and discovery to position your brand as a go-to destination.
How to maximise this stage with Google AI:
- Video View Campaigns
- Demand Gen
- Performance Max for New Customer Acquisition
- Performance Max for Omnichannel goals
- Omnibidding VBB
- Product Studio
Deal-Seeking (Cyber)
The days around Cyber 5 deliver big-revenue days. Maximise your margins with a promo strategy to create value in the eyes of your consumers.
How to maximise this stage with Google AI:
- Performance Max for Online Sales
- Merchant Promotions
- Performance Max for store goals (Burst campaigns)
- Profit Optimisation Goals or Automated discounts to optimise for gross profit
Determined (Dec)
December has 5 fewer days after Cyber, and the November election could delay purchases. Offer a frictionless experience in stores and online.
How to maximise this stage with Google AI:
- Performance Max for store goals
- Local Inventory Ads (Pickup Later option)
- Omnibidding VBB
Devoted (Dec)
The loyal shoppers count among your holiday halo effect. Invest in retention strategies and protect your newly acquired shoppers from switching in 2025.
How to maximise this stage with Google AI:
- Customer Lifecycle goals
- App Campaigns & W2AC
How to maximise efficiency across your export strategy?
Q4 is a busy quarter in many markets (eg: Cyber Monday in the US, Singles’ Day in China, Diwali in India, and Boxing Day in the UK). Tapping into this heightened demand can boost sales & revenue and drive brand awareness.
- Ensure AI-powered product parity across your markets (eg. PMax + VBB + Broad Match).
- Adjust your budgets & targets to your market specific strategy and keep in mind the key Peak dates & moments across the globe
- Use Google’s Export opportunity tools (Market Finder, Best Sellers & Price Insights reports) to prioritise target markets, identify popular products & right pricing levels.
- Use Product Translator to localise your Shopping feeds at scale, to unlock a new language/improve translation quality.
How To Maximise Your Holiday Campaign Results with PMax
According to Google, advertisers who adopt Performance Max see an average increase of 27% more conversions or value at a similar CPA/ROAS.
In MMMs run by TransUnion among Retail & Consumer Electronics advertisers in the US, Google Performance Max campaigns drove 17% higher ROAS than AI-powered and automated performance campaigns on Paid Social in aggregate during the holiday peak period in Q4 2023.
It also recorded 33% higher ROAS during the holiday peak period in Q4 2023 than AI-powered and automated performance campaigns on the largest social platform by share of spend.
Key Best Practices For The Holiday Season
Adjust Performance Max campaigns prior to peak holiday season to reach customers and capture their demand throughout their holiday purchasing journey.
- Adjust your bids and budgets to capture increase in demand
- Optimise creatives (Asset group best practices) and highlight seasonal messaging
- Increase reach and relevance of your campaign
- Monitor Insights closely (Performance, Pacing, Assets, Audiences)
How To Win The Omni Shopper
From October to December, activating Omnibidding, Performance Max for store goals,
and/or Local Inventory Ads will allow you to maximise your visibility and prioritise convenience that omni shoppers prefer.
1. Omnichannel shoppers reported spending 73% more on average than non-omnichannel shoppers.
Here’s how you can prioritise the omni shopper throughout Q4 to maximise your reach & profitability:
- Finalise testing omnibidding going into October.
- Conduct A/B experiments on Search and Regular Shopping Campaigns.
- Use GMC feed and bid to store visits or store sales in your PMax.
- Ensure budget headroom to capture full in-store + online demand.
- Use first party customer data to reach your highest value customers.
2. In 2023, more than half of shoppers used five or more channels, like video and social media, to shop over a two-day period, and across the US, online search was used before 95% of in-store holiday shopping occasions.
Here’s how you can create store demand using Performance Max:
- Use Performance Max for store goals as a lever to drive foot traffic.
- Tap into Maps to reach 1 billion+ users.
- Promote must-win categories and flighted “Burst” Campaigns.
- Speed up campaign learning with Audience Signals.
- Enhance creative, customise targeting, and measure offline impact.
3. 50% of shoppers say ease and convenience is a top driver to choose where to shop, followed by price promotion at 35%.
Here’s how to capture demand when omni shoppers are ready to buy:
- Prioritise profitable segments using conversion value rules.
- Use Local Inventory Ads and pickup options.
- Implement the pickup later option of Local Inventory Ads.
- Use Local Promotions, Store Coupons, and promotional creative.
Creative is the dominant ROI driver across all media platforms. Yet holiday is the most difficult time of the year to stand out among competitors in an increasingly crowded retail space.
Adopt ABCD best practices to maximise impact:
- Attention: Hook in the first five seconds, and sustain attention with a focused message.
- Branding: Brand early, often and in-situation so people remember your brand and products.
- Connection: Connect through context (conversational, joyful tone; shop with me, in-store shopping). Be specific about your brand differentiation.
- Direction: Give a clear call to action (shop online, in-store; BOPIS or ease of pickup).
We know every brand has their unique holiday goals: attracting new customers, capturing demand, and boosting your bottom line.
Let us guide you through Google AI to help you achieve them. Optimise your campaigns to compete effectively and grow your market share. Remember, holiday demand surges, so be prepared for auction dynamics to shift.
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.
