Optimize Your Digital Ad Spend to Win Over Last-minute Holiday Shoppers

Cyber Week has come and gone, but there’s still time to win over holiday shoppers who haven’t finished all of their purchasing. Brands still can optimize their digital ad spend to win over last-minute holiday shoppers.

As you can see in the graphic above, there are still plenty of shoppers who are either spreading their holiday shopping out, impulse driven, or waiting until the absolute last possible moment to buy their remaining holiday gifts.  In fact, 13% of consumers identify themselves as last minute shoppers, according to a survey conducted by Rakuten Marketing.

For a good number of those shoppers, digital advertising that helps them find the products they’re looking for is going to be what earns their business.

Advertisers need to be analyzing their budgets and optimizing their display or search spend in the final days leading up to the holidays to increase their visibility.

The key is understanding what holiday shoppers value when it comes to digital advertising. While discounts are popular with holiday shoppers, low prices aren’t going to be the only factor that sways purchasing decisions as highlighted above.

There are a few things that advertisers should be doing over the next few days to win over shoppers who still have gifts to buy:

• Update website copy and product sections so that they are tailored to people with specific interests. For instance, use terms like “Gifts for women who run” or “Gifts for a night out on the town” This could encourage impulse purchasing by gift shoppers who are looking for a gift for someone who is hard to shop for.
• Increase your retargeting budget to remind shoppers of products they were looking at previously but didn’t buy.
• Feature specific and familiar brands in social media and display ads.
• Offer a discount on a self-indulgent purchase. Shoppers have been bombarded with holiday marketing messages for months now. By encouraging gift shoppers to treat themselves, an advertiser could be adding experiential value to the overall online shopping experience.