Black Friday is weeks away, but make no mistake: the holiday shopping season has already begun. Last month, we shared all kinds of resources to get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM, also referred to as the Cyber 5) in your paid search, SMS, email, and more. But with rising inflation, brands are still looking for money-saving hacks to help finish the year strong.
Using exclusive data from our partners at Meta and our own HawkeAI insights, we’ve compiled these tips to help keep costs down and revenue up.
1. Start Your Holiday Sale Yesterday!
- If, like many ecommerce businesses, your Q3 sales were sub-par, you need to clear out space for holiday products. Put older products on clearance sale prices and make it part of launching your holiday campaign.
- Feel silly running Christmas sales so far before Thanksgiving? Don’t. Target Deal Days started October 6. Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale has already begun. Walmart launched its Holiday Guarantee Program on October 1. If your holiday sale hasn’t begun, you’re behind.
2. Focus on BOPIS
- Shipping is more expensive than ever. “Buy Online, Pay In Store” gives customers the convenience of online shopping and saves retailers the shipping cost.
- FedEx raised rates on October 31 and has additional surcharges through January 15. UPS has surcharges of up to $7 through the holiday season. USPS even has a temporary rate increase for the next few months ranging from 6.1 to 8.5%.
- Highlight convenience and safety for customers.
3. Raise Your Bid Caps (At Least Temporarily)
- This can seem counterintuitive when you’re trying to save money, but – at least for Cyber Week – it may be essential to driving qualified buyers from your paid media ads at all.
- 43% of companies with capped-bidding strategies on Meeta were constrained by their budget during last year’s Cyber Week.
- Expect your CPM to increase on Meta, but take solace in the fact that CPA has been decreasing there for much of the year.
4. Remember, You’re Not the Only One Strapped for Cash
- Once you start those sales in October to clear fall products, sustain those kinds of price points. Everyone is hurting from the current economy, so people are focused on value.
- Transitioning economics mean new demographics. Focus on top-of-funnel marketing to attract new customers in this pivotal time.
- Make a sale out of everything you can! Highlight the last day to buy for arrival in time for Christmas, and make a sales message out of it! Then, for anyone who misses that date, continue to drive home BOPIS messaging. After that – promote some gift cards for those last-minute folks!
- Advertise in-store discounts. For the first time in years, most people are comfortable in public spaces again. Black Friday shoppers especially want that hustle and bustle.
5. Use Text Overlays
- This is a great way to get the BOPIS message engrained even at the top of the funnel. Put “Buy Now, Pickup In-Store” over your compelling images.
- Is price point simply not the most compelling feature for your product? That’s okay. Overlay your image with “20% Off” even if you don’t say what that makes the new total.
This holiday season, you can prioritize saving money for your own bottom line while still saving money for your customers, too. If you haven’t started your holiday promotions yet, start right away, and then be open to constant evaluation and adjustments throughout the season to ensure you finish the year strong.
