Looking Back at 2020 Holiday Shopping Digital Results & Trends

by with No Comment News

Due to the global supply chain, retail distribution has been quite challenging these days. Last month, we encouraged marketers to think about delays in terms of your omnichannel strategy for the holiday season. While we are looking ahead and preparing for what is to come, we decided it would be helpful to look back as well. Focusing on 2020 holiday shopping digital results and trends, there is a story to be told for this year’s predictions and results.

  • Annual Events & Celebratory Days

Last year, online shopping hit all-time records. Revenue grew by 32% YoY and exceeded $188.2B for the first time (source: Adobe Analytics). Thanksgiving Day resulted in a record 20%+ YoY in online sales with consumer spend $5B+. On Black Friday, consumers spent $9B, making it a top online shopping day (source: Search Engine Land). Cyber Monday spending exceeded $10B (source: Investopedia). While November and December are important months, the impact of annual events and celebratory days is unrivaled year after year.

Smartphones vs. Tablets and Desktops

In looking at the record-breaking spending on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday in 2020, much of that shopping occurred on smartphones. In fact, almost 50% of the transactions from Thanksgiving day were completed on smartphones, which was yet another record; and 40% of spending on Black Friday was executed on a smartphone (source: Search Engine Land). With digital adoption climbing, we expect smartphones to continue winning with holiday shopping this year.

  • Changing Consumer Behavior

Both physical behavior as well as interests and values are important factors to consider. In terms of physical behavior last year, hours spent on shopping apps was up 50% YoY (source: App Annie via Forbes). When discussing values, interests and what U.S. consumers bought for holiday 2020, 63% purchased products online that they had not considered before the pandemic; this number rose to 75% for millennials (source: PFS Commerce via Forbes). This year, consumers will likely focus on the technology itself; frictionless checkouts, fast load speeds and more will undoubtedly drive success for competing retailers.

Power of Social Media

Social media was the reason that 45% of consumers “discovered something new online last [holiday] season and said it was a gift for someone” (source: Big Commerce). Additionally, it was the first year that Facebook Shops became available. Since then, we have seen the power of not only Facebook Shops, but the importance of both paid and organic social as well as the power of influencer marketing in this era of intense digital adoption.  

  • Importance of Reviews, Powered by Customer Experience

Customers relied heavily on reviews and recommendations in 2020. The number of digital touchpoints that a brand has with a consumer is constantly evolving. For example, BOPIS was a huge draw for consumers with convenience and experience remaining top-of-mind. With increasing retailer competition, reviews and recommendations became that much more important. Looking at how much consumers relied on reviews last year, there is an opportunity to capitalize on those positive reviews with your marketing spend. 

In reviewing many of holiday 2020’s top digital trends, specific learnings can be applied to holiday 2021. For example, positive reviews can be included in SEM to increase paid search results; influencer marketing can both inspire purchase decisions and provide branded content; and hot new channels like Connected TV (CTV) can capitalize on smartphone usage.

All in all, if the big gift you’re asking for this holiday season is significant ROI and impactful revenue streams from your marketing campaigns, we can deliver, just put it on your list!

The Truth About Your Campaign Metrics: Facebook Announces that Apple Data Is Skewing Conversions

by Direct MailMarketing StrategyMarketing TrendsNewsUSPS

As digital adoption continues to soar post-pandemic, it is evident just how interconnected we really are. This week, Facebook began to quantify the negative aspects of this interconnectivity.

On Wednesday, September 22nd, Facebook announced that it underreported ad performance due to Apple’s iPhone privacy update for its iOS operating system. Specifically, Facebook estimated that it is currently underreporting web conversions on Apple’s iOS by approximately 15% and that this could affect advertisers of various sizes in many ways.

Why This Happened

Recently, Apple made a pivotal update for its users; now iPhone and iPad users will need to opt in to being tracked when they launch an app for the first time. It is now evident how much this new parameter affected advertisers’ campaigns.

What This Means For You

Facebook Vice President of Product Marketing shared in a blog post: “We believe that real world conversions, like sales and app installs, are higher than what is being reported for many advertisers.” Therefore, the results that you are seeing are likely lower than how your campaign is actually performing. 

How We Can Help

Partnership is at our core. We understand that this is not an ideal situation, but because of our strong industry ties and media relationships, we will get through this together. In fact, our digital and data & analytics teams are already working on solutions and adjustments considering this news, which includes:

  1. Working with our Facebook reps to further understand the percentage of users/conversions being impacted across each of our individual clients, and then building models that factor in the potential data loss
  2. Leveraging our clients’ website analytics tools (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, etc.) to measure key engagement and conversion data points to supplement data coming directly from Facebook.
  3. Researching additional technology solutions to layer on top of Facebook and website analytics platforms to help fill any gaps in the data (however, we are in the early days of these new data privacy issues, and this is more of a longer-term play).

As marketers, we always aim to keep our tech stack fresh, current, and innovative. We are looking forward to solving the challenge Facebook and Apple have presented to us. We are especially looking forward to delivering to you the positive results we know your campaign is driving towards. Stay tuned!

Sources include CNBC, Facebook, and AdAge.

Woman,Shopping,For,Christmas,Online

The Ultimate Lesson: How Back-to-School Can Prepare Marketers for Holiday 2021

by with No Comment Marketing StrategyMarketing TrendsNews

As the global supply chain continues to struggle to keep up with consumers’ needs, the Back-to-School (BTS) market is the latest segment to be negatively impacted. With many children back to learning in-person this fall, the feared shortages for supplies unfortunately have become a reality.

 

Results showed that about 50% of consumers spent less on BTS shopping last year (source: Times Record News). While we are still waiting on this year’s results, given increasing demand for the continued shortage of BTS essentials, the numbers likely will be similar if not lower.

 

Observing the challenges that BTS shoppers have faced, there is much to be learned for the upcoming holiday season. With the recent chip shortage, not only is the BTS market suffering, but so are huge industries like automobiles. This will undoubtedly affect the types of products and offerings available for the holiday season. Video games, cell phones, cars, and home appliances all use chips. We need to be prepared for the most desired products to be more difficult to purchase.

What BTS Can Teach Marketers for Holiday 2021

Launch Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns Earlier

Tailor your marketing strategy to the 2021 calendar. This year, Thanksgiving is earlier and holiday shopping will begin sooner. We predict the buying cycle will therefore change. There will be five weeks of shopping leading up to Christmas. Consumers will be shopping earlier and longer further adding to the disruption in traditional holiday shopping habits.

 

No matter who you are targeting this year, timing is everything. We recommend keeping timing—when you want your customers viewing your products and services—at the forefront. All touchpoints will be affected, and even more reason to keep your marketing strategy fresh.  

 

Continue to Bet on eCommerce & Test New Channels

Retail eCommerce sales are projected to make up almost 19% of total holiday retail sales this year (source: eMarketer). Due to the pandemic, we saw more of an online push last year than ever before, which continued to propel marketers’ digital spend forward. This year, retailers are again putting emphasis on eCommerce, and we are expecting a similarly early start to the holiday season, especially due to rumors that Amazon will promote a second Prime day this fall. Additionally, offering earlier holiday sales would ideally help avoid fulfillment issues later in the season.

 

With increased digital adoption and more time spent online, there has never been a better time to explore other digital avenues such as Connected TV (CTV) and Digital Audio. Check out our most recent post on “Why CTV Right Now?” to learn more about this channel.   

 

Understand that Location Matters: The “Shop Local” Trend Endures.

In January, we shared retail predictions for 2021 with many of them ringing true. Specifically, “Shop Local” prevails, and will be especially important to keep in mind. With consumers’ potentially negative BTS experiences tied with last year’s holiday shopping, many will shop locally to avoid dealing with inventory issues, shipping delays or added fees.

 

Focusing on your targeted acquisition strategy as well as paid search (hint: check out geo targeting capabilities) is especially relevant this year.  

 

Increased Foot Traffic Is a Possibility.

With a pandemic that’s lasted for 1.5+ years, consumers understand what it means to shop in-store. They are now familiar with BOPIS and physically shopping in PPE. Due to the current state of the supply chain, it is possible that traffic in traditional stores may increase slightly this holiday because of consumers’ BTS shopping experiences and anticipation regarding inventory issues and shipping delays.

 

We recommend accounting for this pickup in your CRM systems, holiday promotions and marketing communications. 

 

Rely on Customer Loyalty…Keep Your Bottom-of-Funnel Customers & Prospects Close.

Being familiar with your brand, having experience with your customer service team, knowing the quality of your products and services…are all increasingly important factors. As more consumers experience delays with BTS products and gear up for holiday, they will rely on the brands they know and love. Additionally, they will likely present a higher AOV than top-of-funnel or newer customers because they trust your brand, regardless of supply chain issues or warnings about shipping delays.

 

Not sure who your target customers and prospects are or how to identify them? Uncover powerful insights with data & analytical tools like forecasting, attribution, database management, and digital operations. 

 

Overall, experts say that some of the shortages and frustrations surrounding BTS materials and equipment could have been solved by shopping earlier. In fact, they warn “start shopping online now” (source: News10). That said, the pointed execution of your marketing campaigns featuring strategy and revenue generation are our goal. Taking into account the many macro challenges this year presents, we look forwarding to ‘acing’ this test together!

Sources: Times Record News, eMarketer, ©2021 Insider Intelligence Inc., Ask Wonder, Tech Walla

Compliance,Rules,Law,Regulation,Policy,Business,Technology,Concept.

Data Compliance: How to be a Smart Marketer in 2021

by DataMarketing StrategyMarketing TrendsNews

While the U.S. does not have one federal law that regulates the protection of personally identifiable information (PII), PII is protected by several sector-specific laws. The major players are the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These are just some examples of laws that apply to customer protection, financial institutions, telemarketing, commercial emails, and European markets.

While there is much to consider, businesses in the U.S. can be data compliant by fulfilling the requirements of the GDPR, understanding state-specific regulations, creating a comprehensive and detailed privacy policy, and employing data encryption and security. Please find more detail on how to be a “smart marketer” below (including bonus tips!).

Safety,Concept:,Closed,Padlock,On,Digital,Background

Five Reasons to Keep Data Privacy at the Forefront of Your Omnichannel Strategy

by Marketing StrategyNewsSearch

According to a recent survey, 40% of marketing executives conveyed that a lack of legal clarity is a barrier to implementing stricter privacy practices at their organizations. While we understand the ambiguity of today’s data policies – especially with COVID-19 causing delays and distractions – marketers must be as proactive as possible about data privacy. Here’s why:

image002

The Pandemic Effect:
Five Search Optimizations to Help Your SEM Efforts This Year

by Marketing StrategyNewsSearch

There’s ample evidence that the pandemic had a huge impact on search behavior in 2020. These changed search behaviors coupled with our new current realities can help bring a renewed focus on your search marketing optimization efforts right now. Below we outline five simple optimization tips that can assist your SEM programs and yield immediate results today.