Mother’s Day is the third-largest retail holiday in the US according to data from eMarketer. Last year, the average US consumer spent $173 (up from $163 in 2014) on presents for
mom, for a combined total of $21.2 billion on Mother’s Day gifting according to the National Retail Federation.
Yet, a recent analysis of Mother’s Day campaigns we ran
from 2012 to 2015 shows that not all advertisers are planning far enough ahead to get the most return on their advertising dollar for this crucial holiday. In fact, some are launching campaigns just
days before the holiday, missing out on the bulk of converters. Below we share some of the highlights from our analysis and how advertisers can do a better job this year attracting mother-loving
shoppers.
Don’t be late for a very important date
Unlike the November/December shopping period, the spring is not a time when the majority of
consumers last-minute shop for holidays such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Our analysis shows that most conversions happen 10 to 5 days before the holiday, with a spike 6 days before
Mother’s Day. The same users who shopped
Yet, the majority of remarketing spend in our analysis was allocated in the few days leading up to Mother’s Day. This is
clearly not enough time to prepare for the spike in online purchases seen 10 to 5 days before the holiday.
Do: Pace up at least 10 days before Mother’s Day
to maximize the efficiency of their media spend.
Don’t forget offline data
As more and more marketing moves to digital, it’s easy to
start overlooking your offline customer files. Buyers from past years, particularly last year, have a higher chance of converting than prospects. Neglecting this pool of customers who are already
familiar with your brand is a huge mistake.
Do: Onboard offline data files to target return customers/holiday shoppers (hopefully you also have a good attribution model
in place to tie together online/offline purchases). Use sequential messaging for previous buyers to remind them of your brand, the product and your best-selling items of the season, with special
offers to drive them to conversion.
Don’t forget to call out the obvious
It’s interesting to note from our analysis that the majority of
campaigns we saw were in the consumer goods category—but the highest conversions (and CPMs) were in clothing and accessories. One of the top reasons an ad doesn’t convert is because there
isn’t a specific-enough call-to-action. If you have particular Mother’s Day offers but don’t call them out as such, you run the risk of losing a potential sale.
Do: Make sure you are reaching the right audience in your vertical by including Mother’s Day-specific CTAs, like “Make Mom Smile” (Skull Candy), “Shop
Mother’s Day Picks” (Prism) or “Make Mom’s Day” (West Elm), which tend to help ads convert better, and Dynamic Creative Optimization for targeting your holiday
browsers.
Don’t under-budget for late April
CPMs in general are highest one week before Mother’s Day, when a good slice of both clicks
and conversions are happening. Hopefully you didn’t spend too much in the beginning of the month, since the shoppers you want won’t really starting purchasing until mid to late April.
Do: Increase bids at least two weeks prior to the holiday to ensure delivery during this peak time. CTR/CPC campaigns should similarly allocate significant budget starting about
one to two weeks before Mother’s Day. To further boost click performance, utilize large format/engaging creatives with relevant messaging.
Other tips to get the most out of
your Mother’s Day marketing include:
- Layer your own first-party data such as CRM with second-party in-market segments such as women’s apparel, gifts and
flowers and shopper behavior like frequent purchasers and recent purchasers.
- Add in third-party data demographic targeting (age, gender, marital status), and
behavioral segments such as “Mother’s Day Shoppers.”
- Curate site lists based off top results for search words like flowers, jewelry, Mother's Day
gifts, etc.
- Consider social for demographic (age, gender) and life event (new parents/grandparents, expecting mothers) targeting. FBM provides a wide variety
of predefined segments derived from self-declared characteristics including age, gender, interests, etc. Utilize these segments to target FB users who are likely to purchase Mother's Day gifts.