As we approach the busy Q4 shopping season, it's crucial for companies with shopping rewards programs to fine-tune their marketing strategies to make the most of this lucrative period by driving browser extension installs, and encouraging people to engage with those tools and make purchases.
We put together some key insights and best practices to help you capitalize on holiday shopping trends and consumer behavior.
The holiday season brings a unique shopper mindset, combining the goals of gift-giving, value-seeking, and creating festive experiences. Most consumers - especially those participating in your program - are motivated by discounts, convenience, and the desire to find special gifts for loved ones. Secondarily, they're also more inclined towards charitable giving and supporting local businesses.
To maximize your marketing efforts, align your campaigns with these key shopping events:
Below is a month-by-month chart with more detailed breakdowns of categories and retailers to promote:
Note: Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still the busiest shopping days of the season (and in some cases, the entire year). Some noteworthy statistics:
To capitalize on this shopping frenzy:
Notably, Wildfire clients that heavily promote the extension prior to Black Friday experience an average 47% spike of install growth prior to Black Friday with Labor Day shopping and early Black Friday promotions.
In comparison, clients that operate normally with little-to-no lift of marketing see a natural 10% install growth during the season.
Maximize installs of, and engagement with, your cashback rewards extension during Q4 by leveraging the following non-email exposure and messaging opportunities. With these, you can provide relevant information, and create a seamless shopping experience that encourages users to install and utilize the extension, ensuring they never miss out on cashback opportunities.
- Use "toasters" (pop-up notifications) to highlight your extensions’ value proposition (e.g. save even more during the Q4 holidays with our free cashback browser extension)
- Consider a homepage takeover to maximize visibility (example below from Rakuten)
- Create seasonal landing pages highlighting popular items and gift guides. You can highlight the cashback a shopper would get if they shopped with your extension.
- Develop content around holiday shopping tips, trends, and gift ideas
- Rakuten creates seasonal pages to help guide the shopper and create a simple one stop shopping experience during an already busy and stressful time.
Google Trends show users searching for Black Friday as soon as late September. Many Merchant Black Friday preview promos also start in September, immediately following Labor Day sales. Drive installs and enrollment early.
Our recommended best practices include the following.
First, give users a compelling reason to install:
— Incentive to install campaign
— Boosted offers campaigns
Then, make it sticky by multiplying product impressions:
— Non-logged in placements above the fold
— New customer onboarding
— Start Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Holiday Shopping SEO content early
— Persistent logged in placements on both mobile app and desktop
— Thematic/timely creative for all digital placements and ongoing emails
— Customer benefits placements
By implementing these strategies and focusing on key trends, you'll be well-positioned to make the most of the Q4 shopping season. Remember to start planning early, take advantage of multiple opportunities to message your customer base about your extension, and continuously analyze your results to optimize your campaigns throughout the holiday period.