When we look at holiday shopping behavior, it's interesting to note that approximately 20% of holiday shoppers begin their holiday shopping in October or earlier, and another 50% of shoppers start in November… but, as marketers, we have to begin our holiday ad planning NOW (if you haven't begun already).
It may only be July, but I promise you that the most successful Facebook marketers are already elbow-deep in holiday ad planning – and you should be too! Over the next few weeks we're going to walk through the steps you should be taking to prepare for a successful holiday, beginning with ensuring that your website is mobile-optimized. This is what I want to tackle first because it's one of the most important things to do – and because it has the potential to take the most time and/or resources.
Why does mobile optimization matter?
The overall look of any website is crucial for its success. Users trust a site that looks up-to-date and modern over a site that hasn't been touched since 2010. An untouched site is also much less likely to be optimized for mobile use, alienating a huge amount of potential customers.
Mobile is a key component of the customer journey – especially during the holidays. More and more people are turning to the internet, and especially their mobile devices when it comes to making purchases. Business Insider reports that in 2017 mobile became the most popular shopping platform over Thanksgiving/Black Friday for the first time ever (source).
Even if you can get the foot-traffic of physical shoppers, everyone still has their mobile phone in their hand and they're using the phone to compare prices, compare products, search for coupons, and read reviews – so, don't assume that people in your store means you'll close the sale.
I've definitely been in a situation where I was in one store, and my phone motivated me to make a digital purchase instead. This shift in purchase intent can be caused by deeper discounts, gifts with purchase, or the discovery of a comparable product that is more appealing. Perks like the option to pay online but pickup in store, free shipping, price matching, or exceptional customer service may influence the decision to stick with the in-store experience vs. shop digitally.
Whether you have an in-store shopping experience or not, having an online presence is not enough… your online presence abso-freakin-lutely must be mobile optimized, or else you are going to miss out.
Important Next Steps for Holiday Ad Planning:
If you are outsourcing this to a developer – the time is now, since you want to give them enough time to get the work done before holiday shopping really ramps up. While you/your developer is tinkering in the coding, you'll also want to make sure that the Facebook Pixel is installed properly and tracking optimally. We're going to dive deeper into that aspect of holiday ad planning next week – so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I've assembled a downloadable holiday planning guide that includes a pre-holiday checklist that is meant to guide you through all of the steps that should be occurring at this stage in the game – including mobile optimization and pixel installation. Download the holiday ad planning guide now for instant access to everything you need to plan your holiday campaign optimally this year!
THE GUIDE HAS EXPIRED AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.