Ready for the holiday rush? Overview of best practices for adapting your advertising campaigns to new consumer trends, with expert advice and exclusive data from the Microsoft Advertising playbook.
The end-of-year holiday period is the peak of activity for e-commerce players. But consumer behavior is constantly evolving and brands must adapt their strategies to maximize their online visibility and remain competitive. This is what the latest guide entitled Your holiday season marketing playbook 2024 de Microsoft Advertising. Indeed, the purchasing journey is today more complex than ever. “ Consumers are increasingly anticipating their Christmas shopping. 67% of November conversions came from clicks made in October and 49% of December conversions came from clicks made in October! », underlines Thomas Herry, Sr. Analytical Lead, Retail, EMEA for Microsoft Advertising. A purchasing journey which, beyond extending over time, tends to become more complex. Thus, a user carries out on average 17 searches and 12 clicks before finalizing their purchase. Faced with this new reality, brands must adopt an omnichannel approach and offer a fluid and personalized customer experience, particularly for Gen Z and Millennials who use multiple devices to make their purchases.
The quest for low prices conditions consumer behavior
While tensions on customers’ purchasing power are still being felt, they are particularly sensitive to prices. “ The emergence of very offensive Asian discount sites has disrupted consumer behavior… brands must be sharp on price messages », explains Thomas Herry. A reality that is all the stronger as search has become an essential comparison tool. “ The Shopping format of search engines is very popular because sorting is mainly done by price », observes Thomas Herry. The Microsoft Advertising guide reveals that searches for “affordable” or “cheap” products have increased considerably. This search for good deals also results in a change in buyers’ choice criteria. Microsoft Advertising studies reveal sustained growth, year over year, in searches for the keywords: “buy now, pay later”, expedited shipping, free returns and gifts.
Online search goals: a generational perspective
Adapt advertising campaigns
« Advertisers must remember that in an ultra-competitive environment, it is crucial to appear as an attractive brand in terms of prices », affirms Thomas Herry. To optimize their performance, e-retailers must launch audience campaigns as early as possible, because, as the Microsoft Advertising Playbook indicates, it is thus possible to hammer home advertising messages and launch remarketing campaigns. Thomas Herry also recommends using a variety of ad formats, because “ users spend more when exposed to multiple formats “. The effectiveness of this strategy is proven: brands that have used “Multimedia Ads” (ad format with image in search results pages) have seen an increase in their ROAS (Return on advertising spend) of up to 200% compared to standard text ads formats. Finally, Thomas Herry highlights the importance of focusing on automation, using solutions like PMAX to optimize auctions. “ PMAX campaigns generated on average 2.6 times more visits and 4.2 times more orders on average », He specifies, relying on data from the Microsoft Playbook. Knowing how to be clever in advertising campaigns in order to appear in consumers’ perceptions as an attractive brand in terms of prices, that’s the challenge at the end of the year 2024!
Source: www.ecommercemag.fr
