It’s not magic, it’s insight: how you can prepare your business for the holiday season, today

by The Latest News from Facebook for Business October 15, 2019

It’s not magic, it’s insight: how you can prepare your business for the holiday season, today

October 15, 2019

by Blake Smith

The holidays are magical. It’s a time when you’re surrounded by friends and family, and for many, this period centers around finding the perfect gift for loved ones. But many of us know that there’s more than simply magic going on behind the scenes. After all, for businesses, a successful holiday season comes from months of planning, acting on the right insights, and using the proper tools so that you’re ready for the chaos of the season. Retailers who will win this holiday season are those who are thinking beyond peak holiday. And they’re starting to plan right now.

This is because unnecessary friction is one of the biggest threats to your business. These days, shoppers have lots of options and won’t tolerate bad buying experiences--they’ll simply turn elsewhere. The numbers prove it: 50% of surveyed retail shoppers say they choose where and how to shop based on convenience, rather than price (). We want to help you make the most of the holiday season. Here’s how:

The pressure test

There are things you can start doing before key marketing moments to reduce friction and prepare your systems for the holidays. As we all know, any friction will only be amplified in that holiday window when the entire ecosystem is under pressure. If something breaks now--an order is delayed or a site crashes--it’s annoying. But if something fails during the holidays, it’s a much bigger issue. So, some retailers are pressure-testing their systems right now with short, high-impact moments, like high discount one-day sales to drive masses of customers to their stores and online shops. They’re creating artificial demand so they can understand any friction points and fix them before the holidays. There’s never been a better time than now to get your systems right. If you can make something break now, and fix it, you can avoid it breaking when the stakes are highest.

How it’s done

We want to ensure that you’re set up for success when the season arrives. Here’s what we recommend you keep in mind as you ready your systems for holiday:

Reduce friction at the purchase stage:
In a world of instant gratification, make it easy for someone to learn about your products online or in-store. Help ensure purchases can happen as smoothly as possible. Establish user-friendly, efficient online checkout experiences, like your add to cart pages. And consider offering free pick up in-store within hours of placing an online order. This is what customers want: 47% of surveyed people say they used in-store pick up for holiday gifts in the US in 2018, and ().
Reduce friction at the discovery phase:
Second, social is the new storefront, and it’s open 24/7. So start now in getting creative with how you’re reaching customers where they spend their time. Build eye-catching creative in vertical video for platforms like Stories, and engage influencers to help spread your message. Exciting branding campaigns prime your consumers for conversion further down the funnel--by creating an environment that has shoppers fully engaged, they’ll be ready to shop when the time comes.
Reduce friction for yourself:
Let Facebook help you by taking advantage of machine learning, which can lighten the workload during a busy time and help match budget to demand. To get through the period, use tools like Campaign Budget Optimization, which maximizes campaign results by letting you spend less on underperforming ad sets. Or Automatic Placements, which delivers the right ad to the right person at the lowest possible cost across Facebook and Instagram. Tools like Dynamic Ads show the right products to those who’ve expressed interest. We like to call these tactics and others--like account simplification and auto advanced matching-- the Power 5, which when used together, transforms ad performance and scale across the Facebook family of apps and services. We’ve seen how automation can have significant impact on return at the most crucial time of year--test these things now, so you know what works.
Reduce friction post-purchase:
Lastly, you can use messaging to personally connect with shoppers. After all, 75% of surveyed holiday shoppers say they care about customer service when making holiday shopping decisions. Facebook IQ commissioned online study by IPSOS - “Facebook Global Holiday eCommerce Study”. Survey in 29 countries of 1,500 holiday shoppers per country, ages 18+; 2 “State of the Connected Consumer”, Salesforce Research, June 2018 (US) Customer service is especially critical during the season--allowing people to connect with you when and how they want will make you stand out from the competition. So create the opportunity for conversation from organic entry points like your Facebook page, or drive awareness to your presence with ads that click to Messenger, and set yourself apart.

Plan for the season

In order to get the most out of these tactics and best practices, it’s important to plan for a holiday season that now stretches from late October all the way through to January. While we tend to focus on the high volume of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days, the season has grown, and so have the main holiday shopping peaks. For Canada, there’s now a clear pre-season that hits in early November, as well as a “panic” period we’ve seen stretch all the way into January. And don’t forget Boxing Week, beginning the day after Christmas, which has proved to be a lucrative period of opportunity both in Canada and worldwide.

For retailers, this means that all of Q4 is essentially a shopping season, so plan accordingly: 31% of surveyed Canadian shoppers say they start holiday shopping before mid-November, and over 1 in 10 surveyed people say they have finished their shopping altogether. Facebook IQ commissioned online study by IPSOS - “Facebook Global Holiday eCommerce Study”. Survey in 29 countries of 1,500 holiday shoppers per country, ages 18+. And this trend will only continue, especially as the use of mobile grows--20% of surveyed mobile-first shoppers say they start shopping before November. Facebook IQ commissioned online study by IPSOS - “Facebook Global Holiday eCommerce Study”. Survey in 29 countries of 1,500 holiday shoppers per country, ages 18+. (CA) If you’re not talking to those early birds and last-minute shoppers about how easy you’ve made it for them to shop with you, you may be creating unnecessary friction.

We want to encourage you to rethink how you plan for holiday, by laying your foundation early and testing what works. This summer and fall, businesses have the opportunity to prepare for a less stressful holiday season by doing just that. For more on how to prepare for the holidays using our Holiday Guide and holiday shopping season insights click here.

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It’s not magic, it’s insight: how you can prepare your business for the holiday season, today

By Blake Smith

Industry Manager, Emerging Disruptors

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he holidays are magical. It’s a time when you’re surrounded by friends and family, and for many, this period centers around finding the perfect gift for loved ones. But many of us know that there’s more than simply magic going on behind the scenes. After all, for businesses, a successful holiday season comes from months of planning, acting on the right insights, and using the proper tools so that you’re ready for the chaos of the season. Retailers who will win this holiday season are those who are thinking beyond peak holiday. And they’re starting to plan right now.

This is because unnecessary friction is one of the biggest threats to your business. These days, shoppers have lots of options and won’t tolerate bad buying experiences--they’ll simply turn elsewhere. The numbers prove it: 50% of surveyed retail shoppers say they choose where and how to shop based on convenience, rather than price (source FBIQ). We want to help you make the most of the holiday season. Here’s how:

The pressure test

How it’s done

We want to ensure that you’re set up for success when the season arrives. Here’s what we recommend you keep in mind as you ready your systems for holiday:

Reduce friction at the purchase stage:
In a world of instant gratification, make it easy for someone to learn about your products online or in-store. Help ensure purchases can happen as smoothly as possible. Establish user-friendly, efficient online checkout experiences, like your add to cart pages. And consider offering free pick up in-store within hours of placing an online order. This is what customers want: 47% of surveyed people say they used in-store pick up for holiday gifts in the US in 2018, and 46% of surveyed Canadian shoppers say they use in-store pick up already (source FBIQ).
Reduce friction at the discovery phase:
Second, social is the new storefront, and it’s open 24/7. So start now in getting creative with how you’re reaching customers where they spend their time. Build eye-catching creative in vertical video for platforms like Stories, and engage influencers to help spread your message. Exciting branding campaigns prime your consumers for conversion further down the funnel--by creating an environment that has shoppers fully engaged, they’ll be ready to shop when the time comes.
Reduce friction for yourself:
Let Facebook help you by taking advantage of machine learning, which can lighten the workload during a busy time and help match budget to demand. To get through the period, use tools like Campaign Budget Optimization, which maximizes campaign results by letting you spend less on underperforming ad sets. Or Automatic Placements, which delivers the right ad to the right person at the lowest possible cost across Facebook and Instagram. Tools like Dynamic Ads show the right products to those who’ve expressed interest. We like to call these tactics and others--like account simplification and auto advanced matching-- the Power 5, which when used together, transforms ad performance and scale across the Facebook family of apps and services. We’ve seen how automation can have significant impact on return at the most crucial time of year--test these things now, so you know what works.
Reduce friction post-purchase:
Lastly, you can use messaging to personally connect with shoppers. After all, 75% of surveyed holiday shoppers say they care about customer service when making holiday shopping decisions.¹ Customer service is especially critical during the season--allowing people to connect with you when and how they want will make you stand out from the competition. So create the opportunity for conversation from organic entry points like your Facebook page, or drive awareness to your presence with ads that click to Messenger, and set yourself apart.

Plan for the season