Consider any supply chain issues you might experience this year, and how those issues could impact your stock on key items in your catalog. May there be shipping delays on certain items? Is your current inventory of a particular product the only inventory you can guarantee you’ll have ahead of final ship dates? If so, call that out in your Google Shopping ads. Shoppers will appreciate that you’ve let them know not to wait on items that might be “musts” on their list.
News programs and headlines abound urging shoppers to start not just early, but now! As an advertiser, it’s important to ensure that your Google Shopping ads are prepared for this influx of shoppers in a holiday mindset.
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Holiday Shopping has Already Begun
The goal isn’t to panic shoppers, rather to ensure they don’t miss out on a special promotion, limited stock item, or shipping deadline.
While the COVID-19 pandemic is still a significant concern in 2021, unlike last year, millions of people are now vaccinated, and looking forward to spending more time with family and friends. As such, we expect an uptick in in-person gift-giving this year on the whole, making that final ship date and/or store availability more important than it was last year for some.
- 57% will begin holiday shopping on or before Thanksgiving
- 28% plan to start shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday
- Only 15% plan to wait until December to begin holiday shopping
Prioritize any type of motion possible; motion and static ads within the same campaign typically leads to a higher conversion rate.
Design Creative that Speaks to Key Holiday Shopper Personas
Responses to Tinuiti’s own 2021 Holiday Consumer Spending Trends survey paint a similar picture:
That said, establishing a holiday brand identity is still important; you just want to ensure these ads feel like a ‘holiday version’ of your evergreen ads, and not something completely disconnected. Consider overlays and graphics that are holiday-specific, but maintain certain things that are established brand identifiers (ie. logo shape and/or color). For this single variable A/B test, one ad features reviews and one does not.
Additional considerations:
Holiday Shopper Persona – The Party Planner
For many, picking up a few gifts for themselves during the holidays is largely motivated by the season’s strong promotions. Shoppers know that if they buy these items now, they’re more likely to get a great price, and avoid the dreaded “Sold Out” message so common this time of year. With that in mind, don’t only consider the more obvious ‘gifty’ items on your website for your Shopping ads, but also those that are more practical indulgences. Consistency in branding is still important, particularly as some of these shoppers will overlap with your existing audience. However, you can maintain your brand standards while designing creative that speaks specifically to their needs in that particular holiday role.
- Dinnerware, glassware, utensils and table linens
- Home decor
- Extra seating (folding chairs, poufs, etc.)
- Cooking and serving essentials (mixing bowls, pots and pans, serving trays, etc.)
- Board games and card games
Holiday Shopper Persona – The Self-Gifter
Consistency in branding is still important, particularly as some of these shoppers will overlap with your existing audience. However, you can maintain your brand standards while designing creative that speaks specifically to their needs in that particular holiday role.
- Hats, gloves, and scarves
- Bath and beauty items and sets
- Small accessories, handbags, and belts
- Jewelry
- Electronics and mobile devices
- Video game systems, games, and accessories
Make Sure Location Extensions are Active
These differentiators may include:
Lean Into Motion and Vertical Video
This shopper is on the hunt for any and all items that will make their gathering a memorable success. Think of which items in your catalog might align with their needs, and design Google Shopping ad campaigns that will reach and resonate with them.
In addition to strategic use of similar audiences and custom intent audiences, let Google do some of the heavy lifting by leveraging in-market audiences Google has already defined for holiday shoppers. These include, but are not limited to:
- Video Creation Kit
- Video editing tools
- Instagram Stories Template
- Slideshow
These three audiences, and some key things to consider about them, include:
Include Static Ads in Your Video Campaigns
If your brand doesn’t typically run a lot of promotions, be sure to make mention of that in your ads, particularly if the promotion you’re advertising is considered your biggest or best of the year.
As we just mentioned, video is vitally important. But, it doesn’t display everywhere Google Shopping ads are shown, including the right-hand rail.
Price Matters, But It Isn’t Everything
This is especially true for shoppers who ‘go home for the holidays’ and have an even earlier personal final ship date—the date by which they need all their packages to arrive before they travel.
This is especially true for shoppers who ‘go home for the holidays’ and have an even earlier personal final ship date—the date by which they need all their packages to arrive before they travel.
This is especially true for shoppers who ‘go home for the holidays’ and have an even earlier personal final ship date—the date by which they need all their packages to arrive before they travel.
Shoppers naturally rank free shipping and returns, low prices, and special offers or perks among the most important factors they consider when shopping directly with brands, but those aren’t their only considerations.
You can also draw attention to the rareness of a promotion within a certain category, or for a specific product, even if sales and promos on your site as a whole aren’t rare. Is there an item or collection on your site that almost never goes on sale, or perhaps has never been on sale? Include that information prominently in your ad so interested shoppers are aware, and don’t miss out on the opportunity to save.
Of those updates, perhaps the most impactful and noticeable is that Google Shopping ads are now everywhere—Google Search, Google Search Partner sites, Google Images, and the Google Display Network (Gmail, YouTube, and Google Discover). Their priority placements and extensive reach speaks to their value and importance for advertisers and consumers alike, within the Shopping tab and far beyond. Just keep in mind that any change you make resets the learning phase. Additionally, ads often take longer to get approved during the holiday season, and can be more likely to get disapproved, as well. With that in mind, we recommend that you test sparingly, and use single variable testing when you do test. This gives you a little taste of testing during high-traffic holiday, without risking ruining the whole recipe.
Be sure to maintain consistent branding throughout all your assets; by testing too many drastically different things, you’ll risk people not being able to recognize your brand.
Prioritize QA in Q4
Holiday 2021 doesn’t carry as many fears and considerations as 2020, thanks largely to the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, but this year isn’t 2019, either. Our shopping habits have been permanently altered, as has our general awareness that something with monumental, global impact can indeed happen with little warning. We not only shop differently, we are different.
Final Takeaway
In addition to including your promotion within the creative, it’s also important to make sure your promotional ad copy is included in the top ad copy that everyone sees. If you include it in the smaller section of ad copy, you risk people not reading it.
If you have items that appeal to these shoppers’ needs, consider highlighting categories that pair well with travel destinations and plans in your Google Shopping ads, with complementary ad copy.
