Reactivate Consumers for the Post-Holiday Slump

January 03, 2019

Some retailers pull the plug on promotions as soon as the tree comes down. It’s understandable, as the over-saturation of holiday marketing promos can exasperate even the merriest of the masses. Consumers and retailers are exhausted, and traditional wisdom dictates that January is a slow month due to many shoppers tightening their spending budgets after breaking the bank for the holidays.

But with a new year comes new opportunities for retailers to capture sales from the crowds of people looking to cash in on gift cards or finally buy themselves the gift that they truly wanted.  It’s important to continue engagement with shoppers who appear to be one-hit wonders as well as reach those who may not have purchased (after all, second impressions count)! Here are some ways marketers can keep the momentum going into the new year:

Reactivate Last Years Holiday Shoppers

The more you engage with your consumers and remind them of your brand and value, the more likely they will purchase again. And it should be comforting to know that according to a Marketo study, the average repeat customer spends 67% more in months 31-36 of their shopping relationship than in the first 6 months. One way to reach past customers is to display products that complement their past selections. Perhaps someone browsed and purchased a desktop monitor for the holiday, and then looked at (but didn’t buy) an HDMI cable.  The new year provides a great time to ‘nudge’ consumers to make the leap and finally commit to purchase.

Or say a customer received a winter coat from Grandma but it just wasn’t quite the right color they were looking for. Search retargeting provides a great opportunity to reach all of those post-holiday shoppers who might not be familiar with your brand but are looking for products like the ones you sell. In this case, top of the funnel keywords (like “red coat”) are perfect for these types of consumers that are high in the funnel.

Generate New Revenue by Targeting “Window Shoppers” From the Holiday Season

They came, they saw, they did not conquer. A lot of shoppers find items they want during the holidays but are too guilty to buy for themselves until the gifting season has ended. So even though they didn’t purchase from you this holiday season, there are still plenty of opportunities to win them back in the first quarter of the year.

Site retargeting allows marketers to find window shoppers and bring them back to buy. And when coupled with different engaging media types (such as social, native, and video) and utilized across multiple devices, the likelihood that a window shopper will convert increases. This offers marketers incremental revenue and creates a competitive advantage when implemented correctly.

There’s no reason why a post-holiday lull has to cause problems for marketers as long as you take full advantage of retargeting strategies and dynamic ad types. Timely display of complementary products, specials on items based on purchase history, and reengagement of products based on browsing history are all effective methods for reactivating those that bought and those that didn’t during the winter slowdown.