2024 Ecommerce Holiday Marketing Strategy: The 7 Peaks + 1 Valley of H2

Achieving predictable, profitable growth will be dependent on maximizing the forthcoming 7 Peaks of H2 to offset the expected valley caused by the election.

The Overview

Here’s what we know:

1. The upcoming election guarantees higher advertising costs pre-BFCM
2. Leap year has created one less week to advertise before Christmas

The result …

2024 will be a more competitive, more condensed holiday season.

Before we dive into H2 strategy, let’s zoom out to lay the foundation for why we’re recommending what we’re recommending.

Coming off of 2020 new customer growth, brands saw returning revenue increase in ‘21 and ‘22, but had flat new customer growth in those same years.

The focus of 2024 has been to relentlessly build back up the new customer file, and Q4 is the time to realize the value from that work.

Squeezing the Sponge

Brands saw returning revenue increase from their 2020 new customer growth in 2021 and 2022 but had flat new customer growth in those same years.

The focus this year has been to relentlessly build back up our new customer file, and we’ve achieved this with a focus on new customer growth since Q2 2023.

Q4 is now our time to realize the value from that work.

We expect 2024 to look a lot like 2023, with returning customer revenue driving the majority of value leading into Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday — the most impactful moments to realize value from new customers acquired throughout the year.

New customer revenue also skyrockets during BFCM, and holds at a higher level through December than it does in November, prior to BFCM.

Interestingly, Q5 (the period after Christmas) represents the third-largest spike in H2 new customer acquisition outside of Black Friday and early bird sales.

As of July, the Direct To Consumer Confidence Index (DTCCI) is in a healthier spot relative to last year. This is a good indication that there’s an opportunity to capture more revenue in Q4 2024.

However … we can't overlook the upcoming election.

With Election Year comes higher CPMs and drops in revenue during election week itself.

During the 2020 election season, there was a 30% increase in Meta CPMs from Oct 1 to Oct 22 vs. an average 11% lift in other years.

After the election, CPMs appear to level back out to average.

Election week tends to see a drop in sales, although they bounce back quickly afterward. This means October through the first week of November will present more challenges this year.

That’s not all — the holiday calendar this year is far different than last year, with Cyber Monday landing on December 2. This shortens our window to capitalize on revenue before the “Get it by Christmas” shipping cutoffs occur.

More expensive advertising costs in October, coupled with election week revenue drops, all while losing a week of pre-shipping cut off time in December, means brands must plan strategically to maximize every window of opportunity.

So, how should a brand plan strategically for the upcoming moment(s)?

Maximize all 7 peaks to offset the valley.

The 7 Peaks of H2

Last Holiday season we reviewed the best-performing brands from Q4 2022 and discovered a consistent theme:

Instead of viewing BFCM/Holiday as an individual marketing moment, the outlier brands viewed it as 4 separate marketing mini-peaks.

The data revealed 4 distinct revenue realization moments, which we dubbed:

1. Early Bird 🐦
2. Black Friday 🎄
3. Cyber Monday 🛒
4. Holiday Offer 🎁

This year, due to the complexities described above, we’re recommending 3 additional peaks to capture and offset the valley:

1. Labor Day
2. Lead Gen
3. Q5 Offer

Let’s take another look at the 2023 example above, to see how it breaks down …

Labor Day

It’s important to create a large acquisition moment in September (i.e. Labor Day) to “fill the sponge” prior to expensive advertising costs in October.

Lead Gen / Non-Paid Acquisition

When costs become more expensive in October (i.e. Election season), it’ll be important for brands to plan more organic revenue-generating opportunities such as partnerships, activations, lead generation, etc. to offset rising ad costs.

Early Bird

We recommend starting Early Bird sales after the election (around Nov. 8) to avoid election clutter.

Holiday Offer / Last Chance

After BFCM, lean into Holiday gifting behavior with a pre-shipping cut off offer, as this can be a heavy acquisition opportunity for your brand.

Q5 Offer

Finally, a Clearance Sale post-Christmas, allows you to take advantage of some of the cheapest CPMs all year. Once again, this moment can act as a heavy acquisition opportunity for your brand.

And for each of these peak moments, there are 6 core strategies that need to be implemented:

• ✅ Offer Strategy
• ✅ Paid Social Strategy
• ✅ Paid Search Strategy
• ✅ Creative Strategy
• ✅ Email/SMS Strategy
• ✅ SEO Strategy

Here’s how to do it …

Offer Strategy

The goal of your offer strategy is to maximize your Q4 margin outcome.

To do so effectively, here are some key pillars to consider when crafting your offer strategy:

1. Easy: Sitewide & No Coupon Codes
2. Valuable: Less Than 20% Is Not a Discount
3. Profitable: Stay “Black” All Through Q4
4. Stacked: Boost AOV & Margins via Bundles or “Tiers”
5. Exclusive: Best Offers via Email & SMS

How does this translate into the 7 peaks and what’s the role of each in the overall moment of Q4?

We’ve got you covered!

Now that you have your 7 Peaks of Q4 Offer Strategy dialed in, you're ready to begin crafting Paid Social, Paid Search, Creative, SEO and Email + SMS Strategies to pair with your irresistible offers.

Paid Social Strategy

To lean into the 7 peaks of H2, we’ll examine our recommended framework for executing media buying principles during this key window.

Enter: The 7 C’s of media buying the 7 peaks …

The 7 C’s: Our Media Buying Principles

In pursuit of predictable, profitable growth — Common Thread Collective's media team relies on these key principles, throughout all performance media channels.

1. Cost Controlled Bidding
2. Click-Only Attribution
3. Customer Exclusions
4. Clean Conversion Tracking
5. Catalog Campaigns
6. Calendar Campaigns
7. Core Campaigns (aka evergreen)

1. Cost Controlled Bidding (For Conversions)

There are always exceptions to the rule, but here’s what to consider:

MinROAS, Cost Cap, Bid Cap (bidding for purchase conversions) — all offer “cost control” functionality, effectively allowing you to limit downside risk.

Cost Control Methods

Leave nothing on the table:

Lowest cost, highest volume (and a constellation of other non-purchase related outcome objectives) — are engineered to drive traffic, and provide zero downside protection.

Utilizing cost control bidding allows you to set precise targets for products with different AOVs and margins. Setting a cost control allows you to tell the Meta algorithm when to spend and when not to spend. This leads to more efficient performance in the platform, and eliminates wasteful spend that is off target.

For example, one brand could range in AOV from $80-$800. By implementing a campaign for a collection product with an AOV of $100, one campaign with a product AOV of $150, and so on … you are able to tell the algorithm what your exact CPA target is and to not spend above that goal.

When these products are all included in one campaign, not using a cost control target, you are not able to give the account a clear goal to hit and will end up spending inefficiently.

Unit economics matter and cost controlled bidding is more incremental.

In fact, 30% more incremental, based on recent data from a $72M media buy with one of our clients.

Since moving exclusively to this methodology, we’ve found that ~⅔ of the campaigns we launch do not fully deliver in spend. We consider this a feature, not a bug. Rather than “flip it to lowest cost”, we use it as a signal that the Concept (i.e. Offer, Audience, Angle) that we’ve launched is not able to meet our unit economic guidelines.

2. Click-Only Attribution

Don’t take extra credit — drive the revenue that is most likely to convert as true backend revenue. Including view attribution in your marketing efforts can lead to an overlap between channels, leading to inflated results.

The ultimate goal here is to grow top line revenue and show how your social channels are supporting that.

Incrementality is the bridge between Growth Strategy and Paid Media. And what we know is that shorter attribution windows that do not include view attribution lead to higher % incrementality reads from Meta.

Put simply, if your business needs a 3:1 return on your media spend to make profit (Growth Strategy), and you’re using click-only attribution for your campaigns—you can feel confident that setting your minROAS target in Meta to 300% is aligned with your overall business goals.

It’s not that “view” attribution is wrong, necessarily.

It simply complicates and obfuscates the translation of “what is good?” between your growth and media operators.

Additionally, using click-only attribution holds media platform targeting algorithms to the highest possible standard of value creation. This is a good thing. There is nothing more powerful than the combination of Meta’s unprecedented reach and targeting paired with the highest standard of “good” for media performance.

3. Customer Exclusions

Through the use of the pixel and email, we have the power to segment through customer exclusions.

We break this down into 4 simple and effective categories:

1. Active = new customers
2. Active = returning customers
3. At Risk = no purchases within last 90 days (unique to each store, but a general starting point)
4. Churned = no purchase within last 180 (unique to each store, but a general starting point)

4. Clean Conversion Tracking

Media channel effectiveness is unequivocally contingent on the quality of your data signal. The idea is pretty straightforward.

Tactically, you want to be looking for strong signal (including browser and server) on 4 key events:

1. View Content
2. Add to cart
3. Initiate Checkout
4. Purchase

The setup can go from simple (i.e. enable Shopify Facebook channel connection) to very complex (i.e. other platforms, or headless sites, etc).

5. Catalog Campaigns

Catalog campaigns are the feed of information that your store pulls directly into paid platforms as an ad type.

It is important to monitor catalog match rates in the Meta Commerce Manager. A healthy match rate allows you to more efficiently target users who have already viewed or added a product to their cart.

Collections, DPAs and DABAs are all examples of catalog campaigns that should be considered as part of your tech stack in any ad account.

6. Calendar Campaigns

Calendar campaigns drive revenue peaks for you throughout a given month.

These can include marketing moments like BFCM, new product drops, products coming back in stock, etc. It is key to make sure you have enough creative planned out for these upcoming (7 Peaks) moments to ensure a splash on day one. You should scale budgets of these campaigns to meet the customer demand.

7. Core Campaigns (AKA Evergreen)

Unlike calendar campaigns, “Core” or evergreen campaigns are the ones that drive steady and consistent revenue for you and your business. These are your “always on” campaigns, through the 7 peaks and 1 valley of H2.

You’ll want to make sure you are refreshing your creative here as well as adjusting your spend caps to meet consumer demand. Just because they are a core campaign doesn’t mean you can’t scale them during a key calendar moment as well.

BONUS: Get Social Commerce Ready

On average clients see a 15% increase in revenue when including social commerce in their strategy.

By integrating the shopping experience within social media platforms, social commerce reduces the steps needed to complete a purchase, leading to higher conversion rates and less touchpoints.

Specialized campaigns drive revenue peaks and audience expansion.

Utilizing creator content you can drive additional revenue by launching shop-specific campaigns across commerce platforms. This also helps you reach a new audience more likely to convert in social platform.

Why social commerce?

1. In-platform checkout
2. No boundaries to purchase
3. Less pages to distract a user from completing the purchase
   • This is a different audience then the audience who would click an ad, navigate the site and then decide to complete a purchase
   • This is an audience that is more likely to convert on impulse

Why social commerce, ahead of holiday?

Social commerce helps you to drive additional traffic and revenue on top of your already existing marketing efforts.

It unlocks incremental revenue and untapped audiences when consumer buying behavior will be at a high.

If you’re looking for a practical way to leverage social commerce, in support of the 7 Peaks & 7C’s, consider the following:

Utilizing product drops and seasonal moments alongside your catalog to curate a shop on both Meta and TikTok. These moments will be key versus utilizing a full product catalog when driving users to a shop.

Curate your approach utilizing creator content to drive users to stay on the platform. Using creators to tell the story of your new product drop for example then driving a viewer to stay on Meta eliminates the multi-step process if you were to drive someone to your webpage.

Paid Search Strategy

Our approach to media buying is rooted in the "7 C's" framework. This proven methodology ensures your campaigns are both effective and efficient, especially during the competitive holiday season.

1. Cost Controlled Bidding
2. Click-Only Attribution
3. Customer Exclusions
4. Clean Conversion Tracking
5. Catalog Campaigns
6. Calendar Campaigns
7. Core Campaigns (aka evergreen)

Here’s what that looks like for Google …

1. Cost Controlled Bidding
(For Conversions)

Google’s best practice revolves around smart bidding, using value-based bidding strategy.

Value-based bidding is a sophisticated bidding strategy in Google Ads that leverages machine learning to maximize conversions based on your defined conversion goals.

Unlike traditional bidding methods, value-based bidding considers the value of each conversion, not just the number of conversions. This means that it can optimize for higher-value conversions, even if they occur less frequently.

Types of value-based bidding in Google Ads:

1. Maximize Conversions:
   Best suited when you're uncertain about average order values (AOVs) within a campaign. It focuses on quantity, while considering conversion quality.
2. Target CPA:
   Ideal for campaigns with high AOVs where you want precise control over costs per acquisition.
3. Maximize Conversion Value:
   Focus on maximizing the total value of conversions, rather than the number of conversions. Normally, a good starting point for new campaigns to gather conversion data and understand value metrics.
4. Conversion Value with tROAS:
   Perfect for advertisers seeking to maximize ROAS while unsure about AOVs but with a clear tROAS goal. It prioritizes conversions with the highest value relative to ad costs.

2. Click Only Attribution (DDA)

Google's transition from Last Click to Data-Driven Attribution (DDA) marks a significant advancement in attribution modeling.

DDA leverages machine learning to analyze campaign data and identify the most effective attribution model for your specific objectives. By considering user journeys, conversion values, and channel performance, DDA offers a more accurate assessment of marketing impact.

Currently, our default attribution setting is 30-3-1, reflecting a 30-day click, 3-day engaged view, and 1-day view-through conversion window.

To enhance incrementality—the bridge between growth strategy and paid media—we're considering a shift to a 7-1-1 attribution window. Shorter windows often correlate with higher incrementality readings from Google, suggesting a potential improvement in our campaign measurement and optimization.

While the 30-3-1 attribution window remains effective given Google’s algorithm, we're exploring a shift to a more focused window to potentially enhance incrementality. By reducing the attribution window, we aim to gain a more precise understanding of how our campaigns contribute to conversions, leading to more targeted optimizations.

3. Customer Exclusions

Google's NCA (New Customer Acquisition) with high-value optimization empowers advertisers to acquire new customers with the greatest potential lifetime value.

By excluding past purchasers, you can optimize your media spend, reduce wasted ad costs, and increase the likelihood of acquiring loyal, long-term customers.

NCA leverages advertisers' first-party data to identify existing users, analyze their characteristics, and then employs AI to predict and target similar, high-value potential customers.

This data-driven approach ensures that your campaigns reach the most promising audience segments.

4. Clean Conversion Tracking

Accurate conversion tracking is paramount for measuring the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns.

A robust data signal, encompassing both browser and server-side tracking as well as enhanced conversion, is essential for capturing conversion actions.

The setup can go from simple (i.e. using Google native tag, GTM) to very complex (i.e. other platforms, or headless sites, etc).

5. Shopping (Catalog) Campaigns

Given CTC's focus on eCommerce brands, we recommend allocating approximately 80% of your total account budget to Shopping campaigns, whether using PMAX or Standard Shopping.

To ensure optimal performance, it's crucial to maintain a high product feed health and approval rate in Google Merchant Center. Aiming for an approval rate above 90% guarantees accurate product representation in Google Search and Shopping results, increasing the likelihood of targeting qualified customers.

6. Calendar Campaigns

Calendar campaigns are crucial for driving revenue spikes throughout the year. By strategically aligning your campaigns with key marketing moments like BFCM, new product launches, or restocks, you can capitalize on peak (specifically, the 7 Peaks) customer demand.

Ensure you have a robust creative strategy in place for these events to make a strong initial impact. As demand fluctuates, be prepared to scale your budgets accordingly to meet customer interest and maximize results.

7. Core Campaigns

Core campaigns form the backbone of your account strategy, providing a consistent revenue stream year-round. Unlike calendar campaigns, they operate continuously through the 7 peaks and 1 valley of H2.

Regularly refresh creative and adjust bids and targets to align with evolving consumer preferences.

While core campaigns offer a stable foundation, they can also be scaled during key marketing moments to capitalize on increased interest and drive additional revenue.

Creative Strategy

As we embark on the back half of the year, it might feel like you’re strapped into a pretty wild rollercoaster. But it’s best to think of yourself as the person designing the coaster, not just a passenger on the ride.

Creative diversity was the key to scaling at a higher efficiency during BFCM last year.

Below, some things to consider as you plan …

The First Ascent: September

The first climb should be as steep as possible, to build momentum.

If you missed Labor Day sales, try creating another moment in the coming weeks. Are there any social media holidays that resonate with your brand? Could you spin up a Friends & Family sale or make the Autumnal Equinox a moment? Think along those lines.

When planning creative for a sale like this, take a look back at your previous top performers in sale periods. Iterate on what you already know works well.

Descending into the Valley: October

With the election approaching, media costs are going to increase, so now is the perfect time to get creative and think about ways to keep filling the sponge without media spend.

Influencer campaigns are a great option. Look at what’s worked for you in the past, and partner with previous winning creators. Or, think outside the box: an unexpected partnership could be just the thing.

Climbing Again: Post-Election Day

Once the election is over, media costs should rebound quickly, so it’s time to get Early Bird deals live.

Now is a great time to lean into messaging around scarcity, like variations on “Get Them Before They’re Gone,” or “Don’t Risk the Perfect Gift Being Out of Stock.” Above all, make sure your creative is clear and the message is snackable. Use text overlays strategically, or try bold, text-only creative.

The Big Loops: Black Friday & Cyber Monday

This is the period we’ve been waiting for all year: two big, exciting loops that come back to back.

Creative should be offer-forward during this time. Layer in frames for your dynamic creative–they do a lot of lifting on catalog ads during sales. But don’t neglect evergreen ads, either. They’re a secret super-power at this time of year. Just overlay eye-catching sales messaging on your best performing creatives, and get them live.

Holiday Twists & Turns: Early December

After Cyber Monday, you still have two great opportunities to capture demand: shipping deadlines and last minute shoppers.

In early December, create a sense of urgency with creative that drives people to order ahead of your planned shipping deadline. Post shipping deadline, lean in on messaging around last minute gift-card purchases for the latest shoppers, or those who forgot someone on their list.

One Last Hurrah: Q5

After Christmas, our data shows you’ve still got opportunities to close the year out strong.

This is a great time for clearance sales, but it’s also a chance to capture shoppers who’ve received gift cards or cash for Christmas. Speak directly to them in your creative, invite them to spend with you.

And if you’re in a business where “New Year, New You” messaging applies–start early! Don’t wait for January. As people get off the hectic, indulgent ride that is the holiday season, they’re already thinking about their New Year's Resolutions.

Email & SMS Strategy

As we approach Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024, focus on optimizing your email and SMS campaigns to boost engagement, conversions, and revenue.

To navigate the busiest retail season effectively, it’s crucial to align your marketing strategies with customer behavior and leverage automation tools that ensure the right message reaches the right audience at the right time.

In pursuit of a profitable Q4 holiday season, our approach to email marketing and SMS strategy can be broken down into seven simple steps.

1. Set Clear Goals & Prepare Your Messaging Strategy
2. Follow a Strategic Send Cadence
3. Optimize for Personalization
4. Embrace Automation & AI-Driven Tools
5. Ensure SMS & Email List Deliverability
6. Monitor Customer Engagement and Performance
7. Tap into Emerging Channels like TikTok
8. Plan for Post-Holiday Engagement

Set Clear Goals and Prepare Your Messaging Strategy

Before diving into email and SMS tactics, identify the type of experience you want to deliver to your customers. Key objectives include building trust, driving basket sizes, and maximizing engagement through personalized offers.

To achieve these goals, follow a structured customer journey …

1. Welcome Emails

The Welcome Series constitutes the most important communications your brand sends. This campaign sets the tone for your relationship with the subscriber, gets them up to speed about who you are, and represents an important factor in long-term retention.

Engage new subscribers immediately with a real-time welcome email and SMS. This sets the tone for future interactions and encourages an initial purchase.

2. Nudge with Targeted Offers

Create personalized incentives to guide customers toward higher-order values and basket building.

3. Follow-Up After Purchases

Stay connected with customers by offering relevant services and perks to nurture repeat purchases.

A post-purchase series generates excitement, beyond basic order confirmation emails or notifications, about a recent order. You can use these emails to get ahead of potential issues (especially when they stem from user error) and educate customers about products before they arrive.

Be sure to calculate the timing to ensure these emails don’t arrive before the shipment.

4. Encourage Cross-Selling

Creating dedicated automation campaigns for cross-selling enables brands to trigger personalized email campaigns based on purchase behaviors.

When customers try a new category, suggest the next best product to increase basket size.

5. Replenishment Reminders

Set up these email flows for customers who made a purchase but haven’t come back within a certain timeframe, maybe 60 to 90 days, depending on the typical repurchase rate.

Predict when customers may need to repurchase a product and send timely reminders.

6. Seasonal Recommendations

Offer products based on customer interest or seasonal trends to keep your brand top of mind (think Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any other marketing peak or gifting event).

Follow a Strategic Send Cadence

A well-planned send cadence can make or break your BFCM campaign. Based on historical data and industry best practices, here’s our recommended email and SMS schedule for BFCM 2024.

Day 0 (Pre-Launch)

Start with a VIP email and SMS targeting high-value customers. Use data to optimize send times and craft offers that resonate with discount-affinity segments.

Day 1 (Launch Day)

Send three emails and two SMS messages to your entire audience. Time these touchpoints strategically—early morning, mid-day, and evening—to maximize open rates and engagement.

Day 2-4 (Mid-Campaign)

Keep the momentum going with one to two emails and one SMS message per day. Personalize content with product recommendations and dynamic banners.

Day 5 (Final Day)

Close out the sale with urgency-focused messaging. Send three emails and two SMS messages to create a final push. Emphasize last-chance offers to reactivate lost or inactive customers.

Optimize for Personalization

Personalization is key to standing out in the crowded inbox during BFCM. Here are some tactics to consider:

• Leverage Segmentation: Use customer behavior, purchase history, and preferences to tailor offers. The more relevant the message, the higher the chance of conversion.
• Incorporate Social Proof: Showcase customer reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content to build trust and encourage purchases.
• Curate Gift Guides and Bundles: Create holiday-specific gift guides and bundled deals to increase average order value.
• Highlight Urgency: Use countdown timers, flash sales, and limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency and drive immediate action.
• Timing: Adjust the timing of campaigns and flows so they match the fast-paced decision-making shoppers will have this time of year. Shorten abandon carts and other high-purchase intent triggers so you don’t miss orders.

Embrace Automation and AI-Driven Tools

AI is only as good as the data it’s built on.

BFCM 2024 will see a rise in AI-powered marketing tools that help streamline campaign execution and improve personalization at scale.

Here are some tools we recommend going into the busiest season of the year …

Segments AI: This tool helps marketers create audience segments based on natural language inputs, making it easier to target high-value customers accurately.

Email AI: Quickly generate creative email templates by describing the layout and content in simple terms. This allows for faster campaign creation and more time spent on strategy.

Flows AI: Automate customer journeys with AI-driven workflows, ensuring timely touchpoints based on source, customer behavior, such as abandoned cart reminders or post-purchase follow-ups.

Ensure Email & SMS Deliverability

The success of your BFCM campaigns relies on strong deliverability.

If you haven’t kept up a steady baseline of email and SMS sneds, your brand might be at a higher chance of getting sent straight to spam. That’s because sudden sending after long gaps makes your domain activity look unusual. It’s a classic way to end up in a junk folder instead of the inbox.

To combat this, boost your deliverability.

Use tools like Klaviyo’s Deliverability Hub to monitor email and SMS performance. This will help you maintain a good sender reputation and maximize engagement.

Monitor Customer Engagement & Performance

Engagement and click-through rate increase when people expect to hear from you. Wait too long, and they’ll forget they even signed up.

The result? More unsubscribes or spam reports.

Consistency does more than build brand recognition, though. Extended gaps between your marketing campaigns leave opportunities for your competition to slide in.

Engagement reports reveal where you should tighten the window. Unengaged contacts negatively impact performance and deliverability.

If you have products that go in and out of stock (OOS) frequently, automating inventory alerts can significantly increase engagement, while creating a sense of urgency.

Trigger automated messages to inform customers when popular items are running low, creating a sense of urgency and prompting purchases.

Before the product goes OOS, target people who have browsed within the last 30 to 60 days with low-inventory triggers. Sell-out risk and scarcity can drive shoppers to quickly convert:

• “We saw you checking out [product]. Inventory is running low — come back and claim yours before it’s too late.”
• “Good news, [name], [product] is back. But probably not for long.”

Tap into Emerging Channels like TikTok

BFCM 2024 will be a pivotal moment for marketers to leverage new advertising platforms.

Sync your email and SMS segments with TikTok custom audiences to improve ad targeting. This ensures your offers reach the right customers across all platforms, boosting return on ad spend (ROAS).

Plan for Post-Holiday Engagement

Don’t let the momentum of BFCM stop when the event ends. A post-holiday follow-up strategy can help you re-engage customers.

Shoppers are primarily looking for good deals during Q4.

To check our assumptions around holiday shopping behavior, we calculated LTV for Black Friday Cyber Monday Week vs. the rest of the year.

While we see growth in LTV over time from both BFCM and non-holiday cohorts, the LTV you can expect to generate from customers acquired over the holidays is somewhat lower than non-holiday.

The good news is a well-executed post-purchase flow can help to drive excitement for impending deliveries, build brand affinity, and increase the likelihood of repeat purchase.

Here’s a simple thank-you email example we like from FC Goods …

You may already have post-purchase email copy live, but now is a great time to review it through the eyes of a new customer.

• Thank Customers and Request Reviews: After the rush, send a personalized thank-you email to encourage reviews and repeat purchases.
• Offer Future Incentives: Include exclusive discounts for future purchases to keep customers engaged beyond the holiday season.

As we head into BFCM 2024, it’s essential to stay prepared and proactive. A well-coordinated email and SMS strategy, powered by automation and AI tools, can significantly improve engagement and revenue.

By following the steps above, you can ensure your campaigns are personalized, timely, and impactful, giving your brand a competitive edge during the biggest shopping event of the year.

SEO Strategy

Looking ahead to Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024, a strong organic presence can reduce your reliance on paid search efforts. Spend less to capture the demand (and revenue) you create.

Beyond that, you can extend reach to additional consumers searching for what you offer. Creating clear, researched, intelligent search signals allows search engines to put your products in front of more people, every day.

Ahead of Q4, our approach allows you to take specific, measurable actions that increase your organic presence and attract more organic revenue.

1. The Technical SEO Sprint
2. Holiday Promo Brush-Up
3. Early Bird Alignment
4. Q5 Inventory Cleaning

The Technical SEO Sprint

If you do nothing else, start here. Pay attention to the search listings that Shopify (or whatever CMS you use) delivers to search engines.

Let’s consider Shopify:

You create a product, name it, add pertinent details, and ensure variants are in place. With correct channels and markets enabled, you publish. Reviewing the live page, the product looks, flows, and functions correctly. Everything checks out.

However, you’re missing the most basic organic listing checklist …

To start, navigate to your product page. Scroll down and review the final section, Search engine listing. How does it look?

If it’s neglected, underserved, or incomplete, here are three easy ways to ensure your product get’s found during Q4:

Create a worthy Page Title.

This is the blue link that people see within organic listings. It’s the most noticeable and attention-grabbing element of your organic presence. Include your product title, even if it needs to be truncated. Add USPs or truly unique features of the product. Staying within approx. 60 characters, add your brand name.

Include a compelling Meta Description.

This is the black text that appears immediately below the blue link. It’s finite in terms of length, with an ellipsis appearing for descriptions beyond approximately 150 characters. Include only what makes for the most compelling content, encouraging people to click on the link above.

Ensure you have URL alignment.

Avoid the common issues of copy-of- and -1 or -2 in your URL. If you’ve already created a similar product, duplicating it for a speedier workflow, ensure that your URL aligns with your product name. (No one buys a “copy of XYZ product” so don’t put that out there for the world to see.)

If you have a massive catalog, fear naught. There are apps that can escalate this process. You can install options like Booster SEO, Avada, Yoast, and Plug In across the Shopify and WordPress storefronts that can help accomplish this task across hundreds or even thousands of SKUs.

We typically see an immediate increase in exposure (purple, impressions), followed by an increase in traffic (blue clicks). Rankings and organic CTR are usually slower to follow, given that Google and other search engines need to assess the viability of submitted content changes. These usually rise commensurate with the quality of the revisions we put forth.

The key takeaway is this:

You have the ability to determine which core, elemental signals you send to search engines.

Don’t miss this opportunity.

Holiday Promo Brush-Up

Once your holiday promotional plan has been established, review core products, collections, and other landing pages against the strategy.

They very well may be under-developed pages or requiring improvement, especially when compared to the competition.

This is your opportunity to improve. Be nimble.

Pivot with search trends that you uncover, and boldly revise your content.

For any pages that have not gone through the rigor previously outlined in the Technical SEO Sprint above, perform the same work.

Find new query opportunities to insert in metadata and page content.

Early Bird Alignment

For priority pages, augment existing text with product synonyms, richer explanations, and complete features and benefits. Consider longer-form content pages for more complicated products, materials, and manufacturing details. Link these to and from applicable PDPs (aka interlinks).

Resubmit these changes for search engine review. Track the lift in organic traffic, and more importantly, organic revenue over time.

Q5 Inventory Cleaning

Once the aura of Q4 has passed, we have a clear opportunity for residual revenue. Revamp metadata and supporting content for products the brand identified as clearance or sunsetting. It’s the same process, just elevated for those products and pages that we need to clear from inventory.

For products whose inventory will not be replenished, archive them. They serve no meaningful purpose, and they run the risk of dragging down the site from a “crawl budget” perspective.

Also archive collections that are outdated. There is no use in preserving a “Labor Day 2024” collection in Q4 of this year, or into 2025. It’s seen its day, and it’s time to let go.

For both PDPs and Collections, PLEASE implement 301 redirects to appropriate alternative PDPs or Collection pages. Perhaps this is as simple as redirecting to the Homepage or Shop All page.

Regardless, the goal is to create a clean path to purchase for those with outdated links. Leave no stone unturned.

Get Ready for a Competitive Holiday Season

This holiday season brings more complexities than we’ve seen in recent years … election season, and a shorter gap between BFCM and holiday shipping cut-offs to name a few.

You have to step into the opportunities within Q4 in order to maximize your outcome this year.

All you have to do is remember the 7 Peaks of H2:

1. Labor Day 🏫
2. Lead Gen 🎃
3. Early Bird 🐦
4. Black Friday 🎄
5. Cyber Monday 🛒
6. Holiday Offer 🎁
7. Q5 Offer 🥂

And hone in on our the following 6 strategies to maximize the impact of each of your peak moments:

• Offer Strategy
• Paid Social Strategy
• Paid Search Strategy
• Creative Strategy
• Email & SMS Strategy
• SEO Strategy