blog | 4 min read

Give Holiday Shoppers What They Want with First-Party Data

December 8, 2022

Four panels of clusters in red and tea, with a white arrow going up and to the right

The holidays are a tough time for marketers. Customers are flooded with special offers or seasonal discounts and email inboxes overflow with promotional messages, making it even harder than usual to stand out from the crowd. And this year’s marketing competition is even tighter. According to Deloitte’s 2022 Holiday Retail Survey, product prices have increased by around 10% overall, while household purchases are projected to decrease because of limited budgets. The average American is projected to make just nine purchases this year, down from last year’s sixteen, which means retail brands have significantly fewer unique opportunities to connect with customers. Marketing teams tasked with building post-holiday campaigns to keep 2022 seasonal shoppers returning have a tough job. To stand out from the crowd, they have to get it right. That means understanding what their customers want, their preferences, and how they like to be communicated with — luckily, all of that information is available in their first-party data. 

Give your VIPs the royal treatment

Your best customers are crucial to your business. Show them how much you appreciate them during the holiday season with special perks like early access to sales, free shipping, or exclusive discount codes. Make sure you communicate the importance of placing orders early to guarantee arrival in time for the holidays and offer your VIPs the chance to shop and ship their purchases early. 

Take it up another level and offer your VIPs premium services like a free virtual consultation or a bespoke gifting guide. These small, thoughtful details enhance the customer experience and make sure they keep coming back for more. 

Bring lapsed customers back in the fold

Everyone is looking for the perfect gift to give – even lapsed customers. Re-engage inactive customers with a timely holiday reactivation campaign before or during your Black Friday sales. If you have a retention or winback journey up and running, freshen up the creative and messaging to feature holiday content and give buyers a reason to interact with your brand.

Personalize, personalize, personalize

You only have a small window of time to capture a shopper’s attention, so you need to make it count. Personalization is the most effective way to speak to a customer, so use first-party data to create assets that will appeal to your audience. For example, tailored gift guides that consider a buyer’s product and price preferences are a fun way to show your customers you understand them. Next, create curated experiences for each customer by customizing price preferences. For example, show products at higher prices point to your luxe buyers, and deals and discounts to your shoppers who the data indicates tend to only buy on deeper discount. This is a great way to avoid down-selling to a customer who will buy higher-end items at full or close to full price. Pro hack: If you’re low on creative bandwidth and time, create one gift guide and swap the order of recommended products, categories, or price points based on customer taste. The same idea can be used to personalize banners in email blasts. 

Keep it merry for your holiday-only buyers 

There’s a great chance that your faithful holiday customers will be back for another fantastic seasonal deal. Make sure you show them how much you value them with unique promotions and nurture this audience with gradual messaging emphasizing the need to place orders early. 

Pro tip: Use audiences of customers previously acquired during holiday seasons who later become VIP’s as your seed list in paid channels to bring in more customers who look like them. This season, marketers have limited opportunities to get it right with their customers, so they need to use what they know about them to create the most optimal experiences and avoid falling flat. Brands that build their strategies around quality first-party data set themselves up for success every time. To learn more about how to bring one-time buyers back, check out our guide.