Last year, businesses in the four segments we serve, including home furnishings and electronics, missed out on more than 15 million opportunities to sell more during the holiday season. The good news: It's easy to avoid making the same mistake this year.
"People who search online during the holidays are also much (140%) more likely to buy than those who search at other times of the year," says to Nina Thatcher, Internet Development Manager at Google. "These shoppers are 1.5x more likely to buy than those who don’t use search. They know what gifts they are looking for and are primed to buy."
A strong digital marketing push during the holiday season (October, November, December) is one of the best investments you can make in your business. People love to shop online during this time, and their path to purchase is shorter. At the same time, competitors pour money into their online advertising to drive awareness and capture buyers, making it more challenging for everyone to meet their sales goals.
In Q4, our digital marketing intelligence revealed that your ideal furniture, mattress, appliance, and electronics buyers are searching online (boosting search volumes) and showing purchase intent (converting on websites and calling) more than any other time in the year. But many business owners make a single mistake that costs them sales. And now is the time to act.
IMPACT OF MISSED CLICKS DUE TO BUDGET
The mistake many retailers make is not increasing their digital marketing investment to match the season's opportunities. This impact can be best seen in your digital marketing reporting as missed clicks due to budget.
With increased competition, underfunded campaigns will see their visibility shrink, showing up as a drop in digital ad impressions and a diminished share of voice. Together, these drops lead to a reduction in clicks, leading to fewer sales opportunities in the form of website conversions and phone calls.
Let's examine both the Q4 trends we see in our industry’s digital marketing data, as well as the impact of underfunding digital campaigns during this time.
FURNITURE, MATTRESS & APPLIANCE RETAILERS
Home furnishings retailers see an 11% rise in search volume in Q4, with kitchen appliance conversions going up 22%. Best of all, the cost per conversion goes down 16% on average when we factor in the cost per click across search, display, mobile, video, and social for all home furnishings categories.
The sales opportunity's lost due to insufficient Q4 budget were large, averaging 7,703 missed clicks per store for a grand total of 9.3MM missed opportunities across U.S. home furnishings retailers.
RESIDENTIAL AUDIO VIDEO INTEGRATORS
For home technology companies, our data shows that integrators see search volume increase 24% in Q4. The conversion rate increases 71%, while at the same time the cost per conversion goes down 41%.
Nearly all integrators missed clicks last year in Q4, adding up to 7,693 per location, or 1.3MM missed clicks across the U.S.
TO WIN, YOU MUST INVEST MORE IN Q4
Increasing your digital marketing investment is the best way to solidify your strong position at the top of search results, be visible to new customers on Facebook, drive video views on YouTube, and capture clicks via searches on Google and Bing.
It takes a multichannel mix of search engine marketing, display banners, Facebook, and YouTube to bring new customers in the door, and a strong budget to match.
Don’t forget retargeting! This is the most cost-effective digital tool for following website visitors after they leave your website with digital messages to remind them to return. They’ve already raised their hand by connecting to your website, so treat them like the valuable individuals that they are and keep your business top-of-mind with retargeting.
You have 15 million reasons to double down on digital during the holidays. Don’t miss a click! If you're a Netsertive partner, talk to your account manager today. If you're new to Netsertive, call a digital expert at 1.844.262.8572 for a no-obligation consultation.
Tim McLain
Tim is our Segment Marketing Manager here at Netsertive. He works cross-functionally with our sales, client success teams plus national brands to set the stage for digital marketing success. He's happiest when brainstorming new approaches to marketing and communications to help prospects and clients better understand, trust and embrace technology to grow their bottom line.
