Facebook Holiday Marketing Guide: Sales Event in the Works? They’re Already Sold

Everyone loves a sale, but these statistics for 2020 will show they aren’t just loved, they’re needed.

In this 5-part Facebook Holiday Marketing Guide series, we are providing you with a stats-backed roadmap for your brand to successfully navigate best advertising and e-commerce practices during this heavily impacted holiday season.

In Part 1, we dove into the demographics of 2020 shopping habits and what they mean for your brand. In Part 2, we explored the -how- of Canadian consumers’ e-commerce activity; how are they spending money (and for whom)? Plus, how you can create specialized ads that inspire, and inquire about, their shopping desires. In Part 3, we helped your business take on the consumer pivot from disruption to discovery.

Now, in Part 4, we look at the rise of sales, a consumer-desired result of the current year downturn.

According to YouGov, in a study commissioned by Facebook HQ, 1 in 3 people surveyed globally said they’d wait for a product to go on sale, or be part of a promotion, before purchasing.

(When was the last time your business had a sale on individual items?)

Then, 54% told conductors that they had made holiday purchases during what were considered mega sale events and not just Black Friday – although 43% of respondents did make holiday purchases during that particular event!

When should your business gold a mega sale event? ASAP

With the lack of in-store shopping, the rise of online shopping across demographics and the common mental boundary or appetite for only buying “when it goes on sale,” the time is now.

Compared to those who don’t shop during these sales occasions, mega sale shoppers are 1.4x more likely to be big spenders with 74% globally (68% in North America) doing the shopping mobile-first.

While desktop awareness of sales events is equally important, open up your advertising budget to not only multiple demographics but also a range of platforms.

Instagram Stories and Story Ads can be aesthetically pleasing and even animated ways of promoting your products and promotions to consumers. Images, moving or still, can make your audiences aware of the sales taking place, and additional images and/or videos can present the products themselves plus benefits, demonstrations, reviews and other inspiring details.

You can also use Stories to create two-way communication between yourself and your audience for your own business inspiration. Polls and Question boxes are a fantastic way to find out what a consumer wants, or loves, from your brand; and there’s zero shame in asking. They want you to!

Then, when the sale begins, be sure to switch up the messaging for different customers so the event feels customized to them! These can be via varied product categories, promotional themes or just how the promos and benefits are voiced. Take a look at your own circle in your mind. Ask yourself, how would a sale appeal to one person you know, and then how would it appeal to someone you know who is nothing like the other person, but they both like your product?

Experimentation is your friend, especially in these times when nothing else is very set in stone.