It’s Never Too Late To Target Last-Minute Larry

The Digital Essentials, Part 3

Developing a robust digital strategy is both a challenge and an opportunity. Part 3 of the Digital Essentials guide series explores five of the essential technology-driven experiences customers expect, which you may be missing or not fully utilizing.

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Written by Anthony Piwarun
With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s easy for some marketers to get caught up in the Christmas spirit and put programs on auto-pilot until the end of the year. With the exception of taking time to decorate the Christmas tree and exchange white elephant gifts, we’re working harder than ever to increase revenues for our B2C clients during this mission-critical time of year. If you’re worried about it being too late to do anything special, then put down the roasted chestnuts and glass of eggnog because we’ve got some work to do. According to a recent PriceGrabber study, Last Minute Larry is still looking to buy – and he’ll be shopping for gifts as late as December 24.
Earlier this week, PriceGrabber released the results of a survey of over 13,000 US online shoppers showing that 43% believe the best deals can be found online between December 21st and December 24th. According to the survey results, 43% also said they were “too busy” to shop before December 21st, while 26% admitted to being procrastinators, 22% said last-minute shopping was “fun”, and 10% are waiting until year end sales begin. From the point of acquisition, through sales and converting them to a repeat customer, follow these three tips so you can effectively target Last Minute Larry and turn those last minute browsers into buyers.
Modify your ad creative to show a sense of urgency
We wrote a bit about utilizing effective copywriting techniques to improve click-through rate on comparison shopping engines, but with Christmas fast approaching it’s time to saddle up the reindeer and apply it to creative across all mediums. Use creative that shows a sense of urgency, complete with time-sensitive copy like “don’t delay”, “limited time only”, or “order today”. Have some extra holiday cheer to spare? Bonus points if you work in a verse from the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Add an option for quick delivery to your checkout process
If Last Minute Larry is waiting until, well, the last minute, to buy a waffle iron for Aunt Edna, then chances are he’ll need it shipped fast. Consider adding a banner on product detail pages to make visitors aware of the option, and then add a non-intrusive reminder just before they submit their order. If your store makes margin on shipping, be it through the upsell or cross-sell process, this presents an excellent opportunity to increase order value while truly helping your customers when they’re in a tight spot.
Remarket to past customers through “last minute bargain” email campaigns
Aside from 43% of those surveyed waiting up until 3 days before Christmas to click “buy now”, an even more surprising stat is the 10% that wait until after Christmas to shop for the holidays. Create an email campaign that targets past customers and opt-ins to make them aware of any last minute deals. Contemplating whether or not spending the time and resources is worth the trouble? Take 10% of your current distribution list, multiply by your average conversion rate, and multiply that by average order value. Depending on your conversion rate and AOV, that could be the difference between a Red Ryder BB Gun and one of those cheap knockoffs!
We’re interested in learning about any other techniques that you’ve seen work in targeting Last Minute Larry – feel free to share in the comments!