As the holiday season winds down, businesses are presented with a unique opportunity to capitalize on the post-holiday period, often called the ‘fifth quarter’ (Q5).
This time, stretching from late December to mid-January, is ripe with potential for continued sales growth, as indicated by recent insights and strategies outlined by Meta.
Understanding the Q5 Opportunity
The Q5 period is characterized by consumers seeking sales, making returns, redeeming gift cards, and spending cash gifts. According to YouGov’s “Meta Seasonal Holidays Study” (Dec 2022), 41% of holiday shoppers continue shopping past the season. This extended shopping period allows businesses to tap into the continued demand with cost-effective marketing strategies.
During Q5, many businesses withdrew from advertising, lowering media costs. Forward-thinking marketers capitalize on this by leaning into the reduced competition and sustained consumer demand.
“The post-holiday period is a golden opportunity for businesses to drive sales efficiently,” notes a Meta spokesperson.
Data shows that in January, Cost Per Mille (CPM) rates were, on average, 15% lower than their October 1st levels, with Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) down by 4%, while the average Conversion Rate (CVR) only decreased by 8%.
Top Tactics for Maximizing Q5 Performance
Minimise Campaign Changes: Avoiding significant campaign changes is advised to maximize post-holiday investments. This helps accelerate the learning phase and optimize performance. Budget scheduling, a new feature rolling out in early Q4, allows for scheduling budget adjustments without re-entering the learning phase.
Automate for Better Performance: Automation across multiple campaign levers can optimize creative, targeting, placement, and budget. For instance, ad scheduling within Advantage+ shopping campaigns allows for more control with the same efficiency and scale.
Discover New Audiences: The lower auction costs during Q5 make it an ideal time to explore new audiences. Advantage+ audience, a new targeting solution, leverages AI to find new customers beyond known audiences.
Diversify Your Creatives: Differentiating creative during Q5 can address varied consumer motivations like sales, self-gifting, and New Year’s resolutions.
“Diverse creative approaches are key to meeting people where they are in their post-holiday journey,” suggests a marketing expert.
Use Data to Grow Lifetime Value: Post-holiday marketing data is crucial for connecting with customers across their shopping journey. Custom audiences can be used to remarket to those who bought or received holiday products, enhancing their lifetime value.
Validate Results: The post-holiday period is also an ideal time for businesses to test new tactics cost-effectively. A/B testing can optimize elements of Q5 campaigns, providing valuable insights for future strategies.
The post-holiday period presents a significant opportunity for businesses to continue their sales momentum. Businesses can make the most of this untapped potential by employing strategic tactics like minimizing campaign changes, leveraging automation, discovering new audiences, diversifying creatives, using data effectively, and validating results through testing.
As Meta’s insights suggest, the fifth quarter is not just an extension of the holiday season but a distinct period with unique growth and engagement opportunities.
