Marketing survey of consumer holiday purchasing preferences reveals acceleration of cross-channel selling and need for automation to personalize ad creative

Celtra, the Creative Automation software company, announced new research exploring consumers’ shopping preferences and expectations for brands’ holiday marketing campaigns. These survey findings illustrate the effectiveness of various marketing techniques for engaging with customers across digital channels as marketers prepare to launch campaigns this holiday season.

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“This holiday season, it’s crucial for marketers to tell brand stories at every moment,” said Eli Chapman, CMO of Celtra. “In many instances, paid impressions are the only touchpoint you have with your audience – so staying on-brand at scale will either make or break your brand.”

Celtra’s 2021 Holiday Marketing Survey of consumer holiday purchasing preferences reveals an acceleration of cross-channel sales and the need for automation to personalize advertisements to better align with geographic location and target demographics. Key findings from the survey include:

• Omnichannel Marketing Still Reigns Supreme
  
  New data from Celtra confirms that brands’ omnichannel investments are paying off. According to research, over half (62%) of American consumers said they plan to purchase online and in-store, with 60% expecting to shop through retailers’ websites this holiday.
  
  As for preferred touchpoints, 35% of consumers favor brands to communicate with them through email instead of receiving direct mail. Almost a fourth (24%) of respondents prefer brands to utilize social media as a communication channel. Concurrently, nearly half (47%) of marketers and creatives anticipate social media (paid and influencer marketing) will be the top channel to drive revenue, followed by email ranking second.

• Accelerated Demand for Creative Tops the List
  
  With 57% of shoppers planning to start their holiday shopping in October, brands need to start battling for consumers’ attention, despite having to do more with less. Over half (66%) of brand marketers plan to design more creative assets this holiday season than last year. Still, 38% noted that having creative assets ready on time and producing more personalized content are the biggest challenges to deploying campaigns.

• Converting Consumers Starts with Automation and Personalization
  
  Survey data shows that 48% of shoppers seek personalized products and offers, and 77% are more inclined to shop with brands that personalize content across their online shopping journey. Consumers also crave fresh content; more than half (61%) of consumers find holiday creative to be repetitive. And to ensure they can scale output, 51% of marketers are planning to adopt new technologies like automation to support content production.

Chapman concludes, “The intel gathered from our latest research shows that consumers need content and variety. Brands need to be strategic and targeted in their approach – and they should rely on automation to stay on-brand and meet their Q4 goals.”

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