Emplifi, a leading customer engagement platform, has released critical insights into social media advertising and customer care trends to help brands optimize their strategies ahead of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping season.

“Our data reveals a significant customer service gap during the holiday season—a crucial time to win new customers and maintain loyalty among existing ones”

Emplifi’s analysis shows that ad spend on Facebook and Instagram surged by 90% in the days leading up to Black Friday last year, with social ad impressions peaking during the same period. Click-through rates (CTR) for Black Friday ads held steady at 1.3% from 10 to six days before Black Friday but surged to 1.82% in the final five days, demonstrating the heightened effectiveness of ads closer to the holiday. Additionally, social customer care inquiries rose by 52% in Q4 2023 compared to Q1, underscoring the growing need for brands to address customer service demands during peak shopping times.

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This year, brands will need to get a jumpstart on their holiday campaigns to gain a competitive edge due to the shortened holiday season (the time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is almost one week shorter compared to last year). Still, industry analysts forecast U.S. ecommerce holiday sales to reach record numbers, generating more than $240 billion in revenue—an 8.4% increase over last year.

Another key finding from Emplifi’s analysis shows that creating a sense of urgency in social media ads for Black Friday can significantly boost engagement. Black Friday-themed posts featuring phrases like “limited-time offers” and “countdowns to the holidays” drove twice as many interactions in the lead-up to last year’s shopping event. Additionally, posts that prominently featured product images at a larger scale generated 30% times more interactions compared to ads where the product appeared smaller or less central.

“Our insights show that consumers become much more likely to click on ads as we get closer to the Black Friday shopping holiday. In fact, during the final days before last year’s Black Friday, we saw click-through rates surge, even as ad spend dropped by more than a third,” said Susan Ganeshan, CMO, Emplifi. “Based on these findings, brands should rethink their social media spending strategies and consider allocating a larger portion of their ad budget to the final two weeks before Black Friday—especially the last five days when consumers are actively searching for deals.”

Emplifi also analyzed social customer care outcomes and found that, in addition to seeing a 52% increase in social care inquiries during Q4 2023, responses to customer inquiries dropped by 16% compared to the first quarter of the year.

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“Our data reveals a significant customer service gap during the holiday season—a crucial time to win new customers and maintain loyalty among existing ones,” Ganeshan said. “With a surge in customers reaching out to brands via social apps, it’s vital that brands respond promptly. Failing to do so leaves money on the table and puts brand loyalty at risk, especially considering that 86% of consumers say they would leave a brand after just one negative experience. This disconnect in social customer care presents a key opportunity for brands to leverage generative AI tools to streamline their customer care strategies and create more efficient workflows.”

After analyzing thousands of Facebook comments on Black Friday- and Cyber Monday-themed content, Emplifi found the two most frequent topics involved a consumer missing a sales opportunity or a bad customer support experience. Other frequent customer care topics included overpriced product items, disappointing sales experiences, and problems with online ordering.

“To stand out from the competition, brands must ensure seamless collaboration between their social media marketing and customer care teams to guarantee quick response times and clear communication across platforms,” Ganeshan said. “After investing heavily in social media ads, the last thing a retailer wants is to lose momentum when a customer replies with a question or service issue. It’s essential for brands to have strategies and tools in place to respond to customer inquiries promptly. Offering self-service options like chatbots for common questions or an FAQ page on ordering and shipping can also be invaluable during high-traffic periods.”