Around The Holidays, Your Potential Customers Are Moody

Posted on | September 9, 2008 |

In the world of direct response television marketing – those commercials that urge viewers to “go to our website” or “call this number” – consumers get quite finicky around the holidays. According to a recent study, response rates don’t always correlate with the number of viewers – especially not around the holidays.

For some reason, the study found that even though viewer numbers seem to increase on holidays, response rates go way down.

For websites, eliciting the direct response should theoretically be easier – visitors don’t need to make a note, remember a number, or even redirect their eyes. All they have to do is click.

 Still, it seems like consumer sentiment changes on and right around the holidays. Should we try to combat it or develop strategies to work with these retail mood swings?

On the one hand, websites could highlight how easy it is to do what we want the visitor to do (“Just click! Only one click away!). Or, we could focus on timely opportunities, like one-day sales and promotions, to increase consumers’ sense of urgency and counteract their tendency not to spend.

But as the article points out, the numbers imply a change in sentiment. We might do better to try to foster brand loyalty based on a sense of common experience and shared sentiment. For example, on Mother’s Day, viewership increased an average of 50.9 percent over three years. But response rate fell 30 percent. Perhaps people are spending quality family-room time with their mothers, and so aren’t inclined to purchase.

In this July 4^th post at Real Simple’s Simply Stated, we began with “Happy July 4! Here’s hoping for a beautiful, cloudless backdrop for this evening’s fireworks,” and ended with “Above all, enjoy the Fourth of July fun,” to remind readers we’re also part of the community who celebrates the Fourth and values the holiday’s spirit and activities. In between was SheFinds editorial, but by surrounding it with less marketing-focused messages, we’re showing readers that we’re on the same holiday page. Which, hopefully, will make them want to spend time (and money) with us when they’re in more of a shopping mood.

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