• by Jenna Griffith , April 27, 2016

Mother’s Day is the third-largest retail holiday in the US according to data from eMarketer. Last year, the average US consumer spent $173 (up from $163 in 2014) on presents for mom, for a combined total of $21.2 billion on Mother’s Day gifting according to the National Retail Federation.

Yet, a recent analysis of Mother’s Day campaigns we ran from 2012 to 2015 shows that not all advertisers are planning far enough ahead to get the most return on their advertising dollar for this crucial holiday. In fact, some are launching campaigns just days before the holiday, missing out on the bulk of converters. Below we share some of the highlights from our analysis and how advertisers can do a better job this year attracting mother-loving shoppers.

Don’t be late for a very important date

Unlike the November/December shopping period, the spring is not a time when the majority of consumers last-minute shop for holidays such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Our analysis shows that most conversions happen 10 to 5 days before the holiday, with a spike 6 days before Mother’s Day. The same users who shopped 

Yet, the majority of remarketing spend in our analysis was allocated in the few days leading up to Mother’s Day. This is clearly not enough time to prepare for the spike in online purchases seen 10 to 5 days before the holiday. 

Do: Pace up at least 10 days before Mother’s Day to maximize the efficiency of their media spend. 

Don’t forget offline data

As more and more marketing moves to digital, it’s easy to start overlooking your offline customer files. Buyers from past years, particularly last year, have a higher chance of converting than prospects. Neglecting this pool of customers who are already familiar with your brand is a huge mistake. 

Do: Onboard offline data files to target return customers/holiday shoppers (hopefully you also have a good attribution model in place to tie together online/offline purchases). Use sequential messaging for previous buyers to remind them of your brand, the product and your best-selling items of the season, with special offers to drive them to conversion. 

Don’t forget to call out the obvious

It’s interesting to note from our analysis that the majority of campaigns we saw were in the consumer goods category—but the highest conversions (and CPMs) were in clothing and accessories. One of the top reasons an ad doesn’t convert is because there isn’t a specific-enough call-to-action. If you have particular Mother’s Day offers but don’t call them out as such, you run the risk of losing a potential sale. 

Do: Make sure you are reaching the right audience in your vertical by including Mother’s Day-specific CTAs, like “Make Mom Smile” (Skull Candy), “Shop Mother’s Day Picks” (Prism) or “Make Mom’s Day” (West Elm), which tend to help ads convert better, and Dynamic Creative Optimization for targeting your holiday browsers. 

Don’t under-budget for late April

CPMs in general are highest one week before Mother’s Day, when a good slice of both clicks and conversions are happening. Hopefully you didn’t spend too much in the beginning of the month, since the shoppers you want won’t really starting purchasing until mid to late April.

Do: Increase bids at least two weeks prior to the holiday to ensure delivery during this peak time. CTR/CPC campaigns should similarly allocate significant budget starting about one to two weeks before Mother’s Day. To further boost click performance, utilize large format/engaging creatives with relevant messaging.

Other tips to get the most out of your Mother’s Day marketing include:

• Layer your own first-party data such as CRM with second-party in-market segments such as women’s apparel, gifts and flowers and shopper behavior like frequent purchasers and recent purchasers.

• Add in third-party data demographic targeting (age, gender, marital status), and behavioral segments such as “Mother’s Day Shoppers.”

• Curate site lists based off top results for search words like flowers, jewelry, Mother's Day gifts, etc. 

• Consider social for demographic (age, gender) and life event (new parents/grandparents, expecting mothers) targeting. FBM provides a wide variety of predefined segments derived from self-declared characteristics including age, gender, interests, etc. Utilize these segments to target FB users who are likely to purchase Mother's Day gifts.