Merchant promotions give online retailers the opportunity to get creative with their special offers for shopping ads online. Throughout the year there are many opportunities for creative merchant promotions, but by far the most active and lucrative time of year is the final quarter. Seasonal holidays such as Halloween, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year create ideal opportunities for many industries, especially those in gifting.
Merchant promotions are a great way to make the most of the cultural events and seasonal trends to attract new customers and get your brand name out there to hopefully get repeat customers.
When Can Merchant Promotions Be Used?
Did you know that over 50% of shoppers plan to hold off on buying gift items until they’re on sale?Merchant promotions can be used at any time, but when a user has the intent to buy with the expectation of receiving the best deals, combined with the fear of missing out over a small window of time, it creates a sense of urgency in the shoppers mind.
We see repeatedly that this results in a noticeable increase in conversion rates at these times of year. This means users are more likely to purchase during a recognisable promotion period than at any other time, so it’s an opportunity for businesses to make the most of it.
One great way to increase your reach and target new demographics for your promotion is with Microsoft ads. Microsoft has a unique user base that you could be missing out on, and tapping into these users could drastically improve your reach to new audiences. 33% of the users have a household income in the top 25% bracket, and as a result they therefore have a higher disposable income to spend with you.
What Are Merchant Promotions?
Merchant promotions allow you to promote products directly from your Microsoft Shopping inventory with additional special offer tags displayed. These icons appear at the bottom of your product ads as a “special offer”, helping to increase customer engagement. This all sounds great, but how much does it cost?
Well, merchant promotions are free to add to your product ads, with the usual charges for any clicks you get. The benefits of the promotions are that they can improve the visibility of your paid-ads, which can lead to more clicks and improve your ROI.
How Do Merchant Promotions Work?
Merchant Promotions allow different types of offers and there are 4 options to choose from: Amount off, Percentage off, Free Gift and Free Shipping.
Let’s take a look at these in more detail:
Amount Off
These promotions offer a monetary discount. For example: £10 off a purchase of £100 or more.
Percentage Off
These promotions offer a percentage discount. For example: 10% off a purchase of £100 or more, or 15% off select products or brands.
Free Gift
Offering a free gift with a purchase. For example: Free socks gift with a purchase of £75 or more. For Gift type, you can choose from these options:
Free gift with value: This is your free gift offer’s monetary value.
Free gift with description: This is a description of your free gift offer as you would explain it to potential customers.
Free shipping
Offer free shipping. For example: Free next day shipping on purchases of £200 or more.
If you think your business would benefit from running creative merchant promotions, especially in the run up to peak shopping season of the year in November – January, Wriggle Marketing can help. To find out more about Microsoft Advertising and merchant promotions, get in touch with the team today for a free consultation on our digital marketing services.
