0:00 Hi, everyone, and welcome to Bazaarvoice's session on winning the holiday season. We are so excited to have you here. I'm Rebecca Stigliano, the divisional VP of our content and creator solutions, And I'm joined by Alex Kirk, who is our global consumer insights director. 0:20 So before we jump into the content, I just wanted to provide a quick refresher on who Bazaarvoice is and what we do. So for over fifteen years, Bazaarvoice has helped over thirteen thousand brands and retailers drive commerce sales with over one point three billion shoppers monthly by bringing eight point five billion pieces of content to six point six billion product pages. 0:45 So now as we start to wrap up summer, truly cannot believe it, let's shift gears into the holiday season. We ran a survey across eight thousand consumers globally this past spring with a focused subset on the US to ask all about their holiday shopping habits from discovery all the way to purchase. 1:05 We also did a follow-up survey to just over two thousand people to understand some of those key emotions with this lead up. And as we sifted through the data, we typically try to come up with a few hypotheses. 1:17 But this time around, we were finding a lot of contradictory responses. As it turns out, our hypothesis is that even consumers themselves are not sure what their deal is with holiday shopping. 1:30 A great place to start. Right? So with that in mind, let's kick it off with our first poll. If everyone could please navigate to the poll section to participate. 1:41 We asked consumers how early is too early for stores to showcase holiday items or sales. 1:50 Is it October or earlier, November, or it's never too early? As it turns out, sixty two percent of consumers said October is too early for stores to showcase holiday. 2:04 It might seem strange to see red and green decor in the middle of summer. Right? So we can relate to those consumers' annoyance with a Christmas tree in store before Halloween. 2:16 That being said, and keeping in mind our hypothesis from the beginning, we also ask consumers, when do you usually start your holiday shopping? 2:26 And over half of shoppers said that they do start their holiday shopping in October or earlier despite those complaints about all the in store decor. 2:35 Over a third said they start in September or earlier, and almost a quarter said that they start in August or before. So if I have my calendar correct, they have holiday spirit, but they don't want to see yours just yet. 2:51 So then we also asked shoppers if their holiday shopping is intentional or spontaneous, and one in two consumers are a mix of intentional and spontaneous. 3:02 So in addition to the wide time frame during which they shop, there also seems to be very little method to the madness in how they are shopping. 3:10 Younger generations, Gen z and millennials, are more likely to engage intentionally with social media for holiday shopping and make purchases through content engagement. 3:21 Older generations like Gen x and boomers prefer a mixed approach combining intentional and spontaneous shopping. 3:31 So we would love to hear from you all as brand marketers. When does your brand start content planning for the holiday season? Feel free to pop it in the chat. 3:39 We've heard from some of our brand partners that they begin planning for holiday in June, July, or August, so about now, and we know that consumers are shopping in these months. 3:50 But they don't want to hear from you as a brand until earliest November. So what are we supposed to do? That's the bridge that we're trying to gap. 4:00 How do you promote your brand and products to consumers who don't wanna hear from you about the holidays until a specific time while also understanding and recognizing that those consumers are possibly always shopping or browsing for holiday gifts. 4:16 How do you show up as a brand without turning consumers off? With that goal in mind, these are some of the questions we sought to answer as we went through the data. 4:28 When are consumers holiday shopping? When is the right time to connect with them, and how is best to do so? How do brands get consumers to that point of purchase when they are holiday shopping? 4:41 Where and how is best to show up to consumers during holiday season? So let's do another poll. 4:49 Please head to that polls function again. We did a survey with our influencer community and want to know from you which emotion comes to mind most when you think of holiday shopping. 5:00 Is it nostalgia, anxiety, or excitement? So from the consumers that we surveyed, the top emotion was actually excitement at seventy percent. 5:12 And while the top selected emotions included happiness, enjoyment, joy, which all align with the typical heartwarming messaging of the holidays, fifty four percent did mention anxiety as a key emotion, and nostalgia actually fell a bit lower on the list at forty four percent. 5:29 So a wide array of emotions on the holiday shopping roller coaster. So with that frame of reference and the questions that Alex posed earlier in mind, we can rely on our trusty funnel to take us on this sleigh ride. 5:47 Speaking to your consumers and touching on all of those emotions they are feeling can be really tricky. So our hypothesis from the research that even consumers themselves don't know what they want is showing us two versions of the funnel that overlay and work with each other. 6:03 We'll call it expectation versus reality. The expectation includes those in your face, cache holiday moments and promos that you plan for and work with your media, agency, and partners on to go really big. 6:17 The reality is being subtly present in those places you know consumers are already going to, represented by people they are already listening to when inspiration might strike for holiday shopping. 6:30 So how do we achieve that reality portion of the funnel? We can lean on creators who have built these audiences to speak to them the right way, hitting the array of emotions and to be your megaphone. 6:43 Sweat user generated content for diversification and infiltration into the holiday season with your consumers. 6:54 As we've heard, the jury is out on when consumers want to be shopping versus when they are actually shopping. So there isn't really a sweet spot timing for your messaging and creative. 7:05 That's why an always on content strategy with a diversified mix of UGC and creator content will keep your brand and products top of mind at all of those touch points when holiday shopping could happen. 7:18 We also just heard that there's an array of emotions. So tap creators to create content on your behalf. They'll be able to resonate with their audiences by playing up these emotions and creating relevancy. 7:31 I just wanna give a real quick call out to one of our latest solutions, Affible dot ai. Affible dot ai is the platform to help you find qualified creators for quality content just like this. 7:44 So let's do another quick poll. Since shoppers seem to rely on some level of curation, we asked if they find gift guides from brands, retailers, or influencers helpful for holiday shopping. 7:58 So which generation do you think finds gift guides most helpful do during the holiday season? And you can pop to that poll function again. 8:09 Younger generations, Gen z and millennials, are actually more receptive to brand, retailer, or influencer gift guides. Older generations, Gen x and boomers, are a little more skeptical, though a significant portion finds them sometimes helpful, indicating that they might appreciate a well curated or relevant guide. 8:32 So when utilizing a content mix of both everyday shopper user generated content and creators, you have the luxury of driving traffic from social to your PDP. 8:44 Affiliate links and codes can get audiences to your site and a step closer to purchase. A creator's recommendation, whether that's through a meaningful piece of content or a seasonal gift guide, can bring new audiences and potential customers to spend time on your site and start actively shopping. 9:05 Okay. So we'll have our last poll now. We asked shoppers who the most difficult person to shop for during the holiday season is. 9:13 Would love if you could head to that poll function again and let us know who you think it might be, in law, partner, or parent. Partner was actually the number one choice with fifty eight percent of respondents selecting it. 9:30 Fifty three percent of respondents chose a parent, and over a third chose an in law. Some other options included coworkers, your kids, and more. 9:42 Last but not least, let's slide all the way down to the bottom of the funnel. We spoke on how we can get audiences from social to your PDP, but how to get those shoppers to purchase. 9:54 We always encourage brands to ensure that their PDPs are rich with content, social, visuals, and, of course, reviews. Maybe the content that your cherry picked creator has made on your behalf could be distributed to live on-site too. 10:08 Perhaps current consumers of your brand have created some really killer UGC, which can act as an additional advocate of your brand at the point of purchase. 10:17 Revenue can also be attributed to the content that is distributed on-site. So now that we've made our way through the funnel and have gotten those consumers to the point of purchase, we have some good news. 10:31 Seventy four percent of consumers plan to spend about the same or more on gifts as they did last year, fifty four percent for the same and twenty percent for more. 10:42 So despite cautious spending in twenty twenty four's economic environment, it seems that holiday shopping is not slowing down, so it's important for you as a brand to show up. 10:54 So as we reach the end, we want to leave you with a few key takeaways to answer those questions that we posed earlier in the presentation. One, maintain an ongoing content mix to inspire shoppers this season. 11:08 Two, use content that resonates with a wide variety of holiday emotions. It's not just nostalgia. Three, use that incredible UGC you're getting to optimize your PDPs. 11:20 This is where conversion happens. And four, no matter which touch point, user generated content can act as inspiration across every touch point of that customer journey. 11:32 Awesome. Thank you, Alex, and thank you everyone so much for joining. Please navigate to the docs section where you can find a link to our holiday headquarters with more information, or feel free to reach out to me or Alex to answer any questions you might have. 11:48 We would also love for you to find and learn more about our upcoming Inspire series, which will be taking place in New York and Chicago this coming November. 11:59 So we would love to see you there and connect with you in person. But thanks again everyone so much for joining, and happy holidays.
