Gifting is a State of Mind

Gifting is a state of mind. Some people are well ahead of the gifting seasons, and some are last-minute gifters.  Your customers are no different – you may have customers who are early planners and others that may be out of sight out of mind.  Other customers may already be using your marketing communications & promotions as self-reminders that gifts are required for upcoming events.  Regardless of gifting personalities, there are strategic tactics available to ensure you are the first and only place your customer thinks of when it comes time to purchase a gift.

We Have All Been There…

You wake up in the morning and realize your significant other’s birthday is today or it’s Valentine’s day and you didn’t get them a gift.  You panic and are rushed to get a gift.  You open your social media account(s) or your email and the perfect offer appears with curbside pick-up.  You feel lucky that you got what you needed without scrambling to find it.

Perhaps you are a planner who starts months in advance & when that perfect offer arrives in the mail you buy it immediately.  You may even have a gift cabinet because every day a perfect gift for your loved ones is found. If that’s the case you are not alone. According to the National Retail Federation, 61% of responders started holiday shopping in early November.

One thing we all have in common is the appreciation of a well-timed gift suggestion (and maybe even a good deal too.)  Whether it is an email, digital, social, tv, insert, space, or mail advertisement, an offer at the right time makes it that much easier to purchase a gift for someone.

These offers are not coincidences – they are planned out to make sure they reach responsive audiences.  With that in mind, we have created some easy ways for you to help your customers remember it’s time to get a gift.

Birthdays

With big data’s ability to locate details, you can look into customer households for upcoming birthdays for spouses, children or anyone living there.  With this data in hand, you can send out promotions well in advance of the upcoming birthday.

Holidays

Like birthdays, you can investigate your client household compilations for the number of generations, spouses, children in a home. The goal? Send out promotions that resonate with specific household makeup, well in advance of upcoming holidays.

It is also vital to highlight your various channels for placing orders. Along with promoting your website, it’s important to note any physical locations or department stores you have inventory in. When it comes to where people buy, consumers are spending in both online and offline channels.

When it comes to holidays, we must make a special mention of Mother’s Day, a significant gifting event. Since 2018, the latter has seen a steady increase in per-personing spending, according to the NRF.

In total, Americans are spending $280 billion on mostly greetings cards, special outings, and flowers.

Ship-To Addresses

Looking for habitual gift-givers is easy when working with your housefile.  Anyone who ships to different addresses on the regular is most likely a gift-giver. Promote to your clients who ship to other addresses with seasonal gift promotions to boost response audience availability to your seasonal or special occasions offers.

Charitable Givers

Charitable gift-givers are also known to gift the people in their life via myriads of gifting categories from “donations in the name of” to apparel to event tickets. Targeting known charitable givers to pets, children, and health causes will allow you to find gift-giving personas on your housefile.

In 2020, even with a pandemic and mass uncertainty, individuals were still supporting nonprofits. According to Giving USA, $324.10 billion was donated to worthy causes last year, This was an increase of 2.2% from the year prior and the highest total dollar amount ever recorded by the organization.

The Conclusion

Your housefile is your best resource for locating audiences that will be responsive buying customers to your seasonal/special occasions/gift/donation appeals and promotions. Incorporating addressable data sources into your house databases for additional insights and targeting capabilities is one of the most efficient and effective ways to customize offers to your customer’s needs. Ask us how LiftEngine’s LiftBase  can help you on your next marketing campaign.

About LiftEngine

Since 2005, LiftEngine's primary mission has been to help clients better understand and connect with their most responsive prospects and customers, online or offline. Our expertise is behind the marketing campaigns of 400+ clients.

Behind LiftEngine is LiftBase, our proprietary addressable consumer database. Comprised of 250 million US consumers, 140 million US households, and 1,000+ enhanced data elements, LiftBase powers our audience development services and industry-leading products, PortalLink and LaunchPad.

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