It’s that time of year again: Setting up holiday campaigns in Yandex.Direct

December 7, 2020

This winter, people across the English-speaking world are likely to be hearing the song “It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” more and more, but in Russia, it's all about New Year's Eve. In this article, we'll explain what else you need to know about advertising with Yandex.Direct during the holiday season and how to grab users' attention as they plan their holiday purchases.

Yet another Black Friday has passed, kicking off the winter shopping season. Different countries may see different reasons for the season, but what unites people across the globe is the tradition that makes this time of year so economically significant: gift-giving. In a recent Yandex survey, 86% of respondents said they plan on giving New Year gifts this year. 59% planned to make their gift purchases online, so let's look at changes you can make to your ad campaigns to make the most of this holiday season.

1. The Russian holiday period is a week longer than in the West

Russians exchange gifts later than people in other countries: for historical reasons, the main day for gifts is not December 25, but New Year’s Eve.

Are you wondering why this is worth pointing out? Advertisers promoting their goods in say, Europe or the United States, know that gifts are by and large exchanged on December 25th. It makes sense, therefore, to stop holiday-related ad campaigns before Christmas — after all, the vast majority of purchases will have been made by then.

In Russia, however, the holiday shopping period is extended by a whole week. Hence, stopping campaigns before December 25 would mean missed opportunities to make contact with potential customers.

So here's our first tip: If you have separate holidays campaigns, make sure the end date is set late enough to cover the extra week of shopping in Russia.

2. A quarter of respondents plan to make their purchases in the second half of December

The holiday season is a hectic time, and not everyone is well-organized. Our first point explained the importance of getting timing right because of a difference in the dates of celebrations, but there is another reason to extend campaign impressions right up until the end of the year. As the chart above shows, roughly a quarter of Russians in 2019 waited until the last minute to make their New Year purchases. If your campaign stops early, due to its settings or a lack of funds, first point, you could be forfeiting up to 25% of your potential customers.

Just in case you thought users might behave differently this year, Yandex’s recently released survey data shows that the trends of past years still ring true:

Women are more likely than men to buy gifts in advance — men leave purchases until the second half of December.

As we can see, this is especially true of men, with 24% of them planning to make their purchases in the second half of December.

Here, our tip is simple: make sure that your Yandex.Direct account is topped up to cover last-minute shoppers.

3. Make holiday-related additions to your keyword lists

The approach of the holiday shopping season can be seen not just in decorations at shopping centers and in public areas, but also in keyword statistics! Starting in late October, keywords mentioning the New Year and gifts began increasing in frequency. To boost your ads’ likelihood of appearing to holiday shoppers, add relevant holiday keywords, e.g. “gift for wife,” “gift for teenage boy,” etc. The keywords you add should reflect your target audience — both the people who might want your products or services as a gift, as well as those likely to be the ones actually purchasing them. Your knowledge of your customer base should help you choose additional keywords to add. You can make similar changes to your ad copy, with suggestions like “Pearl earrings for the special women in your life.”

3. Adapt your ad texts

Your keyword list isn’t the only thing that you can adapt to increase your ads’ relevance. You can also “deck” your ads with texts that catch shoppers’ attention. As with your keywords, your choices should reflect your target audience, i.e. who wants your products/services as a gift, and who is likely to buy it for them.

Your ad texts can also provide vital information for users unsure if your offer is right for them — information like “One-day delivery” or “In stock now” might be what users need to read to make the choice in favor of your offer.

4. Don’t stop at New Year’s Eve

Once the New Year arrives, Russians begin one of their most loved times of year: the New Year holidays. From January 1-10, the vast majority of the country is off from work. During this time, consumption of online video content spikes, offering advertisers a great opportunity to raise awareness of their brand. Advertising in the Yandex Video Network gives advertisers access to those people who won’t be reach by traditional TV ads, while offering the added bonus of Yandex’s wide range of targeting types. We have fresh material on our site on how to launch CPM video campaigns that can help you reach your target audience as Russians come inside to warm up and watching the latest movies or their favorite TV shows.

If keeping track of Russia’s different dates wasn’t hard enough, there’s one other day worth keeping in mind: Russian Christmas, which falls on January 7. While this day might not be on the same level as New Year’s Eve in terms of economic significance, it offers yet another reason not to stop your campaigns too early.

And now, our final, most important point.

5. Act now — time is of the essence

Users are already looking for holiday gifts. As Yandex experts Julia and Varvara mentioned in our recent webinar, most Russians will make their holiday purchases in the period from December 16-24, so the time to influence users’ purchase decisions is now.