December is the most popular month to propose, and jewelers need to keep that in mind when planning their holiday marketing.
Emmanuel Raheberaheb@smartagesolutions.com
Emmanuel Raheb is the CEO of Smart Age Solutions, a digital ad agency and coveted Premier Google Partner. Contact him at eraheb@smartagesolutions.com.
Every jeweler knows what December looks like. The store is decorated, the new inventory is out, and the ads are running. Everyone is focused on buying gifts for the holidays.
However, there’s another customer shopping during all of this. They’re looking for an engagement ring.
December is the most popular month to get engaged and about 40 percent of proposals take place between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day
That means a significant number of people researching engagement rings are doing it at the same time jewelers are putting most of their marketing dollars behind holiday gifting.
The holiday shopper and the engagement ring shopper are not on the same buying journey.
Someone looking for a gift may be searching for a particular jewelry style or price point. They may need something quickly and have a specific deadline.
The engagement-ring customer is usually doing much more research. They’re looking at diamonds, comparing settings, reading reviews, trying to understand what they should spend, and deciding which jeweler they can trust.
Yet, many Q4 marketing plans treat everyone as the same customer.
Look at the messages that dominate December: “Find the perfect gift,” “Shop our holiday collection,” “Gifts under $500,” and “Last-minute gifts.”
Those messages are important, but they don’t speak to someone who’s trying to figure out what engagement ring to buy. That customer needs an entirely different conversation.
They need to see your engagement ring selection. They need useful information about diamonds and the 4Cs. They need to know that they can make an appointment or talk to someone who can help them. They need to find it quickly without fighting through a website covered in last-minute gift promotions.
This doesn’t mean turning off holiday marketing; it means running bridal alongside it.
You can keep the gift campaigns and holiday promotions, but make sure bridal remains easy to find on the website throughout Q4 by giving engagement rings their own advertising, content, and landing pages.
On your social media, continue answering the questions engagement ring shoppers are asking. Don’t ignore them.
Related stories will be right here …
The engagement ring customer also isn’t always ready to buy in December.
The Knot’s latest research shows that nearly 70 percent of proposals are planned more than a month in advance.
The person researching your store in October may buy in December. The person researching in December may buy in January.
That’s very different from holiday gifting, which is much more immediate.
Your holiday shopper has a deadline to meet, but the engagement customer has a bigger decision to make, and you’re the one helping them decide.
You may not be able to outspend a national retailer during the holiday season, but you can create a much better experience for a customer who needs information, guidance, and a reason to trust you.
Remember, Q4 is not just gifting season, it’s proposal season, too. The opportunity is already there.
Jewelers don’t need another holiday promotion to find it. They just need to make sure the engagement-ring customer has not disappeared behind all the other messaging.
While everyone else is thinking about what to put under the tree, someone else is thinking about what to put on their partner’s finger.
Banner will be right here …
Emmanuel Rahebis the CEO of Smart Age Solutions, a digital ad agency and coveted Premier Google Partner.
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