12 Trends a-Trending: Digital Marketing Insights for the Holiday Season

Like a snowflake, every holiday season is unique. Knowing what economic, technological, and consumer challenges (and opportunities) are ahead can enable marketers to plan accordingly and maximize their chances of having a successful holiday season.

As our gift to you, Zeta’s Strategy and Analytics teams have assembled a list of the top 12 trends impacting marketers this holiday season and how they can adapt.

For a full discussion of each of those trends and how to respond to them, watch the on-demand webinar below. But for a quicker rundown of the trends, read on.

Do Your Holiday Plans Account for These 12 Trends?

Here are our top trends to watch this holiday season, along with some insight into how to optimize your marketing messaging and strategy.

1. Back-to-school behaviors may persist into the holiday season

Zeta’s Back to School Retail Survey found that consumers expect to spread their back-to-school spending more evenly across June, July, August, and September than in past years.

Generally, we see this kind of behavior when consumers are under financial stress and trying to spend a little from each paycheck, instead of taking on more debt. Given a wide range of economic pressures, that behavior is likely to continue into the holiday season, making October more important than in recent years.

2. The K-shaped economy divides customer audiences

The top 20% of earners account for 59% of US spending, compared to only 41% for the bottom 80% of earners, according to Moody Analytics. That’s the biggest split since tracking began in 1989.

Depending on how much of your customer base is from those two groups, your holiday messaging and segmentation strategies may need to be quite different.

3. High inflation likely to persist through the holiday season

With the US-Israel war against Iran spiking oil prices and new tariffs announced against trading partners that represent 99% of US imports, inflation is reaccelerating. That will mean a repeat of consumer behaviors from last holiday season, like trading down on brands, cutting back on decor, and handmaking gifts.

4. Convenience is nearly as important as price

Another consumer value that was validated by our back-to-school retail survey is that while shoppers want value for their money, they also value their time.

That means quick delivery, easy returns, flexible payment options, and a wide product selection can help you win even when you don’t have the lowest prices. So be sure to communicate those.

5. The omnichannel imperative

Most consumers buy online and in stores, and cross-channel shopping increases during the holiday season. Encouraging that tends to make customers more loyal and higher value.

The same happens when you entice customers to opt into multiple marketing channels. The takeaway here is that brands can’t afford to operate in channel silos.

6. Midterm elections to delay holiday shopping a little

Despite our increasingly polarizing politics, elections don’t tend to have a big effect on retail sales. At worst, marketing performance levels out during election week, then accelerates at the heart of the holiday season.

So, even if you see conversion rates soften a little, continue to build awareness and foster interest for the next week.

7. AI summaries impacting inbox experiences

AI summaries in Gmail and Yahoo Mail—and to a much lesser extent in Apple Mail and Outlook—are replacing preview text, taking up a big chunk of preview pane space, and in some cases also replacing subject lines.

This represents much of the “first impression” real estate for email marketers. Watch a deep dive into how brands should respond: Adapting to the Most Active Inbox Provider Environment Ever on-demand webinar.

8. Subject line effectiveness during holiday season

A Zeta analysis of more than 22,000 subject lines from holiday campaigns sent by retailers found that some high-usage subject line terms were associated with campaigns that generated low open and click rates, while some low-usage terms did much better.

For example, channel-related words like “online,” “site,” and “store” were associated with stronger-performing campaigns, but saw relatively low usage.

9. The opportunities with AI search

AI search is set to overtake traditional search as a traffic referrer in 2028, with satisfaction with AI search for shopping already extremely high, according to Zeta research.

So, the need to influence AI search results or provide your own AI search functionality is growing.

10. The risks with AI search and agents

While AI search is set to overtake traditional search as a traffic referrer in 2028, overall referral traffic is down dramatically because of AI search. AI agents seem primed to similarly decrease mobile app usage.

This puts a premium on building strong relationships with customers through your loyalty program and email, SMS, push, and other marketing channels.

11. GLP-1 users are a new customer segment

More than 11% of adult Americans currently use a GLP-1, such as Ozempic, Zepbound, and Wegovy. With the typical user losing 15% to 25% of their body weight, that’s transforming their eating habits, clothing choices, and preferred activities.

Being able to recognize the behaviors associated with these customers opens up opportunities to understand their changing needs and serve them better.

12. Self-gifting during the holidays and year-round

More than ever, customers are shopping for holiday gifts for themselves as well as for others. Indeed, nearly half of consumers 35-54 are self-gifting at least once a quarter and spending at least $250 each time. Lean into this trend with “buy one, get one” and other offers.

Good Tidings and Cheer

We hope our advice for how to adapt your marketing to these trends inspires tests and changes that strengthen your marketing results and your marketing relationships this holiday season.at