5 Cross-Channel Experiences to Accelerate Holiday Conversions

The value creation and revenue opportunity during the holiday season is unparalleled. Retailers see a flood of new app installs and higher-than-average web traffic during peak shopping periods, which means more active shoppers and more dollars on the line. But most struggle to unlock long-term value from the surge.

As economic uncertainty and price sensitivity loom, brands are up against even stronger headwinds. Forrester predicts that brand loyalty will decline 25% this year with shoppers switching to brands that can deliver clear ongoing value beyond indiscriminate price shopping (Forrester Research, Inc., “Predictions 2025: Consumers,” October 21st, 2024). The stakes are high to meet customers where they are with the right offers at the right time to maximize conversions.

The good news is that you don’t have to leave conversion up to chance. Strategic cross-channel orchestration ensures ever y touchpoint counts toward your goals — no unnecessary steps or disconnected interactions to risk drop-off. Building a strategy to guide customers to value can make or break their decision to stay loyal or simply jump to the next best option.

While the shopping journey looks different for everyone, we’ve put together five cross-channel experiences spanning app, web, email, SMS and even mobile wallet to inspire your strategy and effectively guide customers to value this holiday season.

How to Use This Guide

We hope this guide will serve as a source of inspiration during planning and execution to help you visualize what’s possible with intentional cross-channel orchestration. Of course, every brand and customer is different so it’s important to note that a “set it and forget it” mentality won’t be effective. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you customize these experiences for your unique goals:

Prioritize Customers’ Channels of Choice

Focus on the channels where customers will be most receptive to hearing from you. While we’ve outlined different journeys throughout the guide, most if not all can be swapped for another. For example, if cost is a concern, prioritize email over SMS. If achieving a higher open rate is more important, swap the order. Considering a customer’s last active channel can also be effective way to maximize reach.

Embrace Growth Experimentation

You invest a lot into holiday season engagement, and you’re under pressure to deliver high returns. Adopt an agile, data-driven approach, testing channels, segments, messages and more to zero in on what elements of the experience move the needle most for your unique goals. You can then allocate time and resources where they have the most impact.

Build for Mobile-First Audiences

The majority of our daily, ingrained habits – checking email, scrolling through social media, reading the news – are increasingly happening on mobile devices. Desktop shouldn’t be an af ter thought, but the mobile journey should be a top priority for successful orchestration. We’ve outlined several cases where web to app is central to the experience.

Don’t Overlook the Importance of Personalization

It doesn’t matter where you show up if content doesn’t resonate with your target audience. Now is the time to start building up your customer profiles and put ting the right framework in place to collect and activate the data you need to deliver offers and incentives that will move customers to action this holiday season.

1. Capture Product Wish Lists to Deliver Hyper-Personalized Recommendations

Why It Works

Holiday shoppers may not know exactly what they want, but they likely have a brand, category or even price range in mind. Capturing explicit interests allows you to deliver more targeted messaging that speaks directly to their needs and preferences, helping them find exactly what they are looking for faster. Better yet, it’s consumers’ preferred method of personalization so you’ll likely build some trust with them, incentivizing loyalty and repeat conversions.

Pro Tip:

With Airship Branching, you can create native & no-code surveys that allow you to create highly customizable experiences that adapt in real time
based on customer clicks and responses.

2. Turn Web Visitors into Opted-In Shoppers

Why It Works

The modern digital shopping journey is far from linear – especially during peak exploration periods like the holiday season, when customers are bouncing from one place to another in search of the best deal or most unique gift. Not to mention, acquisition costs are through the roof and organic referral traffic continues to plummet. By converting web browsers into app users and maximizing opt-in permissions, you have an opportunity to capitalize on their moments of attention to eliminate reliance on cookies, reduce paid media spend and drive ongoing engagement.

Pro Tip:

Customers expect contextually-connected experiences regardless of where the engage. Prioritize web-app parity so that the transition from one to the other feels consistent and connected.

3. Streamline Loyalty Program Enrollment and Incentivize Earnings

Why It Works

Signing up for a loyalty program can feel like a chore – and of ten, it’s hard to see the immediate pay-off of enrollment. But they offer a great incentive for driving repeat purchases. By significantly streamlining the enrollment process with the click of a button and providing exclusive perks during the holiday season, you can drive conversions and deliver the added value that price-sensitive shoppers are seeking today.

Pro Tip:

While brand loyalty is declining, loyalty program usage is on the rise. Done right, loyalty programs give brands deeper insight into customers’ preferences, desires and needs, fueling an ongoing, personalized value exchange that keeps them coming back. Streamline the enrollment process to maximize conversions and customer lifetime value.

4. Drive In-Store Conversions with Digital Experiences

Why It Works

By 2027, Forrester predicts that 70% of total U.S. retail sales will be “digitally influenced.” Innovations in mobile, including wallets, have empowered brands to create more seamless experiences than physical or digital interactions can of fer alone. Leveraging digital to drive in-store traffic opens up new opportunities for brands to capture attention and convert in-the-moment – and ultimately show up in a way that delivers immediate value based on the customer’s unique context.

Pro Tip:

You can dynamically update mobile wallet passes in real time with Airship’s Wallet Notifications API. This can include timely messaging, personal loyalty
points and more.

5. Capture Lost Revenue with Strategic Abandoned Cart Campaigns

Why It Works

Attention is fleeting – especially when the next best offer is just a click away. Keep your products top-of-mind with shoppers with a strategic abandoned cart campaign and follow the customer through to the very end of the order lifecycle. Transparent and real-time communication is key at a time of the year when supply chain disruptions, shipping delays and high inventory fluctuation are common. By delivering convenience, value and transparency at just the right moment, you have an opportunity to not only ensure conversion but also effectively get ahead of disruptions that could otherwise drive customers away.

Pro Tip:

With Custom Views, you can now drop your topperforming app + web features directly into campaigns without a single line of code. Think scrollable, clickable and dynamic views that drive continued engagement and recapture lost revenue.

Convert By Design This Holiday Season

We hope this guide brings a fresh perspective to campaign planning, execution and refinement. Bring some of these ideas to your next strategy session and see what works for your customers. Not sure where to start? Reach out to our team of experts to help you brainstorm.