From noise to ROI: how smart brands can win India’s festive quarter

India’s festive season, stretching from October through December, is the Super Bowl for marketers. Diwali, the wedding rush, Christmas, and the New Year converge into a single, high-stakes quarter where customer attention is both abundant and fiercely contested.

For brands, it’s not just about showing up; it’s about cutting through the clutter of discounts, ads, and endless campaigns. The challenge is stark: budgets are under pressure, cart abandonment is rampant, and consumer expectations have never been higher. The brands that win in this landscape don’t rely on bigger spends alone, but on sharper, data-driven strategies.

Here are five strategies that can help marketers turn seasonal frenzy into sustainable ROI.

Go beyond the obvious

Before launching a single festive marketing ad, the most successful marketers examine past data. What worked last year? Which customer segments were most profitable? Which campaigns delivered the best results?

Utilising advanced analytics tools like CDEPs and applying cohort analysis can help uncover hidden trends in customer behaviour that inform their entire strategy for the current year.

By analysing the conversion uplift during peak festive sale days, one study found that consumer electronics saw conversion rates spike by 45% on the opening day of a major sale event. That insight—knowing when which categories peak—is a powerful advantage during the festive season when most online shoppers remain undecided about brand choices.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Alder jewellers (@alderjewellers)

Personalise at scale (with AI)

The festive season is a whirlwind of activity, and no marketing team, no matter how skilled, can manually manage the countless campaigns needed to engage customers across multiple channels. This is where artificial intelligence becomes your secret weapon.

Predictive AI can analyse customer behaviour to proactively engage with users who are at risk of churning or who have abandoned their carts.

Generative AI can then be used to personalise messages at scale, creating curated gift bundles for emails or tailoring Black Friday WhatsApp reminders for every segment. Personalised emails have been shown to have a 122% higher ROI than non-personalised ones.

By automating workflows and using AI to personalise messaging, brands can ensure their campaigns are optimised to hit customers' inboxes at the precise moment they are most active.

Segment smarter

Mass marketing is a recipe for low ROI. To win the festive season, brands need to prioritise high-value customers through smart segmentation. That means splitting the audience into granular groups based on their past behaviour.

For example, an apparel brand might identify customers who have previously made purchases during the wedding season and target them with exclusive bridal offers. By using a Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) analysis, brands can segment their most valuable customers and drive personalised engagement during peak shopping days.

This targeted approach helps combat high cart abandonment rates. Some 2025 estimates have pegged global cart abandonment rates at around 70.2%, and this number can soar during the holidays.

Find the consumer where they are

Today, the customer journey is not linear. A shopper might see an ad on social media, browse products on a website, and then complete their purchase through an app. Successful festive campaigns must be built on a foundation of seamless, multi-channel engagement.

This means having a unified customer data and engagement platform that connects all your touchpoints, from push notifications and SMS to email and in-app messages. For example, a brand might use event-triggered campaigns, where a customer who adds an item to their Diwali wishlist receives a cart recovery message via WhatsApp. This coordinated approach ensures that you reach customers wherever they are, with the right message, at the right time.

Provide value

The festive season isn't just about pushing products; it's about providing value. The most impactful campaigns offer practical, ‘no-fluff’ tips that help customers navigate the high-stakes shopping period. For example, a ‘Christmas Gifting Guide’ with curated product recommendations.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Court (@getstuffedwithcourt)

This educational approach builds trust and positions your brand as a helpful partner, not just a vendor. By sharing knowledge, you can attract new customers, strengthen loyalty with existing ones, and turn them into long-term champions.

Turning festive fervour into sustainable growth

The festive season is a microcosm of the year-round challenges marketers face. The truth is, the pressure to deliver results doesn’t end when the holidays are over. To be truly agile and achieve excellent results, a business needs more than just a collection of disparate tools; it needs a comprehensive martech platform that unifies customer data, automates engagement, and provides real-time analytics.

A single tool, such as a customer data and engagement platform, brings together customer data, engagement, and analytics. This makes it a necessity, not a luxury, for building a unified customer view and orchestrating seamless, personalised experiences across all channels. 

By leveraging such a solution, you can not only crush your festive sales goals but also establish a foundation for sustained growth throughout the entire year.

-Raviteja Dodda, CEO and co-founder, MoEngage