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The holidays are a peak shopping season, but finding the perfect gift goes way beyond the last click. Shoppers are turning to YouTube for inspiration as they plan and information to help them decide.
In fact, 87% of surveyed viewers in the U.S. say YouTube introduces them to things they wouldn’t have discovered on their own,1 and creators help them make sense of what they find. Sixty-eight percent of surveyed U.S. viewers say that YouTube creators provide helpful context or expertise that enables more confident purchase decisions.2
For marketers, this means the holidays are a chance to be part of what people discover, consider, and, ultimately, choose. Consider how Wayfair used video to build its brand and drive performance at the same time. Here’s what marketers can learn from its strategy.
Reach the next generation of shoppers
Millions of shoppers know Wayfair as the place to find all things home. Despite dominant brand awareness on linear TV, the retailer wanted to grow with younger, first-time home decorators, especially 25- to 35-year-olds.
For Wayfair, reaching this segment meant more than winning a single purchase. The goal was to build preference, deliver a great shopping experience, and earn lifelong customers.
Wayfair already relied on YouTube for sharing emotional brand storytelling. But the retailer saw a bigger role in using video to help shoppers make purchase decisions. For today’s viewers, that doesn’t mean making a hard sell. As Annie Pemberton, associate director of marketing at Wayfair, put it, “When you demonstrate the utility of a product through video, that’s a really strong way to drive sales.”
That might mean showcasing function while evoking a feeling: how an outdoor sofa opens to store its cushions, the magic holiday decor brings into the home, or how to make your own five spice at home. All help shoppers imagine what a product might bring into their lives.
Challenge business as usual
To make the most of that opportunity, the Wayfair team needed a unified picture of what was driving success on YouTube. Operating in silos made it difficult for the team to see what was really yielding results — and how to balance creating new demand with immediate performance.
Wayfair unified measurement across brand and performance workstreams, giving teams a shared view of what was working. It also moved YouTube from its brand team into its performance team, challenging itself to think of YouTube as a performance driver, not just a brand-building channel.
That willingness to rethink its established practices extended to Wayfair’s creative approach too. The team began experimenting with a wider range of content, pairing high-gloss TV ads with trusted creator content.
Wayfair challenged itself to think of YouTube as a performance driver, not just a brand-building channel.
“There were a lot of people that believed YouTube needed to be the highly produced, broadcast, pixel-perfect TV commercial,” Pemberton said, adding that others thought it had to feel more like user-generated content. “It turns out [that] it all works.”
Make creators a core part of the creative mix
Wayfair didn’t have to look far for new creative possibilities. Thousands of creators already had its products in their homes, and each had a story to tell about how those products fit into their everyday lives.
To find those stories, Wayfair began experimenting with open call, a feature allowing creators to directly answer brands’ briefs.
“We love open call,” Pemberton said. “We’re seeing really strong performance from the videos that we briefed through open call, because they are native YouTube creators. It’s not just stuff that we’re bringing over from other channels.”
In addition to working with creators to drive awareness of new products, Wayfair also began integrating them into its performance strategies. For the holidays, the retailer scaled creator videos that were already performing well. Demand Gen helped bring them to new audiences, while Wayfair became the first advertiser to test affiliate partnerships boost, extending its reach and making it easier for viewers to shop.
The approach paid off, with the work earning distinction as Wayfair’s creator campaign with the highest return on ad spend of the year on YouTube.
Pemberton advised marketers looking for new ways to grow: “Don’t be afraid to test new things, test new products.”
In a YouTube Shorts video, sourced through Open Call, a creator demonstrates how to assemble Wayfair’s dual-purpose side table and umbrella.
A playbook for holiday performance
Wayfair came to YouTube to reach new audiences and drive sales throughout the holiday season and beyond. Looking at the brand’s strategy, best practices for Demand Gen start to emerge. That includes the YouTube Performance Four — data strength, conversion volume, AI targeting, and creative variety.
Advertisers who adopted at least 3 out of 4 of these best practices saw, on average, over 40% more conversions and a more than 30% higher conversion value.3
To learn how to apply the YouTube Performance Four, dig into the latest Demand Gen for Retail guide.
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