The weather plays a crucial role in shaping consumer spending habits. Yet, we often underestimate its profound impact on the sales of goods and services.
Weather targeting capitalizes on this fact to drive sales and improve consumer experiences. Understanding the effects of weather on buyer behavior allows businesses to tailor marketing strategies to capture maximum demand during favorable weather conditions.
In this blog, we learn more about:
• What Is Weather Targeting?
• Why Weather Is Important to Sales and Marketing
• How Weather Affects Mood
• How To Use Weather Based Marketing Effectively
• Integrating Weather-Based Capabilities
• How To Set Up Weather Triggers API
• Weather Marketing Strategies
• Examples of Weather Based Targeting
What Is Weather Targeting?
Weather targeting utilizes real-time weather data to deliver relevant, timely and location based marketing. Using a rich set of historical and predictive weather data, advertisers can serve dynamic creative based on the forecasted conditions in a user’s area.
This increases ad relevance by ensuring users are exposed to messages relevant to their current local needs. It also helps them understand how weather influences buyer behavior and shopping habits, enabling them to optimize their eCommerce campaigns accordingly.
A skincare brand might target users in sunny areas with sunscreen-related ads, or a clothing retailer could deliver coats and winter boots-themed creatives to people in colder climates.
Why Weather Is Important to Sales and Marketing
Weather influences consumer spending habits in almost every industry, from hospitality to retail. In fact, weather is the second biggest influence on consumer behavior after the economy. It also plays a substantial role in the U.S. private sector, contributing to an estimated $3 trillion in business activities.
Even a slight temperature shift can remarkably impact the sales of various products. This chart by Weather Unlocked shows how a one-degree change boosts sales for specific products.
Weather-based campaign targeting enables marketers to inform their marketing strategies and better target customers with relevant offers. This level of personalization leads to higher consumer satisfaction and loyalty and, therefore, a better return on investment.
How Weather Affects Mood
The weather has a significant impact on our mood and mental state. Sunshine can make us happy and positive, while rain brings sadness and depression. Temperature also affects our emotions, with extreme temperatures making us irritable, agitated or unmotivated.
Weather-based campaign targeting allows us to leverage these data to connect with consumers more deeply. Marketers can tap into the consumer’s psyche, allowing them to create messaging that resonates with the customer’s current mindset while increasing purchase intent.
For example, exposure to sunlight has been proven to increase our willingness to purchase certain products/services by up to 56%.
Source: Weather Unlocked
How To Use Weather Based Marketing Effectively
Weather data is a valuable asset for brands and agencies, empowering them to enhance communication and give context to advertisements based on product seasonality and other relevant factors.
Different types of weather data offer different insights that can be valuable for eCommerce optimization. Here’s how to use them effectively:
Historical Weather Data
Historical weather data provides a comprehensive view of past climate patterns. It enables advertisers to compare current conditions with previous years and determine the likelihood of increasing or decreasing demand for specific goods or services. This data type can also be used to build predictive models that anticipate future trends and maximize ad performance.
Sears Automotive uses historical data to determine that car batteries over five years old fail after three consecutive days of sub-zero temperatures. They respond by activating weather ads on the fourth day of freezing temperatures.
Live Weather Data
Live weather data provides real-time updates on current conditions. This data type can be used to adjust ad campaigns on the fly and capitalize on short-term opportunities with minimal effort.
Live weather data is especially useful for time-sensitive paid advertising on social media, such as promotions during extreme weather events or discounts when temperatures exceed a certain threshold.
Bravissimo significantly boosted its sales revenue by 600% through PPC campaigns, using weather-sensitive ads that adapt to current weather conditions.
Forecast Weather Data
Forecast weather data allows advertisers to plan and ensure their campaigns are prepared for any upcoming changes in the weather. This data type can also be used to anticipate customer needs and create effective strategies that drive high levels of engagement.
Timberland, for instance, sends weather-triggered emails to subscribers, notifying them of upcoming good weather and offering a promotional discount on hiking boots.
Understanding these data can be intimidating, but working with a pay per click marketing agency can be an invaluable way to get assistance with leveraging weather data for the best results.
Integrating Weather-Based Capabilities
Weather-targeting capabilities have been adopted throughout the digital advertising ecosystem, as various advertising agencies are incorporating these tools to strengthen their consumer targeting efforts.
One effective approach is integrating a robust third-party application programming interface or API, such as the WeatherTrigger API, into your advertising technology or marketing platforms.
The WeatherTrigger API integrates with Ad Exchanges, Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), Marketing Automation technologies, Email Marketing Platforms (ESPs) and mobile marketing applications.
This tool allows marketers to monitor weather data in real-time, sync campaigns with local weather events and customize promotions and offers with local weather conditions.
How To Set Up Weather Triggers API
Using the WeatherTrigger API is a straightforward process. Follow these steps to get started:
1. Once you sign up or log in, your API key will be provided in your account details.
2. Set a time, location and trigger conditions like humidity, wind speed, temperature, pressure, wind direction and cloud cover.
3. Call the Triggers API to check the execution of your set trigger conditions.
4. Once the triggers and geographies are set up, the WeatherTrigger API will monitor local forecasts to detect when your trigger is activated and then inform your system to take appropriate action.
Monitoring local forecasts in real-time gives a pay per click marketing agency and marketers greater control over campaigns and the ability to respond to changes in weather conditions quickly. This will help improve return on investment (ROI) while streamlining the entire campaign process.
Weather Marketing Strategies
When devising a weather-responsive campaign, there are three main strategies to consider.
Targeting by Weather Signal
This strategy allows marketers to target consumers based on past, current or forecast weather signals. For example, an ad for a cold drink may be displayed when the temperature reaches a certain threshold.
Targeting by Signal + Contextualizing
Targeting based on weather signals and aligning marketing messages with weather conditions to encourage desired response.
Targeting by Signal + Value Adding
This approach offers a purpose for communication, showcasing personalized and engaging creative that highlights valuable content. The content validates the consumer’s need for the product or service.
Examples Of Weather Based Marketing
With the right tools and strategies, marketers can use weather data to predict customer behavior and create more effective marketing campaigns. La Redoute is a fine example of how businesses use weather based advertising campaigns to engage customers better:
La Redoute
La Redoute, a fashion retailer, launched a unique weather ads campaign in Paris featuring a live billboard with sensors. The billboard’s content adapted to real-time weather conditions – you can see the models wearing fewer or more layers of clothing as the visuals respond to temperature changes.
Despite being an offline channel, the weather ads led to a remarkable 34% increase in website traffic and a substantial 17% boost in sales for La Redoute during the campaign.
Create Captivating Ads for Every Season With Thrive
Understanding the impact of weather on product seasonality, shopping habits and buyer behavior can empower brands and agencies to strategically leverage weather trends in their marketing plans. When executed effectively, weather targeting offers numerous advantages, including:
• Creating personalized paid advertising on social media and other marketing materials tailored to the current location, weather conditions and product seasonality
• Making smarter investments by reaching shoppers with weather ads at the right moment when demand is highest
• Improving campaign performance by targeting consumers during peak weather moments, such as a heatwave or cold snap
• Increasing ROI by optimizing media buys around weather-related surges in demand
• Enhancing the consumer experience by providing relevant, timely content at the right moment
• Boosts eCommerce optimization by focusing on weather-triggered product category searches
• Supports location based marketing and segmentation, allowing advertisers to reach consumers in specific geographic areas based on their current weather conditions.
To truly get the full benefits of weather and location based marketing, you need a reliable partner with the right technology and data. Thrive, a premier pay per click marketing agency, offers comprehensive weather-targeting solutions that harness market-leading technology and data sources.
Our state-of-the-art solution empowers you to deliver precise messages to the right audience at the optimal moment, ensuring maximum return on investment. In addition to weather based advertising, we leverage other digital marketing strategies like social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and paid advertising on social media to amplify the impact of your ad campaigns.
Contact Thrive today and discover how we can propel your sales to new heights using weather based advertising.
