3 mistakes that ruin your Christmas ecommerce campaigns (and how to avoid them)
Por Coral Costa
Practical guide to lift results, conversion and ROAS during the most competitive season of the year.
Every December brands push their Christmas campaigns hoping to skyrocket online sales… yet many end up losing profitability without a clear reason. The strongest month for ecommerce is also the most complex: CPMs increase, competition intensifies and any tactical mistake can have a huge impact on your cost per result.
At Persualia we manage high-performance ecommerce campaigns and we see the same pattern year after year: identical mistakes that slow down conversions and waste opportunities.
Here we break down the 3 most frequent Christmas campaign errors and how to avoid them so your digital strategy performs better in 2025.
1. Swapping creatives too early (or too late)
How you manage Christmas campaign creatives dictates whether you can scale sales or stall out.
In December, ad platforms (Meta Ads, Google Ads…) need more time to leave the learning phase because competition is higher. Still, many brands replace creatives impulsively as soon as they see short-term swings in performance.
Why is this a problem?
- It restarts learning right when the campaign was stabilising.
- Costs go up right in the middle of peak season.
- You lose the accumulated signals the algorithm needs to optimise.
How to avoid it in 2025
- Plan two holiday creative waves from the start.
- Evaluate performance with enough statistically relevant data.
- Avoid radical changes during demand peaks.
- Keep consistency between creatives, messaging and the landing page.
Managed properly, your creatives can dramatically lift Christmas ROAS.
2. Skipping a landing page tailored for Christmas
One of the keys to improving conversion in December is building landing pages created specifically for holiday campaigns.
Yet many brands still send traffic to generic product pages.
Why is this a critical mistake for Christmas ecommerce?
Because in December people are looking for gifts, not just products. They need speed and a clear promise.
Generic landings lead to:
- Lower conversion rate.
- Misalignments between ad promise and destination.
- Lower Quality Scores in Google Ads.
- Higher cost per acquisition.
How to optimise your holiday landing
- Create themed landings with bundles, offers or “gifts that matter”.
- Simplify: less scroll, fewer options, more focus.
- Highlight December proof points: fast shipping, guarantees, easy returns.
- Mirror the look & feel of your campaign creatives.
A well-crafted landing can boost sales even without adding budget.
3. Pausing campaigns when costs go up (the mistake that burns the most money)
In December CPMs always rise. It is normal and it hits the entire ecommerce sector.
The most expensive mistake is pausing campaigns just because cost per result increases.
What happens when you pause your holiday campaigns?
- You lose the competitive momentum you had built.
- The algorithm “forgets” part of its learning.
- When you reactivate, you come back more expensive and with worse performance.
- It takes days to regain stability (and in December, days are gold).
How to handle it properly
- Treat December as a strategic month, not a cheap one.
- Adjust budgets smoothly, without hard stops.
- Keep campaigns live through the key peaks.
- Analyse trends, not micro day-to-day swings.
The secret behind strong Christmas performance campaigns is not spending more, but not breaking what already works.
Conclusion
The best Christmas ecommerce campaigns are not the ones with the biggest budgets, but the ones that plan ahead, stay stable and optimise each phase thoughtfully.
If you want your holiday campaign to truly deliver, remember:
- Anticipation beats improvisation.
- Christmas campaigns are not improvised: they are prepared weeks in advance, not once December has already started.
- If you want a better campaign next year, the work starts in January by reviewing data and learnings.
Would you like us to review your Christmas campaign and spot improvement opportunities?
At Persualia we analyse funnels, creatives and campaign structures so your investment performs better.
#Ecommerce #ChristmasCampaigns #DigitalMarketing #ROAS #Performance #LandingPages