Digital Ads in Q1: Laying the Groundwork

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? Probably 😄

January is racing past at speed, and if you work in e-commerce, you are probably still catching your breath after peak season and January sales 😅

But Q1 isn't a time for rest (sorry). Here are some things to think about in the next few months, to make sure your ad accounts are set up for success...

👀 What to Focus on in Meta in Q1

Q2 is harder than it looks. In my experience, Q2 can be the most challenging quarter for Meta performance. In Q1, you are riding the wave of peak, but by Q2, that wave has lost all its energy, and getting results can feel like very hard work indeed. Get ahead by planning for that dip now.

Ride the post-peak wave productively. Analyse the data, but also test ahead of spring/summer promos and key moments. 

👉 Tip: Test different promotions like gift with purchase, free delivery or bundles now. Find out what works before you need it, rather than testing when things all feel a bit tighter and less comfortable in Q2. Quieter time is your friend if you use it wisely. 

🚀 Google Ads Brand Awareness

Demand Gen has quietly become your new superpower

Demand Gen isn't new, but Google has been refining it and is pushing it much harder. After extensive testing over peak, I can confidently say that Demand Gen is now a genuinely strong part of the Google Ads mix, following recent improvements. If you're not familiar with it, it is a bit like Meta Reach campaign with a similar brand awareness goal - using a combination of images, video and product feeds. 

When used properly, it:

➡️ Builds demand earlier in the journey

➡️ Increases brand awareness and assisted conversions

➡️ Supports stronger performance further down the funnel

And guess what? It even sells! With one client, we managed a ROAS of over 2.5 - unheard of for a brand awareness campaign, where you are after eyeballs, not sales. 

Where I saw the biggest impact was when Demand Gen is launched well ahead of peak periods, warming audiences and driving familiarity before Search and PMax costs spike. Reach results are often hard to quantify, but the correlation between improved results across the board and the start of Demand Gen cannot be ignored. 



👉 Tip: If you are setting up Demand Gen for the first time, make sure you use all asset types available: video, copy, images and products. You can set up ads for product feed only, images and video. Use them all. And start on a minimum of £30 per day if you can. 

💰 TOP TIP: AOV (Average Order Value)



If you only focus on one thing this quarter, make it increasing your AOV. Raising AOV is hands down one of the most effective ways to improve ad profitability, without touching budgets.

Even small increases in AOV can have a huge impact on your profitability. Things worth experimenting with now to pull your AOV up: 

➡️ Lowering your free delivery threshold slightly to encourage add-ons

➡️ Cross-selling and upselling on product pages and at checkout

➡️ Bundles that solve a problem rather than “save money”

This isn’t about being aggressive – it’s about making it easier for customers to spend a bit more when intent is already there.

👉 Better AOV = more profitable ad accounts.

Need help putting these updates into action? Get in touch via the Contact page.