From Double 11 and Black Friday to the year-end shopping season, this period represents a key sales season for beauty brands. However, peak-season marketing should not wait until November to begin. September and October are a crucial warm-up period for brands to acquire new customers, test audiences, and build purchase intent ahead of the peak season.
Looking at market trends in the second half of the year, CPM and CPA tend to remain relatively lower in September and October, while CVR performs better. As competition intensifies in November, media costs may rise accordingly. Brands can therefore use the pre-peak warm-up period to build audiences and test creatives in advance, then scale conversions during Double 11 and the year-end shopping season.
How Do Beauty Consumer Needs Differ Between September–October and November–December?
| Sep–Oct Warm-Up Period | Nov–Dec Peak Season | |
| Key Audience | Beauty enthusiasts aged 18–40, predominantly female | Gift-set collectors, partygoers, and existing customers |
| Consumer Needs | Seasonal skincare, new shade trials, KOL recommendations | Gifting, limited-edition products, and festive needs |
| Key Products | Fall/winter base makeup, warm-toned lip colors, hydrating serums & masks | Festive makeup, limited-edition gift sets, and value-size skincare |
| Purchase Drivers | Seasonal changes, shade trials, KOL recommendations, and trying new products | Limited-edition collections, discounts, gifting, and stocking up |
| Purchase Journey | Relatively short and easily influenced by ads and content | Relatively long, as consumers may wait for promotional periods |
The focus in September and October is not simply to launch promotions early. Instead, brands can leverage new product launches, product trials, and content-driven recommendations to build product awareness and develop a pool of potential customers ahead of the peak season.
Acquire New Customers + Engage Existing Customers to Build Your Peak-Season Audience Early
During the peak-season warm-up period, brands can engage both new and existing customers simultaneously.
For new customer acquisition, brands can test women aged 18–40 alongside AI-powered interest audiences, Lookalike Audiences based on high-value customers, recent visitors who browsed but did not purchase, and KOL-related audiences. This helps identify high-potential consumer segments ahead of the peak season.
For existing customers, audiences can be segmented based on purchase recency. For example, customers who purchased within the past 30–60 days can be targeted for repeat purchases, while those who purchased within the past 15–30 days can be cross-sold with relevant products.
Brands are also advised to maintain an Always-on advertising strategy to continuously accumulate platform learning and consumer signals, rather than concentrating the entire budget on a single major sales event.
Leverage Meta Advertising Solutions to Shorten the Beauty Purchase Decision Journey
Beauty consumers often make quick purchase decisions after discovering a product, are highly influenced by KOL recommendations, and tend to purchase multiple products. Brands can therefore use different ad formats to reduce barriers to purchase. For example, Advantage+ and Catalog Ads can recommend relevant products based on consumers’ browsing and purchase history, while Partnership Ads can amplify KOL content such as shade trials, product reviews, and authentic usage experiences.
For new customers, brands can also offer first-purchase incentives, trial sets, and new product showcases. Brands with physical retail channels can further leverage omnichannel advertising to strengthen the online-to-offline purchase journey.
4 Key Creative Directions for Beauty Marketing Content
For peak-season warm-up campaigns, brands can prioritize testing four key creative directions:
- Product Efficacy: Before-and-after makeup results, wear tests, and hydration results
- Promotional Offers: First-purchase trial sets, seasonal promotions, and member-exclusive offers
- Reviews & Recommendations: KOL shade trials, makeup tutorials, and product comparisons
- Authentic User Content: Micro-influencer and real-user reviews, featuring experiences across different skin types
As beauty products rely heavily on visual presentation, brands can prioritize short-form videos and Reels under 15 seconds to quickly showcase product results and usage scenarios, making it easier for consumers to understand the product.
Start Early to Maximize Your Peak-Season Budget
Success during the peak beauty season depends not only on how much brands spend on advertising in November, but more importantly on whether they have prepared their audiences, products, and creatives in advance.
By acquiring new customers, testing creatives, and building retargeting audiences throughout September and October, brands can scale conversions more efficiently during Double 11 and the year-end shopping season—ensuring that peak-season budgets are focused on consumers with genuine purchase potential.
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Source: Meta
