Why the holiday might be one of your most efficient sales of the year.

July 4th promotions are far from ubiquitous. Plenty of our clients have never run one, and others opted out this year for one reason or another. That made us curious enough to dig into the data and answer a simple question: is the juice worth the squeeze?

Spoiler alert — we think it is.

A Cheaper Auction, Top to Bottom

Unlike Memorial Day or Black Friday, July 4th tends to be a quieter time in the ad auction. Because not every brand runs a sale during this window, you're competing against fewer offers — and that competition (or lack of it) shows up directly in your costs.

When we reviewed the data across our client accounts, the numbers held up:

— CPCs ran 12 cents lower than Memorial Day and 4 cents lower than the Q2 average.

— Cost per add-to-cart came in below both Memorial Day and Q2 averages.

— Cost per purchase was 15–20% lower than Memorial Day and 20–25% lower than the Q2 average.

While conversion rate isn't quite as strong as it is during Memorial Day, average order value tends to run higher. That, combined with a more efficient auction, means you can drive real revenue impact using less spend. In other words, there’s a real case for adding a July 4th to your promotional calendar.

A Different Kind of Customer

Cost efficiency is only half the story. The bigger surprise in the data was who actually shows up to buy.

When we compared July 4th to other major sale periods, returning customer rate was noticeably higher. Where Memorial Day and Black Friday tend to pull in more new, on-the-fence shoppers, July 4th is an opportunity to re-engage the customers who already love your brand.

A few ways to lean into that dynamic:

— Reward loyal customers with email-exclusive promotions instead of a blanket sitewide discount.

— Offer curated discounts on add-ons or accessory products that pair naturally with what they've already bought.

— Provide free shipping as a low-cost, high-perceived-value thank-you to repeat buyers.

Running these offers as email exclusives also frees up your paid media budget to do what it does best during this window: reach lapsed or brand-new customers, who happen to be less expensive to target right now than during other promotional periods.

The Bottom Line

Lower costs across the funnel, a more loyal customer base ready to re-engage, and less competition standing in your way — July 4th checks a lot of boxes that other sale periods can't. It won't replace Memorial Day or Black Friday, but it doesn't have to. Treated as its own moment, with its own strategy, it can be one of the more efficient sale periods on your calendar.