Marketing KPIs: May 2025 Trends

May 2025 Marketing Trends

Trend #1: How Can Brands Respond to Lower Conversion Rates?

Many brands are finding it increasingly challenging to drive conversions. Online conversion rates declined from an average of 2.24% in May 2024 to 1.99% in May 2025, a 0.25 percentage point decrease. While a few days in early May showed slight improvements, they were outweighed by lower conversion rates later in the month. Most of the decline occurred in the second half of May, with 18 days showing a drop greater than 0.3%.

How can brands respond to declining conversion rates?

Audit Mid-to-Late May Campaigns

• Compare messaging, targeting, and traffic sources to May 2024.
• Evaluate promotions and value propositions against competitors and previous years.

Re-engage Returning Users

• Analyze returning users, particularly those who did not convert.
• Consider retargeting campaigns or personalized offers to re-engage and reactivate existing customers.

Segment Performance Analysis

• Break down conversion rates by traffic source (organic, paid, email, etc.) and device type.
• Identify shifts in user behavior (e.g., bounce rate, time on site) to uncover underperforming segments.

A/B Test Key Pages

• Run A/B tests on landing pages with high traffic but low conversion in May 2025 to identify optimization opportunities.

Trend #2: Integrating Postcards and Direct Mail into the Customer Journey

In an increasingly digital landscape, physical touchpoints like postcards and direct mail offer brands a powerful way to stand out and deepen customer engagement. When strategically integrated into the customer journey, these tactile channels can drive conversions, build loyalty, and reactivate lapsed customers.

For first-time buyers, a well-timed postcard can reinforce brand trust and encourage repeat purchases. A personalized thank-you note, or a follow-up offer delivered by mail adds a human touch that digital channels often lack. This physical reminder keeps the brand top-of-mind and can significantly increase customer lifetime value.

Direct mail is also highly effective for reactivation campaigns. Dormant customers often ignore emails. However, a compelling postcard, featuring a limited-time offer or personalized message, can reignite interest. With modern data tools, brands can segment audiences and trigger mail based on behavior, such as time since last purchase or cart abandonment.

Moreover, direct mail integrates seamlessly with digital strategies. QR codes, personalized URLs, and trackable phone numbers allow marketers to measure response rates and accurately attribute ROI. When used in tandem with email, SMS, and social media, direct mail enhances omnichannel cohesion and reinforces messaging across touchpoints.

In a world of fleeting digital impressions, postcards and direct mail offer a tangible, memorable experience. For marketing executives seeking to optimize the customer journey, these tools are not just nostalgic; they’re strategic.

Trend #3: Tactile Branding: The Feel That Seals the Deal

In an era dominated by digital screens, the physicality of direct mail offers a powerful, and often underutilized, branding opportunity: touch. Tactile branding leverages the sensory experience of print to create emotional connections, enhance recall, and drive consumer action.

Why Touch Matters

Retailers are rediscovering the value of texture, weight, and finish in their mail pieces. A soft-touch coating, embossed logo, or heavyweight cardstock doesn’t just look premium, it feels premium. That sensory cue can subconsciously signal quality, trust, and attention to detail, influencing how recipients perceive the brand. Studies show that physical touch activates the brain’s somatosensory cortex, making tactile experiences more memorable than digital ones.

USPS Incentives

The U.S. Postal Service is encouraging this trend through its 2025 Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Mail Piece Promotion, offering a 5% postage discount for eligible First-Class and Marketing Mail campaigns that incorporate tactile elements like textured papers, scent, sound, or interactive folds. This incentive not only reduces costs but also rewards creativity and innovation in print.

Creative Applications

Tactile branding opens the door to creative storytelling. Think textured paper that mimics fabric for a fashion brand, or a scratch-and-sniff element for a gourmet food retailer. These small touches can turn a simple postcard into a multisensory brand moment. As digital fatigue grows, the tangible becomes a differentiator.

Trend #4: Consumer Confidence Rebounds in May 2025

After five consecutive months of decline, U.S. consumer confidence rebounded sharply in May 2025, signaling renewed optimism among households. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 98.0, up from 85.7 in April, driven by improved perceptions of current conditions and a more hopeful outlook for the next six months.

This rebound was broad-based, cutting across age, income, and political lines. Younger consumers under 35 led the surge, buoyed by strong job prospects and income expectations. Middle-income households also showed significant gains, likely reflecting relief from inflationary pressures and a more stable interest rate environment. Even among typically more cautious older adults and lower-income groups, confidence improved at a more modest pace.

The Expectations Index, which gauges short-term sentiment, jumped 17.4 points to 72.8. While still below the 80-point threshold often associated with recession risk, the increase suggests growing consumer resilience. Contributing factors include a pause in certain tariffs on Chinese imports and a rebound in stock market expectations, with 44% of consumers anticipating rising equity prices.

Despite the positive momentum, concerns linger. Inflation remains elevated, and the long-term impact of high interest rates continues to weigh on housing affordability and credit access. Still, the May data offers a hopeful signal that consumers are adapting to the evolving economic landscape.

Trend #5: The Rise of the “Three-in-One-Economy”

Why Multifunctionality is the New Luxury

What’s Happening
In 2025, consumers are embracing products that do more—combining form, function, and flexibility. From skincare that doubles as makeup to appliances that serve triple duty, versatility is the new status symbol. Blame inflation. Or hybrid living. Or the dopamine rush of optimization. Either way, more people are asking: “What else can this do for me?”

The shift, dubbed the “three-in-one” economy, reflects a desire for self-optimization in the face of economic uncertainty and hybrid lifestyles.

Why It Matters
Value-conscious doesn’t mean cheap. It means intentional. Multifunctional products promise simplicity, savings, and a smarter life—and that hits hard with Gen Z and millennial shoppers. The brands winning in this space aren’t just offering utility—they’re telling a story of empowerment and efficiency.
The “lipstick effect” is also at play, where consumers indulge in small luxury purchases that offer multiple benefits.

J.Schmid POV
We’ve said it before: creativity drives commerce. But in this economy, versatility closes the deal. Brands that communicate how their product fits more moments in life create deeper desire and stronger sales. Don’t just sell a product. Sell a better way to live.

What to do
Innovate, Strategize, and Collaborate. Innovate products that meet this increasing consumer demand for multiple functions. Implement a marketing strategy that highlights these multifunctional aspects in your campaigns, and collaborate with influencers who fit within your brand lifestyle to gain further awareness.

Read more on Business Insider.

Marketing KPIs: May 2025 Trends by Company Revenue