Most ecommerce businesses account for 40 percent of their sales during holiday season. People are looking for gifts, furniture, electronics, jewelry and almost everything. In the shiny shopping fiesta, how can you attract relevant
web traffic to your website and boost sales?
There are various tactics to attract audience like offering gift cards, promotional items, discounts, oversea free shipping and many more.
It is important to plan ahead of time for Holidays to capture larger portion of ecommerce holiday sales.
UPCOMING HOLIDAYS
Below is a chart of holidays which record most sales in the year from ecommerce websites. In this way, you can plan Ecommerce Website Holiday Season Sales to increase Profits.
Green Monday -
December 9th – Green Monday is the last Monday prior to Christmas. It is usually a shipping cut off by most outlets to send standard shipped packages to customer before Christmas.
Free Shipping Day -
December 22nd – Free Shipping Day is a one-day event held annually in mid-December (this year it is December 18th).
Super Saturday -
December 22nd – Super Saturday is the last Saturday before Christmas, a chief day of revenue for American retailers, pointing an end of shopping season starts on Black Friday. Super Saturday is best for last-minute shoppers.
How to develop HOLIDAY Ecommerce Strategy to target potential customers?
Follow the steps and you will be capturing most of your targeted audience during Ecommerce Website Holiday Season Sales:
Pin down the Holidays for offers
Pick out all the holidays you are targeting in the year based on your customer-need analysis. It is essential to do that in advance so that you can start promotion in time. Remember it is better to target customer specific holidays keeping in mind the competitors’ strategy. So, a balanced attack where competition is acceptable compared to expected sales.
It is important to start advertising your holiday offers 2-3 months in advance. Google trends in the last year showed ecommerce sells for Christmas starting in August. Therefore, the sooner the better is the step ahead for targeting a holiday.
Holiday Calendar
Maintain a holiday targeting calendar to organize your activities without a miss. Some of the basic points you must add to your calendar are:
- Banner Publishing date for your ecommerce website
- Promotional E-mailing date
- Ecommerce holiday update date for your ecommerce website design
- Last few days email notice before closing holiday campaign
- Closing sales campaign date
Try to use simple calendar while presenting your data. It is preferable to use online calendar as they offer quick access from your smartphone, laptop, desktop, tv, etc. with an add-on alarm feature.
Be Creative: Offer Return options with various Payment modes
Your customers appreciate extra benefits and security features during holiday season. Offering various modes of payment facilitates sales for your ecommerce site. Higher flexibility and
liberalization of return policy and payments gives your customer a vital mental security as they purchase gifts for a beloved. Some people might be ready to pay a few extra bucks for this return assurance.
- Try adding more facilitates to your visitor to increase conversion rate
- Add more payment options
- Try a limited time return policy as most purchases are gifts
Decide appropriate Marketing Channel
Every ecommerce business is focusing on different needs of a customers and the right channel to reach them is different. For Example, the likelihood of a customer following Facebook advertisement is more as compared to pay per click in case of buying watches.
Different Marketing channels with the type of customers they attract
Blog Posting: It helps in attracting new visitors to your store by using SEO strategies. Conversion of visitors to buyers depends on your ecommerce website presentation, ease of use, and other factors.
E-mail Marketing: It invites your existing customers to browse through your new product collection. It costs less than PPC and produces higher results if you have a wide customer base.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)/ Google Adwords: You can attract new audience using PPC but during holiday season you might have to increase your investments and bid higher. Target words like, “Free Shipping”, “Holiday Sale”, “Black Friday”, and “Cyber Monday”.
Facebook Ads: You can focus your ads to specific group of people based on age, gender and other demographics through Facebook ads.
Social Media: You can use software like Buffer to spread awareness about new offers on your ecommerce website. Schedule appropriate number of post on different social media channels.
Retargeting: It is most effective during holiday season as people feel nostalgic. You can use Google ads and Facebook Ads to re-target your previous customers creating a brand image.
EXECUTION OF PLANNED STRATEGIES
Emails: Gather your list and create an attractive email to target your present customers.
- You can track your email efforts using Klaviyo email platform.
- Remember to add your ad copy.
- Write short, strong and compelling advertisement.
- Get professional help if you need to from GoWebBaby expert.
Blog Content: Attractive and holiday seasoned blogs make your ecommerce look welcoming and attractive.
- Optimize your content for copywriting.
- Add fun holiday images.
- Connect to your audience sharing holiday memories and fit in your products.
Landing Page: Optimize your landing pages according to holidays where your customers can feel a change in your ecommerce website. It is a promotional tactic which is well known for boosting conversion rate.
Design and Graphical advertisements: Publish your creativity using the art of designing on your ecommerce website. Add special decoration in your emails, promotional banners, Facebook and Twitter pages showing that you are celebrating the holiday with joy. It touches emotional side of the customer and boost sales.
Track changes in your Growth
Guessing game is a big NO-NO for ecommerce websites.
Analyze the progress of your strategies and consequences of your actions using analytical tools.
Track customers coming from various marketing strategies to discover which works best for you.
Tools: Google analytics, and UTM (Urchin Tracking Module).
Update, Change and Optimize to increase sales
Based on your study and research analysis, track the strategies which are working best for your ecommerce business and invest in them. Eliminate the strategies which are not producing desired sales.
Continue auditing the effect of your plans and
studying the performance of your ecommerce website.
START MAKING YOUR CALENDAR FOR 2015!
Conclusion
Update your holiday calendar regularly and target different holidays to attract different customers. Dynamic working is essential while planning a holiday game on your ecommerce portal. Make the best sales in the year by targeting appropriate number of holidays.
