The holidays are upon us once again, and everyone will be flocking to shopping malls and find meaningful gifts for their loved ones. Yet this will also mean overcrowded car parks, jam-packed aisles, and endless checkout lines, not to mention braving through heavy traffic and carrying bulky boxes and bags through multiple stores. That’s why, for most people, the happiest time of the year is also the most stressful time for shopping.
This is where your ecommerce shop steps in. Online shopping offers a great alternative for shoppers who can’t stand the long lines and huge crowds in shopping malls. They just simply need to browse through your site at the comfort of their own home and receive their purchases at a particular date.
It’s a win-win situation for both consumers and business owners: your customers can do their Christmas shopping without the usual stress and hassle. In turn, the holidays give you the perfect opportunity to generate more sales.
Take a Look at the Numbers
eMarketer suggests that 67.4%of U.S. consumers prefer to do their shopping online during the holiday season, to the benefit of business owners. In fact, RJ Metrics found that
the days from Black Friday to Christmas were able to generate 50 to 100% more revenue than other shopping days throughout the year. Adobe Digital Index also found that last year’s Cyber Monday became the largest sales day in history, bringing in a total of $3 billion in online sales.
Where do people do online shopping, though? Custora says that 72% of ecommerce customers still prefer making their purchases on their desktop computers, though this number is gradually decreasing. Consequently, purchases made through smartphones are seeing a gradual increase: its share was 19% in 2015, compared to 13% in 2014.
Just how much is spent on online shopping? In 2012 alone, consumers spent over $42.3 billion online during November and December. This number is expected to grow in the next few years, particularly this holiday season.
Where to Start?
All these numbers suggest that the holiday season is the most important season to generate more sales. In fact, this is the season where online shops gain most of their annual revenue. With this in mind, your end goal should be to get the most people to buy from your online shop. The question is: how?
Time to Review Your Analytics
Before you put a lot of effort on enticing visitors into making a purchase, you should first make sure that visitors can find their way into your online shop.
Start by reviewing your analytics from previous holiday seasons, then look for particular trends in incoming search keywords, top categories or brands, and popular on-site search terms, among others. From the analytics, you can determine which keywords are converting and which ones aren’t.
During this time, you should also begin increasing your social presence. Almost half of marketers plan on making use of their social media profiles to promote their products and share holiday deals. You must also make sure that your website is working at its optimum performance, and the purchasing process will go without a hitch.
Entice New and Old Customers
Now that you’ve increased your efforts in making your online shop found easily, it’s time to entice your visitors into making a purchase. There are lots of strategies that you can implement for the holiday season.
Time Your Campaign Themes
Start your holiday-themed campaign during Hanukkah and Thanksgiving, then put particular emphasis on your ecommerce shop during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Green Monday.
You may even want to give out discount coupons during these days: as Parago puts it, 92% of shoppers are always on the lookout for online discounts, especially during Cyber Monday. Don’t underestimate the power of coupons and promotions, since these can have a huge influence on holiday purchases.
Welcome Your Returning Customers
People will be looking all over the Internet when looking for the perfect gift. Chances are, they’ve already seen your website and have taken their pick on products that caught their eyes, though they haven’t decided yet on which ones to purchase and left your website to look for other gift ideas.
You can make the process easier for them, while also encouraging them to make a purchase, by showing them the products they’ve already viewed. This way, your visitors no longer need to go through the website all over again. This time, they might even be more than willing to make a purchase on your online shop.
Nudge Hesitant Buyers
Other buyers are harder to please, but there are ways that you can encourage them to make a purchase. You can first earn their trust by including trust seals into your website. You can also make yourself available for any questions they may have through live chats. Finally, you can offer last-minute deals to make their purchases even more worth it.
Make Them Buy Again
Don’t assume that your relationship with your customers ends once a purchase has been made. Keep in mind that they are likely to buy again in the near future, so encourage them to sign up for your newsletter and follow your business on your social media channels. You can even make their next purchase even sweeter by giving them a discount coupon.
Send E-mails
Though it’s important to increase your presence on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, don’t forget to invest on email marketing as well. In fact, email marketing yields a higher conversion rate compared to search and social combined!
Strategies like sending “we miss you” emails, abandonment emails, and follow-up emails are indispensable in going after more customers, especially those who failed to complete a purchase.
Get In the Christmas Spirit!
Right now, you may be asking, “how can I generate success for
my business venture this holiday season?” Other than these tips, you can also go to experts specializing in helping home-based businesses like yours with cutting-edge technology. With their help, your business can generate more sales and foster relationships with new customers – a perfect Christmas gift for your business, indeed!
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