The holiday season is here, and that means a flurry of shoppers looking to find the perfect gift. That also means it’s a busy time of year for e-commerce businesses. Whether you’re a big brand or just starting out online, here are some tips to make sure your online store is ready for the Christmas rush:
Make sure your website is performing well
If you’re going to spend all that time promoting your website to get sales, you better make sure that your website can handle them!
It’s sensible to run a bunch of tests to ensure that not only the site performs as it should and there are no errors along the way, but that the user experience is also a pleasant one! While people are busy stressing over what to buy loved ones for Christmas, they don’t want to have a confusing website, or that will frustrate them more.
Ensure you have dedicated landing pages for different categories (this will help your ad campaigns too), and a search function which works intuitively.
If you feel that your website is running slow, then definitely invest in a professional to help you optimise your site as you do not want to be wasting valuable opportunities at this time of year. They should also ensure that your security is up to scratch too, so this gives buyers confidence in your online store.
Update opening hours and delivery windows
Get the word out to your buyers that you’re open for business! This means utilising social media and email marketing to your advantage.
Be really clear about your opening times, both online and if you have a physical store and what the last date is they need to order to get their gifts in time for Christmas. We’d also give it some extra days for good measure due to those annoying Royal Mail strikes.
Make sure this date is very clear on the website and all your social channels to avoid disappointment. It is also wise to update your refund/returns policy, as well as your delivery policy so people understand how you will operate around the Christmas period and what happens if they do not receive their gifts on time.
Get festive
Everyone loves coming to an e-commerce store that’s decorated in the theme of that holiday period, and Christmas is the one time of the year where they expect it.
How soon is too soon to get festive? Well, that one is always up for debate, but we say that as soon as it hits December, you’re pretty safe to do it without anyone getting too offended.
If you have a physical store, try to decorate them both in a similar style, so you can have a consistent brand.
If you don’t have time to create a festive photoshoot with your products, you can get creative with Photoshop! Or at least decorate the rest of the website! Plus, you can save that version of the website and just bring it out every year, saving you money on future web development costs!
Not sure about promotions? We feel you. This year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday has received a lot of backlash. But, with the cost of living crisis, we think that people will still appreciate a nice offer that will save them money. You can still be tasteful with it.
Create a Gift Guide
A nice idea is to create a gift guide, especially for different categories. This is a great way for shoppers to get quick inspiration. You can do yours in the form of a web page for reach, or even as a PDF too so it’s easily shareable.
Just make sure that each gift links back to your chosen product on the website, making it super easy for your customers to make the purchase.
You can also do this with social media too, so you can integrate the shopping experience without them needing to leave the platform.
Use Christmas hashtags and trending topics on social media
There are two ways to use hashtags and trending topics on social media to promote your products. The first is to simply use them as a form of communication, so that people who are interested in talking about Christmas can find you and purchase something from your store.
The second way is more involved—and it’s what we’ll be discussing here. By using hashtags related to Christmas as a part of your marketing strategy, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience than just people who want to talk about Christmas. In addition, because it’s currently trending online, this type of hashtag can help build buzz around one specific product or service rather than being spread out among various products and services like most traditional advertising strategies would suggest (at least until those other ones become popular enough).
When working with these types of hashtags, however, remember not only the number but also the tone: don’t overdo it! Just because there’s an entire month dedicated towards promoting something doesn’t mean that every single post needs its own unique hashtag; instead, just include one or two relevant ones at most per post (since there will already be plenty of other posts being shared throughout this time period).
And make sure not only that they fit well within their context but also are appropriate for anyone else who may see them—you wouldn’t want anyone else getting confused between what yours means versus another person using theirs when they’re actually talking about something entirely different!
Run a 12 days of Christmas
Lots of brands like doing a 12 days of Christmas countdown and there’s no set time for when you need to do it either. You can use this time to perhaps promote 12 key products you’re selling, or even run promotions on each day, which creates that sense of urgency to drive sales.
Alternatively, you can run a giveaway across those 12 days and drive traffic to your website as well as growing your social media following at the same time.
Make your customers feel special
At the end of the day, this e-commerce website shopping experience should be all about your customers rather than yourself. So, you need to make them feel special.
This means, in all of your comms, make sure you take the personal approach, rather than a spammy one. Everyone knows that people send out marketing emails, but if it’s personalised to you and perhaps even suggests products based on your past orders, then this will more likely convert to sales.
Why don’t you add a loyalty scheme if you don’t already have one? And if you do, offer bonus points on Christmas purchases. This is another way to get around feeling dirty when doing promotions.
Conclusion
We know that you need to make money from your e-commerce store, but it’s a tough world out there right now. So, we hope this e-commerce guide to Christmas will help you come up with some ideas that will work for your own store.
However, if you ever need any help, you know where to find us!