It’s finally December and depending on your last posting dates (more on that later) there are about three weeks of Christmas shopping madness left.
Some have criticised the growth of Black Friday and Cyber Monday for cannibalising sales that used to come in December, but that doesn’t mean that sales have to steadily decline for the rest of the year. Most people - including us! - haven't started thinking about our Christmas shopping yet, so what you do this week can dramatically affect your year-end bottom line.
- We’ve listed our top seven tips to ensure your sales continue to grow throughout December:
- Cart Abandon & Order Confirmation Emails - Add a juicy promo code to your order confirmation emails to see if you can get customers to buy again or return before Christmas. Change the messaging on your cart abandonment emails to remind users there is a time limit on your Christmas offers.
- Discounts on Over-stocked Products - People want great discounts and if you get it right, you can rack up massive sales very quickly. Pick products where you have lots of stock and good margins.
- Boost Your Servers - If you get your marketing right you can expect a big jump in site traffic. Make sure your servers are ready for the onslaught.
- Paid Search - Optimise your ad copy and increase your bid prices to ensure you get the biggest share pre-Christmas traffic (but don’t forget to turn down your bids after Christmas Day or you may end up paying too much for a large share of non-converting visitors.
- Christmas Decorations & Messaging - Does your email, site and social media content offer a consistent message? Have you added some 'christmas decoration' to your normal site imagery?
- Up-sell Your Postage Options - Can you offer guaranteed delivery after everybody else? Can you offer Saturday delivery? Use all your delivery options to your advantage. Running a last minute offer on express delivery may be the difference between an online sale, or your customer going elsewhere.
- Is your last posting date prominent all over your website? Many of your customers - from emails, PPC, SEO, referral - will land on product pages and category pages. Having the last posting dates on your delivery details page, or your home page isn't enough.
Have a great Christmas and let’s go for a coffee in the New Year.
The Moneyspyder Team
