December is here and this can only mean one thing for businessmen everywhere: one of the busiest and most profitable holidays of the year are about to start! These holidays are probably the best time to earn some extra bucks with your store, especially if you run an online store. Why? Because people hate to shop in crowded Christmas-y stores and are growing accustomed to order their gifts online.
Of course, you’ve surely started preparing for these holidays months ago (as you should). But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t more time to tweak a thing or two in your store to boost your online sales. Taking advantage of some online marketing tips for Christmas, you could certainly make a difference and give your profits a little bump which you’ll be able to call “your own personal gift”. Want to know how? Here you go!
1 – Try your hand at festive branding
Let the holiday spirits take over your store! Consumers love to shop in stores that show their personality as well as their love for the holidays. How can your store do this? Have fun with your logo design and your website as a whole: use Holiday colors and graphics to dress your site and don’t forget to set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts to look festive as well!
The idea is simple: get noticed and show you care!
2 – Think who your holiday audience is – and target it!
Although it is very important for you to define your target audience as soon as your store goes online, you can always make a few adjustments to your marketing strategy to make it appealing for a wider/different audience. Thus, you can think of special coupons, online wishlists and personalized emails. Besides, remember that many young people (up to 70%!) self-gift during this season, so be sure you address the younger generation if it’s appropriate for your store.
3 – Start a Holiday sale and create special offers
It’s true that discounts and special offers might attract the kind of people that aren’t loyal to the brand but rather to the idea of paying less. However, the holidays are a very competitive time when everyone offers some sort of discount to attract people. Don’t be left out! Prepare a series of offers so you can refresh your site with them on a regular basis. Thus, people will come back over and over to learn about new discounts. Also, make sure your email subscription form is up-to-date and visible since you might get new visitors or returning ones that haven’t seen your store in a while. Finally, you can also promote your deals via text messages or apps like Whatsapp just by asking people to subscribe through their mobile devices.
4 – Encourage social connection with your consumers
A proper social strategy can go a long way, especially in this time of year. That’s why you should pay special attention to your social channels. What can you do with them? Create a holiday hashtag and ask people to share images or videos of their holiday decor and reviews of the products they’ve bought to go along with it. Make surprise deals for your friends and followers but don’t force them to like or retweet your content: just make the deal appealing so they spread the word naturally. Finally, mark the most important dates on your calendar since you’ll have to be more active those days. Which days are those? All of them, especially the final three leading to Christmas Eve.
5 – Include Christmas-y content
If you know something about search engine optimization, you’ll probably know that updating your site’s content from time to time helps keeping it relevant for search algorithms while also making the site feel fresher for returning visitors. This is more important during these holidays since tweaking your product descriptions and blog posts with more Christmas-y terms can make your store more visible for search engines. From Xmas to Christmas cards, trees and decorations, you can overhaul any content with these terms.
6 – Wrap it all up nicely!
One of the most neglected aspects in most online stores is packaging. After all, who cares about the box when what’s inside is what’s important? Well, stores that do care about them do so because they know a little secret: packages are handled and seen by many people before reaching their final destination. If your packages are unique and can draw people’s attention, they’ll be remembered. Thus, making a good exterior is very important to make your customers excited and intrigue the ‘innocent bystanders’. Just remember to put your logo and web address on the outside to give them something to look for!
7 – Offer more payment options
Although this advice is appropriate for any time of the year, it becomes critical during the holiday season. Many online stores just offer consumers credit card payments which are fine but far too restrictive. People love to keep it simple and fast while shopping online so they’ll always turn for the most convenient option, especially during holiday time (when people are constantly rushing). Just having PayPal as an alternative might change your store’s scenario for good. That’s because it has 150 million active users around the world who prefer to click a couple of times to make the purchase rather than input a lengthy credit card number.
8 – Clarify your shipping, refund and return policy
This is another timeless advice you can follow right now: making the rules clear for your customers can give them the confidence they need to make the purchase. Laying out your shipping timelines, providing detailed information about shipment methods and warranties, having an updated FAQ and outlining your returns and refunds policy in the simplest of manners is decisive for many customers. Besides, having all that information will make your store look more professional and trustworthy
9 – Don’t do it alone!
When the holiday season comes many store owners end up being overwhelmed by the huge to-do list they have to face. Just take a look at the list in this article and imagine how much time you’ll have to put to do everything on your own! That’s why sometimes is smart to hire temporary help that can lend you a hand with the aspects in which you aren’t skilled. Freelance writers and designers can really boost the content on your site and social networks while you focus on management. The same can be said about packaging and delivering. Just think about it as an investment: doing the right things will surely increase your store’s traffic and will ultimately result in more sales that will help you pay the freelance assistance.
10 – Make the holidays worthwhile for someone else
Finally, it’s important to remember that this season is all about giving and caring about others. Thus, your store can provide products, volunteers or even money to a charity or cause of your choice. Just pick a relevant cause for your brand, start helping and encourage your costumers to do the same via your social channels. You won’t only be respected and trusted by your customers for having a social conscience – you’ll also be giving something back, which will make you feel great!
As you can see, there are several things you can start doing today to boost your store and have a wonderful, profitable holiday.
