November is here! For all intents and purposes, that pretty much means that the holiday shopping is underway. Generally speaking, the day after Halloween is when two months of holiday excitement begins. As an e-retailer, it’s important that you join in on the growing holiday spirit. Specifically, you should immediately take steps to promote your online store to ensure your business has a successful holiday season.
Improve your website navigation.
The majority of online shoppers – no matter the time of year – want quick and easy shopping experiences. If your e-commerce site offers any delays or holdups in completing the purchase process, it will likely endure numerous abandonments. Update your site to ensure it is mobile friendly. Work out any possible kinks to enable holiday shoppers to easily locate and purchase what they’re looking for.
“When you help your customers find the products they’re looking for, you increase their chances of converting, especially during the holiday season,” affirms Shane Barker for MoEngage, “To make things easier, you can consider adding a new holiday category tab. Use clickable banners and imagery on the homepage to guide customers towards campaigns of Black Friday sales, Christmas combos, New Year specials, and more.”
Prioritize customer service.
Although this is a year-round requirement, it’s imperative that you make your customers feel special. Be sure to highlight ways in which your website’s visitors can receive immediate service from one of your company representatives. Your contact information should include your phone number, email address and even an option to use a live chat feature. The quicker the service, the better your customers will feel. Making customers happy leads to greater sales.
“As the number of shoppers and purchases increase, so do the questions,” stresses Caroline Cox of the digital marketing agency, HawkSEM, “You don’t want to run the risk of an unhappy customer — or a negative online review. Especially since we know that research shows it’s cheaper to retain existing customers than attract new ones, e-commerce customer service is especially important around the holidays.”
Promote limited time offers.
The holiday season is a special time of year. It makes sense to offer your customers something special when they visit your company website. By “special”, we mean “exclusive”. We’re talking “Save 30% if you purchase within the next hour” type of exclusive. As Barker points out, limited time offers help retailers boost their sales while still maintaining their brand image.
“The holiday season is known for deep discounts and special offers,” he writes, “Many companies even reduce their profit margin in order to increase sales and boost brand awareness...Use enticing phrases like ‘Deal of the Day’ or ‘Deal of the Hour’ to remind customers about these special offers. You can also use a timer that shows them how much time they have if they want to grab the deal.”
Is your business all set up with an e-commerce site?
Don’t lose out on maximizing your holiday sales! You can seamlessly integrate Unity Payments’ online payment gateway into your website or mobile application to facilitate secure credit card transactions. To learn more, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca!
