If retail stores think the holiday season needs a lot of prep, they have no clue how much an online retailer must do – especially in a post-pandemic world where online shopping is now the norm. There are Black Friday sales to think of, Cyber Mondays, and finally all the promotions leading up to Christmas.
Offering a poor customer experience during this crucial time of the year is a no-no. It’s something they are unlikely to forget for a long time. Thankfully the right kind of prep will help you make the most of the busiest time of the year. Read on for our top tips on how to prep your online store for Christmas.
1. The Backend Stuff:
The last thing you want is for your website to get so busy that it crashes. Days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are particularly big days to prep for. Analyse your traffic from the previous year to see what kind of traffic spikes you had, look at your growth, and crunch some numbers to see if your website can handle your estimated traffic this year. Speak to your website host to make sure your website is ready.
2. Update the Look
Get into the festive spirit by updating the look of your website. You don’t have to give your website a complete overhaul, but even special holiday banners can make a world of a difference. Additionally, creating specialized landing pages for your ads can help push conversion rates. Consider building pages targeting gifting too. For example, pages like ‘Christmas Gifts for Her’, or ‘Christmas Gifts for Your Boyfriend’ can help you highlight specific products you want to push.
Make sure your website is optimized for mobile viewing too. Many shoppers browse while they are on the go.
3. Plan Your Ad Campaigns
If you have used social media advertisements before, now is the time to get deep into analysing them to see what worked and what didn’t. Make sure you budget enough to push your store as you will be competing in a crowded market for keywords. Make sure your ad campaigns include a retargeting strategy too to get through to an indecisive customer.
Email marketing campaigns are a great promotional tool at this time of the year too, especially if you can base it off your existing customer database. They are less likely to gloss over an enticing email at this time of the year as everyone is on the lookout for bargains.
4. Increase Your Social Media Presence
This is the time to try and increase your organic growth on social media as much as possible too. Use social media to create some hype about your store or the awesome deals it has to offer. Leverage the power of SEO by putting out blogs to support your store and campaigns.
5. Shipping and Returns
One of the biggest questions of the year is ‘when will I receive my purchase?’ Having clear and transparent information about when a customer can expect their products can make a huge difference in conversion rates. Have a clear returns policy laid out too, to avoid a lot of post holiday stress.
6. Make Things Easy for Your Customers
Offer things like gift wrapping services. You can even offer free gift wrapping over a certain price point. Make it easy for customers to get in touch with you by offering a chat bot or a prominent ‘get in touch with our service team’ button.
Speaking of getting in touch, Agency Media can help you take care your website, advertisements, social media, and more to get your online store ready for the holidays. Get in touch with us to learn more.