I know what you’re thinking.
“It’s August, why the heck are you already talking about the holidays?”
Well, I’m here to tell you that not only is it the best time of the year, but you only have 97 days until December 1st! And lets be real, once you hit December you should be sitting back, drinking hot chocolate and building snowmen (or sandmen if you’re one of our friends from the South!)—all while watching your holiday campaigns take off and celebrating the extra revenue.
According to MarketingLand, many view the holiday season as make-or-break for retailers success. So, I know you’re holding onto that summer weather, but it’s time to be proactive. With Cyber Monday being only 3 months away, it’s planning time!
So what do you need to do to ensure you have the most successful eCommerce holiday season ever? Follow these tips and watch your revenue soar.
1. Plan ahead
Give yourself a pat on the back. It’s August and you’re reading our guide to having a successful holiday season. You’re off to a great start!
Starting to think about your holiday plans (and no I don’t mean who’s bringing the pecan pie!) is crucial to ensure you have enough time to get everything prepared and you’re not left thinking of the things you could have done.
2. Remember, it’s not all about discounts
After analyzing trillions of data points we have learnt that price is not the number one reason shoppers don’t make a purchase. There are several other objections and they vary based on industry.
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This means simply knocking down your prices isn’t going to just shrink your profit margins, it may not increase your sales as much as you would like.
But don’t fear, there are numerous other strategies you can implement that can increase your revenue:
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Bundling
Holiday shoppers typically don’t have only one person or item on their shopping list. Suggesting other products or selling things as a package is a way to quickly increase your shoppers average order value.
There are numerous approaches you could take, such as suggesting a similar item to complete the gift or encouraging them to shop for another person on their list.
This works because lots of people don’t like shopping, especially during those hectic pre-Christmas Saturday’s. Allowing them to purchase everything they need in one place without leaving home, rather than trudging through packed shopping malls is a huge benefit.
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Strategic price sorting
A decent portion of the time shoppers don’t know what they are looking for when holiday shopping. There always seems to be that gift for a brother or mother-in-law that they can’t seem to find.
These shoppers are looking for suggestions and this is an easy way to enhance their experience.
Often, they have a budget in mind of what they’d like to spend so letting them easily browse unique gifts that aren’t wildly out of their price range is a great user experience. Sorting gifts in categories like “$20 Gifts”, “Under $50”, and “Gifts Around $100” is a way to ensure shoppers are seeing things that they would actually purchase.
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Personal gifts
We all like gifts. And even though it’s the season of giving and we want to surprise our loved ones, a little gift for us never hurts!
Incentives like “Spend over $65 and receive this free bag” are a great way to encourage shoppers to cross that $65 threshold. This increases the average order value per shopper and if you’re smart with the incentives you can throw in some branded material too.
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Indigo does a great job of this around Christmas time, they actually encourage you to spend even more. If you spend over $50 you can add in their Luxe Cozy Throw blanket for $35, regularly priced at $80. We can assume that Indigo is still turning a profit at $35, so not only are they increasing the order value to be greater than $50, they are encouraging shoppers to make another purchase. And if you’ve ever felt their Luxe Cozy Throws, you know it’s hard to resist!
Gift cards are another good passage to offer personal gifts.
Incentive like “Purchase a $25 gift card and receive a $10 gift card for yourself!” or “Gift $50 and receive a free order of onion rings” is another good approach. Whatever the offer, this not only gets the gift receiver in the door to spend the gift card, it gets the gift giver returning to use their own offer, where they inevitably will spend more.
3. Plan something memorable
Obviously that is the goal of all campaigns, but with the holiday season you really need to bring your A game. It seems like everything has been done. Christmas lights, mistletoe pranks, caroling, and the ugly christmas sweater trend seem to regularly be seen throughout holiday season campaigns. It’s the unique ones that leave a lasting impression.
Think outside the box and go a little crazy to ensure you make the “Top holiday campaigns of 2015” list!
Hootsuite did an excellent job of going unique for the 2014 holiday season. The released a Holiday Owl video, which was their own spin off of the Fireplace Channel. But they added in an adorable owl. If this doesn’t get you in the holiday spirit, I don’t know what will!
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4. Don’t forget your current customers
The holiday season is a great time to recognize your loyal customers. Spreading the cheer online, emailing offers & branded gifts to loyal customers, or taking it offline and hosting a holiday party are all ways you can reward your customers this holiday season.
It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about acquiring new customers, but often there is more profit to be made from loyal returning customers.
5. Increase revenue 12% by implementing Granify.
Imagine the success of this holiday season if by December you have increased your recurring revenue by 12%. I’m imagining that would be deemed as a success!
Granify has been proven on top enterprise eCommerce sites to do just that.
Granify monitors your shoppers digital body language and can predict their next move. If an individual shoppers objection to purchase is identified, a message will be shown to alleviate their concern and save the sale.
This ROI calculator can tell how much recurring revenue your specific business is missing out on and what it can gain back by this holiday season.
So, in short: It’s time to start singing Jingle Bells
Okay, so maybe you shouldn’t start dashing down the office halls, but the holiday season is approaching quickly, and a good campaign needs planning. It’s time to start getting your ducks (or elves) in a row and make sure your holiday campaigns are ready to go and set to leave an impact.
I also suggest you request a no commitment demo of Granify to see if we could be a good fit to make sure your holiday season is the most successful one yet!
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