The holidays are a crucial time for e-commerce sites to enhance conversion rates and spice up their revenue. To make sure your site is optimized to attract holiday shoppers, here are seven essential e-commerce website optimization tips that you need to have in place to boost holiday sales.
Why Holiday Sales Matter
When it comes to e-commerce, the holiday season is a big deal. Sales during this period account for as much as 30% of annual revenue for some companies—and thanks to the shopping habits of our customers, it’s also one of the most predictable times of the year.
But if you’re not seeing those big numbers this year, don’t worry there are plenty of ways you can boost holiday sales without making significant changes or investing in additional inventory. The holiday season is an excellent opportunity to build your brand and attract new customers, so long as you optimize your website for maximum conversion potential first.
1. Offer Free Shipping
If you want to boost sales this holiday season, it’s essential that you offer free shipping. Not only is it a great benefit for customers, but it will also make them more likely to shop with you.
Free shipping can be achieved in multiple ways. Try offering free shipping on all orders or raising the minimum order amount required for free shipping.
If neither of these options works for your business, consider offering discounted rates on shipping instead—this will help offset the cost of providing this service without significantly impacting your bottom line.
2. Use Nostalgic Holiday Marketing
The holidays are a time for celebration, and nostalgia is a wonderful way to make your site stand out. Shoppers want to capture that feeling of when they were kids and unwrapped a much-desired gift next to the tree. Tap into that nostalgic mindset, and you will see your holiday sales skyrocket.
3. Holiday Themed Promotions
Promotions are a terrific way to add value for your customers and increase sales. But, like the rest of your website, you want them to be relevant and personalized.
Make sure it’s seasonal! Promotions should be relevant to the time of year. For example, if it’s December and you’re selling snow shovels and ice melt, then a winter promotion would make sense (like 30% off). Or maybe you sell summer swimsuits—a Memorial Day sale might get more interest. Never lose sight of the seasons when creating promotions, or they won’t work.
Personalize each promotion based on customer behavior. Leverage your ecommerce website analytics to study the behavior of visitors concerning your online promotions.
4. Inform Affiliates of Promotions
If you have an affiliate program, now is the time to get it onto your website. This will allow you to reach out to affiliates who are promoting related products and offer them the opportunity to earn some extra cash by referring customers to your store.
5. Start Early
Starting early gives you more time to evaluate and refine various aspects of your site before they go live. Starting early also allows for unexpected delays that might come up along the way (like traffic spikes in November).
Finally, starting early will help prevent last-minute rush work that could potentially cause mistakes or errors on your website during its busiest time of year: holiday shopping.
6. Leverage Social Media & Email
If you’re not already using social media to promote your holiday sales, now is the time to start. Facebook ads are a wonderful way to reach new customers and increase your reach on the platform, and other platforms like Instagram and TikTok help build a great audience.
Implement email marketing campaigns that include a link to your website so users can purchase products from there directly rather than having them leave your site to place an order. Make sure you personalize these emails based on how customers have engaged with your brand. They’ll be more likely to open messages when they feel like they’re being treated as individuals.
7. Frame Products/Services as Gifts
It’s time to start thinking of your products and services in a different light. Start by using words like “gift” and “gift card.”
Consider adding the option for customers to select gift wrapping and/or a box for their purchase, especially if you sell more expensive items. If you don’t offer these options, you can always suggest it at checkout or include a small card that says “Happy Holidays from us! We hope you enjoy this gift from us to you!” with your package.
We’ve seen that there are a lot of ways you can use e-commerce website optimization to boost your holiday sales. One of the most effective ways is to build a personalized experience with products and services suited to each customer, which will make them feel confident in spending money on your site.
There are so many other methods, and our expert marketing team at Griffon Webstudios is here to help. We know how critical the holiday seasons are to your bottom line. We can help you unify your promotional material across your web presence so that when people land on any of your brand identifiers, they will be sure to make a purchase.
Let’s schedule a time to discuss your upcoming holiday promotion and marketing strategies!
