Five ecommerce tactics proven to boost holiday sales

Many of the website improvements proven to increase sales during the run-up to Christmas will also help your site’s performance the rest of the year. The suggestions from ecommerce solutions provider MarketLive and the E-tailing Group, courtesy of the white paper “End-of-Year Ecommerce Survival: a Field Guide”, are a case in point. If Christmas is your peak season you should implement these tactics now, if you haven’t already, to maximise holiday sales. Even if Christmas isn’t a make-or-break season for your business, though, you’d do well to consider introducing them sooner rather than later.

1) Give the gift of easier gifting. If you market to consumers, you should sell and accept gift cards or certificates online. It’s a no-brainer. Besides, electronic certificates that can be sent to the recipient via email are a great offering for last-minute shoppers. Other offerings to consider include allowing multiple ship-to addresses upon checkout, online wish lists that hopeful recipients can email to friends and family, and a section of your website devoted to gift suggestions. This dedicated gift centre could include your company’s “expert picks”, lists of best-sellers and suggestions organised by price and by recipient (gifts for children, gifts for fashionistas, gifts for golfers, gifts for gourmands).

2) Experiment with promotions. Discounts and free shipping are tried-and-true promotions. To stand out from your competitors, though, consider attention-grabbing twists on the basics, such as limited-hour specials, in which you email customers to let them know of, say, a special one-hour sale scheduled for noon to 1pm on a specific date. You could also offer volume discounts or buy-two-get-the third-free to encourage customers to spend more of their holiday budget with you.

3) Go above and beyond with customer service. Informing shoppers during the checkout process when they can expect their order, emailing them when the parcel has left the warehouse and offering online parcel tracking can help allay fears that their packages won’t arrive on time—which in turn will reduce calls to your customer service agents. Also, “clearly letting shoppers know that an item is not available before they begin the order process avoids unnecessary frustration,” according to the white paper. “The extra – enabling them to buy the [not-yet-in-stock] item now – saves time and assures that you get the order.”

4) Implement postorder best practice. Everyone likes to be thanked, including customers. So be sure to thank them in all your order and shipment confirmation emails. But also thank them on the site once their order has been completed with a page that includes some relevant merchandising or offers. A post-order email with a personalised offer can be effective as well.

5) Target last-minute shoppers. As mentioned earlier, selling electronic gift cards is a great way to capture orders from procrastinators; if you offer them, promote them via an email after your Christmas cut-off date. Before you get to that point, however, be sure to let shoppers know when your cut-off dates are, with prominent messaging on your site as well as with promotional emails. If your company has stores as well as a direct division, remind consumers that even though the deadline for online or phone orders may have passed, they can still pick up what they need in person.