Simplify gift-giving for online shoppers

Getting consumers to your ecommerce site is only part of the battle for winning a share of the Christmas wallet. Once those busy holiday shoppers are on your site, you’ve got to make it impressively easy for them to find what they want, and hopefully more. In its “2009 Holiday Planning Guide”, GSI Commerce suggests a few useful tactics:

Add a gift centre to your website. Not everyone knows exactly what he wants to buy the gift recipients on his list. Some people know they need a gift for a 10-year-old girl or a gardening enthusiast but don’t know what sort of item would fit the bill. An online gift centre suggests items sorted by various options. If you sell toys, for instance, an obvious way to categorise gift suggestions is by age range. If you sell gift baskets, you might want to organise selections by price range. Gadgets merchants might suggest items by persona: products for outdoor enthusiasts, gifts for gardeners, presents for gourmands. Make sure to give your gift centre prominent placement on your site.

Make sure your text search is robust. Especially during the hectic Christmas season, shoppers who use text search want to type in the item they’re looking for and be directed to the correct product page. So review your traffic logs and other data to make sure your on-site search dictionary includes the exact terms your visitors use. If you sell duvets, for instance, make certain that they come up in the search results for “quilt”. Also take into account common misspellings.

While you’re at it, be certain that your text search never comes up with a “no matches found” message. Whether you’ve run out of the item that a shopper is searching for or never carried it to begin with, don’t let your on-site search results simply dismiss the customer. Instead, “review your search terms daily, and create appropriate redirects to relevant product (by offering alternative product recommendations) or to a page that explains you don’t carry the product and offers alternative solutions,” GSI Commerce advises.

Promote gift cards and e-cards. “Make them easy to find, and show them early and often: on the home page, in the navigation, on product pages, in the cart—everywhere!” GSI Commerce declares. “Emphasise convenience and the promise of ‘the perfect gift every time’.” E-cards offer another benefit: You can promote them in last-minute emails after the final shipping date cut-off has passed. 

Don’t skimp on product information. Not just text descriptions, though of course those are important, but also multiple images, customer reviews, video demonstrations—anything that provides the embattled shopper with what he needs to feel confident that the product will make the perfect gift.
   
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