Last year, Black Friday online sales reached a record high of $7.4 billion 一 the second largest online shopping day ever 一 just behind last year's Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Analytics.
Given the current circumstances, we're expecting to see online sales hit new records in 2020. With consumers encourages to shop online rather than in-store, preparing your eCommerce store for the holidays is critical to maximize revenue.
5 Holiday Marketing Tips
Increase brand awareness and drive more eCommerce sales by following these 5 holiday marketing tips:
- Provide a holiday shipping schedule
- Use banners to promote holiday offers
- Offer electronic gift cards
- Run a giveaway on social media
- Leverage content marketing
Provide A Holiday Shipping Schedule
Chances are that during the holidays, much of your website traffic includes people who are unfamiliar with your brand. Ensure your visitors know 一 prior to purchase 一 the shipping deadlines and last order dates. This way, they'll know the final date they need to place an order by to receive the package before the holidays.
This also applies to returning customers. Be transparent upfront about the shipping details to avoid customer frustration and, instead, increase trust. The holiday season can be very stressful, so be sure to clearly state on multiple web pages the shipping deadlines, international shipping policies, days/hours left to qualify for overnight or two-day shipping, and other relevant shipping details.
Use Banners To Promote Holiday Offers
Target high-intent customers by displaying promotional banners in the site search box. Using banners to promote holiday offers within site search not only makes your offer more relevant to the user, but it also encourages them to purchase more than intended.
Increase engagement and traffic with visually appealing holiday-themed banners specific to each holiday. For banners ads outside of your website, be sure to incorporate your brand's colors so that users easily recognize the banner ad is for your business.
Offer Electronic Gift Cards
Whether you're a brick-and-mortar or eCommerce business, offering electronic gift cards is a great holiday marketing strategy to cater to last-minute shoppers. When they see that the shipping cut-off date has already passed, they'll appreciate it when they can easily purchase an online gift card.
We recommend offering physical and virtual gift cards throughout the year; however, virtual gift cards are of utmost importance, especially during the holidays when online orders spike. Unlike physical gift cards, electronic gift cards don't require shipping and arrive in a customer's inbox within minutes of ordering.
Run A Giveaway On Social Media
Engage with your audience throughout social media to establish your brand's personality and elicit positive reactions. To increase brand awareness and grow your social media following throughout the holiday season, we recommend running a giveaway across all platforms.
There's no doubt that people love free stuff 一 especially when they can regift the items they won. Engage more users and reach a wider audience by requiring certain actions to enter the giveaway. We often see brands asking people to follow their page, like the post and share with friends to increase reach and engagement.
Leverage Content Marketing
Whether you sell B2C or B2B, using a content-driven approach helps to personalize the online shopping experience. We encourage eCommerce retailers and service-based businesses alike to implement an effective content marketing strategy.
If you're a B2C eCommerce retailer, improve your holiday marketing strategy by creating gift guides for various customer personas. Gift guides help to improve the customer experience and make shopping easier by sorting products by who they're suited for, like "For Him" and "For Her."
If you run a B2B service-based eCommerce store, host webinars and create downloadable content, like eBooks and guides, to help other business thrive during the holidays. (Plus, they're great for showing off your industry expertise 一 one of the many benefits of content marketing.)
Conclusion
The holiday season is the busiest and most profitable time of the year for many eCommerce businesses. Rather than leaving your website alone, we strongly recommend implementing these 5 holiday marketing tips to maximize revenue and improve your eCommerce marketing strategy.
If you're looking for help improving the design, development or marketing of your website, Groove Commerce is here to help. Our website and marketing services are available to help build, design and grow your eCommerce website.
Just reach out through the form below with any questions or concerns, and a member of our team will be in touch soon!
August 20, 2020 at 07:06AM
via https//www.brucedayne.com/
dana@groovecommerce.com (Dana LaBate), Khareem Sudlow
