Rachel Smith — December 20, 2019 When preparing for one of the busiest periods of the year, there is a lot to consider and you may have little time. We’re going to be talking through some quick wins that you can do to make the most out of your business sales this Christmas.
Images
Firstly let’s start with your images on your site. You may have a main image on your homepage that can be changed depending on if you’re running any discounts or special seasonal offers and it can make a big impact with little effort so here is where we’re going to start.
You could either design something yourself using tools like Canva or have someone design this for you. However, you’re going to want to make sure the design you choose is in keeping with your brand but with a Christmas twist. The content for this on the other hand, needs to be simple and direct. You don’t want to crowd your image with too much information. You could use this image to promote a Christmas sale or offer or simply wish your website visitors a Happy Christmas!
The point of this image change depends on what you want out of it and what it’s purpose is but regularly updating the main image on your ecommerce site, will show returning and new visitors that your website is well maintained and kept up to date. But remember to change all this back in time for the new year!
Social Media
You’re also going to want to update your social media channels to stay in keeping with the changes you made on your ecommerce site. When it comes to making any changes like this at any time of year, consistency is key.
If you do decide to run a promotional offer over Christmas then you’re going to want to talk about it on your social media. You can update your profile header images to match the one you did earlier on your ecommerce site. But you can choose to keep your social media as it is but plan some content which we’ll get into in the next section.
Content
Whether you’re planning on running a sale or discount or not, you should schedule social media content to automatically be published over the festive period. This not only means that you can take some time for yourself and your family and not worry about the business but it also keeps your followers up to date. Tools like Buffer are great for this and can help you to schedule your social media months in advance so you can focus on running your business.
Your content doesn’t have to just be on your social channels. You could also write some informative blog pieces for your customers by doing some research on the kind of things they’re looking for and asking questions about. For example, if you sell clothing you could write about the top 10 must-have winter items and include links to each one to allow readers to purchase the items if they wish. Content also doesn’t have to be confined to social media and blog posts. You can do quick videos on your Instagram Story to show off some popular pieces or products.
Discounts
If you do decide to do a Boxing Day sale, then you’re going to want to get this set up a week or two in advance. You’ll need to select the products you want to include in the sale and choose your discount amount. Whether that’s a flat 30% off for example or you’d like to run a 3 for 2 offer, you need to ensure that you have your discounts set up and ready to be switched over on Boxing Day.
You’ll also need to decide how long they’re going to run for – just the day or over a few days? Once you’ve decided, you’ll need to rigorously test your discounts to ensure they’re working as expected, so that none of your customers have an issue checking out.
Marketing
You’re going to want to let your customers and website visitors know that you’re running a sale so you’re going to need to promote it. There are many ways to do this, some include paid advertising and some are free.
Some free options for you are to post on your social channels promoting your sale to inform your followers or you could run a small social media competition. In return for likes, shares, comments and re-tweets etc, you could collate all the responses and select a winner at random to receive a voucher for your shop or a gift. You can also encourage people to sign up to receive your newsletter and in return get access to special discounts, exclusively for newsletter members.
Paid options such as Google Ads, and Facebook Retargeting are great tools but only if you can afford to put a budget behind them. Make sure that your daily budget is something you’re comfortable with and perhaps enlist the help of experts so you can make the most out of these channels.
Opening hours
Lastly, you’ll want to inform your customers of your opening times over the holidays, to let them know when you’ll be taking orders and when orders over the Christmas period will be shipped as most courier services have a delivery cut off date.
If you’re thinking of setting up your own ecommerce shop and would like some expert advice on what you should consider when setting up, try a free demo of my company EKM’s ecommerce platform and our experts will talk you through everything you’ll need.
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