Actionable Strategies to Ramp Up Holiday Sales in 2021

The holiday season is a prime time to increase sales. In America alone, winter holiday sales in 2019 totaled $730.2. Would you like a cut of the action?

Of course, you would. In this post, we’ll look at how you can cash in on the festivities to boost profitability. Be warned; it’s not an effortless endeavor. The rewards are, however, well worth the work.

Start by Carving Out Your Niche

Many businesses make the mistake of trying to please every visitor to the site. That’s an impossible task that dilutes your marketing effort. Instead, clearly define your target market. 

Then create a targeted offering for that market. This approach will reduce your overall traffic, but that’s a good thing. Instead of attracting visitors who’ll bounce off the page within seconds, you attract people who’re interested in your niche.

These visitors are not only more likely to convert to sales but exhibit behavior that improves your search engine rankings.

Implement a Cart Abandonment Campaign

It’s normal for clients to abandon their carts. There are several reasons that they do this. They:

•         Have changed their minds
•         May wish to compare prices elsewhere
•         Have issues at checkout

Whatever the reason, the results are the same—you lose a sale. Cart abandonment sales can help you claw back some of that business. Here are several options:

•         Use email automation to see if the client requires further assistance
•         Send reminders through to them at set intervals. Such reminders could include stock levels or countdown timers to increase the sense of urgency.
•         Use retargeting to remind them about the sale after they’ve left your site
•         Create reminders using push notifications
•         Mobile marketing

Upsell or Cross-Sell to Existing Clients

Many business owners are so focused on gaining new customers that they miss a valuable resource—their existing customer base. People who’ve already bought and used your products or services are already interested in your company.

You’ve already established trust with them, making it easier to close the deal. What’s more, by providing outstanding service, you cement the relationship. Your clients are more likely to become brand ambassadors as a result.

Why Retargeting Is More Cost-Effective

Retargeting is also simpler because you’ve seen what customers bought in the past. Therefore, you can make highly relevant and personalized recommendations.

Say, for example, a client bought a bottle of shampoo. You know that the bottle lasts about three months, so about two weeks before that date, you send through a deal on the shampoo. The client usually won’t think twice before buying, as their bottle is almost empty.

Audit Your Website

While this doesn’t seem very seasonal, auditing your site every three to six months is essential. Every year, Google’s core web updates show the importance of performance, client experience, and visitor safety.

Ensure that your website is as secure as possible long before the holiday starts. During the “silly season,” fraud is rife, especially in the ecommerce sphere.

Start Your Content Marketing Efforts at Least Three Months Beforehand

You want clients to start thinking about their holiday season shopping as early as possible. Putting out content like “Best Gifts for Men Under $25” in October is an excellent place to start. Give yourself a little time for the content to start ranking with the search engines.

Make Your Site Look Festive

Take a lesson from brick-and-mortar stores here. They decorate their shops to create that festive feeling and play seasonal favorites. Recreate that feeling online by choosing:

•         Festive images
•         Graphically striking adverts centered on the season
•         Different fonts so that they see that things have changed

Ensure That Your Site Is Flawless on Mobile Devices

Mobile shoppers typically make up half of all sales online. By 2022, that figure’s set to increase by 68%. Not optimizing your website for mobile could lose you many sales.

Ensure that your website works flawlessly on any size screen to get the best results. In particular, test how your sales content displays and how easy it is to checkout.

Use Email Marketing

We all know that many emails disappear unopened into cyberspace. Despite this, it’s still one of the best tools available to the marketer. During the holiday seasons, when people are looking for gift ideas, it’s even more valuable.

The key is to send your client relevant, personalized offers. Segment your market and identify the pain points your customer has. Then create a targeted campaign for each segment addressing those areas.

Create a blend of 80% valuable information and 20% promotional material. Your client is more likely to look out for future emails if you do this.

Finally, monitor the results of each campaign carefully.

Go Over Last Year’s Data

What went correctly last year, and what errors did you make? Identify and correct bottlenecks in the sales journey that could hurt your business again. By learning from your mistakes, you’ll improve your offering and the customer experience.

Highlight the Bestselling Products

Consumers are increasingly intent on relying on social proof when making a buying decision. By highlighting your bestsellers, you provide one element of that proof. Consumers will be more willing to check out this range.

Increase Client Urgency

Leverage the power of fear of missing out (FOMO) to get clients to make impulse purchases. You can do this in several ways:

•         Place a countdown timer on the page to encourage them to buy immediately
•         List the stock levels available so that they can see the items might sell out quickly
•         Provide a time-sensitive offer or discount code

Consider Free Shipping and a Generous Return Policy

One of the top reasons that people abandon their carts is the shipping costs. Look for ways to provide free standard shipping as far as possible. You might link this to a minimum purchase amount or use it as a special promotion.

If you can’t do that, be sure to give an estimated shipping cost on the product page. This reassures the client that you’re transparent about pricing.

The return process is equally important. Where possible, include a free returns package with delivery. It’s not an ideal situation for your business, but it goes a long way to building trust.

Provide Social Proof

92% of consumers look for social proof before buying. Go beyond merely providing client testimonials and show your products in action. Use user-generated content to give the reviews an authentic feel. There are several ways to provide social proof:

•         Pin the evidence on your social media pages
•         Link through to reviews on third-party sites like Google and Yelp
•         Run a competition for your clients, asking them to send pictures or videos of them using the product

Start Building Your Client Base Long Before the Holidays

Give your potential customers a chance to learn more about your brand. As they become more familiar with what you offer, they’re more likely to trust you. By contrast, if you start cold-selling to new targets the week before Christmas, they’re unlikely to take a chance.

How Good Is Your Customer Service?

59% of clients are willing to move to a new provider for a better service experience. You must ensure that your customer support team is delivering top-notch service.

Assist your clients by:

•         Using chatbots to provide instant, straightforward answers to simple questions
•         Ensuring that you provide 24/7 support
•         Considering multi-lingual support if you’re operating outside of your home country
•         Outsourcing to a professional service if you don’t have the operational capacity for a help desk

Tailor Your Content

A killer product description will get your site noticed. To convince the client to buy, you’ll need more. Start with great images and consider adding GIFs or videos. You’ll have to walk a fine line between providing a demonstration and bloating your website.

Getting it right, however, makes it easier for your clients to see what they’re getting. A demo video is the next best thing to picking up a high ticket item and examining it.

Use Social Media

Bring some of the festivity from your website over to your social media pages. Create a buzz about the holidays by providing clients with valuable information. Say, for example, that you sell a range of scarves.

You could list all the scarves and post the pictures on Instagram. A better approach would be to shoot a short video covering something like styling a scarf. You’d still show off your collection, but in a way that doesn’t feel like advertising to your client.

Offer Extras That No One Else Does

What extras can you provide that no one else has thought of yet? What about a custom, high-quality, signed gift card to go with a present that someone has bought? You could ask the client what message they’d like to send and include it for that personal touch.

At the very least, consider sending a thank you card to your client. Think about extras that won’t cost a bundle but that personalize the experience more. For example, if you sell hot chocolate bombs, you might send a small packet of marshmallows with them.

Final Notes

Are you ready for the holidays? Start working on the tips we’ve provided above, and you soon will be. While we focus a lot of attention on the holidays themselves, it’s better to take a year-round approach here.

Get ahead of the competition by defining your target base today. Then work toward building a relationship with customers before the seasonal craziness begins.