Izzy James
Digital Marketing
We’re once again coming up to another Christmas period, an important time for all businesses but a particularly profitable one for eCommerce.
By October you should have already begun to plan your festive marketing campaign, but if not, it isn’t too late to profit from the Christmas rush.
Soon, consumers will be trying to get everything prepared, in the quickest and easiest way possible. Make sure that your marketing is best placed to capture these people and acquire their interest.
Build from Halloween
We’ve all seen the joke about Christmas starting as soon as Halloween finishes, and while this might seem like a bit of an exaggeration, there is an ounce of truth in it when it comes to your marketing.
You can start building the hype from 1st November, using sneak peeks and adverts to begin directing customers to your site – after all, people don’t just start their Christmas wish lists and shopping in December, it’s usually a good few weeks and sometimes even months before this.
November is a good month for sales, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so use these to help with Christmas marketing.
Make sure to collect email addresses at the checkout and use these to keep in touch with your customers who have previously purchased from you.
Keep your social media accounts updated regularly so that any new followers will see updates when you post them.
Put Yourself in Front of Customers
The Christmas rush is exactly that – a rush. Your potential customers aren’t going to want to work to find you, you need to put yourself in front of them where it matters.
Make sure you are using remarketing too so that anyone that visits your website and leaves is continuously reminded of your products and what they’re missing.
Remarketing is a perfect way to easily target customers that have already expressed an interest in your products but make sure you are also targeting new customers with PPC ads to evolve your customer database.
In the lead up to Christmas, adjust your keywords and bids accordingly so you can target the right audience and promote the right products.
Abandoned cart emails are also extremely important to catch anyone that doesn’t complete their purchase and encourage them to do so at a slightly later date.
Prepare Now
Get everything you possibly can prepared now so that it is ready for when you need it.
Offers and promotions are a must to target the Christmas rush, as it grabs customers attention quickly and allows them to make a fast decision about who they are going to purchase from – after all, who doesn’t love a bit of money off?
Quality graphics and eye-catching images are also extremely important in any marketing campaign and go hand-in-hand with your offers.
Great imagery helps you stand out but can take time, so get these organised now so they are ready to go as soon as you need them.
Email Campaigns
Plan, write and schedule your email marketing in the lead up to Christmas. By now you should hopefully have a list of people to send to, and if you’re really prepared, segmented lists to target specific areas, demographics and interests.
If you are using a platform like Mailchimp, you can write and schedule your emails ahead of time, even if you think you might want to make edits before sending.
Remember your email automations too, like welcome emails, cart abandonments and targeted product recommendations. These are perfect for building your relationship with customers and sustaining their interest rather than just encouraging a one-time purchase.
Don’t Trip Over the Little Bits
Finally, if you’ve done your marketing well to capture the Christmas rush you will likely see an increase in your website visitors.
Make sure you have considered all those little things that could cause a customer to leave at the final stage. Is your checkout process easy? Do you offer a range of payment types?
This also includes other areas of your ordering system like the postage process but also the general user experience your site offers. Stock updates and user analytics will also prove to be a huge helping hand.
For help and advice with your Christmas marketing or getting your website prepared, contact our team today.