Nigel Wilkinson
Managing Director of Daneswood. Nigel has been in sales and marketing since the 1980's and run digital marketing agencies since 2000.
We’re sorry in advance for making you think about Christmas in the middle of July, it doesn’t even feel like summer has started yet, but as an eCommerce business owner, it’s already that time where you need to start planning for the festive months!
As we’re sure you’re aware, a lot of planning goes into Black Friday and Christmas, especially when it comes to your website. So, what do you need to start prepping for?
Mobile Friendly and Page Speed
Arguably the most important part of your website to nail down before the festive season, is the mobile usability and speed.
72% of people do all of their online shopping at Christmas on their mobile.
If your website doesn’t work well on mobile, or it’s slow and clunky to use you could miss out on a large number of orders and new customers. You can test your website for both of these factors and speak to your developer about getting these improved, this could take a while so make sure you get started soon.
Is your website mobile friendly? Test it here.
How does Google think your website is? Test it here.
Your Inventory and the Backend of Your Site
Before you start any promotions, you need to check your inventory to ensure you have the right things in stock and that this is all syncing up correctly in the backend of your site.
If you have new team members joining you for the Christmas rush, ensure they know how to use the backend of your site, or your developers are available on key dates to help with any updates or issues.
Security will play a large role in a successful season, don’t let your competitors get all the sales over something as small as not having an SSL. Your developers can make sure your site is completely secure and importantly, prepared for an influx of traffic.
Start Planning Promotions
Having a plan for each promotion you want to run ahead of time is essential for co-ordinating your digital marketing, website and offline marketing. If you can give your web developers a clear plan of content changes, functionality changes and web requirements ahead of time, everything should run smoothly come December.
If you are looking to create specific discount codes, make sure you have these working perfectly ahead of time.
Shareable Gift Guides
Shoppable gift guides make a great addition to your eCommerce site, it makes the difficult task for gift buying, that little bit easier, especially when you categorise your guides by recipients and interests.
Ensuring these gift guides are shareable on social channels can help to increase your reach and, in turn, your sales. This could be done in a blog format or even easy to use web pages.
Email Marketing Campaigns (abandoned cart emails)
Not everyone is ready to buy straight away when they find a potential gift or product they like, but this doesn’t mean they won’t buy from you in the upcoming days or weeks. This is where email marketing comes into play, sometimes it just takes staying relevant and reminding your customers about your products.
Cart abandonment emails are a really easy way to boost your sales through automated systems, as soon as someone leaves their cart without checking out you can automatically send them the contents of their cart, when you pair this with an offer like free shipping, the results can be fantastic.
45% of cart abandonment emails are opened; 21% of all is clicked on, while 50% of the users who clicked purchase.
You can also run email marketing campaigns to your customers who have bought with you previously in the year to encourage them to buy their gifts from you and show off your range of products.
If you’re ready to start preparing for the festive period, or you’re looking for advice on your own website, speak with our team of technicians to ensure you’re putting the best foot forward this year