Harp Interactive

8 Tips to Improve Online Sales During the Holiday Season

Online retailers plan the holiday sale season months in advance; designing and executing special promotions and marketing campaigns to promote these sales events through various media channels. Businesses primarily rely on email, CPC & CPM campaigns besides traditional marketing.

As the Holiday Sales season comes to a close, the effort is intensified in order to capitalize on the last minute shoppers (substantial). And because there is so much going on, there is a chance that some crucial details can get overlooked!

Here are a Few Tips to Optimize Your Online Holiday Sales Campaigns:

  1. Reinforce the SEO code and on-page content to include holiday keywords:
    The focus of all your SEO efforts should of course be on the landing pages but since some of the other relevant pages have higher page rank and more backlinks chances are that these could show up in organic search results, especially in very competitive markets. Make sure the Meta code includes some of the hot search terms.
  2. Create buzz on social media platforms; remember to use the right keywords:
    The idea is to increase engagement and become more visible on all the platforms where your target audience is regularly present. Promote your brand and the promotions based on specific profiles of social media networks; it’s a great way to segment and target! Provide relevant information and useful tips that go above and beyond selling. Use consumer reviews and positive feedback to attract new customers.
  3. Improve cross-selling and up selling opportunities:
    Showcase related or complementary products when customers view one product that interests them. Suggest more upscale products and try to upgrade the sale! This technique is known to improve sales figures immediately. Don’t pass up the opportunity to provide suggestive selling at the end of the sales process, even in the shopping cart!
  4. Update product photographs with emphasis on holiday colors:
    This in more relevant as pre-campaign prep work; often retailers will be ready to launch a big promotional campaign only to realize that their product images are old and need a facelift. Make sure that you have fresh product photos available and uploaded for ease of use.
  5. Segmentation for email campaigns:
    To make your email campaigns more effective, segment your list based on customers’ shopping experience and history. This enables you to target your communication more effectively for higher conversions.
  6. Create special landing pages:
    You may be spending your media dollars on ads on search engines but if those ads do not navigate the user back to an effective landing page your dollars might be wasted. Higher click through rate (CTR) plus high conversions are the recipe for increasing holiday sales. Have your agency design custom landing pages for different segments to close the deal effectively.
  7. Provide gift packaging options:
    Customers want value that goes beyond the product. If there is price parity with competition, you might woo them by offering more choices in gift packaging and shipping!
  8. Analyze the data for next year’s campaign:
    Make sure you have analytics installed on the website and that your team conducts post-campaign analysis to identify areas of strength and weaknesses in the process for future campaigns.

Considering the rising trend of consumers looking to the Web for shopping deals and an anticipated increase in Web sales during holiday seasons, there is a tremendous opportunity for businesses to expand their customer base and develop long term relationships with these new customers, retaining them well beyond the holidays.