How to Increase Holiday Ecommerce Sales
According to an article by Reuters.com about e-commerce holiday shopping, “U.S. shoppers spent a record $126 billion on online shopping during the 2018 holiday season.” Also, more people used smartphones for shopping. This trend is expected to continue to increase. If you have an e-commerce business, how can you stand out from the competition and get the most out of the holiday sales rush? Read on for our tips on how to increase holiday e-commerce sales.
Tips for Boosting Your Ecommerce Sales During the Holidays
Optimize Your Website
Since the holidays are an especially busy time of year, customers have less patience for finding the information they are looking for on a website. So, make sure that your site is optimized in every way possible. Here are some things to consider:
● To avoid cart abandonment, set up a checkout process that is short and easy to use.
● Make sure that your site and checkout look great both on desktop and mobile.
● Eliminate any extra unnecessary steps for making a purchase and checking out.
● Where possible, auto-fill the fields of forms.
● Allow visitors to check out as a guest so that they don’t need to spend time creating an account.
● Make sure that your site loads quickly, has a clean layout, and is easy to navigate.
Be Transparent About the Cost
A major factor that contributes to shopping cart abandonment is displaying the total cost of the purchase too late, including the cost of the product, shipping, and taxes. To help prevent this, display the total cost as soon as possible. Also, have a shopping cart on your site that is easy to see and navigate. Small details like this can help to increase holiday e-commerce sales.
Offer Great Customer Service
Offering multi-channel customer service via various methods such as email, chat, social media, and phone helps to make it easy for customers to get in touch with you using their preferred method of communication. Be ready to answer any questions they may have about products, shipping, and promotions. Also, include an FAQ on your site where people can find answers to common questions.
Create Targeted Campaigns
Rather than trying to target everyone, specifically target your ideal customers with your marketing efforts, including email and social media marketing. This allows you to craft advertising messages that speak to your target audience, which helps to increase conversions. It also allows you to create a more customized customer experience.
Build Trust
You need to quickly build trust with a potential customer to help ensure that they will stay on your site and make a purchase from you. Here are some ways to build trust:
● Include testimonials and product reviews on your site.
● Display badges for security (including SSL cert) and payment.
● Create videos in which customers can get to know more about your business and brand. You can include these videos on your website, on your YouTube channel, and in your advertisements. Customers prefer video format advertisements because the content is easy to consume and this format can quickly tell a story.
At Mission Web Marketing, we can help you to optimize your e-commerce website for the holidays and help you to succeed with your sales. Get in touch today!