Top 10 Ways To Make This Holiday Shopping Season A Success

Online shopping continues to rise. Every year, billions of dollars are spent by online holiday shoppers, and the numbers continue to grow. How can you benefit from this? 

Here are 10 winning tips to make your holiday eCommerce season a success.

1. Online shoppers may wait until the last minute to make their purchases, so don't end your seasonal promotions too early.

2. Make gift certificate e-delivery options clearly noticeable throughout your site. Many last minute shoppers will appreciate being able to email a gift.

3. Emphasize the importance of offering something exclusive, handmade, or one-of-a-kind. Shoppers are always looking for unique gifts that no one else will have.

4. Contact your repeat customers and let them know of special holiday promotions such as free shipping or other returning customer bonuses you offer. Remind your customers of important dates, including Christmas, and Free Shipping Day. Orders should be shipped by around December 7 for international first-class mail and by December 20 for domestic first-class mail.

5. Bundle your products in gift baskets or sets. HEROweb recently wrote a Marketing Bite about strategies for bundling gift items. See our Marketing Bite for tips and ideas on creating packages and sets with gift appeal.

6. Check your site on a mobile device. More and more shoppers are turning to their smartphones to browse for products online.

7. Make sure your holiday messaging shows up throughout your site; not just on your home page.

8. Set aside some marketing dollars or energy (via emails, AdWords campaigns, Facebook posts, etc) to promote your special holiday items and packages starting as early as November 1.

9. The holidays can be draining; there’s so much to do above and beyond the normal busy routines. Keep up your efforts to promote your online store through marketing and social media. Remember to reward your customers by sending them a “thank you” of some sort.

10. And finally, make sure your customer service team is prepared to offer the best customer service to anyone who needs it. Stressed and unhappy customer service reps don’t create customer goodwill.