The Top 7 Ways You Can Prepare Your eCommerce Store For The Holidays

 


The holidays can be the make it or break it factor for eCommerce store owners. Whether it's a great deal or quick shipping, customers are looking for everything these days. The holiday season can be a stressful time for eCommerce store businesses, so they need to be prepared. Make sure your eCommerce store is well prepared for the holidays with these seven sure-fire ways to create amazing results not only during the holiday season, but long afterward as well.

1. Create Relatable Holiday Content & Ads for your eCommerce Store

ecommerce store

As the seasons change, so should the content you release by your brand. This means that the content on your store should match the holiday season. Buyers are more likely to trust the eCommerce store site as it's up-to-date with the latest events and seasons. We suggest, for example, putting a Christmas tree on your home page of eCommerce store or stockings in your newsletter if it is approaching Christmas.  Additionally, we recommend tweaking your ads and especially SEO content because, according to Similar Web, optimized SEO friendly searches alone can bring up to 10x more traffic than other channels. A great idea to keep your customers in the loop is to send out a holiday themed newsletter to current subscribers informing them of the season and possible deals.  Even something as simple as adding red and green colors for your home page can indicate that you’re geared and in sync with the holiday season. 

2. Optimize Shipping & Tracking Routes

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While we expect the eCommerce industry to continue growing, as will the number of shipments. There are certain aspects to consider with shipping during the holiday period such as delays, lost packages, and offering different shipping plans. The last thing you want when shipping products during the holidays is an influx of WISMO inquiries. One thing brands can do to maximize sales while reducing sales during the holiday season is offer different shipping options such as Free Shipping & Rush Shipping provided by eCommerce store owners. So whether a customer wants to rush a purchase or allow it to take its time, there’s an option for both buyers. Fenix Commerce is a great option for growing eCommerce store brands who are looking to save costs on shipping while increasing sales, and offering multiple shipping options to buyers. They actually recently wrote about how offering multiple shipping options on product pages help convert more sales.

3. Increase Your Customer Service 

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You can only do so much for your eCommerce store business, as they say, but you can always go the extra mile for your customers. We suggest taking the time out now to increase your customer service team and get them up to speed with deals and shipping expectations from customers. During the holiday season, customers are typically more impatient than ever due to possible shipping delays and hold. It’s critical that you have your customer service team on top of such issues, and provide clarity to customers when they can expect packages to arrive. Even with an unhappy customer, top-of-the-line customer service can turn that from an angry customer to a happy and loyal one that’ll keep coming back for years to come. 

4. Website & Mobile Optimization 

So far, in 2021, over 55% of internet users used their mobile phones to purchase products online. Now entering 2022, the numbers will continue to grow. When mobile sites aren’t optimized for mobile users, visitors will drop off the site and cause an overall website abandonment. In addition, 68% of internet shoppers typically abandon a eCommerce store website when not fully optimized for the shoppers experience.  We highly suggest you spend some time optimizing both your website and mobile to increase sales throughout the holiday season.

5. Affiliate program

ecommerce store

Whether it’s a business owner or customer, everyone likes to make an extra couple of dollars! By offering an affiliate program for your customers, you give your customers the opportunity to get paid by recommending your brand to friends and family. This not only converts more sales but also gives your current customers a reason to further promote your business other than likeability. This works really well if your eCommerce store has high margins so you can afford payouts to customers as an affiliate. Even if you have slim margins, you can always offer discounts on products instead of cash payouts. 

6. Product bundles 

Product bundling involves putting two (or more) single products together and selling them as a “bundle” at a single price, typically discounted. When you go from offering a discount on a single product to a discounted bundle, you’re now creating a perception for the customer that, in fact, the bundle is individually cheaper than buying the product one by one. You can do this with products that may sell slowly or products that offer higher than normal profit margins, allowing some wiggle room for you to play with discounts and pricing. Studies actually have shown that you can simply reduce your return rate just by calling one item in the bundle a “free gift”. We suggest trying out a variety of bundles during the holiday season to see which one works the best for you! 

7. Abandoned Cart Emails & Text Message Follow Ups

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Today, many brands do not have a follow-up email or text sequence or even a list of past customer phone numbers and emails. You want to make sure that you have emails and texts ready both before and after the holidays to send to any potential customers who are on the edge of making a purchase from you. In addition, you can send texts and emails to past clients who made a purchase with an exclusive upsell and discount code. As a result, you can reach out to your customers in multiple ways, while also keeping them updated on current deals you might be offering. Similarly, you can send out abandoned cart emails and push texts if the customer abandons your website or cart. 

Just during BFCM 2020 alone, abandoned cart emails/ push texts received over a 59% open rate. Besides converting more sales, you can also keep customers up to date on their order status through text message follow-ups by sending Estimated Delivery Dates. For example, Fenix Commerce offers real-time EDD updates for customers purchasing online, to not only increase conversions, but also reduce overall website abandonment and WISMO inquiries by offering an enhanced customer shipping experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the holidays can be stressful to get prepared for, especially in the world of eCommerce. However, whether you’re a beginning online store or a veteran brand, planning can make the biggest difference for your site during the holiday season. By implementing these steps, you can make sure your store is set up for success not just for the holiday season, but long afterward.

Check out how our clients are offer discounts on their stores during this holiday season here.

Want To Learn More?

If you enjoyed this article, check out some of our other recent blogs like how you can stay ahead of the competition with Estimated Delivery Dates! Or if you would like to speak with one of the Fenix Commerce team members directly, then go right ahead and book your demo call with us today! 

About Fenix Commerce

Founded by a group of eCommerce industry veterans in 2017, our mission is to help brands build and maintain lasting, transparent, mutually beneficial relationships with their customers.

We are working toward this goal by developing and evolving solutions that reduce friction in the online purchase experience—increasing conversion, reducing cart abandonment, and in general, radically improving customer experience in the process. 

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