Making the Most of Christmas Marketing Opportunities

November 12th 2012 | By Sarah McInerney

Christmas will soon be upon us and there’s no doubt the festive period makes shoppers behave differently. Is your website ready to make the most of the seasonal deluge?

During November and December people need a little extra help and inspiration in finding the right gifts. It’s important to help ease the stress by using clear sign posts and being clear about what you’ve got to offer if you’re selling to a Christmas audience – they are time poor – there is just so much to do after all. Budgets remains important, but equally, people do like to be generous at Christmas.

Here are our top tips for helping your customers buy more from your website this Christmas:

• Purchases are made with someone else in mind, so be transparent with your products. Show clear images with different angles. Offer detailed product descriptions and clear pricing.
• Create trust by displaying a contact telephone number so they can call for help if necessary.  Expect to have and be ready for a higher amount of queries.
• This is a good time to highlight customer reviews and testimonials. Customers like to know what other customers think, especially when purchasing gifts.
• Customers are likely to spend more and buy more over Christmas so reassure them by showing security accreditations and offer money back guarantees.
• Clearly signpost your refund and exchange policy and consider extending it for Christmas. This will reduce the stress of buying gifts and give customers reassurance.
• If customers can relate to one organisation more than another, that’s where they will choose to spend their money. So it’s even more important to keep your website freshly updated with content such as images, videos and blogs.
•  Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing throughout November and December and make sure the gap between your products, pricing and service options are not too great. Try and offer an ‘edge’ over what they do, something to tip the balance in your favour such as free postage, a two month exchange policy or bulk discounts.
• It goes without saying that you need to keep an eye on stock availability.  Avoid promoting items that are low or out of stock as this will only serve to annoy customers.
• Clearly highlight your delivery options.  Consider running promotions such as free delivery or free next day delivery as postage costs and delivery times can be one of the biggest barriers to purchasing online.  Let customers know when your last order date is in order to receive for Christmas.
• Clearly display your price promotions, but don’t overdo it.  Customers like to feel as if their money has been spent well.
• Customers will be researching as well as buying on different devices.  Is your website mobile and tablet friendly too?

The buying public behaves differently in the run up to Christmas. It is a good idea to keep a diary or monitor November and December in detail so that you can use the intelligence for next year. When is your busiest day or week?  What time of day seems to be the busiest? What items are selling fast and which are being ignored?

Are you and your website ready for the festive period? If you don’t feel you’re ready for the seasonal onslaught, get in touch.