Here are 6 tips to help optimize your website for the holiday shopping season:
- Ecommerce: Consumers will spend a
bit more this holiday shopping season, but there will be fewer of them in stores, predicts research firm ShopperTrak. Every year sees an
increase in online shopping "“ it is easier, makes deal comparing simple, and
lets them avoid crowds at the store. Make sure your company can take advantage
of this growing market by having your website ecommerce-capable.
- Deals: Create
deals tailored to bring holiday shoppers back to your site after the holidays,
such as coupons that can only be used after the holiday season. Or, use the
contact information gathered to send out a newsletter (with a clear opt out
link, of course).
- Live chat: An emarketer study found that online buyers who had
used live chat were more likely to make online purchases at least once a week
(40%) than buyers who had never chatted (22%). Respondents who hadn't used live
chat were likely to be infrequent online buyers, with 36% making a purchase
less than once per month compared with 18% of chatters. Talkative online buyers also made a greater
portion of their purchases over the Internet during the holiday season.
- Special design /
landing page: Get your visitors into the holiday spirit with nice holiday
graphics. You also want to remember to tailor your SEO for the holidays, such
as implementing content and keywords tailored for the holiday shopping season
(ie Holiday Gift Ideas is always a very popular phrase!).
- Coordinate with social media: If you use any type of
social media, make sure you encourage your holiday shoppers to find your social
media pages by offering special deals. This will allow you to market to them
all year, as well as have a better way to reach their contacts. Social media
can also act as a referral.
- Try a newsletter / email marketing campaign: Don't wait
for shoppers to find you "“ reach out to them first with a well-crafted,
targeted email campaign.
Watch for more tips as the season draws closer. Don't wait too long to make sure you are ready to capture online shoppers, and keep them coming back!
