By Scott Gray on 2009/10/05
Twas the week after Christmas, when all through the house
Not a user was stirring, not even his mouse.
The Add-to-cart buttons were placed on product pages with care
In the hopes that conversions soon would be there.
In under 11 weeks many of your consumers will, depending on which hemisphere they're in, be either tanning on the beach or making snowmen in their gardens. One thing both of these holiday-making groups WON'T be doing is thinking about YOU.
This statement is, of course, somewhat of a generalisation, but based on data collected over the years, website traffic over the end of year holiday season is typically low. So, as an online retailer, what should you be doing to make sure you're getting the most out of what little time is left before your customers go on vacation?
Here are 4 things to consider:
1). Action Not Branding
If ever there was a time for tailoring your marketing message, it is now. Everything about your brand online should be about causing an action and not delivering a message. So, instead of “We’re ACME Inc, click here to read about us” go for “ACME heavy anvils – CLICK HERE to buy”.
The next few months should be completely focused on opportunism. Nothing builds your brand quite like giving customers what they want, when they want it and with a big smile on your face.
2). The Importance of the Early Order
I for one quite enjoy the fact that shopping online means I don’t have to stand in the mega queue the week before Christmas, screaming children all around, grumpy fathers pulling out the credit cards for little Suzie’s Hannah Montana roller-skates (yes, I just checked, they do exist).
Unfortunately, one area where Web cannot compete with the traditional bricks-and-mortar stores is the instant gratification of being able to walk out the store gifts in hand. Courier and postal networks are relied upon to deliver on time, but often become unreliable in the days leading up to the 25th of December. Customers ordering online too late will most likely end up with a very unhappy Suzie come present opening time.
It’s in many people’s nature to leave things to the last minute so communicating an offer early is vital. An early-bird special could do the trick. Ideas for early specials could include free delivery or price discounts on purchases over a certain amount, an incentive that diminishes the later the customer places their order.
3). The Power of Search
Based on a 2009 research report by Nielsen, search is the number 1 Web activity. I expect to see retail related searches gaining momentum as the festive season comes closer. That said, making the most from the opportunity provided by the Googles of this world is vital.
When looking at the opportunities afforded to website marketers by search, it’s important to evaluate organic and paid search separately. If you haven’t already got any organic search action plan in place, it may just be too late to have any major effect on the rankings of your product pages. That said, it never hurts to ensure your site is optimised as well as it can be and that you have as many incoming links to your pages as possible.
Paid search though, is a different herd of reindeer altogether. The competition for the obvious keywords (think “digital camera” or “kids toys”) will be fierce, driving up prices for the all important click. If you have loads of budget, you might want to spend a bit on these popular phrases. There are however more value and higher conversions to be found with more specific keywords or phrases (think “Canon 450D” or “GI Joe action figure”). Paid search should be one of the central focus points of your marketing activities from now until the end of the festive season.
4). The Importance of Social?
From the same Nielsen research report, you may be interested to know that time spent on Social Media was ranked as the 4th most popular activity on the Web (pushing email into 5th). With the increase in social interaction in the run up to the festive season, platforms like Facebook can expect to see quite a lot of activity.
Be sure to have your Social Media presence in place. While Social Media is not where you would expect much sales conversion taking place, it is still a massive opportunity for your business to be creating a space where customers can interact with you as well as view your products in an environment that they’re more comfortable with. I like to say “fish where the fish are” and using tools such as Facebook Pages allows you to do just this.
This article is really a very high level overview and each of these 4 points could be easily broken down into a series of future posts. But you don’t have much time here folks! If you’re an online retailer who hasn’t got an action plan, stop what you’re doing and turn your attention to getting something together. Analysts are predicting a fairly uninspired season in terms of sales, so everything you do needs to count toward making a success out of what you already have.
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