The E-Commerce Guide to the Christmas Season 2020
As the countdown to Christmas starts, many are getting ready for celebrations that will look a little different this year. While consumers and business owners are continuing to adapt to the impacts of this pandemic, they’ve also been establishing creative ways to make this period a safe and festive one.
We know there’s still some uncertainty about what this means for e-commerce this year, but we’ve put together some resources to help you make the most out of your online business during the holidays and kick off the season better prepared.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
# Holiday Shopping Snapshot: 2019
To add some context for your online store’s Christmas sales planning, let’s go over some numbers from last year’s holiday season:
*According to the National Retail Federation and Adobe Analytics
What customers were purchasing in 2019:
Gift cards
59%
Clothing/Accessories
52%
Books and other media
35%
Electronics
29%
Home decor
24%
Jewelery
23%
Personal care
21%
Sporting goods
18%
Home improvements
17%
Other
7%
*According to the National Retail Federation and Adobe Analytics
What factors were driving Christmas sales in 2019?
Sales and discounts - the largest factor
70%
Quality merchandise was the next-largest factor
59%
Selection of merchandise
57%
Free shipping and shipping promotions
46%
Convenient location
44%
*According to the National Retail Federation and Adobe Analytics
Holiday shopping by generation
GenZ
20%
Millennials
21%
GenX
50%
Boomers
85%
Percentage increase of consumers using their mobile phones to make holiday purchases from 2018 to 2019
GenZ
68%
Millennials
50%
GenX
90%
Boomers
125%
Percentage increase of consumers that list mobile browsing as the easiest way to discover products and services from 2018 to 2019
GenZ
66%
Millennials
70%
GenX
57%
Boomers
37%
Percentage of consumers relying on mobile phones for holiday purchases
GenZ
62%
Millennials
64%
GenX
56%
Boomers
45%
Percentage of consumers who say option to buy online and pick up in store for holiday purchases matters to them
*According to Facebook’s Christmas Shopping Insights Report
# What to Expect: Holiday Season 2020
As the pandemic continues to affect consumer purchase behavior, retailers are also adjusting to meet new expectations and safely continue operations. To better navigate this holiday season, let’s take a look at some trends that are starting to come into focus as we head into December:
Getting a head start
With 59% of consumers having already started their holiday shopping as of early November and 42% starting earlier than they usually do, it’s clear that the timeline of traditional BCFM sales has changed this year. This means that online retailers launching mid-season discounts are better positioned to drive revenue, and buyer activity will be more spread out during the holiday season. If you haven’t started your holiday sales yet though, it’s not too late!
With major retailers like Walmart announcing that their stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, e-commerce will likely play an even more important role during BFCM, and allow smaller business owners to make a larger dent in overall holiday revenue. By Adobe Analytics’ estimates, online spending could exceed $3 billion dollars within a 24-hour period for 18 days, in comparison to 3 days in 2019, not including Thanksgiving weekend.
Online shopping
No surprises here! Across the board, preference for online retail is increasing. In fact, estimates show that U.S. online purchases will bring in $189 billion in sales this year, a whopping 33% increase from 2019 (Adobe). With up to 75% of consumersprojected to carry out at least some of their holiday shopping online in 2020, and 43% expected to conduct their holiday shopping solely online this season (for older millennials, that percentage jumps to 63%) e-commerce stores will play a much bigger role in driving holiday sales than in previous years.
Mobile spending
Smartphones are quickly becoming online shopping’s most valued sidekick. Projected to drive 42% of all digital holiday spending and rake in over $28 billion in holiday sales, Christmas mobile shopping could see a 55% growth in comparison to 2019 (Adobe). 70% of smartphone owners intend to make a purchase using their phones (Deloitte).
There’s also been increased activity for shopping apps, with 51% of consumers saying they’ve downloaded at least one since March (Criteo). For online store owners, this means optimizing their site for mobile browsing, and, if a financially feasible option, potentially launching their own mobile shopping app.
Small businesses and corporate values
While many local businesses have been significantly affected by the pandemic, this also means consumers are increasingly prioritizing supporting small retailers, which are expected to drive more than $1 billion more dollars in sales when compared to 2019. (Adobe).
Consumers are also placing a lot of emphasis on company values and employee safety to make their holiday purchasing decisions, with 57% expressing a preference for businesses that supported their staff and customers during the pandemic and 41% opting to not shop with businesses that let employees go or reduced their benefits (Accenture).
Shipping and delivery
In general, if faced with a choice, the overwhelming majority of consumers prefer free shipping (85%) over fast shipping (15%), and a reasonable time frame for the former appears to be 3-7 days (Deloitte). Customers are also less likely to pay high additional fees for express shipping, with 60% noting that they would not pay extra for 2-day shipping (Deloitte).
When it comes to logistical planning for online store owners, it’s best to anticipate delays and encourage customers to get their holiday shopping done early. While major delivery companies like FedEx are adding tens of thousands of new staff members to meet demand, previous years’ data points for online shopping are less reliable for predicting changes in consumer behavior and preventing interruptions to order fulfillment.
E-commerce store owners with brick-and-mortar stores can also consider alternative methods of delivery. The pandemic saw an increase in BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store) fulfillment and curbside pickup nearly doubled in 2020 (Deloitte).
One trend to note is that customers are starting to prefer these methods not only when compared to in-store shopping but also compared to standard delivery, since they offer a more immediate and less expensive option to retrieve their items (Deloitte).
Combining some form of these order fulfillment strategies can help store owners meet demand, and balance out potential shipping delays.
Lifestyle
This year has brought about significant changes to consumers’ way of life. 7 out of 10 customers plan to redirect at least some of their spending from experiences/services (e.g. dining out) to retail (Coresight).
With many now working from home and exploring different activities, purchasing decisions are likely to also be driven by an interest in non-gift items like holiday decorations, as consumers look to make their living space more festive (Deloitte).
Online store owners may benefit from taking into consideration how these shifts in behavior can inform their product offerings.
* According to Criteo
# Setting Up
With all this in mind, it’s time for the (digital) preparations to begin! Let’s take a look at some of the ways your online store can get set up for the holidays:
Channel the holiday spirit on your website
’Tis the season for some merry decorations! Think cozy, festive and colorful. Christmas time is a season-long celebration and many consumers are looking for an online experience that reflects their offline anticipation of this widely cherished holiday. From your home banners to your landing pages, now’s a good period to go all out and spruce up your site with some themed content. Even if your branding tends to be a little more minimalist, there’s no need to miss out!
Consider adding holiday messaging and seasonal discounts to your site that still channel the festivities, but stay true to your year-round aesthetic.
Tip: For holiday designs that stand out, use red, green, gold, white, silver and purple!
Conversion-friendly site layout
The holidays can get hectic, so you want customers to be able to find what they’re looking for fast, while also providing opportunities and incentives for exploration. To strike the right balance, add bold and intuitive call-to-action buttons, create thematically consistent categories, and minimize the steps needed for check out.
Consider installing software that allows visitors to view their cart while staying on the same page, and offer suggestions for similar products as they browse your site.
To build anticipation for a big sale, generate a sense of urgency, or let customers know that an item is low on stock, add countdowns!
If only orders over a certain amount are eligible for free shipping, you can also increase average order value by adding a banner that lets customers know how much more they need to spend to qualify.
Remember: Customers are making more and more purchases on their mobile phones, so make sure your site is optimized for any device!
Tip: To highlight special store features and information, consider adding a block on your homepage or footer that quickly summarizes what customers should know about your brand with visuals.
Packaging and products
Getting your online store ready for the holidays may also mean switching up and adding to your product listings, packaging and collections. Consider including:
- Themed items - Festive versions of your regularly available products
- Stocking Stuffers - Small (and easy to hide until Christmas!) finds that can also function as add-ons to customers’ overall orders
- Gift and value sets - For a holiday-ready upgrade on your regular store listings that don’t need additional gift wrapping
- Christmas discount collection - Highlight products your customers can save on if your sales aren’t site-wide
- Surprise Boxes - Gamify your customers’ holiday shopping experience and extend their anticipation with mystery boxes
- Customizable products - You can let customers make their own holiday sets, or add to option to personalize their items with names, photos and other messaging
- Advent calendars - Make the countdown to Christmas a little easier with a month’s worth of sweet treats and store samples for customers to discover
- Gift cards - Digital gift giving made easy
Plan your holiday promotions early
Get ahead of the game and figure out the types of sales you will be launching and when. Organizing all this before the holiday season gets underway will inform all your marketing strategies moving forward, and make it a lot easier to schedule content and coordinate messaging across your sales channels, particularly this year when Christmas sales are starting even earlier than usual.
Types of sales and promotions to consider hosting include:
- Mid-season sale
- Collection-specific discounts
- BOGO sale
- Value bundles
- Free shipping on all items or qualifying orders
- Flash sale
- Double points for loyalty program actions
- Free gift with purchase
- And of course…seasonal discounts
Gift guides
While you’re preparing your online store for the holidays, you can help customers prepare too by putting together curated gift guides to make their Christmas shopping more efficient and successful (not to mention give them lots of ideas to work with)!
The key here is to anticipate the categories visitors will find useful, and section out your gift guides accordingly. Some themes to consider are:
- Price – Accommodate all customer budgets by filtering products based on cost (e.g. Gifts under $10, splurge-worthy gifts, etc.)
- Interests – Lots of room for creativity here! You can categorize based on hobbies, lifestyles, careers, etc. (e.g.“For home cooks”, “for the eco-friendly”, “for sports fans”)
- Age – Especially useful if your store offers toys (not that there’s an age limit for LEGOs!)
- Gender – A more traditional category, typically used for apparel gift guides
- Popularity – This is where you can add your top-rated or best-selling items
- Sales Type – Offering three products for the price of one? Showcase your value sets in this section!
- Events – Maybe your customers have an office Secret Santa or a New Years dinner party – you got them covered in this category!
To make browsing more efficient, create visuals for each category and section them separately. Also, while your website is the main place you can showcase your gift guide, you don’t have to stop there! Add your categories as Story Highlights on social media or send personalized suggestions by email based on your audience segments.
Tip: For increased engagement, consider creating an interactive gift guide!
Suppliers and shipping
The holidays can include some bumps along the way. It’s good to be one step ahead of any potential issues and ensure that before launching any sales events, you’re in a position to fulfill all expected (and unexpected!) orders.
Since many people are buying gifts for a specific day, delivery is particularly time-sensitive during this period, and will very likely be delayed this season. Communicate early on with your suppliers about the quantities of items you’ll need and their capacity to stock and ship them.
Remember to account for last-minute shoppers to minimize delays due to order volume. Calculate your shipping times accordingly, adding a few extra days to be on the safe side, then let customers know when the last days to order for guaranteed Christmas delivery are.
Ensure customer support and F.A.Q. section
Your visitors have questions, and you’ve got answers! Keep channels of communication open for customers to reach out and check them often. This can not only help with your conversion rate, but also means that your visitors will have a better buyer experience. To quickly address questions that may come up and decrease the need for manual responses, consider automating your social media with answers to some frequently asked questions, or adding a separate F.A.Q. section to your website.
Tip: It’s ok to not have all the answers! Responding quickly by letting customers know you’ll look into their question is often better than long wait times until you figure it out. It assures them that someone is on the other end of the conversation, and that they don’t need to give up on finding a solution.
Communicate safety measures to customers
Particularly if you have a brick-and-mortar store, you’ve likely had to make many adjustments to keep your staff, customers and everyone around you safe. Visitors may benefit from staying up to date on relevant measures, including those that involve order fulfillment. Consider offering curbside pick-up and keep customers posted on how they can safely enjoy their items.
Special Christmas pop-ups
Alright, so your online storefront’s set up, and your holiday sales plan is lined up and ready to go. What’s next? Now’s really when you can go full speed ahead with your other promotional strategies and it’s at this point we strongly recommend redirecting your efforts into creating seasonal and high-converting pop-ups for lead generation. An eye-catching pop-up can serve almost any marketing goal and it’s important to have one up and running before the holiday traffic kicks in, so let’s dive into how you can make the most out of yours during this season.
Types of pop-ups to consider setting up:
- Welcome pop-up - If you’re looking to grow your subscriber list, look no further. If you install only one type of pop-up this season (though we do recommend branching out!), let it be this one. A welcome pop-up is one first thing visitors will see when browsing your website, so provide a strong holiday incentive for them to sign up for your newsletters.
Some offers to consider:
- Special holiday discount
- Free shipping on qualifying orders
- Free gift with purchase
- Digital freebie (this is another place where your holiday gift guide can come in handy!)
- Entry into a giveaway (some pop-up builders like Socital even help you pick out a winner!)
- Exit-intent pop-up – For last-minute discounts and another opportunity for visitors to sign up for your newsletter
- Countdown pop-up – Discount expiring soon? Incentivize visitors to follow through with a purchase by letting them know time’s tickin’! These can also be used to build anticipation for an upcoming sale
- Abandoned cart pop-up – Remind visitors to take a second look at what they left in their carts and offer an easy check out
- Upsell and cross-sell pop-up – Increase your average order value by recommending your best-sellers or similar items to what your visitors are browsing
Optimize pop-up triggers
Particularly when it comes to your initial welcome pop-up, timing matters. If you want email subscribers that have engaged with your site, it’s best to schedule your pop-up to appear a few seconds after visitors load your site rather than having it be the first thing they see. You can even time your pop-up to appear only after visitors have scrolled past a certain point on your home page or product pages.
Layout
When selecting the form fields you’ll include in your pop-up, think about your future marketing goals, the information you’ll need to reach out to customers, as well as the time it will take them to sign up. Usually, asking for visitors’ email address is the simplest way to grow your subscriber list, since it means a faster sign-up process, but it completely depends on how personalized you want to make future promotions. For example, if you also intend to reach out to subscribers by SMS, consider adding an optional section where they can fill out their phone numbers.
Tip: Offer the option for visitors to sign up with their social media accounts. A social media login combines most of these options, so you get the benefit of a simple sign-up process, with the subscriber profiles of a longer one!
# Email Marketing Campaigns
For successful and high-converting holiday campaigns, implement a strategy for reaching out to your email subscribers. It’s not only one of the most cost-efficient ways to spread the word about your promotions, but it can also lead to greater returns than other forms of marketing, since your audience includes those who have taken the extra step to stay in the know and likely already invested in your brand.
Tip: For optimal delivery rates, consider getting a customized email address (e.g. hello@sephora.com)!
Scheduling
For online marketers, the countdown to Christmas begins way before December. To keep your email marketing campaigns organized, it’s best to plan ahead (and remember to reference your sales schedule you’ve created when setting up!).
We recommend splitting your campaigns into three sections:
- Pre-holiday campaigns – This is where you can really build anticipation for upcoming sales events. Remember, consumers are starting their Christmas shopping much earlier this year, so starting a few weeks or even a month or two an advance is not out of sync with buyer behavior, and can make your campaigns stand out even more. Also, don’t forget about other holidays being celebrated during this period! You can also shine a spotlight on Halloween promotions and Thanksgiving discounts to keep your campaigns extra festive.
- Holiday campaigns – The wait’s over! Usually starting one or two weeks before BCFM and going all the way until New Years, celebrate the season by launching the holiday promotions and festive newsletters you’ve been planning!
- Post-holiday campaigns – As the holiday season winds down, so might buyer activity but don’t let that discourage you from launching post-Christmas and New Years events! You can mark down your holiday-themed products even more, and provide new incentives for customers to engage with your store.
Audience segmentation
Email marketing allows for the opportunity to create highly targeted and personalized newsletters for your subscribers, so make sure you’re segmenting your audiences to get the most out of this platform! Remember that many email marketing providers charge based on emails sent, so categorizing your subscribers can not only mean less overall emails delivered, but also higher open and click-through rates. Consider basing your campaigns on some of these segments:
- Repeat buyers/VIP customers
- New subscribers
- Interests and demographics
- Engagement in the past three or six months
- Location
- Loyalty program tier
Types of holiday marketing emails
There are many different ways to craft your holiday newsletters, and email marketing offers tools to make informative, entertaining and festive messages to an audience that’s already tuned in. Here are some topics to consider reaching out to your subscribers about:
- Festive welcome offer
- Christmas discounts (and relevant countdowns!)
- New holiday collection/product launches
- Gift guides and other digital resources (tip: you can also include this at the footer of every holiday newsletter!)
- Free shipping/holiday delivery announcements
- Subscriber-only giveaway/contest
- Free gift with purchase
- Personalized product recommendations
- Reminder for an expiring sale
- Discounts for VIP customers
- Coupon codes for inactive subscribers
- Abandoned cart emails
- Back in stock notifications
- Low in stock notifications for in-demand items
- Subscriber-only giveaway/contest
- End-of-the-year message and holiday wishes
Tip: Consider giving your subscribers early access to your site-wide holiday sales!
Ensure GDPR compliance
With the increase in newsletter sign-ups during the holiday season, it can be easy to lose track of audience segments. Double-check that your email marketing provider syncs with your pop-ups and e-commerce platform so that only customers that have actively opted to receive your newsletter are on your marketing list.
Remember: A customer eligible for transactional emails is not necessarily eligible for promotional emails, so ensure that no subscriber slips through the cracks and that only active followers are receiving your sales updates.
Light up your social media with the festive cheer
Your social media presence is an extension of your brand and provides a unique way to stay connected to your customers during the holidays. No two marketing strategies are the same across platforms but with a few adjustments, you can create effective multi-channel seasonal campaigns tailored for each separate audience. Read on for some tips on how to use each platform’s strong points to craft buzz-worthy holiday content and grow your follower base!
Consistency
Bring on the content planners! As BCFM draws near, more brands are using social media to promote their sales and consumers’ attention is being drawn in all directions. Help the algorithm help you by maintaining a consistent posting schedule. Whether that’s daily or a few times a week, keep your followers feeds’ updated with festive content that encourages engagement.
Maximize use of social media features
Social media platforms offer powerful tools for promotion that are too good to pass up, and what better time to explore them than the holidays? Here are some features to keep in mind:
- Instagram and Facebook stories – Especially useful for flash sales
- Product tags – By setting up your Instagram and Facebook shops, you can sync your catalogue so that you can tag every product you feature on your feed and stories. Visitors can then click the tag and be directed to check out – simple! Don’t forget to add a call-to-action to your Facebook Page!
- IGTV and Instagram lives – Great for behind-the-scenes content or product demonstrations
- Instagram Story highlights – for season-long promotions and resources (you can add your gift guides here too!)
- Holiday hashtags – The key here is making your brand easier to discover. Consider using a mix of seasonal hashtags that are widely used, while also balancing them with more niche ones. Remember that the more frequently a specific hashtag is posted, the harder it can be for your posts to stand out, so maximize your content’s visibility by adding all different types. For more themed content, consider launching your own brand-specific hashtag!
Collaborations
The more the merrier! Consider partnering up with influencers and cross-promoting fellow brands to widen the reach of your holiday social media campaigns. Select content creators in your niche with an engaged following and similar target audience for more effective collaborations.
Giveaways and follower-exclusive discounts
Giveaways and contests can be a great way to grow your follower count, and also an opportunity for those entering to submit valuable user-generated content. If you’ve just launched your social media accounts, if possible, consider partnering with another brand for an increased number of entries, like the example above!
Giveaway ideas include:
- 12 Days of Christmas deals
- Holiday Hashtag contest
- Win your Wishlist contest
- Gift card giveaway
Expand to other platforms
Yes, Facebook and Instagram are key players for widening your social media reach, but there are many other platforms out there that can help users discover your online business! Consider how your brand’s messaging can be tailored for each site and its target audience and start exploring. Platforms to consider:
- Pinterest – Primarily a place for posting creative content and ideas centered around the home, apparel, travel and fitness – explore Pinterest Shoppable boards as an additional sales channel (and its native integration with Shopify!)
- Twitter – Shorter, text-centered promotions
- TikTok – While still a relatively new platform, TikTok is quickly gaining traction, particularly among Gen Z. No high production costs needed for videos posted on here – short, entertaining and accessible clips work well
- Reddit – Great for building a community among other followers of your brand
- Twitch – If gamers are in your target audience, consider expanding your social media presence on Twitch and collaborating with other influencers already on the platform for more successful campaigns
# Paid Advertising Platforms
No doubt about it, free marketing should be prioritized in your seasonal campaigns, but given how many consumers are already on social media and using search engines to carry out their holiday shopping, it’s worth considering how to include paid ads in your marketing strategy. They may take a bit more resources to start with, but the powerful targeting options they offer can lead to much faster and higher returns than less expensive advertising alternatives.
Advertising channels to consider
- Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.)
- Google Ads (Search, Display, Shopping, App)
- Youtube ads
- Bing ads
Creating your Audience
The options you have for narrowing down the audience you want to target are what give paid ads a major advantage in generating sales. There’s no limit to the combinations you can explore to market your holiday campaign so if you’re just starting out creating audiences to target you can start with:
- Location
- Demographics
- Interests
- Related pages (e.g. Sephora, Starbucks) – on Facebook, primarily brands with a larger following can be targeted
- Purchase behavior (e.g. Engaged shoppers)
- URLs visited (exclusively on Google Ads)
- Apps downloaded
Tip: If you’re starting with Facebook Ads, take a look at Audience Insights to explore common themes among users based on a wide range of identifiers. For Google Ads, use its Keyword Planner to find holiday-themed search terms related to your products.
Ad design
To help boost your conversion and sign-up rates, let’s take a look at some ways to optimize your ad content:
- Landing page – Creating a festive and relevant landing page with high-quality images and informative product descriptions can lead to reduced bounce rates
- Mobile and platform-optimized – Be sure to follow each ad network’s guidance on the dimensions your content should be for a higher impression rate!
- Emphasize unique selling points – What makes your products or discounts stand out? Conveying that effectively means your ads will also stand out!
- Minimal text – Particularly for social media image ads, focus on high quality photos and save most of your text for the ad’s captions
- Subtitles for videos – For video content that includes dialogue consider adding subtitles so that even users that are just scrolling with their sound off can enjoy and engage with the ad
- Specific call-to-action buttons – This is a small edit, but adjusting your call-to-action depending on your campaign can make a difference in how many people click on your ad’s link
Remarketing
Targeting consumers that have already engaged with your store can lead to much higher returns for your paid ads than other methods. If you don’t currently have the budget to launch remarketing campaigns, that’s ok! By installing a Facebook pixel on and connecting a Google Analytics account with your store, you can still collect data on website visitors and followers to create audiences you can revisit later on. Just make sure that users know and have consented to their information being stored!
# A Little Something Extra
By consistently updating your social media accounts and launching your paid ads, you’re already in a great position to increase your holiday sales. If you’re looking for ways to expand your marketing strategies though, here are some additional methods to consider:
Loyalty program
Reward customers for taking specific actions in your store, and consider making it even easier for them to earn points during the holiday season! This increases the average lifetime value of members, and provides additional incentives to continue to engage with your brand long after the holidays are over.
Tip: Consider making the different tiers achievable enough so that customers are motivated to take action, but spaced out enough so that higher tiers require more commitment.
Affiliate and referral program
Some of the best advocates for your brand can be those that have already purchased from your online store, or content creators that have established high credibility and an engaged following. Launching an affiliate or referral program not only provides additional payment methods for collaborations, particularly when you’re exploring influencer and content marketing, it can also lead to some of the most high-converting visitors, since shoppers are more likely to take recommendations from those that they know than individual brands.
Product reviews
Maybe a customer ordered from your store and is ready to rave about what they got – with a reviews program they not only can, they can make it public on your site! Consider offering the opportunity to buyers to broadcast their positive experiences with your brand. A review program generates social proof, and can also be the extra push that leads potential customers to follow through with their order. Plus, if your business is highly rated on consumer review sites like TrustPilot, consider displaying a relevant badge on your site to help your business establish even more credibility.
Wishlist
Sometimes a visitor may really like an item on your online store, but they’re not in a position to make a purchase and still want to revisit the listing in the future. With a wishlist feature, they can easily save it on your site and come back to find it when they’re ready to order! It provides them with an additional way to connect with your brand and if they’re a subscriber, you can also send them a reminder email of what they’ve bookmarked. A wishlist feature is also helpful for a “Win your Wishlist” holiday giveaway!
# Checkout Optimization and Cart Recovery
As the final steps of the conversion funnel, setting up your abandoned cart recovery sequences and creating a seamless checkout process can be one of the most effective measures for boosting your conversion rate during the holiday season. Consider implementing some of these strategies as you get ready to launch your festive sales:
Multi-channel abandoned cart campaigns
With the potential to recover up to 18% of abandoned carts, cart recovery campaigns can be an especially powerful marketing tool during the holidays. While in general it can be useful and less overwhelming to stick to one platform when deciding how to set up your abandoned cart campaigns, it doesn’t have to be email! If your pop-up lets visitors sign up with their phone numbers or social media logins, you can set up your cart recovery sequence to be delivered by SMS or Facebook Messenger for higher open rates! Just make sure that the information required doesn’t interfere with a quick sign-up process on your pop-ups (e.g. in this case, you can make including a phone number optional so that users can still sign up with just their email).
Remember: abandoned cart campaigns are considered promotional, so visitors do need to be subscribers to be eligible to receive them!
Schedule your first notification to be delivered around one hour after delivery, and for some extra encouragement to complete their order, you can add a discount in the final notification of your abandoned cart recovery sequence.
Tip: If you’re sending your abandoned cart notifications through email, consider adding extra product recommendations to the footer!
Recommend upsells and cross-sells
Upsells and cross-sells are the online equivalent of those travel-sized goodies you see near the cash register. Adding some last-minute recommendations right before a visitor goes to check out can increase your average order value, and, if you’re also offering a free gift with purchase, can be the incentive needed for them to complete their order.
Increase your accepted payment methods
With digital wallets on the rise and with over half of consumers planning on using them for their holiday shopping, providing additional payment gateways can translate to a faster checkout process and make customers feel even more secure inputting their payment information. Note: If you have a Shopify store, with Shopify Payments, you can add PayPal, ShopPay, Google Pay, Apple Pay and Amazon Pay as extra payment gateways!
Gift wrapping
During the holidays, customers can get pretty busy. Making their Christmas shopping a little easier by offering gift packaging is an additional festive touch that can encourage visitors to follow through with their purchase. Gift wrapping features can include removing the price tag and providing instructions for potential returns. You can also include the option for customers to add a personalized message for additional customization.
# Post-purchase Experience
A customer’s experience with your business doesn’t end after they’ve submitted an order. In fact, what happens after can just as easily influence consumer preferences. Building on customers’ engagement with your online store is an opportunity to increase brand loyalty, establish credibility and encourage repeat purchases.
- Thank you messageA well-designed thank you note in order confirmation emails can set the tone for customers’ post-purchase experience and can reassure customers’ of your brand’s accessibility should they have questions.
- SurveyConsider offering customers the opportunity to give feedback after they have ordered. Providing additional ways for customers to voice their opinions can be a direct way to address their input and a useful way for you to better understand how to fully optimize your online store. You can also invite customers to leave ratings on other consumer review websites (some also have native integration with Shopify). Remember, customers typically need to be subscribed to your newsletter to receive these types of emails!
- Easy returnsA busy sales period like the holidays can also mean more items being returned. Providing customers with a clear refund and returns policy and extending your return timeframe can give them peace of mind after they’ve purchased, and more comfortable ordering additional times since they know they have the option to send products back should they need to.
In general, mistakes can happen! How you resolve them can be just as if not more important for customers in ensuring that they have a positive overall post-purchase experience with your brand, so don’t worry if not everything goes according to plan!
No matter how you choose to launch your Christmas sales or how you’re celebrating this year, we hope you have a very successful and safe festive season. Happy holidays!
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