Valentine’s Day 2021

THE E-COMMERCE HANDBOOK TO VALENTINE’S DAY

Valentine’s Day – the most romantic holiday and the second-priciest holiday in the seasonal marketing calendar. In other words, it’s one of those profitable opportunities for e-commerce businesses that cannot be missed.

Phones are ringing, orders are placing, excitement is growing! You know what that mean: love is in the air! The holiday is fast approaching and people are getting busy preparing to surprise their loved ones. How does your online store fit that picture?

Let’s go through the handbook for getting your online store optimized and ready to spread the love and skyrocket your sales!

1. A by-the-numbers look at Valentine's Day

It’s no surprise that people spend quite a bit of money to show their love on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day sales were expected to reach $27.4 billion in 2020, with those numbers growing consistently year-to-year before then (2020 alone marked a 32% jump from 2019). The majority of Valentine’s Day sales are attributed to jewelry, followed by an evening out and clothing. Shoppers who are engaged to be married spend the most on average $85 on their loved ones.

Estimated spend in the US in 2020

19% on gift cards

20% on clothing

21% on jewelry

34% on evening out

37% on flowers

43% greeting cards

52% on candy

*According to NRF

2. Dress up your storefront for Valentine’s Day

As consumers have wrapped up their Christmas shopping, it’s time to start planning for another upcoming major holiday, Valentine’s Day. Start with decorating your online store to make it have the look and feel of this romantic day. Add banners with discounts, special sections, and CTA buttons that lead to dedicated landing pages. Showing people the spirit of Valentine’s Day in your store will enhance the customer buying experience. Needless to say prepare lots of hearts, teddy-bears, cupids, candy boxes, and all shades of pink for decoration. Make your customers fall in love with your store outfit!

2.1. Conversion-friendly homepage

First things first! You’ve got 60 seconds, at best, to convince your online store visitors that you’ve got what they want. What’s the best way to achieve this? Let’s break it down into the most important elements:

Your homepage should find a place in your customers’ hearts. Start with a persuasive copy that clearly states discounts and other offers, something that shows your visitors that you do have a stellar Valentine’s Day selection, and there is an offer on certain items. Colors are important. They affect how people identify with the world, how they feel, and what purchase decisions they make. For this occasion, play with a pinkish color palette – all shades of pink, lavender, red and purple. But, don’t forget to use color-contrasted call-to-action buttons. To complete the atmosphere, stick a little bit of hearts, cupids, bears, and balloons.

2.2. Landing page with themed product sets

When creating the Valentine’s Day landing page and homepage banners, it’s quite important to showcase Valentine-themed products and a special Valentine’s Day collection. As shoppers are looking for gift ideas for around this period, expanding your product listings to include packaged sets and limited edition items reflect consumer interest, and provide additional incentives for visitors to purchase from your online store.

Tip: Use high-quality photos of the products. Add a description that clearly defines products and their benefits.

2.3. Easy navigation through your offerings

Your website navigation should allow your visitors to land on any page on your site and find what they need within 3 clicks. Add easy navigation buttons and you’ve secured some of those 30% who’d leave within the first minute.

Make sure your homepage and landing page clearly demonstrates that Valentine’s shoppers are on the right site with some lovely Valentine’s imagery.

To highlight special store features and information, consider adding a block on your homepage that quickly summarizes what customers should know about your brand or offer with visuals.

2.4. On-site promotion - pop-ups

Now, when you nicely dressed up your online store and your Valentine’s sales plan is aligned, what’s next? Visitors are landing on your online store, but that’s not enough. Are they converting? To do so, you need an effective conversion optimization tool such as attention-grabbing pop-ups.

Welcome-offer pop-up

If you’re looking to grow your subscriber list, then this is what you need. A welcome pop-up is a first thing visitors will see when they land on your website, so provide a strong holiday incentive for them to sign up for your newsletters.

In this case, timing matters. You don’t want to turn your visitors away from you with intrusive pop-ups. Give them a little bit of time to make themselves comfortable – a few seconds or after they scrolled down a certain percentage of the page – before your pop-up offer appears.

Call-to-action buttons are also very important. If you combine calls-to-action buttons with users’ social media accounts, you’ll ensure a frictionless sign-up process that leads to data collection and personalization.

Tip: Social media registration process provides more accurate data than traditional one.

Some welcome-offers to consider:

Countdown timer pop-ups

Offer expiring soon? Incentivize visitors to follow through with a purchase by letting them know time’s tickin’! By including countdown timer pop-ups to your promotions, you help your customers decide immediately. These can also be used to build anticipation for an upcoming sale.

Upsell and cross-sell pop-up

If you want to increase your average order value, you can do that by recommending best-seller items or similar items to what your visitors are browsing. When customers view or add an item to their cart, trigger a pop-up that suggests other items that can alternate or complement items that customers views or chooses. It’s one of the easiest way to implement product recommendations.

Cart abandonment pop-up

Reducing the shopping cart abandonment rate is much easier than bringing back the lost customers. The easiest way to do so is to place an exit-intent pop-up at checkout and tackle the problem the moment it happens. Trigger a pop-up when a hesitant buyer tries to leave your website without completing the order.

Tip: An additional discount code or a sense of urgency could nudge hesitant buyers towards your conversion goal.

Banners are one of those must-have gadgets that will improve your conversion rates. Changing out banners seasonally keeps your website fresh and up-to-date. They create first impressions when your visitors land to your Homepage and assure them that they are in the right place. If you make them clickable, you’ll send website visitors to the landing page where they can learn more about your Valentine’s Day offer.

Tip: Rotating banners gives a lot more information about the website and products and engage visitors for more duration.

2.5. Gift guides

Finding the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day is not always an easy task for shoppers, so designing a curated gift guide can help them a lot. And it’s not only about the items you feature – gift guides give you even more control of the associations customers make with your products. Gift guides also provide an opportunity to showcase your products in new ways.

Try grouping your recommendations into popular categories targeted to different customer segments.

3. Surprise and delight customers in a romantic way

When it comes to your Valentine’s Day, there are many ways to design your marketing promotion to resonate with various shoppers and their needs. Even though it is meant to be a holiday for couples, consider expanding your targeting beyond them. You can tailor your promotional messaging to also focus on friendships and general relationships with loved ones. Another option to explore is the idea of self-love, as customers may be interested in purchasing gifts for themselves in addition to others for Valentine’s Day. Don’t forget about singles and their pets, because self-love and pet-love is still love. Let’s dive into it!

3.1. Pre-Valentine’s Day promotion

Early bird promotion

Valentine’s Day spending begins the week before February 14th. If you offer visitors to sign up for your newsletter, you’ll capture those early birds searching for that special something in advance. Running a promotion the week leading up to Valentine’s Day will give your customers a chance to take advantage of your offer, and you’ll get an opportunity to increase your email list.

3.2. Gamify your offer with quizzes

Interactive quizzes

One of the most effective ways to promote your seasonal offer is to make your promotion playable. A Valentine’s Day quiz can be a more inventive, familiar, and interactive way to connect with your customers, engage them, and generate more leads. Their gamified structure will probably encouraging users to share their results on their social media accounts which can lead to increased brand awareness and organic traffic.

3.3. Make your customers’ hearts beat or click faster

Social media contests

Social media platforms are already designed for interaction, so creating content that encourages participation is an organic way to connect with your audience and attract more visitors. Conducting a contest on your Facebook or Instagram with a valuable offer and an emotional message will encourage your customers to get involved and get their friends involved. Hashtag contests on Instagram can be an especially effective promotion, since it increases the opportunity for your brand to be discovered, and encourages participants to submit their own content.

Facebook contest flow

This is particularly effective because it requires additional steps for entry so that you can ensure that those who are signed up are already enthusiastic about your business and willing to stay updated on your store’s future announcements and promotions.

Valentine’s Day giveaway

Hosting a giveaway works well if your products are not directly related to Valentine’s Day. The benefits of a giveaway are not holiday-specific, and consumers can enjoy them any time of year. It can be a fantastic way to drive sign-ups for your email newsletter whether you feature the giveaway on your website or social media accounts.

Some ideas to consider:

Stories about enduring love put people in a good mood and make them feel connected to your brand.

Referral program

To generate buzz around your promotions, and to add an additional perk for customers who are sharing your content, consider launching a referral program! Referrals allow your followers to vouch for your brand in a more structured way and can be a useful tool when establishing payment methods for influencer collaborations. While a percentage off is a more flexible reward for referrals, you can also consider offering a Valentine’s Day gift or store credit.

3.4. Valentine’s Day clearance

Post-Valentine’s Day promotion

Even when Valentine’s Day is over, you can keep on sharing the love with your customers. If you still have stock left over after Valentine’s Day, consider launching sales that offer higher than usual discount and keep on selling after the holiday. Themed items can still be useful to your customers after Valentine’s Day, so having an “everything must go” approach can lead to an increase in orders.

4. Spread the love to skyrocket your sales

Valentine’s Day is one of the most potential opportunities for retailers to increase their revenue. It brings a promising opportunity to increase brand awareness and subscribers and boost online sales. Even if you don’t sell typical Valentine’s Day items, it doesn’t mean that you cannot take advantage of this occasion. There are many sales tactics for e-commerce businesses but for this occasion, we are focusing on those that are specific, proven-effective, and easy to execute. Let’s check it out!

4.1. Spread the love with flash sales

Flash sales

By holding a flash sale on specific products, you will get an opportunity for upselling and cross-selling since your customers are already on your website. You don’t have to wait until the last minute to let potential customers know! You can build anticipation for the sale by reminding your followers and generate a sense of urgency throughout its duration with countdowns. Even if you don’t sell typical Valentine’s Day items, it doesn’t mean that you cannot take advantage of this occasion. There are many sales tactics for e-commerce businesses but for this occasion, we are focusing on those that are specific, proven-effective, and easy to execute. Let’s check it out!

Tip: Social media stories are a particularly useful method for promoting flash sales

4.2. Spread the love with BOGO

Buy-one-get-one-offer

The idea of buying two gifts for the price of one is especially suitable for Valentine’s Day, and very popular among shoppers. This promotion offers savings to customers, as well as the opportunity to buy an additional item for those they love. It’s especially effective for smaller, inexpensive items, consider increasing the number of items needed to qualify for an additional free one. If you want to increase your average order value, a BOGO sale is the best way to do it. Even if you don’t sell typical Valentine’s Day items, it doesn’t mean that you cannot take advantage of this occasion. There are many sales tactics for e-commerce businesses but for this occasion, we are focusing on those that are specific, proven-effective, and easy to execute. Let’s check it out!

4.3. Spread the love with personalized gifts

Buy-one-get-one-offer

On Valentine’s Day, people are looking to add a personalized touch to their gifts. To help them find unique items for their loved ones, you can offer them the option to customize their products, either by including names or messages. Even if you don’t have an inventory with personalized items, you can still offer to personalize a note or to personalize gift wrapping. Even if you don’t sell typical Valentine’s Day items, it doesn’t mean that you cannot take advantage of this occasion. There are many sales tactics for e-commerce businesses but for this occasion, we are focusing on those that are specific, proven-effective, and easy to execute. Let’s check it out!

4.4. Spread the love with freebies

Freebies with a minimum purchase

Offering a promotional freebie for qualifying purchases is a great way to increase your average order value and overall sales and decrease abandoned carts. this can be a good opportunity to showcase new products that customers may not have discovered on their own.

5. Sweet Valentine’s Day email marketing

For successful Valentine’s Day campaigns, reach out to your email subscribers. It’s not the only cost-efficient way to spread the word about your promotions but it can lead to greater returns than other marketing tactics. Since your newsletter list includes those who are already interested in your brand, delivering special Valentine’s Day offers right in their inboxes will result in higher conversion rates. For more sales, spice up your Valentine’s Day email campaign with a little personalization. Personalization makes an email more likely to be opened and clicked. And that leads us to more placed orders. Here’s what you can do!

5.1. Valentine’s Day email campaigns

Pre-Valentine’s Day email campaign

Hint at the Valentine’s Day sale deals and build anticipation before you officially launch the campaign. This way you’ll tickle your customers’ fancy and make them want to purchase.

Valentine’s Day offer email campaign

In the peak of the season, use personalized content to show your customers products that they’re interested in.

Post-Valentine’s Day email campaign

The best way to reduce post-holiday slumps is a loyalty program. It’s shown that customers who get loyalty rewards spend twice. Investing in a loyalty program will bring customers back for the next season. If you enable customers to claim loyalty rewards directly from their email, it will drastically increase the average order values.

Thank you emails

Never forget to show your appreciation. Thank you emails will have a significant impact on your customers’ loyalty and their retention.

5.2. Valentine’s Day email topics

There are many different ways to craft your Valentine’s Day email campaign. Here are some topics to consider:

5.3. Audience segmentation

Email marketing allows to create highly targeted and personalized newsletters, so make sure you’re segmenting your audiences to get the most out of this channel! By analyzing and segmenting your email list, you can create several email campaigns with different messaging and go after different segments with relevant resources and offers.

Consider basing your campaigns on some of these segments:

Tip: The segmentation is your best friend. It enables you to deliver more personalized content and relevant product recommendations.

Make your emails to stand out

A simple text message or plain-text email won’t get the job done. If you want a higher email open rate and click-through rate, you’ll have to be very creative. Your offer should stand out in subscribers’ inboxes.

Important: Μobile device optimization. Within a few seconds when a subscriber opens your email, you can win or lose. You can have the most engaging content in the world, but if the user decides it’s a less-than-stellar mobile experience, poof, your email will be history. Even worse, the user might unsubscribe or mark your email as spam.

6. Give your Valentine’s Day promotion a push

Mobile push notifications are a winning marketing strategy for online retailers. Sending well-considered, relevant, and timely notification messages to people who already have an interest in your offer is a great tactic to grab customers’ attention.

So, what could you do?

6.1. Give your Valentine’s Day promotion a push

You want more sale for Valentine’s Day but haven’t joined Socital, yet?