“How can we increase our holiday sales?”
Sure, that’s a cliche question. But, as soon as we enter the final quarter in a year, it becomes the most asked one! Christmas promotion ideas become the talk of the town. Every seller on the internet starts seeking new and improved ways to increase sales and profits during Christmas.
And, why wouldn’t they?
Christmas, after all, has a track record for being one of the most successful annual sale events with a massive potential for profit generation. But, if you are still not sure why you should prepare a Christmas digital marketing strategy, we point out some interesting facts:
- Year-on-year holiday retail sales growth was 14.1 % in 2021 (a total of $886.70 billion).
- Nearly 37% of US shoppers may start buying earlier this season to avoid price hikes.
- US consumers planned to spend around $770 on gifts in 2022.
The holiday shopping rush picks up momentum yearly and reaches its peak around Christmas. So, we wish you Merry Christmas in advance with these ten tried, tested, and foolproof tips to increase sales this year.
1. Conscious marketing in a post-COVID environment
The last few years of virtual everything has left deep marks in the fiber of online behavior. The colossal shift from physical stores to e-stores is evidence enough to identify the paradigm shift that digital transformation has brought to shopping and consumer interactions.
Keep that change in mind when implementing Christmas promotion ideas.
Customers are well-versed in online interactions. They know the digital touchpoints (or at least most) that businesses use to reach out to consumers. And they expect an engaging showcase across all those facets. Therefore, you must focus on building a healthy customer experience.
- Create a careful communication plan for loyal customers.
- Encourage cashless transactions and contactless deliveries.
- Include trending product categories in your catalog.
- Use social media to increase sales and profits during Christmas.
- Build a marketing strategy while considering your target audience’s behavior.
The holiday season is always a profitable time. Christmas, even more so. Just factor in this year’s most significant consumer behavior patterns and constraints (early shopping, product category preference, and such) when formulating Christmas promotion ideas, and you will surely see promising results.
Additionally, if you find the research and brainstorming involved in this process taxing, another wise route can be to partner with an experienced digital marketing service provider. Since such agencies consistently whether the market changes brought about by various factors in the last few years, they will be more likely to prepare and execute a stellar marketing strategy for your brand.
2. Use popular keywords
To plan a successful Christmas marketing campaign, you must cover maximum ground. That is where including the popular Christmas-related keywords in your eCommerce store’s content comes in handy. When your eStore content has the right keywords, it has more chances of being found in the search results, giving you more opportunities to attract potential buyers.
Use a balanced concoction of popular keywords, low-competition phrases, and organic search terms. Remember not to stuff them in your content, or this approach will backfire.
For example– people like to buy Christmas holiday decorations online, so if you sell those products, include keywords like Xmas decoration, Christmas present ideas, and Christmas gifts in your online store’s product pages, titles, and descriptions.
3. Start a referral program
Referral programs work like a magnet during the holiday season to attract potential buyers. You can quickly increase sales and profits during Christmas with this little tip. Online sellers can create a referral program and reward shoppers once they invite a friend, family, or anyone through a unique code.
This Christmas promotion idea can help you build a broader customer base. A referral program will help sellers spread the holiday shopping buzz through word-of-mouth marketing, arguably one of the best ways to tell people about your brand. Sweeten the deal by offering free express shipping to customers who refer another shopper to your store during the Christmas season.
4. Run cart abandonment protection programs
It is not possible to eliminate cart abandonment. However, optimization of the checkout process is possible (and helpful when dealing with this particular matter).
The following tips can help you do so.
- Create retargeting email campaigns that follow abandoned carts with meaningful user communication. The subject line can be more attractive, such as “Stock availability is low, hurry!” or “Did you forget something?”
- Use retargeting ad campaigns to entice visitors to return to your website with the help of relevant ads.
- Send new coupons, offers, and loyalty programs for the abandoned carts
- Eliminate hidden costs during the checkout. You can offer free shipping in turn of a particular cart value.
- You can also offer guest checkouts and allow visitors to complete their purchases without creating an account.
- Create a constructive return and refund policy
- Include thumbnail images of products throughout the checkout process to reassure about the ‘selected’ item.
- Facilitate effortless navigation between the shopping cart and checkout process.
5. Strategize for social media
When it comes to Christmas promotion ideas, using social media can be a tremendous advantage for eSellers. However, in this case, the critical element is strategizing your social media marketing to extract maximum value from your efforts.
You can start by analyzing which social media channel will work best for your e-store. Then plan your marketing strategies around the channel and its users. You can kick-start your Christmas holidays by updating your profile photos, banners, cover photos, and other optical aspects of your social media profiles. You can consider highlighting discounts, deals, and offers that the audience usually expects on your social media platform.
You can also share videos with your customers on all social media channels. Create customized movies to welcome your customers and congratulate the top buyers by using eye-catching images.
6. Engage customers with exciting email programs
Email marketing remains one of the most popular ways to create awareness among your prospects about exciting deals and discounts. Especially during the holiday season, you can leverage email as a fruitful medium to execute your Christmas promotion ideas.
A few emails, worded just right and sent in a planned manner, can help you increase sales and profits during Christmas.
- Consult user wish lists to create emails with relevant purchase suggestions
- Offer customized discounts
- Use gamification to put your offer across while entertaining the users
- Run contests and loyalty programs
- Promote gift cards
- Brag about your brand with meaningful achievements
- Promote limited-period offers that are only available for the holiday season.
You can also add design elements to your email campaigns based on the following themes:
- Christmas special deals
- Early season offers
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Special rewards for loyal customers
- Last-minute offers
- Countdown deals
- Referral programs
7. Create relevant, contextual, & seasonal content for your eStore
Creating seasonal content is the best way to spread the word among your existing customers and reach more buyers.
Popular holidays like Christmas often excuse people to shop for products online. But, a great deal of confusion prevails among consumers during this season because of the abundance of choices and offers.
You can create content to help your customers save time and make the right purchase decision. This will also increase your sales and profits.
Start early by creating classic holiday shopping guides. For example – ‘Must Buy Christmas Deals,’ ‘A Comprehensive Guide for Christmas Shopping,’ and so on. This way, you will also get to include popular Christmas-related keywords. In addition, here are a few other content ideas for the Christmas season.
- Gift guides for different consumers
- Sneak peeks for elaborate shopping-related content
- Holiday-themed tutorials
- Create content that your customers will find useful
- Create How-tos, DIYs, and Celebration Ideas
You can also release eBooks and tie that with your content’s Christmas promotion ideas. The key here is to excite, inform, and educate your audiences with seasonal content. People like to make informed purchase decisions, and if you can help them get there, profits are bound to follow.
8. Reward customers with holiday special offers
Rewards are one of the most popular marketing strategies to increase Christmas sales. They are also a decent way to keep your online business’s sales momentum going strong.
You can offer cash back, coupons, and special deals. This will not only encourage customers to shop more but also motivate them to share the deals and refer your brand to friends and family. You can also use holiday season rewards or ‘gift cards’ to ‘re-pitch’ deals to old customers who haven’t shopped from your store in a while. This popular customer retention strategy can help you increase sales and profits during Christmas.
You can also choose the merchandise and the discounts you wish to offer this Christmas on your online business. Christmas offers are in high demand, so make your choice accordingly. Make it worthwhile for people to visit your store throughout the Christmas season.
- Offer of “Buy one, get one free”
- Offer of “Buy two, get one free”
- Upselling
- Cross-selling
- Reward customers for all their purchases, and give them bonus points for gift bundles
- Offer gift cards as discounts for subscribers
- Display corresponding Christmas merchandise
9. Utilize customer reviews and user generated content
Successful online sellers know this secret – sell the solution, not the product. Showing customer reviews and feedback upfront can advocate the fact your product solves the problems and meets the needs of users. Thus, testimonials from real people can be an excellent way to attract shoppers and increase sales and profits during Christmas.
Especially during December’s busiest weeks, people are in a rush. They want quick purchases. They do not want the hassle of weeks’ worth of research. But, at the same time, they also do not want to risk buying something that isn’t worth the expense.
This is where user-generated content, social media messages, reviews, and feedback become handy to increase Christmas sales.
- Lead your email marketing campaigns with positive customer stories
- Use decent feedback in holiday campaigns and ads
- Use social media content from users about your brand to promote it across different channels.
10. Offer free shipping
Customers anticipate free shipping. It is a perk that many people look forward to, especially during the holiday season, whether they buy a bottle of beard oil or a kitchen bench. So, offering free shipping is always a good idea.
However, it offers an additional advantage during Christmas if you club it with rapid shipping. you have implemented a strong holiday campaign, it will draw in many last-minute shoppers in the final week before Christmas. Since they know they can acquire the product before the big day, last-minute customers are more likely to purchase from you.
However, you might need to change your pricing to cover the postage expense. But don’t worry. When buyers see “free worldwide shipping,” they tend to ignore the slight price rise.
Ready to Boost Your Christmas Sales?
There you have it- Good luck with the Christmas sales season
We have discussed ten exciting marketing tips to increase Christmas sales this year. But, this is only the tip of the iceberg. You will come across several other ideas to boost profits and improve conversions before, during, and after Christmas. Do share your favorite ones with our readers in the comment section.
Also, if you are in a hurry to implement Christmas promotion ideas but do not have enough time or the right resource to dedicate to this purpose, let us know. At SunTec India, you will easily find eCommerce specialists for store optimization, catalog management, product description writing, order processing, and several other similar requirements. You can also get consultants from our team to create a hyper-focused Christmas marketing strategy.
To get in touch with us, share your requirements at info@suntecindia.com and receive prompt support.
