Online Christmas Shopping Starts Today!
Although some big name brands have chosen to pull out of the annual Black Friday event this year, most notably ASDA, the juggernaut that is Online Christmas Shopping shows no signs of stopping for a comfort break. Businesses are again talking up the possibility of record sales in the run up to Christmas, with online sales set to be an even great part of that than ever. So where does this leave online retailers? Will it just happen like Christmas Magic? No, of course not. Yes people are moving from physical stores to online in order to grab a bargain but in just the same way that high street shops have to put the work in to maximise sales, so too do online retailers. So to get you started the guys at Sky Blue Toffee have compiled a Christmas hit list of 5 things you should do….NOW!
1. Remarketing
If you haven’t already started this then you’ve missed the boat, probably. Get remarketing tags on your site and start looking at who is visiting your website by paying close attention to your Analytics reports. Break down your lists into segments in order to highlight mobile traffic trends and demographic information, then show people the most appropriate adverts and offers. If you haven’t already started this then do it now, you’ll be well placed for Christmas 2016!
2. Longtail Searches
Spending a few hours looking at Google Trends can tell you an awful lot about our online habits, for instance at Christmas we go a bit crazy with the way we search. It’s worth looking at variations of your best performing keywords because people start looking for specific requirements; colour, size, quantity. Go as granular as you can. A few hours spent using the keyword tool this week to update your keyword lists could prove to be extremely worthwhile.
3. Incentivise, Incentivise, Incentivise
People go crazy for offers at this time of year so give them what they want and improve your Click Through Rates and Conversion rates at the same time! Offers like free delivery or discount codes could be the difference between someone buying from your store or one of the stores that comes up next to you on a search page . Research has shown that 96% of people are more likely to shop from a site with free delivery.
4. Go Local
There are two ways to take advantage of local search, first if you’re a local business make sure your local business listing is up to date and showing on SERPs. With your paid advertising make more of the fact that you are local and so can guarantee quick delivery or personal service within the area. Second, even if you are national or international, look at the location of the sales you get through your website and make sure you’re making the most of activity in those areas. If London provides 80% of your business, create a new landing page for London and market it with PPC in the London area.
5. It’s Still Just Shopping
At the end of the day people still just want to shop, and if you’re anything like me that involves a great deal of browsing. One of the biggest areas of growth in recent months has been Google’s shopping ads. Anyone with a long list of products on their site should be using this. People like me can browse your stock, without costing you money, and if you’ve got the best offers, the chances are you’ll get the sale.
One last tip from someone who’s seen this mistake time and time again…don’t forget to plan for the Boxing Day Sales!
Mick Scanlon
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