This is the third blog in our Path to a Happy E-Commerce Season series. Our blog series build upon each other, which is why we recommend reading them in order. Read Part 1: Preparation and Part 2: Execution if you haven’t already!
If you’re reading this blog post, you have probably already created your holiday marketing campaigns and are currently monitoring them. Everything’s going smoothly, so you’re wondering what comes next. Consumers spent $108.15 billion online during the last two months of the year in 2017, which was a near 15% increase from the 2016 holiday season. Since all signs point to the trend continuing this year, here are our final tips on what retailers should consider in their preparations for all the holiday seasons to come.
Adopt a Year-Round Holiday Mentality
Now that you know how to effectively create campaigns centered around the main holiday season, you should keep customers engaged year-round by stretching holiday success throughout the year. Use the tips in these blog posts to create marketing campaigns around Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, even a back-to-school campaign.
Offer Year-Round Deals Don’t make your customers wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday to score huge deals – let them take advantage of year-round sales. Shoppers are always looking for convenience and price. Offering discounts throughout the year will make a huge impact on your revenue. For example, a black-to-school blowout sale is almost guaranteed to bring you extra revenue during the tail end of summer.
Look for Holiday Trends As with any marketing campaign, dig into your sales throughout the year, not just during the holiday season, and identify spikes that may be associated with some of the other holidays. If Valentine’s Day campaigns perform extremely well with your brand, you may want to set aside extra time to focus on a campaign that kicks off in February.
Use Post-Holiday Data for your Next Campaign We’ve lost track of how many times we used the word review in this blog series but going over campaign data and using it to optimize your next one is a must. Refining and optimizing campaigns are an important part of every marketing strategy.
What Can You Do Right Now?
Like we’ve said before, it’s never too early to start preparing for next year! Working on these ongoing tasks during the quieter months will create the best possible experience for both you and your customers.
Prioritize SEO Chances are a large chunk of your customers will arrive at your website or application by searching online. Online search accounted for 43% of website visits to retail clients during the 2017 holiday season. Recognizing the phrases that people are using to find your website and optimizing your online presence will give you a wider base of customers.
Try Automated Campaigns Marketing automation consists of triggered events that happen based on customer behavior and is generally a good way to gently prod people along in the buying process. These campaigns also allow you to collect additional customer data. A Welcome Series is a great way to capture customer emails with an incentive offer. Offers like “Sign up for 15% off your next purchase” will greatly boost the number of customer emails and the revenue you’ll make.
Personalize Your Website Online shoppers are constantly looking for a touch of personalization like the experience of shopping in-store. Adding predictive product recommendation widgets to your pages is one easy way to add personalization to your site. As a customer browses your website, the products they have viewed will follow them around your site, pushing customers to convert.
Final Thoughts
Brands that take the time to plan and strategize their campaigns will be able to better serve their customers. Create campaigns that are personalized and matter to each individual customer. When you take a moment to step back to better understand your target audience and their shopping behaviors, you’ll be able to create a successful holiday plan that goes beyond just the winter months, for year-round success.
Finally, make sure your customers know you care about them wishing everyone happy holidays!
If you would like to learn more about how Fujisan Marketing can help you successfully prepare and set up digital marketing campaigns for the upcoming holiday season, contact us at (844) FUJISAN or at contact@fujisanmarketing.com.
