16 Ways to Boost Your eCommerce Sales During the Holidays

The holiday season is fast approaching. People are starting to purchase gifts for friends and loved ones. Even though there are no more restrictions from the pandemic, people will prefer buying online.

So are you ready for the upcoming sale?

Black Friday, Cyber Monday the and holidays give ecommerce and online shops the chance to increase their sales.

Last year, the Cyber Monday conversion rate reached 2.47%. That’s 37.9% higher than the global average sales. Whether it’s online or on-site, sales reached around $209 billion.

The festivities are an opportunity for businesses to capitalize on the spending behavior of people. If you know how to make shoppers or people purchase an item in your shop, you can leave a lasting impression on them.

Now’s your chance to make a great sale this season, and don’t forget to remember to make your customers come back to you not only during the holidays.

Here’s how you can boost your ecommerce sales these holidays.

1. Optimize for mobile users

Last year, reports mentioned that mobile commerce or M-commerce was accountable for around 45-50% of sales during Cyber Week.

Most people choose to shop using their mobile devices because of their convenience. They can search for an item they want online anywhere at any time. Furthermore, the presence of mobile apps is also a reason why people shop with their smartphones. Using a shopping mobile app is better, as it’s designed for that specific purpose.

Here are some ways you can make your ecommerce shop mobile-friendly:

• First, test if your site is mobile-friendly. You can do this by running it at the Google Mobile-friendly Test. It shows the result of your website, together with suggestions on how you can optimize it.
• Make sure the product's availability, currency and shipping estimates are personalized based on the customer’s location or country.
• Improve the speed of your website for faster loading of product images and videos.
• Get rid of pop-ups and sidebars for mobile versions.
• Choose an app that can automatically fit the screen of a user. You don’t have to worry if your website page and images can be seen well by visitors.
• Accept digital wallet payments for faster checkouts.
• Choose a web hosting that facilitates the loading time of your online store.

If you can, hire a developer to create an app for your online business.

2.   Expand your reach through social channels

There are billions of social media accounts globally, and people most spend of their time scrolling through them. It doesn’t matter what social channel it is; people are highly invested in social media.

If you want to make sales this coming season, opt for social media as another way to promote your products.

84% of online shoppers will first look on social media for recommendations, reviews and suggestions before purchasing an item. Therefore, being active on social media can drive sales to your shop.

You can create content by posting videos, images or sales announcements. If you have a budget, hiring an influencer can boost your sales. About 23% of online shoppers listen to the recommendations of influencers.

Making sales on social media depends on the channels you are going to use.

One of the most shopping-friendly social media platforms is Instagram. Their shoppable post allows users to click on the item and proceed to the checkout process.

You can make sales on Instagram by using product tags on your content. Do this by adding them to your feed, stories, IGTV and Reels. Product tags can help drive new customers to your shop.

You can also link your store on Facebook and other social media channels to help drive sales to your online shop.

Selling on marketplaces is also effective. You can reach out to more customers. Link your ecommerce shop to popular marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Kroger, Google shopping and more.

3. Offer sales, discounts, and giveaways

It’s the holiday season, and people are willing to spend to buy gifts for their loved ones. You can make them hit the checkout button and make that purchase by offering them sales or discounts.

During this season, your competitors are offering lower prices on their products. If you don’t do the same, it can drive your potential customers to their site. Furthermore, the lack of offers can increase cart abandonment. But remember, cart abandonment can be due to other reasons too.

There are plenty of ways to provide promotional sales.

• You can create giveaways for your old and new consumers to join in. Giveaways can attract more traffic to your website that can potentially make a purchase.
• Market to socially conscious buyers. You can choose a cause or anything your brand believes in and support that community. For example, you can give away 1% of each sale to a cause you support.
• Offer discounts or coupons to your loyal customers.
• Provide gifts or free shipping when they reach a minimum spend.
• Personalize discounts based on location
• Bulk order discounts
• Countdown offers and sales will trigger people’s FOMO, which can force them to purchase while they can.

4. Provide excellent customer service

The festive season increases the number of orders, online shops are being bombarded with sales and constant customer inquiries. As a result, customer service personnel get tired. But don’t let this affect your service. Provide friendly and easy customer service.

Good customer service can be the reason why most customers return to your shop or remain loyal to your services.

Here’s how to improve your customer service:

• Answer customers’ inquiries
• Don’t keep customers waiting
• Send them personalized letters or emails for the season or their purchase.
• Send out deliveries on time
• Improve the packaging
• Add some free stuff

Plan how to handle sales this holiday as there will be plenty of deliveries and online purchases that are going to happen. Make sure that you have strategies on how to avoid delays or what to do if one occurs.

5. Start promoting now

Preparing for the coming season can make sure to drive profitable sales. It’s hard to start promoting your sales or products during the season, as most consumers have already decided to make purchases earlier.

Start promoting in advance to figure out who is interested in your products and learn more about your customers’ behavior. By doing such, you can create brand awareness and even make adjustments to your sales.

You’ll know that you have a relevant audience who’s waiting to make a purchase. Furthermore, it gives you time to convert leads into paying customers.

You can send email campaigns like gifts, deals, discounts and promotions. Create email designs that are catchy and use templates that embrace the holiday season.

6. Address cart abandonment

During the holiday season, the number of cart abandonment increases due to multiple reasons. Don’t let those potential customers get away.

You can create emails or campaigns to convert those cart abandonments. Send a reminder to complete their purchase, offer them some coupons or give them discounts on their next avail.

7. Make your site look festive

Change your online storefront with a festive theme. When someone lands on your page for this coming season, it can grab their attention. Your customers will automatically convey the message that your online shop is ready for the festivities. Therefore, there are going to be sales and discounts in your shop.

Aside from changing your website’s theme and layout, change your social media profile picture and cover. You can change your logo by adding some festive elements to it.

8. Reduce holiday stress by providing gift guides

The holiday season can be stressful for shoppers. They need to think of gift ideas to prepare for people they know. It can be overwhelming. Make things simple for them by providing gift guides.

You can create a section on your website that offers gift guide categories like “Gift for Her,” “Gift for Him,” etc. You can use your website’s statistics to find out what your customers are looking for.

Go beyond the usual for Him and Her guides and spice things up. Add categories like personalized gifts, self-care packages, sustainable gift sets and so on.

9. Offer better shipping services

Expensive shipping fees or delayed shipping can be a cause of cart abandonment. Customers don’t simply purchase in your shop for an item. They also purchase better and affordable services from you.

If your shipping cost is expensive, try looking for an alternative but not one with poor service. Also, choose delivery options that can deliver on or before the expected date. Beyond cheap shipping fees, customers also want fast delivery services.

10. Improve the speed of your website

Don’t forget to fix your website’s loading speed. A delay of two to three seconds can affect a customer’s decision to purchase in your shop. Hence, they move to your competitors. That’s the last thing you would want to happen.

Furthermore, slow website speed can increase bounce rate, which can negatively affect your site’s ranking.

11. Don’t forget call-to-actions (CTAs)

CTAs are crucial for customers to know what to do and what you offer on your site. It helps them in their decision-making process. But it is the trickiest to optimize.

First, you’ll need to test your CTA if it is selling. You can add a heat map to check which part of your website visitors click the most. You can simplify buttons, add more descriptions, and test old and new CTAs.

Make them stand out by changing color to one that attracts your customers. Use a bold and attractive font.

12. Offer a buy now pay later option

Providing options for paying in installments or paying upon arrival are great ways to increase sales in your shop.

Buy Now Pay Later can reach younger demographics ready to purchase but cannot afford to pay immediately. Some customers are interested in pay-over-time solutions during the holidays as they can keep on their budget.

You need to offer various payment methods to cater to the needs of your customers.

13. Accept returns

Holiday sales are hectic. There’s a high chance that your team will make mistakes in packing items. Products can even be damaged as they are being delivered to the customers. Make sure to create a return policy and be clear about it.

14. Use cross-selling and upselling

Even when people plan to buy one thing, they end up adding more to their cart. This is known as impulse buying.

eCommerce shops can increase the rate of impulse purchases by using cross-selling and upselling techniques.

Cross-selling is when you offer an additional or complementary product to the existing item they plan to purchase. Meanwhile, upselling is the practice of giving your customers better options than what they consider.

15. Add testimonials and reviews

Adding reviews and testimonials on your products can improve the purchasing decision of your customer. If they read positive reviews about your product, they will not need to think twice to click the Buy Now button.

16. Create effective and converting content strategies

When you plan on using content marketing as part of your marketing technique, make sure to do this ahead of time. Months before the holidays, create a blog post or content related to the season. Furthermore, implement the correct SEO strategies to make your post top the search engine.

Final thoughts

Generating sales this holiday season is going to be tough. Not only will you have to work twice as hard to cope with the increased sales or shipping, but you’ll also need to find ways to compete with other -commerce shops. That’s why it is vital to boost your online shop by paying attention to the behavior and demands of your customers.