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- Tecnoacquisti.com
- Marketing per ecommerce
Christmas is approaching and in this time frame, one of the multiple objectives of the merchants who have an online store or those who do e-commerce is to maximize sales. On the other hand, you know, thanks to the thirteenth, the Christmas period is one of those in which Italians are used to spend more. This is why we report some useful tips to prepare for Christmas online sales and, consequently, to improve the numbers of the core business of those who have an e-commerce site more or less considerably.
1. Data analysis of the previous year
To better prepare for Christmas sales, it's a wise choice to look at last year's data. Having a clear overview of the most successful products among customers, as well as which marketing strategies have proven to lead to good results, is certainly an added value for the business. Therefore, it pays to have sufficient stocks of the best-selling products a year ago. Being without it is a misstep that must be strictly avoided during the Christmas period.
2. Monitoring of competitors
In any sector, competition has become increasingly fierce. Which is why, it is advisable to observe their moves and check which products they are promoting the most on their e-commerce site. Since potential customers as well as actual customers may opt for the purchase on the competitors' portal, it is good to have several counter-offers in store.
Competitor monitoring is an activity to be carried out constantly also for SEO purposes.
3. The determining role of customer segmentation
Framing that the typical customer is of crucial importance, because, especially close to Christmas, it allows you to optimize the budget for web marketing and web communication initiatives. Segmenting customers means being aware of the user groups most likely to spend on the online store.
4. Fight against abandoned carts
On how many occasions does it happen that an Internet user sees an article that he likes on an e-commerce portal and, after having studied its characteristics and advantages, puts it in the cart, but does not complete the purchase. This is in effect an aborted transaction. In order for the last obstacle to the final sale to be bypassed, it is a wise choice to send him a reminder, where the product is still there waiting for the user.
5. Utmost care in the user interface and graphics of the e-commerce portal
To maximize sales at Christmas, the e-commerce portal owner must take utmost care with regards to the user interface and graphics. In the first case, the online store must be simple to navigate. The passage from one section to the other as well as being able to go back to the previous product are operations that must take place smoothly, without any particular hitches. And to do that, the user interface must be highly user-friendly.
In the second case, the e-commerce portal must be beautiful to look at, evoking the festive atmosphere that only Christmas is able to breathe in the streets.
6. What's wrong? The sooner you understand it the better!
In e-commerce, sometimes, there can be unpleasant surprises. Not necessarily that everything works well. Therefore, it is good to take a look at the portal buttons, payment methods, sign up process, order summary, page loading speed. Checks must be done strictly before Christmas. Postponing them is a mistake to avoid, because then it is not certain that you will be able to reach sales peaks.
7. Discount vouchers and coupons
Christmas is certainly not the period of discounts, as the winter sales arrive shortly after. Nevertheless, a timed coupon code as well as a discount valid for the few days of Christmas have a certain impact on the eyes of those who surf the web pages of an e-commerce portal, given that, at this stage, the promotions are an exception and not the rule. In fact, good discounts and coupons can help those who have an online business and aim to differentiate themselves from the competition in the sector. In short, the 3 x 2 classics never set.
8. The power of social networks
Although the website is always the official channel for sales and for the communication of any type of entrepreneurial activity, there is no doubt that social networks today more than ever have an extremely important specific weight. It is necessary to make the most of them, especially close to Christmas, given that the gift hunt starts. Sharing a product sheet on social networks is of fundamental importance: just make sure that the photo has a high visual impact and that there is preferably also a video demo of the product. During the Christmas period it is also those who manage to capture the attention of potential customers who manage to win over competitors. Therefore, it is good to post content of excellent quality, from the photo shoot to the movie, without forgetting a text with effect. It will intrigue and entice subscribers to social pages to connect directly to the online store. In fact, there is a good chance that the transaction will be successfully concluded in a few steps.
9. Take advantage of the blog and guide articles
To prepare for Christmas sales, opening and updating your company blog can make all the difference. The blog, in fact, is a communication tool with unique properties that acts as a sounding board for the articles posted on the e-commerce portal. Dealing with topics concerning the products and services of the core business on the blog, by inserting specific links that refer to the product sheet, is a smart way to bring qualified traffic to the online store, i.e. users who are interested in that particular category of products. Furthermore, even in terms of SEO positioning, the e-commerce portal will benefit considerably. The mentions of the blog, in fact, do nothing but allow the online store to climb positions on search engines, attracting more and more customers. Therefore, tutorials, general posts on a product category, reviews, explanation of the advantages of an article with a description of its history and how it has evolved over time are examples to be done to give a propulsive boost to online sales.
10. Watch out for shipments
If there is a period where maximum punctuality in shipments is required, this is certainly Christmas. On the other hand, who is it who would like to receive the gifts late. Therefore, those who have an e-commerce portal would do well to make sure that the shipping times are respected as best as possible. If the delivery fails, it is unlikely that the customer will return to spend again in that online shop.
11. Customer Updates
Customers must constantly be kept up to date on what's cooking at Christmas. Anyone who has an online store and has new products in store should develop a winning e-mail marketing strategy, aimed at communicating upcoming promotions. Furthermore, from the email open rate it already shows some important results on possible achievable goals. The secret lies in knowing how to create expectations, without revealing much about it.
12. Pounding advertising strategy
The most favorable period for advertising investments is certainly that of Christmas: Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow those who have an online business and e-commerce to promote the commercial offer in a targeted way. Using these two famous advertising circuits, it is decided who can see the ads and who not: based on what is described in the segmentation, for example, it can be decided that online advertisements must appear to men, over 30, sportsmen, residing in the Center of Italy. By doing so, you aim at a specific target and the probabilities of buying will be higher.
Conclusions
Taking into account the above tips, preparing for Christmas sales and improving the results of the previous year will certainly be an achievable goal. As we know, the challenges in the world of e-commerce are always particularly exciting: to be able to overcome them, you need to plan a strategy in the best possible way. Only by collecting and analyzing data, paying attention to the competition, delineating customers in the best possible way, best promoting leading products, can it be possible to achieve unique goals in this world.
Useful services to prepare your ecommerce for Christmas
Author: Loris Modena
SENIOR DEVELOPER
For Ind Loris Modena , owner of Arte e Informatica , he began working in the IT sector in 1989 as a system engineer in charge of the maintenance and installation of IT systems. He started programming for the web in 1997 dealing with CGI programming in PERL and then moving on to programming in PHP and JavaScript. In this period he approaches the Open source world and the management of Linux servers.