Boost Sales This Festive Season to Increase Revenue
The festive season might be the most hectic time of the year for just about any business, but hitting your digital marketing campaign out of the park means the revenue you generate is eye-watering.
Although consumer behaviour constantly evolves, several Christmas trends highlight the way forward for your brand’s strategy. For example, 80% of holiday shoppers are influenced by online search results before buying. Meanwhile, around a third of Christmas shoppers report that their purchases are driven by holiday season promotions.
By understanding how your target market adapts to this holiday and implementing some of the following strategies that capture their attention, your brand can significantly increase holiday sales over the Christmas and New Year break.
Suggest Gift Ideas
Most people during the festive season are looking for the most convenient online shopping experience. If you can streamline the product selection and checkout process for people that land on your website, you have a chance to increase your conversions.
An effective idea sees brands suggest gift ideas depending on certain consumer attributes. For example, you might create a section of your website that recommends presents for people in specific age brackets or product types, such as stocking stuffers or Secret Santa events.
By making the customer journey easier throughout this busy time of the year, you can enhance your brand reputation and generate more Christmas sales.
Enhance Gift Card Sales
If you’re looking to generate conversions now and again in the future, finding ways to encourage gift card sales can be an excellent way to boost revenue.
Considering that many customers need a last-minute or hassle-free gift that generally everyone will love, these vouchers deliver customers straight to your store.
Although it’s always good to stock physical gift cards that customers can hand over as a tangible item, there’s growing popularity around digital gift cards.
As these products can be instantly acquired from your website, consumers unsure about what to buy can simply add these items to their online shopping cart and checkout.
Highlight Pre-Xmas Discounts
Every business attempts to lure customers to their store during the festive season. Attract your precise target market and help your business stand out by offering a Christmas discount in the lead-up to the big day.
By sharing the details directly on your homepage and across your social media channels, a campaign with the right messaging might encourage consumers to organise their presents early or even capitalise on an eleventh-hour deal.
Although these deals have to be carefully considered alongside the profit margins of your products, promoting a few bargains might be enough to get customers to become loyal fans.
Focus on Urgency
Your target market is probably a bit frantic when it comes to Christmas shopping. But it can give your revenue a solid push in the right direction if you manage to build an urgent tone into your messaging.
Although you don’t want to come across as too demanding, reminding your target market about the end of your promo campaign or the last shipping days for gifts to arrive on time is a clever way to drive more interest and action.
Alongside these kinds of messages, you might consider announcing the best deals on your website via expertly positioned social media announcements. By drumming up interest via these channels, you can keep more eyes on your business during the holiday season.
Get Active on Email
In the days before Christmas, your customers are bound to be bombarded with messages across virtually every channel. While social media content is a natural fit to increase holiday sales, reaching customers via email marketing might prove perhaps even more effective.
This is because targeted email marketing campaigns enable brands to reach customers directly in their inboxes. Rather than relying on social media algorithms to draw attention to your posts, you know for a fact that email subscribers are receiving your messages.
Considering this segment of your audience has opted in to receive these emails, there’s a high chance they are interested in your Christmas specials. If you can merge the perfect offer with a personalised message, increasing your revenue is within reach.
Spread the Word on Social Media
Unsurprisingly, social media becomes especially crowded during the festive season as brands attempt to reach and convert their target audiences.
Although you have to be wary of annoying your followers throughout the rest of the year by taking up too much space in their feed, don’t be shy about getting extra active in the days leading up to Christmas.
To really help your business attract customers, use the full spectrum of social media features available. For instance, companies on Instagram should utilise Shoppable posts, while small businesses focused on Facebook might decide it’s time to set up a Facebook Shop.
Develop Appealing Gift Bundles
Customers love to buy gift bundles during the holiday season. Why? Because the best ones make a great present while also streamlining the online shopping process for consumers. Meanwhile, businesses also love them because these deals shift more inventory and maximise profit.
So how do you know what makes an exceptional gift bundle? It’s a good idea to consider your own sales history to understand what products are often bought together. By offering these items in a bundle at a discounted price, you’re definitely going to capture attention.
If you really want to level up your success, you might develop a DIY approach to gift bundles, providing customers with just enough options to personalise their gift-buying experience.
Include Free Delivery
If there’s one thing that instantly grabs customer attention, it’s free delivery. In fact, research has found that high delivery fees are the number one reason for online shopping cart abandonment.
Consumers view free shipping as the cherry on top of a great deal, ensuring they frequently gravitate towards brands that don’t add these extra costs.
This can be especially powerful during the holiday season, when many consumers become price conscious due to the significant investment required to purchase gifts for friends and family.
Even if you don’t offer free shipping throughout the rest of the year, building this cost into your holiday pricing is a surefire way to generate more Christmas sales.
Add Gift Wrapping Services
Between the end of the working year and choosing the ideal gifts to buy, countless festive season shoppers prefer value-added services that make their lives easier.
One strategy that consistently proves successful for businesses is gift wrapping. Whether you offer this convenient service for free or a token price, customers appreciate how they won’t have to spend more time wrapping presents when the big day arrives.
However, you don’t want to skimp on the details. If your brand offers a gift-wrapping service either in-store or via its eCommerce platform, make sure you choose high-quality materials that enhance the present’s appeal.
Provide Stellar Customer Service
As mentioned earlier, customers are running around in a frenzy before the culmination of the festive season arrives. This means your customer service needs to be on point throughout this period, to maintain trust and loyalty from new and old buyers.
For example, you’re bound to receive a sharp increase in customer inquiries, as people want to know how your product will make the perfect gift for their loved ones.
You’re also likely to encounter more follow-up questions as customers begin to worry about whether their packages will arrive on time. Enhance your channels in the lead-up to Christmas and develop detailed FAQ pages that alleviate customer stress.
Optimise Your Mobile Website
Customers are constantly on the move throughout December, as they seek out any last-minute gifts that ensure no-one has been forgotten. This means your target market is increasingly using their mobile devices to research products before purchasing.
In fact, 64% of smartphone shoppers turn to mobile search before heading to the store. Unless you want to miss out on revenue, your business requires a wonderfully optimised mobile website.
Use simple fonts, rapid-fast loading times and no annoying pop-ups to enhance the mobile browsing experience. By reducing hurdles for customers considering your products and services, boosting Christmas sales is a genuine possibility.
Create Seasonal Landing Pages
Considering your customers are getting in the holiday spirit, it’s always a good look for your brand to be doing the same.
By giving your landing pages and social media channels a festive season makeover, you signal to customers that you’re just as excited as they are for Christmas Day and beyond.
Consumers expect to see seasonal landing pages on basically every business they visit during this time, so those that don’t make the effort look drab in comparison.
Even if you have a special deal for the holiday season, customers might not realise if you don’t have a suitably festive aesthetic.
Promote Limited-Time Christmas Sales
Consumers are highly tuned into limited-time specials during the Christmas and New Year period. For instance, you’ve probably noticed that many businesses launch “12 Days of Christmas” marketing events that generate massive excitement amongst their audience.
This concept is one that your own business can capitalise on, with the right messaging and branding. However, you can offer limited-time deals in other ways. For example, you can place countdown timers on your homepage to signal how long a specific bargain lasts.
You might also create a series of flash voucher codes that make for superior promotional content on your social media channels. With a new concept revealed every day or two, driving awesome brand awareness is made possible.
Design Compelling Giveaways
Always remember that the holiday season is a time for giving. While you might be looking to maximise your revenue throughout this period, coming up with a series of captivating giveaways is a clever way to get consumers to pay attention to your business.
So where should you begin? Naturally, it depends on your target audience and products. But a popular idea you might have seen on Instagram is entering followers into a competition when they tag their friends and share your posts.
As this gives your reach and brand awareness a seismic boost, rewarding a handful of winners with eye-catching prizes is a great idea to drive more interest and loyalty to your business.
Give Discounts for Referrals
Referral campaigns are a match made in heaven for the holiday season. As friends and family chat about what to purchase for their own networks, incentivising customers to pass on the good word about your business can drive outstanding results.
How can you achieve success? Your brand must develop a compelling offer that people are willing to share with their loved ones. For example, providing a 10% or 20% discount code when a successful referral is made can prove highly profitable in the long run.
In addition, this content attracts significant attention on social media channels. By developing a powerful loyalty programme that rewards consumers for sharing your business with others, you can skyrocket your business this festive period.
Enhance Your Blog Content
Your brand’s target market is bound to be active throughout the holiday season. However, you need to level up your blog content if your business wants to stand out against its biggest rivals.
A good place to start is the development of detailed gift guides. As customers often aren’t sure what to buy for someone in their life, highlighting the best products for their needs helps streamline their choices.
Depending on your business and its target audience, you might also share delicious recipe ideas or DIY projects that showcase your brand’s personality. Plus, this content makes for the perfect inclusion throughout your social and email marketing channels.
Partner with a Charity
The festive season is a wonderful time of year for people around the globe. But as consumer behaviour trends towards companies doing their bit for the community, working alongside a charity during the holidays can do miracles for everyone.
Primarily, supporting a charitable organisation helps to improve the lives of those in need, in your local community or internationally. However, research has also found that taking a philanthropic approach to Christmas increases marketing reach and boosts employee morale.
Don’t just focus on your profits this holiday season. Share the fact you’re working with a charity on your social channels to reach your donation goals and grow your business in the long run.
Chat with the Experts
The festive season is an exciting time for all businesses. However, you can’t rest on your laurels if you want to skyrocket your revenue as you enter the New Year.
With a personalised digital marketing campaign from the experts at First Page Australia, we can ensure your Christmas sales generate a massive bang in the marketplace. Across SEO, PPC, and social media marketing strategies tailored to your business needs, we’ll ensure your brand hits its revenue targets.
Ready to get started? Reach out to our highly experienced digital marketers to discover how this festive season can be life-changing for your business.
