Prepare Before Planning Your Christmas E-Commerce Marketing In 2019

By Maulik Patel

13 Dec 2019

Christmas is when people get together to enjoy quality time and spend copious amounts of money, which is where a lot of e-Commerce sites get an opportunity to double their sales and profits. In 2018, holiday sales surpassed the $1 trillion mark.

According to Statista, pre-Christmas sales of 2019 will reach $16.78 million in Australia alone. Based on this, you can assume that most people wait for the day Christmas deals appear online so they can take advantage of sales, affordable prices, and deals to celebrate a luxurious Christmas without taking out a loan.

If you have an e-Commerce store, now is the time to double your revenue by preparing your Christmas holiday marketing in advance.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to go anywhere to learn the perks of Christmas marketing. We’ve got some tips for you right here!

How to Plan Your Christmas Marketing

Here we’ll examine how people think and spend on or before the Christmas holidays and how to align your E-Commerce marketing strategies accordingly.

1. Preplan and Start Your Marketing Strategy Earlier

Christmas shopping for a lot of people begins in November. Logically, your strategy must begin in October or earlier if you want to help users save on their purchases while you increase your profits.

Image source:- https://bit.ly/2LMopry

According to BigCommerce, Holiday Readiness survey of 2018, marketers start their holiday planning in September.

Holiday planning requires analysing data and pre-making customised strategies that suit your business as well as your targeted audience. If your business is engaged in seasonal greetings or promotions, like sending out Christmas cards, it’s crucial to consider the necessary time required for designing, and distributing them to ensure they reach your customers in a timely manner.”

2. Analysis Checklist

As you preplan the tactics, these are things you must analyse to gain a thorough understanding of your audience and their spending habits:

- Bounce rate: how many people land on your site and how much time do they spend there?
- Conversion rate: how many visitors turn into customers?
- Traffic sources: where is most of your traffic coming from?
- Repeat customers: how many people come back to your site and which products do they buy the most?
- What are your most saleable products?
- Which days do you receive the most traffic?

This checklist helps you peek into your buyers’ habits and develop a marketing strategy that can attract future customers.

3. Mark Your Strategy Days

A strategy is only effective when perfectly organised. Plan your strategy the same way you plan your day to get the most out of it. Decide on which days you are going to implement which tactics, and make a calendar with each day and its particular strategy marked.

4. Create Your Unique Selling Points

The internet is full of e-Commerce websites, so how can you stand out from the crowd?

Creating unique selling points will help you become the first choice for customers.

Here are 4 important things customers prefer above everything else.

Fast and free shipping
Multiple payment options
Easy return policies
24/7 customer support
Easy check-out process

If you don’t have any of these features, it’s time to integrate them before people start visiting your site for their Christmas shopping.

5. Be Omnipresent

People go crazy while shopping before Christmas. They look for opportunities everywhere to save a few dollars. They will keep an eye on Google, Amazon, social media, or even the ads that pop up on websites.

To make people see that you have great Christmas deals in store for them, you have to be present everywhere. Draw a marketing strategy that includes promoting content on all important channels where you have a chance to grab some traffic.

6. Design the Deals and Discounts

Here’s your unique chance to steal customers away from your competitors by offering deals and discounts that no one can dare to deny.

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While looking for deals, customers become expert comparers. They compare products on various sites and opt for the cheapest deal possible. At the same time, they make sure the site is trustworthy with an easy return policy and 24/7 customer support.

This list of freebies or discounts will help your e-Commerce site become the centre of attention:

Free gift wrapping
Store credit after purchase
Cashback offers
Buy one get one free
Buy one and get 50% off the next product
Limited-time deals (e.g. offer ending tonight)

Not only do these tactics help you attract an audience, but they also give you the opportunity to entice them to come back later.

7. Maximise Purchases

Giving your existing customers a reason to maximise purchases is a surefire way to double your revenue. Your customers’ existing purchases or items added to the cart/wish list give you a fair idea of what customers are looking for. Giving them suggestions of similar purchases increases the chances of them purchasing more. And, if you add a discount on top of that, you can easily hit your target.

For example, if buyers are purchasing Christmas trees, decorations will surely be on their minds. Or, maybe food items that are relevant to a traditional Christmas lunch or dinner will open up many opportunities for your customers.

8. Leverage Search Engine Optimisation

As we all know, SEO lies in the subconscious mind of digital marketing and should be implemented wherever you are promoting products or services. Christmas marketing is no different. You can attract your targeted audience if you apply Christmas SEO deals in the right place.

Check out these nitty-gritty SEO tactics to implement this Christmas:

Optimise product pages, ads, and content with long-tail keywords
Analyse your past holiday marketing strategy and incorporate your most successful one into your current strategy
Utilise Christmas-based words and phrases (e.g. Christmas gifts or Merry Christmas 2019)
Create content and videos sharing Christmas tips that are aligned with your products (e.g. if you sell Christmas trees, give users tips on trees and their decorations)

9. Final Inspection

Finally, make sure your site will meet loads of Christmas shoppers’ needs without disturbing their experience.

Make sure it loads content in 3 seconds or less, otherwise, users will jump to other sites
Keep an eye on your inventory to avoid overselling
Test your servers to check whether they can handle sudden traffic bursts
Get rid of broken links, glitches, and errors

To Conclude

Well, now you are perfectly ready to design a marketing strategy that suits your targeted audience. Start the minute you finish reading this article and come back to share your experiences with us. We would love to learn from you.