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How To Increase Ecommerce Holiday Sales

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Last editedDec 20212 min read

The last end-of-year holiday season in 2020 was not great for retailers thanks to the global situation, but this year is promising to be much better. So now is the time for retailers to put into place the strategies that will help them increase holiday sales.

To help, here is a guide to some of the best ways to increase ecommerce sales during the upcoming holiday season.

Time-sensitive promotions

By offering time-sensitive promotions, you can create a sense of urgency among visitors to your website. This is especially true during the holiday season when time is already an issue due to the traditional gift-exchange rituals of Christmas and other seasonal festivities.

Often, customers will already have an idea of what they want and will go straight to the product they have in mind to compare prices and product attributes against any other options they’ve seen elsewhere, so these time-driven promotions can encourage them to make their purchase right then and there.

This type of promotion can also be used as an exit pop-up, as explained in the next section.

Insert exit pop-ups

You can employ exit pop-ups to reduce shopping cart abandonments. Do this by recognising certain mouse movements such as a sudden thrust directly towards the X that closes the page, where you can then have one last attempt at convincing them to continue shopping.

The exit pop-ups could offer package deals or offers such as a time-sensitive discount, as well as the likes of free shipping and money-back guarantees. Another option is to have the exit pop-up offer a variety of personalised product recommendations, though more on this below.

Personalise user experiences

There are several ways to personalise a user’s experience using their user-specific behavioural data. You can also recognise the device they are using and where they are using it from, and use all of this information to create a personalised experience which encourages them to complete their purchases.

The main ways to personalise the user experience are:

Personalised product recommendations
Personalised promotional offers
Personalised real-time messages.

Personalised product recommendations

Improve your average order value with personalised recommendations based on each user’s personal preferences and behavioural activity. The first benefit is that it can increase the chances of a user adding items to their basket. The secondary benefit that is by displaying product recommendations that are relevant to each user according to their activity, users returning to your website will also have a much easier time finding the items they want.

Use data such as the most recent products or categories each user viewed, as well as previous items purchased, and any other product preference data you have gathered.

Personalised promotional offers

You can also use the likes of geo-location and other personal device information to present offers and promotions that are more personally relevant to each user. This means making offer suggestions that are optimised for both mobiles and laptops, so that the most appropriate promotion for each customer is given according to which device they are accessing your site from.

Use advanced customer segments such as user affinities, geo-location, referral source and device type to get a more accurate insight into what promotional offers are most relevant to each user.

Personalised real-time messages

Personalised discounts and exclusive promotions offered via real-time messages are one of the best ways to increase ecommerce sales. By providing this tailored shopping experience for each user, you can impress them with your on-point special treatment.

Activate highly incentivised messages, notifications and overlays in real-time according to the behaviour and data of the user. Predict their intent from their previous activity and preferred product attributes as well as their current activity on your site and any other useful behavioural data.

We can help

If you’re interested in finding out more about the best ways to increase ecommerce sales, or any other aspect of your business finances, then get in touch with our financial experts at GoCardless. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.