The ho-ho-holiday season is reaching flash sales, custom packaging, discounts, free shipping, all may have started sounding familiar to you. Whether you are a marketer or a holiday lover, this time seems great for all. Shopaholics are eager to hear these offers on their favorite products while E-Commerce stores and online marketers leverage the novelty dates that begin from October and lasts till December. Well, the good news is, you have a few more weeks left to capitalize on this time, which is likely to witness increased online shopping, researching, and spendings.
Here’s The Big Picture
You would be surprised to know that the holiday retail sales crossed the mark of $1 trillion in 2018. Moreover, in 2018, it was observed that the average American shopper spent $846 million on gifts. If we look at the areas that topped in driving this growth, E-Commerce was the largest player with the spending of $123.73 million.
Aren’t these stats amazing! Well, here are some more shocking online marketing stats that may surely motivate you to plan your holiday marketing strategies
1. 88% of the shoppers are influenced by the internet, specifically search engines before making a purchase.
2. 76% of online shoppers change their mind regarding the purchase of a product from a particular brand after online research.
3. 64% of smartphone shoppers conduct a mobile search before driving to their nearest storefronts.
4. 68% of shoppers turn to YouTube to determine what to purchase.
5. There is a 140% increase in bid prices over their yearly average during holidays.
Top 10 Holiday Marketing Ideas for this Holiday Season
Now getting past the whopping figures, the next thing that bothers a digital marketer’s mind is, from where the hell these people are driving so much sales and conversions? However, you don’t need to bother anymore. Here are some awesome holiday marketing ideas that will surely help you scale your online business. So, let’s begin-
1. Win your customers with the art of cross-selling and up-selling
Provide your customers with additional options while sharing detailed information in cross-selling. E-commerce stores know what customers want and they try reaching out to them with varied options. And, Amazon has mastered this art of cross-selling.
Coming to up selling it is important to add a more authentic personal touch as upselling requires more nurturing and finesse. Don’t make it an afterthought but, treat it as a priority. Compel your customers to shift to a premium version by touching their emotions.
2. Make shopping a joyful experience for your customers
Customers are often stressed at the thought of gift shopping. Businesses can take advantage of alleviating customer stress. When you prepare a piece of content for your products, try mentioning the utilities that would be beneficial for your customers. This encourages them to browse your products more and more and trigger the need to buy them at the earliest.
3. Offer free rewards, your customers would love to be on the receiving end
Holidays are a time of giving, and many customers tend to gift shop for their loved ones. Leverage this opportunity and offer them free rewards, coupons, free shipping. It would surely encourage your customers to spend more with your company, which would ultimately amplify your sales during the holiday season.
4. Ignite the fire of emotions in your shoppers
Triggering a mix of emotions in your customers is another unique holiday marketing idea. During the holiday season, your customers are on the swinging pendulum of emotions that covers varied emotions from excitement to nostalgia. Pay close attention to these emotions and improve the emotional appeal of your content to evoke powerful emotions. You can share inspirational messages, photos, behind the scenes videos and see your customers getting overwhelmed with emotions.
5. A minute of a great video is equal to millions of followers
Visuals attract people more than words, and this is why they rely on videos before making a purchase decision. So, launching a video marketing campaign is a revolutionary holiday marketing idea. Videos are a user-friendly option that helps your customers learn more about your products and services. Creating a YouTube channel and adding videos to your website, email campaigns, and social media handles is a holiday marketing strategy that contributes to your online success.
6. Give your customers an in-person showroom experience online
Alike showrooms, web-rooming your products is another holiday marketing tip where you present your products on the internet. This enhances the user experience as the customers get the opportunity to explore the products from every angle. It is beneficial in holiday marketing for expensive purchases as customers tend to be extremely cautious before making such purchases to avoid any fraud.
7. An engaging mail can really change the customer perspective
During the holiday season, customers are generally busy and avoid picking calls but, they never miss on their inbox for best deals. So sending emails is a great holiday marketing strategy to engage your customers with all the special offers, promotions, or seasonal product lines. Nobody can know what will trigger his mind and he may make a purchase decision after receiving a simple mail.
8. Retarget your customers to complete the purchase
When it comes to a holiday marketing strategy, retargeting interested customers is important as it encourages them to take initiative and make a purchase. It is best to send them reminders regarding the items left in their cart or sending them emails to complete the purchase. Here you need to keep in mind that your target audience narrows down to those who visit your site regularly. It is best to understand their motivation pattern and follow them.
9. Focus on online identity that supports your brand
Your online presence is of considerable significance at the time of the holiday season, and it is good to influence your shoppers through a strong online presence. Optimizing your web presence is also one of the best holiday marketing strategies that work well when implemented cohesively in all digital media. You need to create social media handles and use trending hashtags to match what people are thinking at the moment. You can also work on integrating all your personal and business accounts for a better user experience. Another way is to optimize your content for display and banner ads. Also, optimize your website for the holiday season with all the promotional content where you should not just stick to blogging but can also go with product infographics on how to use them and ways to use them. All these encourage your users to browse through them, which can turn out to be a good sale.
10. Don’t underestimate your mobiles
As mentioned above, around 64 percent of mobile shoppers conduct a mobile search before making a purchase decision. This might have given you an idea of what impact a mobile search can have on your future business. So it is vital to run mobile friendly campaigns and optimize your E-Commerce stores for mobile search.
Are you leading a holiday marketing campaign?
If yes, then you should know that strong holiday sales begin with early preparation. These are great holiday marketing ideas for you; just take advantage and drive great sales.
