The 2020 shift toward shopping online promises a boom for eCommerce businesses this holiday season. Make the most of the anticipation of special sales offers by gearing up early to segment communication, meet demand and deliver on time.
5 things you need to do now to maximize your holiday sales
The 2020 shift toward shopping online promises a boom for eCommerce businesses this holiday season. Make the most of the anticipation of special sales offers by gearing up early to segment communication, meet demand and deliver on time.
Forecast for strong online holiday sales
While online sales have been creeping up every holiday season, the impact of COVID19 has made shoppers come to appreciate the convenience of eCommerce. Picking out what you want online and having it shipped to whoever is on your gift list is the ultimate in convenience, especially when it includes free shipping.
Many people are still playing it safe by keeping away from crowds, including extended family and friends, and so will be sending their gifts rather than delivering them in person. The shift in the type of purchases anticipated to make up the gifts for this year’s holiday is a particular advantage for smaller eCommerce retailers.
The Washington Post quotes Natalie Kotlyar, head of the retail practice at consulting firm BDO who said that tangible gifts are back in:
“In the past couple of years we’ve seen a significant shift to gifting experiences: sporting events, trips, concerts,” she observed. But with so many events canceled, now “we’re going to be moving away from that, back to more traditional gifts like electronics and toys.”
While those items used to lead Black Friday promotions that were designed to drive customers into stores the day after Thanksgiving at the crack of dawn, that’s a no-go this year. Crowds are to be avoided for the sake of safety, so brick-and-mortar stores will be spacing out their promotions and making them available online.
With that in mind, these are the five things to do to assure you have the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales ever.
1. Start early to get customers on board
Don’t wait until the week of Thanksgiving to send out notice about your Black Friday specials. Instead, let your customers know that you have special offers lined up that they can learn about by signing up for emails or SMS alerts about holiday specials.
Normally this starts in early November; Black Friday specials have been spread over the whole month for years. This year, though, it’s being officially pushed all the way to October, as set by the likes of Amazon, Walmart and Target.
Target has promised that it will begin offering its “lowest prices of the year on items in stores and online” in October. That means bargain hunters will not delay their shopping until November, and you do want to catch their attention while they’re primed to shop.
Let them know that if they haven’t yet signed up for emails, now is the time for them to do so to be sure they don’t miss out. Also, remind them to whitelist your company so that your emails don’t end up in spam.
2. Segment your customers
To get the most return for your communication strategy, you need to be able to identify and connect with the customers most likely to make holiday purchases. Those who use Remarkety know that it makes it easy to set up a campaign suited to your segment.
Key segments to target include your CLV or VIP status customers — the ones who spend the most on a regular basis — and the ones who have set a pattern of buying this time of year. Accordingly, you’d put in those features to be sure to reach out to those who are most likely to convert by sending them a series of holiday emails, texts, newsletters and Facebook ads.
That is extracting the value of the data you already have with Remarkety’s capability for intelligent segmentation. But you can also capitalize on the interest shoppers have in finding what to buy when hunting for Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials to gain new customers.
3. Win attention, make the connection
The anticipation and hype around Black Friday and Cyber Monday make these days great opportunities to draw in new customers who may discover your site when they search online for holiday deals and discounts. This year they may even be a whole new group of people who have never done their holiday shopping online before but want to stay safely out of stores for the 2020 season.
Once you’ve caught the attention of a potential customer, make sure to keep the connection going by incentivizing them to sign up for your emails. That way, even if they failed to convert on the initial visit, you can follow up with messages tailored according to what captured their interest on your site or what’s popular among other shoppers.
4. Follow up same day
Sending out cart and browse abandonment emails is always important to maximize sales and customer value. When it comes to the increasing traffic you can anticipate for holiday shopping, it’s even more important.
As you are competing for the attention of customers who are being bombarded by sellers all around, you need to be on top of them. Even if you normally wait a day to send out a cart or browse abandonment email, for those holiday specials, send them out within a couple of hours and be sure to follow up sooner than 24 hours later.
If you’re not fast enough to incentivize closing the deal, you are much more likely to lose that sale to your competitor. Don’t let the opportunity slip through your fingers.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the perfect opportunities to let your customers know that there is a promotion on what has caught their eye before, which makes now an ideal time to buy that gift or treat themselves.
Even if they appear to have lost interest in the original item, you try to appeal to them with new product recommendations. If they do not respond to the email or text, you can also retarget your customer through Facebook or Instagram, thanks to Remarkety’s social media integration.
5. Triple your odds with triple the channels
With so much riding on gaining attention for holiday shopping, you want to use every tool at your disposal. You shouldn’t rely on only a single channel of communication with your customers.
One of the reasons why SMS is a favored means of communication for marketers is that it works off a device that so many people literally have in hand over four hours a day according to VoiceSage. Here are the relevant stats from Techjury.:
In 2020, there are 3.5 billion smartphone users around the world
77% of Americans have smartphones
47% of US smartphone users say they couldn’t live without their devices
62% of smartphone users have made a purchase on the device.
As a result of the ubiquitous smartphone, SMS marketing blends seamlessly with consumer habits. That makes it possible for marketers to be in touch in a way that’s less invasive than a call and more immediate and likely to be read than an email by capitalizing on a device already in hand.
While they’re checking their texts, they also will check what’s going on for those they follow on Instagram and Facebook. To capitalize on the phone habits of your customers with the multi-pronged communication approach that delivers.
Instead of committing to SMS or email alone, plan to use them in complementary ways in conjunction with your social media ads. That gives your campaigns the advantage of an omnichannel approach
Use Remarkety’s listing of customers to build lists to serve ads to those who have been unresponsive or have even unsubscribed from your emails. This is a way to get them back for your holiday specials even without a direct message.
Even those who are receiving your emails can benefit from receiving text messages and social media ads that give them a heads up on what’s coming or what came. If you send a short text message that tells prospects to look for an upcoming newsletter or a Black Friday promotional email, they know to look out for it.
The feeling of anticipation raised will likely make them curious enough to at least open the email when it comes. You can do the same with a social media ad to heighten the excitement and increase engagement.
What if they did click on your Cyber Monday email but then failed to make a purchase?
Don’t give up on those customers! Send them a text reminder and a holiday ad on Facebook to remind them of the great deal before it expires.
Texts can also be used to alert customers about flash sales If you plan to do those for Black Friday. They also are great for confirmation messages to assure customers that their orders are received, being processed, and ready to ship out in time for the holidays.
By using all possible channels, you can reach your customer on his or her preferred channel. That’s what Remarkety allows you to do by integrating your email, SMS communication, and social ads.
Conclusion
The eCommerce sellers that will see the best return from the increase in online shopping are the ones who will be ready to meet the demand of their customers. That calls for a strategy of communication that is built on making the most of the hype surrounding the key selling days with a data-driven communication strategy powered by Remarkety.
