November has come and it reminds us that December and the holidays are almost here. A lot of shopping is about to take place in the next few weeks in preparation for the festive season. A great number of people are now choosing to go online to shop as evidenced by the increase in the eCommerce sales year after year with the numbers as at 2014, reaching over 50 billion.
The statistics do not stop there. There was a 15% increase over the previous year with over $2 billion being made on cyber Monday alone. This again was a whopping 17% increment from the previous year. These numbers are simply amazing. They show that people now have the confidence to carry out sales and purchases from their desktops, tablets, phones and other devices which gives businesses a chance at a successful fourth quarter of the 2015 year.
So what are the ways to leverage those numbers and increase the holiday website traffic and sales in order to develop more revenue?
Clear Call to Action on the Holiday Offers
When someone views the offer and land on your website, you only have a matter of seconds to capture their attention and that is on an average day. On the holiday season rush, this time is even further reduced so ensure that your call to action and holiday offer is clear and it attracts the attention of the visitor.
When the visitor clicks on your page because they have been attracted by a particular item on your website, ensure that their landing page shows the item and has a call to action sign. (BUY NOW, ORDER NOW) Don’t make them search for the item. They will lose interest and end up leaving the site without purchasing anything.
If you wish for them to explore, after they have made the purchase you can direct them to other things that may interest them.
Adjust the Lead/ Sales Funnel for quicker conversations
The Standard sales funnel is supposed to nurture leads and convert them into sales. During the holiday season, there are set time limitations but the important thing to note is that the customers don’t need to be nurtured as much as during the ordinary days. This is because they intend to buy whether from you or a competitor is purely on you.
The emails should be more promotional and they should ‘touch’ the leads more frequently. The adverts and promotions should be great as the consumers are in search of the special and the offers during this time.
Primary Focus on Mobile Visitors
There has been a significant increase in the number of mobile users with up to 17% user increase from consumers. A lot of people are becoming more comfortable with purchasing from their cell phones. Target these people and make your website mobile friendly, from browsing to check out. The entire experience should be as pleasant as possible for the customer. Take this time to get feedback from employees and family and friends on whether the site is mobile friendly then improve as per the feedback given.
Exit-Intent Pop-Ups
The phrase pop up is associated with annoying, intrusive and invading. This does not have to be the case. By using the exit intent pop-up you can stop people from leaving your site too quickly and allow them to explore some other offers and products you may have. It is a great way to avert abandoning traffic.
Using this Pop-up is a great way to inform the customer of other offers you may have such as free delivery, a special coupon etc. You can even get them to subscribe to your newsletter. All this will spell out great success for your business.
Enable Remarketing on All Online Campaigns
When a customer visits your website and does not buy anything and eventually leaves they may revisit again. You can draw them in again by remarketing. You can follow them as they browse the internet and display highly targeted ads which offer whatever it is that they were looking at in your website.
This can take a few minutes or a few weeks. They may end up not liking what they find in other websites and eventually land on your website again.
Use live chat/ Round the clock support
During the holiday season there will be a lot of customers on your website. That means there will be a lot of people needing help and to maximize the conversion rates you have to attend to them. By having a live chat you eliminate the wait for response period as their questions and problems are attended to immediately and this will definitely increase the chance for purchase as they never leave your website.
A person who attempts to leave your site without buying anything can be attended to with a pop up saying something like “Hi. Is there anything I can help you with?” when they respond then a support staff can address their problem and close the sale. Hiring Online Virtual assistants or Customer service can help with this.
By using this tips and starting the preparation process early will definitely increase your revenue.
