Last Christmas, I gave you my heart... - when you hear it for the first time on the radio (even in November) it is a sign that Christmas time has just started and if you are a seller, it is worth to think about preparing for a little shopping frenzy of your customers. Why?

Every year, the pre-Christmas period is crucial for any e-commerce business. Wondering to what level online sales will increase during this time? To take full advantage of this opportunity, you need to do some preparation.

However, you must realize that it will not be easy. Intensive work will result in more store traffic, conversions, revenue and finally - loyalty of your customers.

But let's start from the basics

Firstly, we want to ask you a question. Are you sure that the website of your online store is ready to handle hundreds or thousands of orders, without any delays or errors? If you haven't had a chance to find it out, do it now. Test your online store early enough and in every respect – speed, performance, usability, and security.

You can do this partly on your own, by using numerous online tools, or outsource the audit to an external company. It is important to pinpoint areas that need to be improved. Those actions are essential. Therefore, a store that is aspiring to be a pro cannot ignore them. There are many technologies and solutions that improve a functioning of a website, and, therefore, give the company an advantage in the competitive Internet world.

A decent example of such a behaviour is the dynamically developing, also in terms of technology, online store brw.pl, which quite recently has implemented PWA. This award-winning brand puts its customers first, cares for the highest quality, and thus builds a competitive advantage on the market. The awards they have recently won are sufficient to confirm these words.

In the current context, the issue of safe and comfortable shopping is extremely important for consumers. Therefore, the purchasing process should be designed in such a way that it has the desired features – guarantee of certainty, speed, intuitiveness, and simplicity. In addition, a brand that cares about a positive experience of the users (UX) has its loyal customers. It is because of the fact that every interaction, surprise, or attractive function makes them feel unique and eager to return to your store.

Another important parameter is the responsiveness of the page. In December 2019, there were over 53 % of mobile users worldwide (upward trend), and 44 % of them were using laptops and computers.

Source: https://mobirank.pl/2020/01/31/raport-digital-i-mobile-na-swiecie-w-2020-roku/

Therefore, we can clearly see which direction the sellers should follow, and how important it is to adapt the website to be used on many devices.
 

Let your customers know what you're doing!

Communicate, communicate, and again - communicate. Let the world to get to know about you and your business. Start your promotional campaign slightly earlier and maybe this time spice it up a little bit. Do not swamp your customers with plenty of offers and discounts. Each brand has a story that distinguishes it from the others. Tell your audience about yourself, ask them how they're feeling, or what they currently need, and then offer it to them. Create with them a relationship that will have an impact on the fact which brand they will choose to buy gifts for their loved ones.

Building an engagement with your customers is of a great importance. The competition is big, and therefore, the relationship you have with your customers often determines their choice of your store.

Let's take Allegro (Polish e-commerce company working similarly to Amazon) as an example. They inspire and encourage to Christmas shopping in a subtle, non-pushy way. Pay close attention to the fact, that words such as shopping, offer, or sale have not been used a single time.

There are no doubts that you have something worth telling your customers about. It is a specific period of time – why do not you tell people about the actions you took for your team to work in safe conditions? What decisions did you make to ensure that during this period the processing of orders takes place at the highest possible level (new website, implemented technologies, employing more people)?

Let people know if your brand helps to preserve the environment – mention the ideas you have implemented to help our planet. You can also provide people with an amazing experience during unboxing. Though, it is known that everyone likes to open orders that are unusually packed, and even more when they are personalized and ecological. This is undoubtedly one of the effective ways to stand out from the competition. Build experiences, memories, evoke emotions (Customer Experience), and a loyalty.

Source: https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/

After building the bond, you can communicate your promotions. It is also especially worth taking care of your regular recipients during this time. For instance, a newsletter. You should also appreciate their loyalty by preparing special discounts for them.
 

Befriend technologies

With no doubts, technology is a friend that help people on a daily basis. By implementing the adequate one to your store, you can save a lot of time, and significantly improve your brand image. What can you do to facilitate the work during the Christmas season and provide professional customer service? There is a possibility to implement a chatbot to help the users. A chatbot can be described as a shopping assistant who would help your customers to operate on your website, if it would be necessary, such a bot would advise and answer logistics questions. Taking another step forward, you should analyse and create more sophisticated questions and answers that consumers could ask. In such a way, you would gain valuable time and make sure that customers will not feel abandoned, or omitted.

For larger sellers who work on multiple channels, we suggest implementing a system that would collect all orders placed and display them in one place. It would also inform you about the stock levels and update the amount of products in real time. This reduces the risk of mistake or overlook of a channel. It is worth to mention here the WMS platform, which automates the whole logistics and thus optimizes working time. It is an advanced system that supports the work of warehouse employees and sellers.

And, as we are on the subject of warehouses – remember to prepare your warehouse for a greater number of orders. Do not make the customer see the sign “unavailable”. Prepare your warehouse so that you will not lose your customers. Of course, it is rather a complicated task to predict how many people will want to buy a given product. However, after analysing the selling level in previous years, or even the current popularity of products, it would be easier to prepare the store for an increased traffic.

 

Keep your customers informed

Despite all the shopping frenzy, remember that there is nothing more important than customers and professional service. This means that once you succeed in building a bond with your customers and they start placing orders in your store, you will be responsible for how they perceive your brand. A problem-free and fast order processing influence their purchasing decisions, therefore, you have to keep them informed. Customers need to feel that you treat them with respect. Most of the products purchased are gifts for loved ones, so any delay in order completion affected by various factors, even those beyond our control, is for the consumer a catastrophe. Such a person may panic, get irritated, and share this situation with people on social media or Google. A well-designed order information system is the heart of every e-store. Keep your customer informed of any update in the status of order, and, if something goes wrong, immediately inform them and offer compensation.

When it comes to orders, it is also worth adding various forms of payment and delivery during this time (and not only), e.g. deferred payment – "buy now, pay later" or delivery in 5h for logged in customers. Special discounts and free returns can also positively influence purchasing decisions.
 

All I want for Christmas is…

Well, what it actually is? Very often, consumers themselves do not know what to buy for their loved ones. Why not to help them to make a choice? Owners can use advertisements to reach potential customers, and for that they need to make an analysis. It would be done through various tools, e.g. Google Analytics, analysing of the behaviour of users on the Internet (search phrases, pages viewed). Then on the basis of the collected data, you would create a customer profile and properly target your offer to them. This is called behavioural marketing, and is used to reach potential customers who need, or ace currently looking for a specific product/service.

Another method may be remarketing. It is directly connected with the website of a given brand. Assuming that a potential customer enters the website, spends there a few minutes, views a specific product, and then simply leaves. Why didn't he buy anything? There may be many reasons, but we may assume that some external factor interrupted the purchase and such a person simply forgot about it. Therefore, you should remind them about it by displaying an advertisement of the previously viewed product. In this way, the awareness of the brand is built. It does often convince indecisive, or forgetful customers to buy.
 

Set goals and measure the KPI

Numbers do not mean much if they are not put in some context. It is important to previously create this context and strive to achieve the set goals. This allows a better control and measures the business success. Using various tools, such as Google Analytics, you can analyse the Key Performance Indicators (KPI), such as

• Sales
• Conversion
• Website traffic and its source
• Page Speed
• Bounce rate
• Position in the search engine
• Mobile traffic
• Mail open rate

In this way, you will effectively measure the results of your goals and see areas that may need a little improvement.
 

Analyse the data and draw conclusions

Perhaps, it is not your first Christmas in e-commerce, so it is worth analysing how this special time in previous years looked like. Was everything perfect? Or you expected more? Learning from your mistakes brings the best results. Find areas that need improvement and grow your business.

Remember also to listen to your customers and ask them about their experiences with the service and purchased products. You can take a survey after the end of the holiday period and thus get a lot of valuable information. This is extremely beneficial for two reasons:

1. The survey is a quick and cheap way to collect honest opinions about your business and use this knowledge for development.
2. You let your customers know that they are an integral part of your brand, you rely on them and you want to be better for them.
    

And, just for the conclusion

Despite all this madness, let's make the customers feel special and remember the shopping made in the store. Personalized wishes, or kind words in the form of a note added to the shipment, is a gesture that customers will remember for a long time. All of the above mentioned ideas are inspirations that are supposed to bring your business many benefits and expected results.