Published on 09/12/2022

6 tips to boost your Christmas e-commerce sales

Christmas is around the corner! It is also a busy time for e-retailers. You need to anticipate everything: traffic peaks on your website, customer experience, payment, and delivery options. How? Follow our 6 tips to boost your Christmas e-commerce sales.

1. Anticipate traffic peaks on your website

During the busy Christmas season, your website must be prepared for traffic peaks. Your goal is to avoid crashes or traffic slowdowns at all costs, which will negatively impact the user experience and therefore your sales. Your website must always have a good web performance, i.e., load fast and smoothly. To do so, carry out tests on a dedicated environment beforehand, without forgetting to involve high-tech service providers who can determine whether your equipment can handle traffic peaks.

Running out of stock can also quickly turn into disappointment or frustration for your customers, thus causing loss of turnover. How to avoid this? Rely on past years’ sales to ensure that you have a large and sufficient inventory. We also recommend that you work closely with your suppliers. Ask them two or three months in advance about their capacity to deliver large quantities of your current bestsellers.

2. Create a smooth customer experience to boost your e-commerce sales before Christmas

Personalised user experience

Personalisation is always the key to success! By analysing your customers’ needs (using your audience measurement tool or your CRM⁽¹⁾) to personalise your offer, you can improve your conversion rate and reduce the abandonment rate. A successful customer experience means increased loyalty!

Rely on artificial intelligence through tools such as Hotjar, Inspectlet, Crazy Egg… to help you in your study of behavioural, demographic, or geographical data.

Mobile friendly UX

Today, an increasing number of people shop online. It is therefore mandatory to optimise your website’s user experience (UX⁽²⁾ ) on mobile phones, by focusing on ergonomics and fluidity. Internet users should not feel the strong increase in traffic on your e-commerce website in the run-up to Christmas.

A mobile friendly UX⁽²⁾ increases customer loyalty by giving them more confidence in your website and brand. Our UX⁽²⁾ FLOA expertise, combined with the mobile-friendly experience of your e-commerce website, makes it easier for your customers to browse through the final stages of the purchase process. The result? The shopping experience is optimised, and your conversion rate is increased⁽³⁾ . Plus, major e-retailers already trust us to help them improve their conversion rate!!

Tailor-made offers for your products

To boost your sales before Christmas, don’t forget to offer deals that are in line with your marketing strategy, by using:

● Bundling⁽³⁾ : offer your customers special offers for multiple purchases to encourage them to consume more.

● Special seasonal items: identify your flagship products sold specifically for the Christmas season and create an adapted commercial offer.

● Star products: highlight a one-off promotion with your current bestsellers.

Place your offers in the right area of your website, for example by placing gifts in a particular category.

Product comparison

Product comparison highlights items that spark your visitors’ interest for easier evaluation. Your customers can choose the item that best meets their criteria and add it directly to their basket. In your comparison board, consider inserting a button that allows customers to add the selected product directly to their basket or favourite list.

Abandoned baskets

Do your customers fill their baskets without completing their orders? To encourage them to proceed with their purchases, you can send them a push notification that appears directly on their computer or smartphone, a personalised marketing e-mail, or why not offer them a special discount?

3. Offer different payment options to boost your e-commerce sales during Christmas season

To increase your conversion rate, there is nothing like offering payment options that match your visitors’ expectations and needs.

Payment page

First step: optimise your payment page to avoid losing your visitor. Choose a single page, because the more pages there are, the greater the risk that the user will lose interest and abandon his/her basket. Furthermore, do not force your prospects to register on your website at the payment stage. The simpler and more fluid the payment stage, the greater the chances of basket conversion.

Different payment options: the FLOA Pay offer

Next, add a variety of payment methods to your e-commerce website. Offer payment by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) or even the “Buy Now Pay Later” solution (BNPL)⁽⁴⁾FLOA Pay.

One out of 3 European people have already used payment in instalments, which is becoming more and more popular⁽²⁾ . Why? Simply because this solution has many benefits for customers. They can:

● Control their budget.

● Buy items on special offers and pay later.
● Treat themselves by adding more items to their basket.
● Avoid being hindered by credit card limits that can be reached quickly, especially when making high-tech purchases.
For you, e-retailer⁽¹⁾, paying in instalments means:

● Increasing your turnover.
● Attracting and retaining new customers.
● Improving user experience (UX** ).
● Not taking any risks, as outstanding payments are handled by the service provider.

Our BNPL⁽⁴⁾FLOA Pay offer is widely praised by consumers. We provide a complete solution up to €6,000, as well as recognised partner and customer support (voted Customer Service of the Year 2023), and UX** expertise that has been rewarded on multiple occasions (CX Awards Gold Prize 2021).

4. Offer several delivery options

Multiple delivery options

Offer multiple delivery options because there is something for every taste and every budget. You can choose between home delivery, relay point delivery, express or priority delivery, click and collect and scheduled delivery. To reduce transportation costs, opt for multi-destination deliveries. Finally, choose several carriers to offer a wide choice to your customers whilst expanding the price range.

Free delivery

Also consider customers who are “allergic” to delivery costs. To please these ones, offer them free delivery over a certain purchase amount. This will encourage them to fill their baskets more and will help you boost your turnover. To help your customers reach free delivery, offer them payment in instalments. They will be able to treat themselves more while keeping their budget under control.

Package return

An unsatisfied customer, due to a damaged item or an unsuitable size, will request a return or an exchange. Be proactive and include free return labels in your package. A simplified return policy remains a key criterion for online shoppers. Remember that returns improve the customer experience and increase customer loyalty. Insurance to cover your packages and protect your cash flow will also be very useful in the event of a lost or damaged package.

Digital logistic solution

Choose a controlled logistics solution if you want to boost your e-commerce sales during Christmas. Clearly, use a digitalised stock management solution based on automation processes, to be able to:

● Optimise your flows, especially picking⁽⁵⁾.
● Get full traceability of your customer and supplier orders.
● Offer your customers full visibility.

Do not neglect packaging. It reflects your brand’s visual identity. The packaging must be consistent with your pictures, original and meet consumers’ expectations. Personalised and eco-friendly packaging will improve the customer experience.

5. Implement a marketing and promotional strategy

Multi-channel strategy

To implement a successful multi-channel strategy, take an interest in several digital sales outlets (marketplaces, Instagram) or in social media posts linking to your website. This will help you gain exposure.

Anticipate marketing campaigns

With the help of your audience measurement tool and your CRM* , you can better understand the needs of your consumers and thus better target their expectations. By personalising the offers in your e-mail campaigns, you will be able to send the right offer, to the right person, at the right time. With personalised promotions adapted to their profiles, your customers will be more interested in your products.

Omnichannel communication and acquisition strategy

Using paid advertisements will enhance your e-mailing strategy. You can create advertisements on relevant social media using sponsored banners, social network ads, etc. The aim is to use a variety of content on all digital channels to appeal to your readers and encourage them to buy. For example, you can choose a paid Facebook advertisement linking to your company’s Facebook page or directly to your website.

Pop-up banners

Christmas season is a great opportunity to use pop-up advertising! Dress up your website in Christmas colours and choose the pop-up banner format over the classic pop-up to highlight your special offers. Indeed, the pop-up banner is less intrusive than the classic one, while remaining visible at different stages of the user’s journey.

The FLOA Pay solution

Thanks to the FLOA Pay (Buy Now Pay Later⁽⁴⁾)solution, your customers can buy now and benefit from payment in instalments. It is perfectly possible to add this payment in instalment option in the preview of the product you are selling. This solution, that is available through our FLOA Pay offer, helps you considerably increase your conversion rate and your turnover.

Customer engagement

To engage your customers and reach as many people as possible, launch a contest with a voucher or a free product as a prize. Simply create a post and ask your community to share it on social media.

Loyalty programme

This feature rewards your loyal customers and greatly enhances the user experience. Think about it! Start by naming your loyalty programme, give it a specific point value, specify the amount of loyalty points you want to offer, and then create a page on your website to introduce your new loyalty programme. You can offer loyalty points to your customers on many occasions:

● When creating their user account.
● Upon referring a friend.
● For their birthday, etc.

6. Organise your customer service

It is essential to make your customer service easily accessible. We strongly advise choosing a multi-channel approach: via chat, e-mail, and phone. This way, you will be able to respond to your customers’ different preferred modes of communication. Your team in charge of the customer service area should be responsive to customer queries or problems encountered during the purchase process. This way, your customers will be reassured and will be able to complete their purchases. A question or problem that is quickly resolved strengthens consumer loyalty. Moreover, creating or updating your FAQ to provide a quick answer to your customers’ recurring questions is a must to help your customer service teams.

Getting reviews and ratings from your customers after they have made a purchase will help you build your e-reputation. Positive reviews influence your credibility, reputation, and visibility on the Internet. When you ask your customers, positive reviews considerably increase your conversion rate, as they create trust between consumers. Other people’s opinions make it easier for them to purchase a product. As for negative reviews, they help you put action plans in place to address any dissatisfaction. It’s a win-win situation for you!

What you should bear in mind to boost your e-commerce sales during Christmas season

As you can see, Christmas season must be prepared beforehand if you want to boost sales on your e-commerce website. Customer experience must be your main concern. Among our six tips, the quickest to implement is based on payment in instalments. Payment in instalments will give your customers peace of mind during this busy period, their average shopping baskets will be bigger as your customers will not be blocked by credit card limits. Our FLOA UX** expertise, combined with a payment in instalments solution, will help you increase the conversion rate of your baskets through a smooth and optimal customer experience. Please get in touch with our FLOA Pay team for a free demo!

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