5 tips for preparing for the sales period
Soon the holiday season will be over and a new rush, in the shape of the sales period, will be upon us.
Identified as the third biggest sales peak of the year, post-Christmas discounting attracts shoppers eager to snap-up a bargain, and should be considered by the ecommerce entrepreneur to be as much of an opportunity as the holiday boom just passed.
Beyond a desire to pay less, your customers are purchasing with the year ahead in mind: wanting products that might help them adhere to New Year’s Resolutions, or raise spirits in advance of a return to work and normality.
There’s no rest for the entrepreneur with popular products! However, with some planning, you can take full advantage of the first major ecommerce opportunity of 2022. Here are 5 tips so that you can hit the ground running and have a very happy start to the new ecommerce year.
1. Make your discounts attractive
The sales period is something of a feeding frenzy, with customers being enticed by offers from all sides. Therefore, don’t downplay the nature of the discounts that you are presenting.
Make the previous (pre-sale) price clear, and consider adding % so as to leave the visitor in no doubt as to the scale of the bargain they might get.
For most of the year, you might not want to make the relative cheapness of your products a selling point, but during the sales period, offering the best discount can seal the deal. If you believe that you are offering products within a category at a better rate than competitors, don’t be afraid to declare it.
An attractive discount should also be made attractive visually. Make your best offers leap out of the page. Now is not the time for understatement!
2. Reward loyal customers
Always be chasing after new visitors, but don’t forget the backbone of your business: the repeat customers.
Offer them promotional codes and additional discounts, making clear in communication that this is your way of acknowledging their loyalty and support in the year just gone.
Depending on your range, you might not choose to push discounts for a product that they have already bought at full price, but instead try and target offers for items which might be an accompaniment to their previous purchase.
Be sure to wish them a Happy New Year. For they are the ones who will guarantee that you have a prosperous one!
3. Advertize your new prices or discounts
Just as much as your store should be perfectly tuned to the nature of the sales period (and the bargain-hunting mindset of your visitors), so too should your marketing and advertising strategy be big and bold.
As the third biggest sales period of the year, this is when your investment in advertising and user acquisition can be most justified. Don’t let your competition dazzle customers who should be yours.
4. Use social media smartly
It’s time to crank-up the social media activity.
Alert customers - old and new - to the fact that you have a sale (some might not realize that you ever discount at all), as well as to the bargains that you offer.
Remember that you will need to cut through the noise, so be creative. Think about relevant themes: from new year’s resolutions to back to school or work.
Competitions and challenges always provide a compelling alternative to the usual posts.
5. Have everything ready
In previous blog posts, we’ve emphasized the importance of ensuring that your site is stress-tested and good to go.
Forgive us for repeating ourselves, but it’s far better to have got your digital ducks in a row, than to find that your site struggles on the first day of the sales.
Update the content, with compelling banners and calls-to-action. Stress test every aspect of the customer experience: from opening images to contacting customer support to check-out.