5 Time-Tested Tactics To Boost Your Christmas Sales
The festive season is well and truly here with Christmas fast approaching.
This post is going to give you some quick cash injection tips to help you boost your Christmas sales.
NOTE: Although the following tips are about Christmas, they can also be applied to any seasonal event.
1. Christmas Discounts
Everyone loves a discount and what better time than now to add some extra incentive when people are generally happy to be buying gifts.
Be sure not to only place discount icons on your pics but place a prominent banner on your front page alerting people to the savings they can make.
2. Ramp-Up Your Returns Policy
Do you have a 7 day or 14 day returns policy? I hate nothing more than trying to rush back to a store over the holiday period to return something when there are so many other things I’d rather be doing.
Take the stress from your customers and let them know that they have an extra week or 2 weeks grace before needing to return an item. This can be an extra incentive for customers when purchasing online as the postal services can become bogged down at this time of year with the increase in packages, and no-one wants to be stuck with a gift they cannot do nothing with (clothes that don’t fit, shoes that are too small, etc).
3. Create Scarcity
Scarcity sells! Let people know how many items you have left in stock.
Don’t overdo this though. If you share the fact you have 99 items in stock you are also showing your customers that there is little demand for what you are selling.
I’d recommend letting your customers know when you hit the 5 items left mark.
You can also apply this to a service. If people pay for your time (coaching) or a rental period (limousine hire) then be sure to state the remaining slots you have available.
4. Free Shipping
People really do love free shipping. Free shipping consistently out perform discounts and 2 for 1 deals for many of our client websites so give it a whirl.
If free shipping on all of your items just is not feasible then try free shipping on a minimum order; example ‘free shipping on all orders over £25
5. Deadlines
Tell your customers how many days they have left to order before the postal cut-off date. Knowing you only have 3, 2 or even only 1 day left to purchase something in order to receive it in time for Christmas can be a great nudge, especially for impulse buys.
You can take this one step further and add a countdown clock to your site, nothing like watching the seconds (or minutes) tick away before you can no longer get your item.
You can get countdown timer scripts for free from sites like JavaScriptKit.com or do a search in Google for ‘countdown timer scripts’.
What would you add to the list?
Here’s wishing you a great selling period this Christmas!
Best wishes,
Kelly-Anne Foxley
Totally agree Gordon.
Hi @Karl
Does your site support Guest Posting….I have prepared an article to write, I have to make sure that your site supports Guest Posting. If not please let me know.
Nice tips anyway…
Jeevan
Hi Jeevan,
We are preparing a post explaining the details about guest blogging here so be sure to check back in the next few days.
Thanks,
Karl
Biggest tactic is easily sales. People may be in a panic sometimes to find items, but if they can get an item for less elsewhere, odds are they’ll take it.
That’s pretty good strategies for marketing. Yeah, customers love this kind of marketing and think it is the pressures of competition that makes the company adopt these strategies.
I think free shipping is the biggest Ace you can play during the holidays. Especially when delivering outside your country or to another continent. Being from Europe, some things I wanted to buy from the USA are waaay to expensive just because they charge shipping almost as much as the product itself.
.-= Gordon´s amazing last blog ..Blogging On Autopilot During The Holidays =-.
Free shipping really attracts buyers and produce more sales. In the end, it will pay for the free shipping you are giving and some more.
.-= ZXT´s amazing last blog ..7 ways to attract comments in your blog =-.
These are some great tips. Christmas really is the best time to be selling products, you just need to know how to market to your niche.
Thank you.
Kelly,
Your ideas just showcased us the common habit of human being: last minute and scarcity create the urgency. I just got back from the mall and everywhere we saw ‘Sales! Limited Stock!’. Yeah, banners like that made the crowd happy. Voted! ^^
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
.-= Ching Ya´s amazing last blog ..8 Lessons Derived from Vacation to Boost Your Blogging Experience =-.
Everyone likes to feel like they are getting a bargain and saving some money along the way, helps to justify the purchase you’ve just made.
The other obstacle for a seller to overcome is buyers remorse but that is a whole new post for another day.
Best wishes,
Kelly-Anne
Excellent advice! Being in Direct sales, I say you did indeed hit the major arteries nicely.
Thank you Dennis.
Great advice this is a must do in today’s world. Everyone is looking for a deal. Thanks for the count down link. I will find this useful in the new year.
.-= Jared P Little´s amazing last blog ..Blog Engage Must Read For Bloggers! =-.
Thanks Jared. We’ve found the count down timer to work very effectively on some of our projects.
Best wishes,
Kelly-Anne
Free shipping is the best way to really jump conversions. Many consumers blame the shipper for this cost that they are PAYING not charging! Market research continually shows that offering free shipping makes buyers happier.
Even ecommerce stores that charge cost on shipping and no handling get continual complaints from customers about shipping costs.
In spite of having a calculator in your phone and on your PC most people don’t like math and don’t want to figure out what the total price will be. Better to combine the product and shipping costs and show the full price. That makes it easier for shoppers who are comparing prices.
GrowMap @Internet Strategist
.-= GrowMap @Internet Strategist´s amazing last blog ..Are You Playing Hide and Seek With Your Market? =-.
I know that when I shop online, free shipping is something that I always look for.
Thank you for sharing such a great comment.
Kelly
You’re welcome Kelly. These types of posts are of major interest to my readers so I also shared it at StumbleUpon, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook.
I’ve added you both to my DoFollow Blogs Twitter list so I’ll remember to visit and share often – and so can everyone who follows my list.
GrowMap @Internet Strategist
.-= GrowMap @Internet Strategist´s amazing last blog ..MEME: LinkLuv to My Fav Bloggers Favs =-.
That’s brilliant, thank you!
RT @karlfoxley karlfoxley
What Are You Doing To Boost Your Christmas Sales? – http://b2l.me/bbnac