Commercial Feature

Leading SEO company Blueclaw share their Insider tips on how to make the most out of your e commerce site this Christmas.

It is two months until Christmas and keen customers will be looking for gifts for their loved ones. It may not have crossed your mind but there are a lot of e commerce sites out there and it is wise to plan early, thinking about what is going to drive people to your website. The list below takes you through some simple but key steps to make sure you are ready to capture Christmas sales.

Last year was another record for online sales over Christmas. Figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showed that UK shoppers spent £5.46 billion online in December 2009 – an equivalent of £88.93 for every person in the UK – 17% up on December 2008. The peak week for online Christmas shopping was the second week in December. This year sales are projected to be even higher.

1. Boost Sales with Best Sellers
Review your best sellers list and ensure these products are positioned prominently on your websites home page, giving customers a short cut to your leading lines. Don’t forget to suggest additional products from this page, as almost everything needs batteries, power cords and extensions.

2. Make the Most of Past Trends
Review last year’s sales statistics to discover seasonal trends in sales and identify important milestones such as best selling weekends, order times and volumes. These statistics can be used to schedule updates at times where traffic is at its lowest to ensure sales are not impacted and can highlight when additional staff is required for your sales and support teams.

3. Master your Mail shots
Pull out all of your email contacts from your back-office and create an email shot to attract past customers back to your website. The lead up to Christmas can be a very busy time and human minds usually need refreshing.

4. Give your websites a festive theme
Pile on the pressure and update your templates with Christmas themed elements to highlight the imminent festivities. Everyone recognises the iconic Christmas tree!

5. Control your promo codes
Have a promo code box on your basket? Stop people from leaving your site in search of these illusive codes by linking to pages on your website that offer small discounts such as free delivery and 5% off.  Keep those customers within the sales funnel.

6. Advertise your last delivery date
Make sure you promote your last delivery date on every page of your website to ensure that you keep selling right up until the very last available second.

7. Have a pre-Christmas sale
You may have a lot of old stock that you are trying to push out and make room for the new. There is a simple solution to this and it involves putting together pre-Christmas offers to entice your customers to buy.

8. Send a voucher to past customers in a Christmas card
Make use of your websites voucher code functionality and reintroduce your products to past clients by sending them a simple Christmas card containing a voucher code for a small discount. They will realise they are loved and you may just boost your sales.

9. Review your returns policy
At the top of your homepage you will no doubt display a huge legalese returns policy.  Add in some simple bullet points that explain your policy in plain English to help alleviate customer anxiety. When customers are busy they need quick facts.

10. Stagger your offers
Don’t throw all of your promotions on the site in one go. Promote a staggered sale weekly/daily and rotate set offers, encouraging customers to return day after day. Promotional discount codes work well as people tend to pass this news onto others, creating natural word of mouth activity.