get ready for the holiday season | clicks and clients

 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday lists are being made, winter items are being added to wish lists, and gifts are being planned. The holiday season is approaching fast; are you ready for it? Research has reported that online sales now make up more than half of the sales that occur during the holiday season. With this in mind, it is important to be prepared for the rush of consumerism. A strong online presence can make a world of a difference in exposure and revenue. Here are some tips to make this holiday season a successful one.

Design

The first thing people see when they look on your website is visual appeal. If your website looks the same as it did in 2007, chances are you’re not going to be engaging as well. Make sure everything looks put together and is ready for consumer eyes. This should remain true for ads especially. The design of advertisements is crucial for this time because people are actively seeking to purchase services or items. Your “look” should facilitate this golden time. It is also important to make sure that the content is up to date, but we’ll discuss this later. Last but not least, incorporate the holiday aesthetic into your advertising. This includes your website, advertisements, and social media presence.

Checkout (and other functions)

If there has ever been a time to make checkout easy and fast it is now. While this season ensures consumer engagement, it also brings to light any technical issues with websites and ad extensions. It is very important to make checking out items fast, easy and secure; consumers should feel comfortable shopping online. This also goes for advertisements. Consumers should be directed to the correct landing pages when click through an advertisement. It is also imperative that there is preparation for mass purchasing. Often times, it can cause webpages to crash for several hours which results in a loss of engagement and frustration all around. So, make sure you have updated your page to handle multiple types of activity at a time. Also, keep in mind that the holiday season brings new consumers, so it’s always nice to create a guest user option. This ensures that people can shop peacefully without being prodded to create an account. Most times, guest users create their own accounts anyway.

Content

When going over your content, it is important to tailor it to the season. As the holiday season approaches, the content should be related to late fall/winter. This also means keeping up with the season. The content at this point in time should be more autumnal and slowly shifting to winter, but in a month or so it should be full-fledged winter oriented. This also keeps up with the Black Friday and Cyber Monday traffic. This is the way content should be organized, seasonally. As mentioned before, it is imperative that the content is accurate. This means that the pictures should be matching the item or service. It also means that advertisements are going to the correct landing pages. The holiday season is the time for your content to shine!

Social Media

Staying on top of your social media presence all year round is important, but it is especially important to keep up with it during the holiday season. It establishes a sense of community between you and your consumers. This also primarily allows for people to keep up with potential deals and promotions. Keeping in touch with consumers also builds a level of excitement and anticipation for your content. A good social media presence can generate a really high conversion rate. It is imperative that you stay on top of it and start as early as possible.

Quick Run-Down

  • Design
    • Website and advertisements are look aesthetically pleasing
    • Incorporating the holiday theme into every aspect
  • Checkout
    • Make checkout easy and fast
    • Test a lot before the holiday season to make sure that all technical issues are resolved
    • Make sure that advertisement extensions are correct and that the correct landing pages are linked
    • Create a “guest account” option for first time consumers
    • Be ready to handle an overwhelming amount of traffic on socials and the website
    • Test checkout compatibility with high traffic volumes
  • Content
    • Make sure content keeps up with yearly themes
    • Check content ahead of the holiday rush to make sure that everything is accurate
    • Bonus: Check content level before the holiday rush to make sure that there is enough to purchase
  • Social Media
    • Stay consistent
    • Engage more than usual during the holiday season
    • Promote new holiday related deals and discounts

Enjoy the holiday season ahead with these strategic tips!