> BlogThe onset of Christmas and the holiday season spells a time of increased business activity for the majority of business owners. Typically retailers and sales-oriented organisations are subject to the biggest upswing during this time, however this increase in activity also flows on throughout other industries and markets, making it the most financially buoyant season of the year.
With this is mind, any business that operates a website and is looking to grow their number of visitors and customers should also take steps to ensure that its web presence is optimised to make the most of this increase in activity. The following guidelines are just a few of the things you should be considering with your website as we approach the busy festive season. Some of thiese ideas are more suited to e-Commerce websites, however many of the principles apply regardless of your website’s functionality or role in the sales process.
If you can’t deliver an order in the amount of time your prospective customer wants, you won’t stand a chance of making the sale. Make your final Christmas shipping dates obvious for all users and consider offering an express delivery option for the holiday period - something which is especially important during the final days of the Christmas rush. This will not only make sure they don’t miss out, but can help to assure prospective customers that they will receive their goods on time, thus encouraging them to buy from you.
Christmas is one of the most competitive periods of the year for many industries. As such you'll need to take steps to stand out from your competitors - you might want to consider offering enticing incentives such as free delivery, buy 1 get one half price, or a free gift with each purchase (or other similar types of discounts/incentives). Another option could be to offer incentives based on order values - just make sure the incentives you offer don't end up costing you money.
Buying gifts for other people can be a stressful task, particularly if the gift buyer isn’t familiar with the product/service they’re buying. To avoid losing sales, consider offering the option of a gift card or voucher – a welcome tonic for even the most experienced gift buyer.
If you advertise using Google AdWords now's the time to really focus on squeezing the most out of your campaigns. Consider creating Christmas focused ad text or adding 'gift' focused keywords to your campaigns. Also keep a close eye on cost per click (CPC) bids and make sure you remain competitive by increasing your daily budgets and CPCs during this time of increased competition. It's vital that you get your timing right here too. If the last day for delivery by Christmas is Monday 19th December, then make sure you've allocated more of your monthly budget to the period leading up to this. After all, there's no point in keeping budget aside for the remainder of the month if you cannot service Christmas orders after the 19th.
As CPCs often increase during this time in response to the increase in competition, do everything you can to ensure you have the highest AdWords keyword quality scores as possible so that you don’t start paying considerably more just to keep up with your competitors. In addition, make sure you stay competitive by monitoring your daily budgets and maximum CPCs closely and increasing them as necessary.
Online shoppers are increasingly tech savvy and detail oriented and are highly likely to engage in comparison shopping online. As such, make sure your products / services stand out from your competitors by providing a clear, detailed and accurate description for each of the products / services you offer. Although this should apply regardless of the season, the impact (positive or otherwise) of this is more pronounced in times of high competition such as during the holiday season.
As the end of the year gets closer it's also a good idea to update your website to let prospective and existing customers know when you'll be closing down for Christmas and when you'll be opening up again in the New Year.
Lastly, another point that should apply year round, but now's a very good time to check it anyway. Make sure your website renders correctly in all of the major web browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari). Don’t risk losing sales because your website's layout is broken, or your checkout/booking/enquiry functionality doesn’t work correctly in all major browsers. Consider how your website renders on smartphones too.
The key to making the most of your web presence during this busy time of the year is planning ahead and starting early. In doing so you'll be a few steps ahead of your competitors when the rush hits, instead of languishing trying to play catch up.
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