‘Tis the Season: Getting Your eCommerce Site Ready For Christmas

It’s the season of sales, which means more profitable traffic for your business to capitalise on.

eCommerce has had an unpredictable year, from economic issues to data privacy concerns, meaning it’s crucial to keep your website up to date to take advantage of the surge in seasonal shoppers.

Optimising your site by creating a personalised customer experience or upgrading to a speedy site search is the first step to setting your eCommerce store up for success this season.

The importance of your Christmas shoppers

Christmas is the busiest period of the year for many online shops and in recent years consumer behaviour has shifted to see customers now shopping for Christmas gifts earlier than ever.

The festive season presents the perfect opportunity to attract new customers, with retailers acquiring up to 59% more customers throughout the festive season.¹ This is due to the vast amount of consumers who head online specifically to scout for festive deals and promotions.

Every visitor is valuable to your business, from last-minute shoppers to customers who start shopping early. And with the rising customer acquisition cost, you need to make the most of this influx of shoppers.

Preparing for Q4

A turbulent economy and data privacy concerns undoubtedly bring uncertainty to the industry this Q4, but there are ways you can ensure your Christmas eCommerce strategy is all set, such as:

• Researching and analysing industry data using Trends
• Launching ads and marketing campaigns sooner
• Monitoring stock levels to prepare for an influx in orders
• Identifying and addressing website pain points for a seamless user experience 

Ahmed from Circus PPC expands on some of the problems many retailers may face this festive holiday:

“Some of the issues that we’ve seen retailers fall victim to at this key time include running out of stock, which can be due to a lack of prior research into trends and potential demand for key products.

“It sounds obvious, but being thorough is one of the most important things you can do to avoid small, unnecessary mistakes such as incorrect product prices and unclear shipping times – both of which should be clearly defined and accessible to those visiting your website. If not, this could lead to far fewer conversions than expected due to incorrect pricing details as well as confusion or complaints from customers who haven’t been correctly informed of shipping times.”²

Ensuring your site and business are in the best possible position ahead of peak season traffic will help you maximise Christmas sales by converting new and existing customers.

How to optimise your site ahead of Christmas

Since you’ll be facing an influx of returning customers and new visitors, you don’t want to deter them at the busiest time of year with an unoptimised website experience.

Below we’ve highlighted some common pain points at this time of year for online stores along with the solutions you need.

1. Solve low customer retention rates

Retention rates are a measurement of how successfully a company satisfies customers’ wants and needs.

Some of the reasons why customer retention is crucial to company growth and success include:

• Improved return on investment (ROI): While saving on acquisition costs, a 5% increase in customer retention can increase revenue by 25-85%.³
• Increased revenue and AOV: Returning customers buy more often and spend more money than new customers. 
• Referrals: Customers who had a positive experience on your site are more likely to recommend their family and friends, bringing new, loyal customers.

Sometimes losing out on a conversion throughout this period is unavoidable. Many of your new customers will simply be browsing for the best Christmas offers, while other potential customers will be window shopping on your site with low purchase intent.

But when a new visitor does convert, having retention strategies in place will help to secure additional sales and grow your customer base for retargeting in the new year. 

Solution: Improve your customer retention by optimising the customer experience.

With these tips and tricks, providing an excellent customer experience is simple:

• Display delivery and return information: Ensure your delivery and return options are clearly displayed on your site to set expectations and prevent confusion.
• Promote discounts and deals: Many customers will be shopping for the best deals for Christmas gifts. Offering discounts or gift cards is a great way to secure a purchase and satisfy both new and existing customers.
• Deliver a mobile-friendly site: Mobile was a key driver of Q4 purchases in 2023 and this year will be no exception. Ensure your website design is optimised for all customers whether they shop via desktop or on a mobile device.

By providing a seamless first experience on your site to visitors over the Christmas period, they’re more likely to return for future purchases, improving your customer retention rate and driving more conversions. 

Suggested reading: How to convert gift shoppers into returning customers.

2. Create personalised customer experiences

Personalisation is the foundation of a successful eCommerce marketing strategy and it’s something customers have come to expect from their Christmas shopping experience.

From tailored gift guides to personalising on-site messaging, campaigns or landing pages, this detail can be the difference between a conversion or a lost sale.

Solution: Utilise CRO tools like Digital Assistant to provide memorable shopping experiences for your customers.

Primed with ready-to-use campaigns that are optimised for eCommerce success, Digital Assistant allows retailers to support the most influential areas of the customer journey to connect users with their perfect purchase.

Providing a tailored experience for each visitor who lands on your site, whether they’re a returning or new customer, will ensure you’re optimising each touchpoint from the very first moment.

3. Resolve slow site speeds

Slow load times on your site can result in lost customers.

In a period where new customers will be at an all-time high, it’s not worth the risk of deterring potential customers from your website.

When addressing speed and usability issues, it’s important to consider the speed of your search bar. 

A slow search speed will deter users from continuing their shopping journey on your site and could drive them to your competitors on the hunt for an improved user experience. 

Solution: Consider utilising Salesfire’s Search to ensure you provide instant, accurate search results.

Since research shows that 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load, now is the opportunity to secure more conversions.⁴

This speedy search option comes with various benefits:

• Provides a better user experience.
• Prompts quicker conversion.
• Increases product interaction.
• Speeds up eCommerce growth.

Improving the product discovery experience will encourage users to browse your full product catalogue and quickly unite them with their perfect purchase. This will help you to stand out from the crowd and convert potential buyers into loyal customers.

4. Review your data capture strategy

The festive period houses some of the busiest days in the eCommerce calendar, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Boxing Day sales. Therefore, online retailers can expect to receive much higher website traffic than usual, with shoppers scouring the internet for the best deals.

With so many retailers offering discounts and incentives during this time, shoppers will jump between multiple sites, with the chance that they will leave your site to purchase elsewhere.

If your website is not optimised for data capture, you’ll be unable to collect email addresses and phone numbers from those shoppers who aren’t quite ready to purchase. This will leave you unable to contact them after they are gone.

Your access to users’ first-party data can also impact the effectiveness of PPC campaigns. Without collecting data from paid traffic, you’re wasting ad spend as those visitors leave your site unidentified. With a data capture strategy in place, you can retarget these visitors and guide them through the buyer’s funnel towards a purchase. 

First-party data collection also allows you to create highly personalised and targeted ad campaigns from a list of engaged visitors. Without this information, you risk wasting your limited budget on advertising that doesn’t engage the consumer or encourage conversions.

Solution: Add targeted On-Site Messaging to your website pages to optimise your data capture strategy.

Incentivise shoppers to share their email addresses and phone numbers with you by displaying targeted messaging at just the right moment.

In return for their contact information to join your mailing list, you can offer visitors a percentage discount off their next purchase.

Optimised data capture is essential for extending the window of time you have to communicate with your customers, and also lays the groundwork for retargeting efforts to begin.

Suggested reading: Using these techniques, luxury chocolate retailer Godiva was able to boost email sign-ups by 241%.

5. Retarget abandoning users

Only three in ten shoppers who add items to their shopping cart will actually make it through checkout.⁵ That means that despite showing interest in your products, 70% of these consumers will leave without converting.

This figure is likely to be higher during the Christmas season, when shoppers will be buying gifts from across various websites, and baskets could easily be forgotten about.

Shoppers who add items to their cart are showing high buying intent, and without a strategy in place to retarget these users, reminding and encouraging them to complete their purchase, they will spend elsewhere.

This will result in lost revenue for your business and increased revenue for your competitors.

Solution: Salesfire’s automated email retargeting solution can re-engage potential customers and reinject them into the buying journey.

Our Email Sequences tool enables the automation of emails and can deliver:

• Personalised product recommendations
• Abandoned cart reminders
• Targeted offers and incentives

By sending these hyper-personalised email campaigns, you prevent shoppers from losing interest in their bagged items and encourage potential buyers to return to the site and convert, boosting your brand’s revenue.

6. Utilise social media

With the chaos that is the lead-up to Christmas, it can be tempting to neglect social media in favour of focusing on other, more direct, marketing channels such as email or your website itself.

However, with over 1 in 4 internet users stating they mainly use social media to find things to do or buy, brands that don’t utilise social media are missing out on reaching an audience with high buying intent.⁶

With so many retailers investing in traditional Christmas advertising campaigns and offering seasonal promotions, social media provides a way to connect with buyers on a personal level, building relationships that make your brand stand out from the competition.

So how can you utilise social media effectively?

Solution: Invest sufficient time and resources into your social media accounts to raise brand awareness and drive more traffic to your website during the Christmas period.

You can do this by:

1. Using relevant platforms: There are now so many social media platforms available to choose from, and while you want to reach as many people as possible, it is important to ensure you focus on the platforms with audiences most relevant to your brand. 
2. Showcasing your brand’s personality: Stay professional, but have fun with social media by being more informal, giving users a peek behind the scenes this Christmas, or even giving your logo a festive makeover. However, keep things consistent across platforms to ensure customers recognise your brand.
3. Planning ahead: Build a social media content calendar and create and schedule your posts in advance. This will free up your time to focus on reacting to any seasonal social media trends.
4. Generating urgency: Let social media users know about any time-sensitive deals or promotions, to encourage them to visit your site before time runs out.
5. Directing users to an optimised eCommerce website: Include links in your social media posts, so users can easily click through to your store. Consider optimising your site’s search to reduce bounce rates by immediately connecting these shoppers with the product they are searching for.

Social media is a great way to reach new customers and show off more of your brand’s personality. However, to make the most of the brand awareness and website traffic generated by social media, you must ensure your eCommerce store is optimised to capture data and drive conversions once users land on the site.

Final thoughts

The key to getting your site ready for Christmas is to be prepared.

It’s wise to expect a surge in website traffic throughout this holiday season, so analyse your consumer’s behaviour and ensure components of your site are optimised ahead of time.

¹ 8 Holiday Marketing Campaign Ideas & Tips to Delight Your Customers | BigCommerce

² Circus PPC 

³ Prescription for cutting costs | Bain & Company

⁴ How loading time affects your bottom line | NeilPatel

⁵ 23 cart abandonment stats you need to know to improve sales in 2024 | Hotjar

⁶ Key Social Commerce Statistics You Should Know in 2023 | Influencer Marketing Hub