Hello Seller Community! ❤️
One moment it’s summer and the next thing you know, storefronts are being decked out with festive lights and decor! ❄️ ☃️
In this post, we’re continuing our tradition of sharing resources to help you promote, manage your business and boost sales this festive season. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or share your top tip for surviving this busy time of year in reply below!
Below are some suggestions for creating the BEST online holiday shopping experience for your customers:
- Update your design
The first step is to customize your design for the holidays. Take advantage of templates that make this quick and easy. Choose a template that complements your brand, so loyal customers will still recognize the business they know and trust. During the holiday season, shoppers may be browsing several store websites, so you want to grab their attention immediately. - Personalize your customer experience
Customers want to feel valued, and one way you can do that is with personalization. Nearly three-quarters of customers are frustrated by website content that’s not personalized.
When you personalize an experience for your customers, you increase brand affinity. An easy way to do this is through your email messaging, using the information you gather during sign-ups to address your customer by name. - Make gifting easy
In addition to your regular product categories, consider adding gift sections to your online catalog to help shoppers search for the perfect present. These are also opportunities to take advantage of online holiday shopping trends. For example, you can have them broken down by recipient or price range. Also - allow customers the option to add a gift message, get a gift receipt, and even pay an optional gift-wrapping fee. - Add details to product pages
Be sure to give customers as much product information as possible. If they’re unsure about an item, they’ll likely click away and find something else instead of trying to get answers. - Highlight gift cards
If you aren’t already offering gift cards on your website, you’re missing out on an essential stream of revenue.
Plastic Gift Cards: Keep in mind it can take 5-7 working days to receive plastic gift cards so consider when your customers will need to purchase them from you and work back from there.
eGift Cards: You can configure and sell eGift Cards in seconds. It’s free to set up eGift Cards and with a free eGift Card website you can promote that you sell digital gift cards on social media too. - Provide clear shipping information
Speedy and reliable shipping is extra-important during the holiday shopping season. This is especially true this year when more shoppers might have to send gifts to loved ones, rather than deliver them in person.
Create a holiday shipping schedule that is posted in a prominent place on your website. For example, set purchase dates that guarantee delivery if sent by standard shipping, two-day shipping, and overnight shipping. Today’s customers expect to receive their purchases fast.
… for more suggestions, look here!
Find new ways to accept payments to accommodate more customers!
You can prepare yourself for bigger crowds while reducing contacts by offering multiple ways to pay. Here are just a few:
- Food & Beverage: Create QR codes with Square Online to allow your customers to order online and minimize contact with staff.
- Retail: Connect your Terminal to your Square Point of Sale to facilitate customers paying on a separate screen. You can also review these products to help you take payments at a distance.
Here are some additional methods to accept payments!
Promote your offers on social media and with Square Marketing
If you haven’t already, consider creating promotions for specific holidays. You can offer discounts for items on your Square Online site by creating coupon codes. Or you can create discounts that can be applied from your Point of Sale.
(For any of our sellers interested in getting your products on TikTok, take a look here: Connect Square Online with TikTok!)
Here are a few of my favorite resources for holiday marketing:
- Best practices and resources for running email marketing campaigns
- Cheap & Creative Holiday Marketing Ideas for Your Business
If you're looking to take an analytical approach...
Your sales data is always available at your fingertips. From your Square Dashboard, you can track sales and see which items have sold well in the last year, check inventory and make sure you have enough of your popular items on hand. Knowing what you have on your floor and how much each product you expect to sell can make all the difference.
You can also think about creating a gift guide for the Christmas season based on past sales trends and summaries.
Boost sales with rewards
With Square Loyalty, you can set up reward programs to help incentivize customers to return and build a relationship with them. If customers feel valued, they will recommend your business to other people which can in turn lead to more sales, more signups for your loyalty program and a potential increase in profit.
Additional resources
Below are some other holiday specific resources from Square that you may find helpful this festival season:
- How to Get Your Restaurant Ready for Christmas
- How to Make This Christmas Your Most Seamless and Successful Yet
✨🎄🎉
Share your tips to survive the festive season or ask questions below. Wishing you all a wonderful festive season. Stay safe.
