4 Ways to Increase eCommerce Conversion Rates This Holiday Season
Even though holiday shopping looks different this year, as consumers ditch brick-and-mortar for ecommerce due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people are still buying. Americans spent billions on Black Friday (including $9 billion online), and Cyber Monday was the largest online sales day in U.S. history. To make the most of the few weeks that remain in this distinctly digital holiday season, marketers must do everything in their power to increase ecommerce conversion rates. With that in mind, Zeta is pleased to provide 4 ways to increase ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season.
Additionally, make sure your homepage is optimized to show return visitors products they’ve previously purchased or browsed, as well as popular or trending seasonal products. If you’re not using your existing customer data to highlight a personalized “hero item”, your homepage is effectively incomplete for the holidays.
To increase your ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season, try showing return site visitors some combination of the following:
Regularly engaging consumers via email is another way to increase ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season. Use an incentivized overlay on your homepage (e.g. Join our list and receive 25% off your first order) to encourage site visitors to signup for your mailing list. Once someone joins your list, email them at least twice a week with holiday updates, exclusive offers, gift guides, product recommendations, and more.
When a visitor navigates to a category page on your website, it’s a good sign of intent to purchase. To increase your ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season, you need to add seasonal categories to your website—categories built on curated gift guides and special seasonal promotions. Why is this important? Because it eliminates the need for endless scrolling and aimless shopping. In other words, it makes it as easy as possible for visitors to say YES—yes, I will buy because it’s exactly what I need, it’s special (e.g. on sale), and it’s right in front of me.
Ulta Beauty does a great job of this on their website via an annual “Holiday Beauty Blitz” category—a site category where Ulta can offer special product deals every day during the month of December. It’s an easy way for their brand to drive a spike in ecommerce conversions during the holidays.
Shopping cart information is a great way to drive more ecommerce conversions, especially during the holidays. Once a visitor adds a product to their cart, offer seasonal footer recommendations with “holiday gift essentials” (seasonal products that complement whatever the visitor has already decided to buy). For those shoppers who don’t checkout, rekindle their interest and simultaneously increase ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season by deploying cart abandonment emails. Used properly, cart abandonment emails can deliver as much as a 10% boost to your ecommerce conversion rates.
Read another article here.
#1 – Create a Strong Homepage
Your website’s homepage may not be where conversions happen, but they’re a major part of the customer experience. This year, your homepage is as important as any brick-and-mortar location. It must be adorned and decorated for the season. Put any special holiday offers, discounts, or deals above the fold on your homepage to entice visitors to start browsing (and buying) as soon as they arrive.
Additionally, make sure your homepage is optimized to show return visitors products they’ve previously purchased or browsed, as well as popular or trending seasonal products. If you’re not using your existing customer data to highlight a personalized “hero item”, your homepage is effectively incomplete for the holidays.
To increase your ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season, try showing return site visitors some combination of the following:
- Items viewed together with [hero item]
- Items bought together with [hero item]
- Items bought after viewing [hero item]
- Most popular (bought/viewed)
#2 – Leverage your mailing list to keep shoppers interested
Regularly engaging consumers via email is another way to increase ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season. Use an incentivized overlay on your homepage (e.g. Join our list and receive 25% off your first order) to encourage site visitors to signup for your mailing list. Once someone joins your list, email them at least twice a week with holiday updates, exclusive offers, gift guides, product recommendations, and more.
Although email marketing isn’t sexy, it’s the best way (return on investment for email can be as much as 42:1) to capture the attention of consumers during this digital holiday season.
#3 – Include category pages that are holiday-specific
When a visitor navigates to a category page on your website, it’s a good sign of intent to purchase. To increase your ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season, you need to add seasonal categories to your website—categories built on curated gift guides and special seasonal promotions. Why is this important? Because it eliminates the need for endless scrolling and aimless shopping. In other words, it makes it as easy as possible for visitors to say YES—yes, I will buy because it’s exactly what I need, it’s special (e.g. on sale), and it’s right in front of me.
Ulta Beauty does a great job of this on their website via an annual “Holiday Beauty Blitz” category—a site category where Ulta can offer special product deals every day during the month of December. It’s an easy way for their brand to drive a spike in ecommerce conversions during the holidays.
#4 – Use shopping cart data to your advantage
Shopping cart information is a great way to drive more ecommerce conversions, especially during the holidays. Once a visitor adds a product to their cart, offer seasonal footer recommendations with “holiday gift essentials” (seasonal products that complement whatever the visitor has already decided to buy). For those shoppers who don’t checkout, rekindle their interest and simultaneously increase ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season by deploying cart abandonment emails. Used properly, cart abandonment emails can deliver as much as a 10% boost to your ecommerce conversion rates.
Want more tips to increase ecommerce conversion rates this holiday season?
Read another article here.
