Are you ready for the holiday rush? The holidays are the biggest shopping season of the year, and 2019 U.S. holiday eCommerce revenue is expected to grow 13% for a total of $136B. Although the holiday season is already upon us, it is not too late for DTC brands to capture this growth and maximize their own revenue by implementing these five simple tactics.
1) Personalized Marketing
Many holiday shoppers are overwhelmed by options during this busy time of year. Personalized marketing efforts will draw shoppers’ attention and increase click-through and conversion rates. According to Epsilon, 80% of shoppers are more likely to purchase from a company that uses personalization. As a DTC brand, simple shopper data from past purchases or account sign-up might be readily available to leverage among competitors in the midst of the holiday clutter. Utilizing simple shopper data such as name, past purchases and on-site browsing behavior to segment emails, customize messaging and inform product recommendations on- and off-site will help draw shoppers in and complete a purchase.
2) Easy Checkout
Making the shopping process seamless for the shopper is key during the busy holiday season, and checkout is critical for any DTC brand to mitigate cart abandonment and increase conversion. According to a Baymard Institute study, 23% of carts are abandoned due to long, complicated checkouts, but DTC brands can increase conversion rates up to 35% with an improved checkout design. This is especially important during the holiday season when shoppers have numerous shopping options. In order for DTC brands to capture share of wallet, the checkout page needs to follow UX (user experience) best practices and offer a seamless experience. It is recommended to collapse checkout to one page with pre-populated, known information if a consumer is logged in, as well as offer multiple payment methods including ApplePay, PayPal and Afterpay.
3) Maximize Social Media
During the holiday, shoppers aren’t just sharing holiday party pics and searching for seasonal recipes on social media—they’re making purchases. Utilize your social media channels and the social commerce tools each offers to promote conversion off-site. First, ensure your social media profiles are set up as business profiles with product feeds in order to utilize the shopping features each channel offers. Then, tap into shoppable social features on Instagram such as shoppable stickers in stories, shoppable posts in-feed and dynamic shoppable retargeting ads in-feed to drive conversion. For more tips on how to drive social commerce this holiday season, see our recent post “4 Tips to Snowball Your Social Commerce Revenue This Holiday Season.”
4) Fast, Free Shipping
With the rise of Amazon Prime, shoppers are expecting fast and free shipping, and offering these benefits are table stakes for DTC brands. While many DTC brands might not be able to match Amazon, they need to be able to offer various shipping methods (including in-store pickup) and free shipping offers leading up to Christmas to stay competitive. During holiday 2018, almost 90% of all transactions made online included free shipping and click-and-collect orders grew 50% indicating “growing consumer demand and improved operational execution by retailers,” according to Adobe. Sites should also publish clear shipping cutoffs during the month of December, so shoppers understand when they can expect to receive their orders and ensure their arrival by the holiday.
5) Highlight Offers
Holiday season is all about the promotional offer. Price discounts are the most appealing promotion for 95% of shoppers during the holiday season. DTC brands need to make sure promotional offers are front and center to encourage purchase. It is best practice to highlight offers with an exit pop-up that is triggered when visitors move toward closing the window or are inactive for a certain period of time to encourage staying on-site. An exit pop-up can increase conversion by 46%. Another way to highlight offers is to implement and update abandoned cart email campaigns to include offer messaging in the subject line and email copy to promote click-through and checkout. About 50% of shoppers open abandoned cart emails and 35% end up completing a purchase.
Contributed by: Katie McHattie, Director, DTC, Integer Denver
Image Source: Shopify
