7 Tips To Personalize Your Holiday Promotions & Boost Sales
As Thanksgiving approaches, it's almost past time to create your e-commerce marketing plan for the holidays. Even with a small budget and limited resources, you can increase your marketing ROI during the biggest shopping season of the year.
What’s the trick?
Personalization.
In this substack, I list several ways you can create personalized promotions and holiday offers that help drive more traffic to your site and boost sales (without breaking the bank).
Utilize email data for personalization.
Email data is one of the most critical tools for narrowing your audience into those likely to buy, and it's also a key element in creating personalized promotions. To make the most of it, try out these tips:
Identify all email addresses on your site with an opt-in form, then segment them into various lists such as "Buyers" or "Non-Buyers" based on their actions (or lack thereof) on your site.
Look at what time of day or week buyers tend to purchase products, then send targeted emails that are more likely to be opened and read during those times (e.g., late morning vs. early evening).
If a particular buyer buys large quantities of product X during one month but not another—even though they may have placed similar orders in both months—send them an email offering a special price break off their next order of Product X if they purchase within 24 hours from when he receives this special offer email from you.
Analyze purchase history.
Take time to review your customer’s purchase history, and analyze that data.
For instance, if you see that red sweaters tend to sell out first during the holidays, you can use that information when creating promotions related to red sweaters (such as "Buy one red sweater and get another one 50% off").
If you see that customers who bought blue shirts also tend to buy black pants at the same time of year—but not at any other time of year—then offer a discount on black pants during this period as well (to encourage customers who already have some clothing from your store).
Why does this tactic work?
It helps you increase sales by encouraging repeat purchases from existing customers instead of them going to your competitors.
Set up sales, but don't discount too much.
While discounts are a great way to attract new customers and encourage repeat business, you don't want to discount your products so much that it hurts your bottom line.
If you offer too many discounts, people will start believing that your products aren't worth the price. Then, they might only buy them when they’re on sale.
What should you do instead?
Use seasonal sales or offers on specific items as an incentive for first-time customers.
Cross-sell related products and services.
Cross-selling related products and services is a great way to give customers more options. You can cross-sell associated products in your main product listing and create specific promotions.
For example, if you're selling a winter jacket on your website, cross-sell other items like scarves or snow boots that can be combined with the jacket. This will give people who already like the look of your winter gear an easy way to complete their ensemble while also giving them new ways to shop on your site.
Offer free shipping.
A free shipping offer is a great way to get shoppers to buy more, especially if you offer it once customers have already spent a certain amount. Some retailers also require a minimum number of items or time frames for their shoppers to take advantage of this promotion.
To illustrate, you may decide that your customers have to spend $100 before qualifying for free shipping on orders over $50; or they have 30 days from the date of purchase before your promotion expires.
The final decision is yours, but free shipping during the holidays is often a boon for e-commerce sales.
Try dynamic product messaging to customize promotions.
Personalize your promotions with dynamic product messaging. Dynamic product messaging is an e-commerce strategy that lets you create promotions for specific products, customers, and times of the year.
To illustrate, if customers browse through your site during Black Friday weekend and add a pair of boots to their cart, you might send automated emails promising 20% off the price.
On the other hand, if they instead add a couple of leather gloves on Cyber Monday, you might give them 30% off the retail price with free shipping over $50.
What are the benefits of dynamic product messaging?
Dynamic product messaging can help you build relationships with your buyers by giving them personalized offers tailored specifically to their purchase history.
Tell a holiday story on social media.
For e-commerce sites, the best way to capture holiday sales is by telling a compelling story. An excellent place to start is with your data. Look for trends in your sales history, and think about how those will affect your customers' buying habits during the holidays.
What time of year have you seen an increase in orders from specific demographics?
What products tend to be most popular during this season?
Take the answers to these questions to create personalized social media promotions.
For example, if you notice a shopper has been purchasing clothing items on your site throughout the year but hasn't bought anything recently, send them an email with one of their abandoned cart items featured prominently on it—with a discount code attached. This can help encourage them to start shopping on your site again.
Let’s look at another example: Suppose you have an e-commerce store selling pet supplies. Try using Google Analytics or another analytics platform to determine what products were most popular during the last few holidays and ensure those items get featured in your holiday social media posts.
Why?
Well, this is especially helpful if customers purchase gifts for their pets based on price point or other factors (e.g., "I want this toy because my dog loves squeaky toys.").
However, price point is key.
If you compete on price, then your customers will only buy from you if your prices are lower than your competitors.
Here are a few more tips to increase your e-commerce holiday profits:
Cross-promoting related products/services within emails/social media posts promoting these sales specials.
Offering complementary items such as gift cards when making purchases over specific amounts.
Engaging users through storytelling techniques like creating videos about why YOU love X product so much...and then encouraging others by asking questions related to it.
Key takeaways
Personalized holiday promotions are vital to driving sales in a crowded market. Nonetheless, you must present them thoughtfully, and backed with data, to drive the most significant return on investment (ROI).
Make sure to have a clear understanding of your available product inventory, historical purchase data, and your customer preferences—and don't discount too much.