The Christmas season is one of the busiest times for eCommerce. Gifts to loved ones and colleagues, paired with donating to causes mark the occasion. We put together this guide to help you stand out from the crowd, incentivize customers, and make a meaningful impact this Christmas. Effectively.
Success Metrics / KPIs
Christmas eCommerce Ideas
1) Run a Giving Campaign
Giving is good for the heart and it's good for growth. It helps brands stand out, tell a story, connect with customers' values, and up commercial metrics. From driving new customers to the site to re-engaging existing customers. Cause marketing is a trading strategy that gives your store a competitive advantage and doesn't break your wallet like aggressive discounting.
Some stores will look to give a set percentage to a charity of their choice over December, while others will set specific items in their shop with proceeds going to charity.
2. Discounting
Time-bound discounts can be a great way to 'tip over the edge' shoppers that are already interested in your products or products like yours. While there are many sales promo ideas to consider, discounting is one of the most common eCommerce trading tactics.
It may not be as helpful in differentiating your brand or building customer loyalty - but it is a powerful way to increase sales volumes and introduce people to your product. Note - a great strategy is actually combining discounts and donations together. You get the quick wins from discounting but the added brand benefit of supporting a good cause.
3. Free shipping and product giveaways
Customers appreciate added value such as free shipping and getting free gifts with their orders. Unlike discounting, this strategy does not take value away from your products. Free products can be sample testers of your new stock or less valuable product that you wish to 'move'.
4. Loyalty incentives
Allow customers to earn additional rewards and loyalty points. These can then be converted to products or credits. These types of incentives are a great way to increase repeat purchasing.
5. Bundling
Make it easy for shoppers to buy more by offering products that complement their purchases. Inform them about the bundles through eye-catching pop-ups or push notifications.
6. Getting Social
Whatever strategy you choose this Christmas - tell the world about it! Tell it more than once and across channels. Consumers are distracted so seeing and hearing your message consistently and across channels (social media/email/web) is a must for a successful campaign.
7. Offer flexible payment options
If you don't already, look into connecting Buy Now Pay Later products such as Klarna into your Shopify store. This doesn't cost you anything and reduces abandoned carts.
8. Upsell Features
Upselling is a great tactic for increasing sales. While there are traditional upsell features available, some new tactics like Social Impact Upsell are now available - where stores can incentivise customers to hit purchase milestones by supporting a charity that they are about.
Success Metrics and KPIs for eCommerce
Before implementing any new strategies it is important to understand the baseline metrics of your store. Otherwise, you will not know if the strategy has had a positive or negative impact on your store.
Here are some typical eCommerce KPIs & success metrics:
Average Order Value (AOV)
this is how much shoppers will spend with your store per order, on average. Selling more and selling more expensive items will shift this digit up.
Average basket size
This is the average number of items customers will purchase in an order. Bundling is a great way to up this number.
Increase Conversion / Decrease abandoned cart
this is about decreasing the number of shoppers that leave your cart before purchasing. Ensuring a simple and clear pathway to payments and offering a number of payment options is super handy
Increase Shopper Life Time Value (LTV) & repeat sales
this is how much revenue a customer will bring to your store over their lifetime as your customer. A great way to increase LTV & repeat sales is through rewards, member discounts, subscriptions, and loyalty schemes.
Sales volumes
Total sales made by your store. This is the broadest KPI and should be paired with a second success metric to help you develop a clear strategy.
Traffic to the site
lead a lot of people to your site via marketing activities this Christmas. Increase sales or re-engage the shopper at a later date (remember to grab their email address). When looking to bring traffic to site, there are many resources available including referral programmes or working with an SEO Consultant.
Set up a Giving Campaign
Supporting a charity for Christmas is one of the most popular ways for eCommerce brands to connect with customers over the hoidays. If you are interested in supporting a charity this December we have just the tool for you.
Virtue - Charity Donations
Install the Virtue for your Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento Store
Select how much your want to give from product sales as a store and/or empower customers to give after the purchase with the Customer Donations widget
3. Choose up to 3 Causes to partner with. See our causes.
4. Activate the widgets and storytelling features that you want
5. Go live!
6. Tell your customers about your Giving Campaign and how their purchase makes an impact via social media, an email out, your website, and other channels. Remember -shoppers are distracted so it will pay off to tell them more than once. For those venturing into the micro SaaS landscape, integrating these strategies with your business model can be a game-changer. Consider leveraging data analytics tools to understand customer behaviour and tailor your offerings.
Recommended Causes this Christmas
There are a number of ways to support a charity this year. Here are a few that we recommend:
