Retailer experts are predicting an increase in holiday season sales, with double digit growth in e-commerce expected. The busiest part of the fourth quarter is Cyber Week, which includes Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Here are 4 ways to help you capture your share of these sales:
[Tweet “Black Friday searches have increased 80% over the past 2 years.”]
Start Holiday Promotions Now
October is already behind us, which means that your customers have already been exposed to holiday promotions. If you’ve been worried it’s ‘too soon’ to start, it’s time to let go of that. Retail researchers have found the first two weeks of November to be particularly important times to connect with holiday shoppers – sales have increased in this period year over year on the Bing Network, and Google reports that Black Friday searches have increased 80% over the past 2 years.
Use Seasonal Keywords
Boost the results you see from your PPC marketing by adopting a seasonal keyword strategy. Traffic from PPC ads converts 50% more often than traffic that originates from organic search. If you’re trying to decide where to focus your efforts during the critical holiday shopping season, targeted PPC advertising is going to deliver the biggest bang for the buck.
Flash Sales
Part of the reason shoppers get so excited about Cyber Week is the ephemeral nature of the deals – if you want to save, you have to act within a certain time frame or miss out. Flash Sales add to the fun of Black Friday. Offering specials during a limited time frame only – 2 hours works well for many retailers – creates an incentive to buy while also allowing you a way to test the appeal of your holiday merchandise.
Data Driven Email Marketing
Make a point of connecting with your best customers prior to Black Friday week to let them know about the deals they won’t want to miss out on. For best results, personalize emails based on their interests & prior purchases – the audience insights available in your digital data makes this process possible. If you need help making it happen, let us know: engaging, effective holiday email marketing is one of our specialties.
