Winter Is On The Way: Prepare Your Website For The Holidays

Whether you like it or not, the holidays are on their way. And this year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday both happen this November, for the first time since 2012. With these being two of the biggest shopping days of the entire year, it might be a good idea to start optimizing your business website now, so you can prepare for the upcoming busy season.

Below, find our checklist of 4 ways to make your website stand out this holiday and maximize your sales!

1. 1. Shopping Campaigns and Dynamic Product Ads: This year, expand your product-specific advertising moves into social with Facebook’s dynamic product ads. These ads help you promote relevant products to shoppers browsing your product catalog on your website or mobile app. The latest improvements will access more targeted up-sell and cross-sell opportunities so you can show complementary products to past purchasers. This year, broaden your engagement across the mobile app world and extend your reach into the Facebook Audience Network.

1. 1. Optimize for Mobile Visitors: Mobile devices (phones and tablets) accounted for more 48 percent of clicks on ads and 28 percent of conversions across global retail paid search advertising last season, according to Kenshoo. Optimizing your website for mobile visitors is crucial for the 2015 holiday season. Note that mobile is only one aspect on the way to purchase, so consider investing in cross-device tracking and looking at attribution strategies and place your learnings back into your optimization decisions.

1. 1. Emerging Channels and Formats: New advertising options could be another avenue to explore during this time of heightened competition. Some channels include buy buttons and Instagram advertising. Buy buttons have been popping up on a variety of websites, inlcuding Pinterest, Twitter, Google and others. With social and mobile commerce continuing to grow, the buy button could be the new way of purchasing online. The Instagram Advertising Platform supports three different formats: Image, Video & Carousel. Each format allows businesses to tell a unique story through a rich, visual medium whilst reaching users at the right place and at the right time. Aimed at driving clicks from the Mobile App to your website or promoting the download of your own mobile app, the new format will be a big win amongst businesses which have a Mobile focus or Mobile strategy in place.

1. Keep the Customer in Mind: Whatever way you decide to prep for the holiday season, be sure to remember just how important your customers are, and put them first. Get your message and brand across to your shoppers with unique and creative ways to grab the attention and to personalize the shopping experience. And remember, it’s important to get re-acquainted with your customers who have visited you site previously. If you do not have the email addresses of your web visitors, consider collecting them by adding a newsletter sign-up form on your website. That way you can keep them informed and excited about what you have to offer.

We hope you found this holiday website checklist useful. For any questions regarding any of these services, please give us a call and talk with a member of our team. We want to help you get the most out of your website, and keep your customers coming back!