A 15 Step Checklist to Prepare Your E-Commerce Site for Black Friday and Holiday Shopping

30 percent of all retail sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. This means preparing your e-commerce site for this busy period is essential to success. The good news is, small changes can make a big difference to your revenue. The level of competition for Black Friday e-commerce sales is off the charts, which means it pays to start preparing now.

Here’s your 15-step checklist to get your e-commerce site ready for Black Friday and holiday shopping.

1. Start Planning Early

Time moves quickly! You take a few weeks to recover from a busy summer season, and all of a sudden, Black Friday is upon you.

Exceptional digital marketing brings together lots of different elements, and it takes time to do this. When it comes to the big holidays, you want everything to be running perfectly, so you’ve got to start planning ahead of time.

Shoppers start planning their holiday shopping ahead of time, and as a seller, you should be there to help them meet their needs. Get your site ready in advance: plan your advertising, decide what deals you’ll offer, and make sure your site works seamlessly.

2. Create Comparison Guides and Other Content

Good content plays a part in every step of your buyer journey.

Shareable, quality content expands your reach. People find it on social media and in search engines, and it draws them in to read more.

Once you’ve got your audience hooked, then you can give them valuable information that establishes your authority, and helps them to come to a purchasing decision. This builds a relationship and gives people the confidence to complete their purchase.

If you’re going to follow this step, make sure to focus on quality. Create content that offers real value (rather than something that’s just for show). It will take more time and effort, but it will greatly improve the impact.

For example, if you’re writing a piece on the Best Hot Tubs for the Winter Season, don’t just write a short 250-word article on the product you want to sell. Provide people with an in-depth comparison guide that helps them make an informed decision. (There’s nothing stopping you from making the one you want to sell sound extra great.)

3. Organize Your Featured Sales

We all love a good sale. For many people, featured sales are the reason to go shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, turning these days into bonanzas for retailers.

However, when just about every site has a sale, it’s hard to make your stand out.

Sales promotions aren’t just about savings. They’re also about embracing the excitement of the holidays, building a buzz about your brand, and strategically selling your stock. The right sales should balance your business goals with your customers’ wants and needs.

Think about your featured sales from a marketing point of view. How can you grab people’s attention, and drive them through your buyer journey? If your featured sales can do this, then they’re …read more

Source:: Kiss Metrics Blog