How to Influence Customers to Buy Online this Holiday Season

Do you know what your customers care about? Are you in-tune with their values? Do you have your holiday season campaigns prepared? If not, you could be missing some massive opportunities.

The busiest time of the year for online shopping is fast approaching. Here are some ways you can make the most of your marketing efforts and align your marketing strategy with your customers’ values to maximise sales.

Customer Values

First, let’s go over customer values. You need to have a full understanding of what the average shopper considers to be important when online shopping.

The three main things that UK online shoppers value to be the most important (in order):

1. Low price
2. Convenient shipping
3. Product info & availability

1 – Low Price

In the UK, online shoppers place the most importance on low prices. It’s top of the list of values when shopping, so this means they’re looking for the best price possible at all times.

What You Can Do

Make sure that you leverage this by highlighting discounts, sales and low prices where possible.

Shoppers are also likely to purchase from the same website twice. Combine this with their low cost value by offering deals for repeat visitors, or a sign-up discount code.

Who Does It Well?

ASOS aggressively promote their discounts, deals and sales. The screenshot below shows a newcomer code, 40% off on new arrivals and a highlighted sale tab on the menu.

2 – Convenient Shipping

Second on the list of UK customer values is shipping. Free shipping is the most important so it’s something all retailers should shout about. Timely delivery is also considered very important, with consumers not wanting to wait long for their items to arrive.

Estimated delivery dates and tracking are valued highly too, keeping the customer in the know at every step of the process.

What You Can Do

Shout about free delivery when you can. Put it at the end of meta descriptions, in the title tag, under the product description, on a banner on the homepage. This encourages users to buy from you over competitors with delivery charges.

Don’t forget about speedy delivery messaging – “order by 1pm for next working day delivery” or something similar can work wonders to prompt a purchase.

Make sure that estimated delivery times stand out wherever they are. Have an “order in 2 hours 33 minutes for next day delivery” countdown on the product page/banner on the homepage and show the estimated date of arrival when the user is choosing shipping.

Send via a tracked service to keep them in the know. Or at least send them an email when the order is dispatched with an estimated delivery date.

Who Does It Well?

Nike showcase all the shipping info underneath a dropdown heading. This ensures this info is always close to the customer so those looking to learn more can do so easily.

3 – All About the Product

The product is third-most important value to the user. This includes any specifications, colours/sizes/variation selections and availability. UK customers want to have a full understanding of the item, have variations to choose from and know that the products are readily available to buy.

What You Can Do

Have an optimised product description on the page, highlighting important information. Also have full specification-lists, either underneath or as a dropdown list.

Show all the variations of the item on the same page. Let users select colour, clothing sizes, memory capacity or any other variation that’s available.And keep a stock counter going to show whether products are available. Let users know if the product is low in stock or sold out and if/when it’s coming back. Offer an email sign-up for stock alerts so customers are always in the know.

Who Does It Well?

Amazon are great for displaying product information. They’ve got it all, from different sizes, product specifications and stock level messaging (highlighted below).

How Retailers Can Make the Most of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas

It’s now coming onto the busiest period for online shopping. Here are a few tips to make the most of the three biggest days of the year, tied in with customer values.

Customer Research Starts Two Weeks Before Buying

Over 80% of holiday shoppers start their research 2 weeks prior to buying. This gives you plenty of time to wow the user with as much detail on your products as possible.

Make sure that your product info is easily reachable from every channel. This two-week research period gives you more than enough time to persuade a potential customer to buy from you over a competitor. This pairs perfectly with shoppers valuing product details & availability.

Almost 90% of online video users researching presents on YouTube. This is a great way to shout about products and go into detail. Take advantage of ‘Vlogmas’ and present a product a day over December.

Highlight Christmas Shipping Information

Make sure your customers know when the delivery cut-off is for Christmas. Have this highlighted on the homepage and product pages. Panic Saturday 2019 falls on the 21st, so warn shoppers to get their orders before this busy day if possible. Create a Google My Business Post, tweet it, post it on Instagram – get the delivery cut-off date across wherever possible.

After the cut-off for physical delivery, promote online vouchers for your online shop. This gives panic-buyers the chance to get last-minute presents delivered instantly to their inbox.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals

Now you know that UK shoppers place the most value on getting the best deal, get involved with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Get your marketing out there early for the best results. With 8% of shoppers doing the majority of their Christmas shopping on Black Friday, it’s something you can’t afford to miss.

Just under 40% of festive season shoppers have finished their Christmas present buying before Black Friday, so it’s essential to get your deals out there early. Let people know you’re partaking in this growing retail-tradition with some great deals via social and on-site messaging.

With UK shoppers’ values in mind, it’s time to make the most retail’s busiest season. Drop us a comment below or tweet us if you have any other tips!

Looking for even more retail insights? We’re hosting two FREE breakfast events, one at our Hertford HQ and one in Central London.

Senior members of the team discuss how to maximise seasonal sales in Q4 and how to extend your seasonal marketing strategies into 2020. To secure your spot, get in touch! Drop an email to hello@honchosearch.com or give us a call on 01992804608.

(Data from Google)