Christmas Marketing Ideas to Skyrocket E-commerce Sales

The holiday season brings time well-spent with family, mouthwatering homemade meals, and a massive influx in consumer spending. As a matter of fact, the average American plans to spend $992 on gifts this holiday season. With billions of dollars flowing into the market, every retailer wants a piece of the pie. Considering that online shopping is en route to increase by 16.6% this Christmas, e-commerce retailers need to align their marketing efforts with the season of giving. If you’re wondering how to increase online sales, you can certainly do it around the holidays if you incorporate specific Christmas marketing ideas.

Don’t wait until December to get the ball rolling on your holiday marketing ideas. In fact, right after October is a good time to start bringing your ideas to life. From Christmas packaging to creative social media contests, there are numerous tactics you can use to catapult your sales. Here is a look at five spectacular and ingenious holiday marketing campaigns to make this season one of the most profitable ones ever.

Increase E-commerce Sales This Holiday Season

1. Revamp Your Website and Packaging with a Christmas Touch

Christmas decorations aren’t just for show, they also help you boost your sales and spread the Xmas cheer. While you don’t have to go overboard, keep in mind that hundreds of retailers are using Christmas as their marketing pitch during this time of the year. Add lights to your banner, a wreath next to your logo, or even a blanket of snow to your website’s background. If you’re using a website builder such as Wix, you can easily choose from premade Christmas templates. Aside from decorating your online presence, it’s also a smart move to brighten up your packaging with holiday adornment. Something small like a wrapping paper or a ribbon printed on your shipping box can go a long way. According to a study done back in the 1990s, recipients actually favor gifts more that are wrapped and decorated.

2. Create a Landing Page for the Holiday Season

On top of decorating your e-commerce site, you can go the extra mile by creating a landing page that is centered on the holiday season. The general rule of thumb is that your holiday-inspired landing page should have a call to action (i.e. buying merchandise as gifts) and a clear objective. In fact, some web hosting companies such as GoDaddy have special Christmas templates and make it easy to create the perfect landing page. To maximize your sales, include only relevant items on the seasonal page – holiday discount codes, gift ideas, and shipping deadlines as Christmas nears. One technique that all the experts use is to inflict a sense of urgency. For example, make it very clear that a specific sale is ending in X amount of days. If the sale shows up in PPC ads, make it the first thing the visitor sees when they reach your landing page.

3. Suggest Gift Ideas

Not only will suggesting gift ideas increase e-commerce sales, but it may also boost your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). According to Google Trends, internet users started to search “Christmas gift ideas” all the way back in August. Not only is using specific keywords one of the better holiday marketing strategies, but you can also increase your market share. You can highlight these gift ideas on a holiday-themed landing page, display them on product pages, or send them to prospective customers on an email list. To really double down on your holiday sales, you could suggest gift ideas on products that are already discounted (don’t forget to create a sense of urgency). Some retailers even go so far as to create a blog post that highlights both Christmas gifts for him and for her. You can even partner with influencers and fashion blogs (or whatever your niche is) to create articles solely centered on select products that make for great presents for the holidays.

4. Hold a Christmas-Inspired Competition

There’s no better way to engage your customers than to hold a Christmas-inspired competition during the holiday season. Facebook is without a doubt the best place to hold a contest. A popular choice is to run a “fill in the blank” contest where you give the first person to fill in a sentence a reward. Moreover, you can also run an event where you have your Facebook fans submit their own photos. For example, an ugly sweater challenge or the best decorated Christmas tree. If you’re feeling extra giving this season, you could also hold a “product-a-day” giveaway where one lucky winner gets a free product each day leading up to Christmas (perhaps a spin on the 25 Days of Christmas). You can even use Facebook Ads to reach potential customers outside of your fanbase. The best part about this tactic is that it’s relatively quick to get going. It only takes a minute to create a contest on Facebook and you will see the results in no time. When it comes to this promotion method, it’s a lot less time-consuming than other Christmas marketing campaign ideas.

5. Send Out Mass Holiday Wishes

Granted that you have a mailing list, you could send out mass holiday wishes as both a nice gesture and a way to attract customers. Instead of creating an email template from scratch, you can purchase a premade one and have your email ready to go in just a few minutes. Just like any mass email, it’s important that you follow some general guidelines. First off, carefully choose a subject line that will make the recipient open it. A lone “Merry Christmas” might not do the trick. Instead, “The Best Christmas Deals Ever,” does a better job to draw in attention. Furthermore, you want to use the preview line to your advantage. Start the first sentence of the email with something catchy and clever. And most importantly, don’t forget a call to action. Sure, you want to wish them a Merry Christmas, but there’s more to it. Use this email as an opportunity to showcase limited time deals.

Don’t Be a Grinch this Christmas

Just like with any holiday or special occasion, you should incorporate Christmas into your marketing approach. Whether it’s just a one-day discount or a month-long sale, make your online presence known and get a share of the billions of dollars spent during November and December by using Christmas marketing ideas. You don’t need a million-dollar marketing budget to partake in the holiday magic, either. Including the techniques on our list, there are various Christmas marketing ideas for small businesses. Just a creative twist on your logo or an attention-grabbing email can help you meet your sales goal by the end of the year. No matter if you sell dog toys or fashion accessories, you can use the Christmas season to your advantage and skyrocket your e-commerce sales with these holiday marketing tips.

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