Building a Holiday Marketing Strategy for eCommerce Success

The days are getting shorter, wetter, colder, and everyone’s getting a bit grumpier but… at the same time also warmer as the holiday season is slowly getting started! People are starting to make dinner plans, invite family & friends, and make Secret Santa plans. The perfect excuse to launch a holiday marketing campaign.

As a business, you can provide just that little extra your customers are looking for by offering them personalized and optimized shopping funnels. Try to give them the same holiday shopping experience online as they would have by physically going to the stores. Sparkle the holiday spirit over your webshop as you would with your physical locations too.

The holiday season is a crucial time for an eCommerce business. A well-crafted marketing strategy tailored for platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce is essential to maximize sales and engagement. This guide provides a comprehensive approach to building an effective holiday marketing strategy, ensuring your business stands out during this festive season.

Creating Customer Segments

Start by segmenting your customer base. Use data analytics tools available on Shopify or WooCommerce to categorize customers based on their shopping behavior, preferences, and purchase history. This segmentation allows for more targeted and personalized marketing efforts.

Not all the advice in this article might be helpful for your business, but knowing your customers and your competitors will ensure you invest in the best strategy possible to get the most out of the holiday seasons for your eCommerce business.

The importance of those segments is that you can set up your online store for optimal success by assisting your customers in their holiday shopping adventures. Not less important: You will also avoid investing a lot of resources into strategies that are not the right fit for your brand or business.

How?

Use free tools such as Google Analytics, Google Trends, Matomo, Answer the Public, and Search Console, … to get insights into your online presence. Built-in tools in your CMS like Shopify or Woocommerce will also do wonders.

If you’re working together with an agency, you can probably use premium tools for insights like SemRush, Google Ads, or AHrefs to get more detailed segments.

Play on crucial holiday marketing trends & dates

I don’t know if you do, but Secret Santa is a thing. Also, the ones not playing the game need gifts and presents on the 24th of December. If you don’t get the perfect gift, or even worse… don’t have anything on Christmas eve

Create Gift Guides

Develop holiday gift guides and product bundles that cater to different customer segments, making it easier for shoppers to find the perfect gift. You don’t need to go in-depth with your gift guides, a simple “30 fantastic Thanksgiving gifts” with your top suggestions will work just fine.

How?

Add a clear filter functionality to your visitors to filter your products based on gender or age. You can also add short quizzes on your site to gain insights into their shopping behavior and to correctly suggest products they might be looking for.

For the filtering, you can create seasonal filters like “for mom, for dad, husband, coworkers, sister-in-law, dog lover, …” – You can also add budget filters like gifts under 20, gifts under 50,

Promise on-time delivery

We’ve all been there… Secret Santa started too late and now you can’t get your gift in time to put it under the tree. Let your customers know in advance that if they order after a specific date, you can’t promise to ship their products in time.

This will ensure your customers buy in time, so you have all the time needed to fulfill everything. If customers order after that specific date, they know it’s at their own risk of getting everything on time. They cannot complain afterward to ruin your holiday spirit.

How?

Create a banner or a popup to notify your customers that you recommend ordering on time. If you have your loyal customers’ email addresses, you can add this crucial timing into your holiday email campaigns. For example, email people with abandoned shopping carts a few days before this deadline is overdue.

Offer gift bundles & extras

Bundle similar products into pre-made gift packages is also a good idea to include in your holiday marketing campaign. Offer free gift-wrapping, or give your customers the choice to add a nice message when they order from your store. This saves your customers a lot of time as they don’t need to wrap it themselves. Offering gift bundles can also inspire your customers to buy a nice little extra for their loved ones.

How?

Add packaging extras right before checkout – make them choose wrapping paper or let them add a holiday card with a personal message to their presents. For creating the perfect product bundle, you can offer related upsell products to your customers based on their shopping cart.

Promoting Deals by Email & Social Media

Utilize email marketing tools integrated with Shopify and WooCommerce to send tailored emails about holiday deals. Leverage social media platforms to widen your reach. Create engaging content that resonates with each customer segment, ensuring your promotions are seen and acted upon.

You can also create landing pages to catch your visitors and give them an in-depth guide on how to shop for the Holidays on your website.

Automating Email Communications

Automate your email campaigns to deliver timely and relevant messages. Use Shopify Email or WooCommerce’s email extensions to set up automated emails for cart abandonment, holiday special offers, and personalized product recommendations.

If you’re already using professional email software like Brevo, MailerLite, or MailChimp, you can also activate their email funnels to make transactional emails possible. Emails can’t be left out of your holiday marketing campaign.

Utilizing Shopify & WooCommerce LiveChat

Turn browsers into buyers by leveraging these modern times and include a chatbox on your webshop. You can quickly respond to customer questions to make sure they order the right things. It can also give you instant updates if a bug sneaks into your online store and customers are getting confused – or even worse – can’t purchase anything during their checkout process.

Shopify: Implement Shopify Inbox to answer customer queries in real-time, enhancing customer experience. – 70% of Shopify Inbox conversations are with customers making a purchasing decision.

WooCommerce: Implement LiveChat Support can provide similar functionality, ensuring quick and efficient customer support without any expensive cost or time-consuming changes on your webshop.

Collaborating with Influencers

Partner with influencers who resonate with your brand and customer base. Influencer marketing can significantly amplify your brand’s reach and credibility. Choose influencers whose followers match your customer segments for more effective promotions.

Enhance your collaboration with influencers by integrating affiliate marketing links, offering added value to their followers. Sweeten the deal with exclusive incentives, such as complimentary shipping or a special bonus goody, to encourage their audience to shop at your online store.

This approach not only incentivizes purchases but also strengthens the bond between your brand and the influencer’s community, making your holiday campaign more effective and engaging.

Additional Key Strategies for Your Holiday Marketing Campaign

Optimize Website for Holiday Traffic

Ensure your website can handle increased holiday traffic. Optimize load times and ensure mobile responsiveness. Shopping sprees can go pretty crazy so make sure if something happens – you’re back up and running in no time.

Please ensure you have someone available on your webshop if you’re running targeted marketing campaigns during the season. If your website goes down while the campaign is running, you might not only lose some precious sales but might also lose people’s trust in your brand or the quality you provide.

Leverage SEO and PPC Campaigns

Optimize your website’s SEO for holiday-specific keywords. Invest in PPC campaigns to boost visibility during the holiday season and target specific customer groups. A few campaigns can be:

Best gifts under $30
Gifts for dog/cat lovers
Best gifts for your mother-in-law

When creating SEO landing pages and collections for those search topics, make sure not to remove those landing pages after the holiday season. Leave them online all year round.

Offer Exclusive Holiday Discounts (Black Friday deals)

Reward customers with exclusive discounts or add bundled discounts. You can offer free shipping above a specific amount or add 2 + 1 deals. You don’t need to go too crazy, as long as you have some sort of special deal it’s all good. Your competitors are offering discounts during those times as well, so if they find similar products, make sure they purchase from your store!

You may also create early access to secret holiday sales and collections to reward your loyal customers during this festive season.

Monitor and Analyze Webshop Data

Regularly monitor and analyze your data to understand the customer behavior on your website. Adjust your strategies swiftly and accordingly to get the most out of the holiday shopping madness.

Are you ready to wrap up the year strong?

A well-executed holiday marketing strategy can set your eCommerce business apart. By focusing on customer segmentation, leveraging digital marketing tools, and engaging with customers emotionally and effectively, you can maximize your holiday season sales and build lasting customer relationships.

Happy holidays and let’s catch the buzz together!