How to Get Your eCommerce Website Ready For the Holiday Season

Every shopper on the planet knows that the holiday season is the most significant and pivotal period for all retailers around the globe. All the markets known to mankind light up right before the festivities take over, as holidays are the optimum time to buy & gift new things and fulfill dreams for everyone!

Even online retailing sees substantial growth in the final quarter of every year, as shoppers riot the websites and the apps to find and get the best deal possible. However, despite more excellent demand scopes, E-commerce websites have to behave correctly –read: work their bottoms off—to lure in customers thanks to the competition.

With the global E-commerce market being 1.6 Trillion USD big, numerous players are out there to steal your clients and customers. To be exact, there are more than 110 000 online shops!

Last year alone, companies saw a 12% additional growth in sales thanks to people opening up their wallets during the holidays. So you must get your permutations and combinations before you dip into the holiday season.

Let us look at how you can get your E-commerce website or store ready for some serious business during the holidays.

1. Try to sustain the extra traffic

Remember, the brick-and-mortar shops during the holidays—especially the popular ones—are always filled with people, enough sometimes to dissuade a shopper from entering the premises. The same thing can occur on your website or app as well.

Users expect a smooth ride, with online shopping becoming a popular platform to spend money on. Hence, websites, must ensure smooth traffic movement during rush hours. You must remember some things when you get your website ready for the last quarter.

• Test and check the speed of your pages
• Decrease page loading time
• Use a good web host
• Make sure to optimize your content so that nothing unneeded is placed
• Check whether your website works flawlessly on all browsers, platforms, and operating systems right after you make changes
• Have the right backend support
• Ensure you have the hosting provider's support; ask for extra resources to tackle the additional traffic.

A slight delay in page loading can hurt you a lot, as studies have shown that 57% of visitors leave a page when it takes 3 seconds to load. To avoid it, optimization and proper maintenance procedures must be implemented to get you through the vacation period.

2. Provide a good interface to the users

Your website or online store’s interface is the sales executive that your users rely on. The onus is always on your interface to provide and present the right things correctly to all your online shoppers.

If you want your shoppers to have a good shopping experience with you, developing and operating a user-friendly website is vital. The process has to begin with a good design, making it easier for shoppers to hunt, select, and buy products from your website. To make the whole process easier and less tedious, you can primarily focus on a few things first.

• Know all the customer segments.
• Try to identify shoppers in groups, such as with their age, gender, culture, and personality, so that you can provide a better website for all to use.
• Finally, ensure that people unfamiliar with computers can utilize and enjoy your website. I.T.

To date, 28% of people in the United States have not yet used the internet. However, the number is decreasing day by day, and your website must be ready to accommodate them too.

3. Provide safety and protection to your customers

Online shopping means your clients have to do real business with you over the internet through your website. This actually makes shopping at online stores a very fearful practice for some.

With 1 in every ten now a victim of online fraud or crime, cybercrime has become a serious issue. E-commerce websites must have a robust mechanism and proper layout if they want their customers to shop without fear.

A TLS/SSL certificate is a priority for any website these days, as it gives customers high assurance. And during the holiday season, this assurance is quite vital. If possible, your websites should also have an EVSSL certification, as shoppers get extra trust when the green padlock lights up on your website’s address.

Since users must give out their credit card credentials, bank account details, and other vital information to shop, websites must ensure security to gain the users' trust. Also, have a tie-up with renowned payment gateways so shoppers feel safe when they use their personal details to do business with you.

4. Provide multiple devices and operating system support

With 1.4 billion active Android users and 1 billion iOS users, ignoring any specific platform or device may be the stupidest thing your E-commerce website can ever do. With 3.6 billion internet users around the planet using the web world on various devices and platforms, you must tap everyone during the holiday.

Users can be active on various devices, with any operating system and in several screen sizes. Hence, the onus is for you to provide responsive screen support to which everyone can be catered. Your website should work on large LED screens and small smartphones to make the most of the holiday sales. Don’t create a scenario where your phone users must select the full version instead of the mobile version page. So, make your website responsive and roll out an app for maximum mileage.

As per Criteo’s Mobile Commerce Report, users who surf on multiple devices and platforms are likely to complete a transaction 20% more than regular users.

5. Highlight the best deals and the great offers

Want to make sure that your customers opt for the best deals? Then try to grab your shopper’s attention profoundly. The highlighting should be done on specific pages, for example, the homepage.

Since people, during the holiday times, look to buy gifts for their loved ones, it is always a benefit if you highlight the best presents and some great deals on them. You could also give them gift-wrapping options or discounts on their gifts.

A photo book is a great gift option for loved ones that will be treasured for years to come. With so many online services available, creating a unique and personalized gift filled with cherished memories and special moments is easy.

Make use of graphics and engaging content to promote your best sellers. Do anything to make sure you grab the users' attention.

6. Get your customer support team ready and hire more if you have to

78% of users have opted out of a transaction thanks to poor consumer service: American Express Survey

Shopping online means your users must rely heavily on your customer support team. The rush is always insane when the festivities are around the corner; people tend to shop more—as the stats have proven.

Thus, the pressure always stays on your team to provide the best support quickly. More visitors to your online store means more questions, complaints, and feedback. The tensions can rage when users want a quick resolution to their problem. Your customer support team must hold their nerve and guide your aggrieved users through and solve the problem.

Data from Forrester indicates that 55% of users in the U.S. stop their transactions when they can’t get a quick answer from a website.

Some tips that you can employ during the holidays to be more productive in the customer support program:

• Have FAQs
• Provide your team with the tools and technology needed to execute customer requests—for example, Live Chat.
• Encourage self-service, like customers checking out tracking details online rather than asking an agent.
• Provide more authority and power to the customer team
• Provide cross-departmental support
• Provide support across all channels

Also, if you believe you are short on staff or your existing team cannot cope with the holiday shopping rush, hire people!

7. Have a marketing plan ready before you enter the final quarter

Having a marketing roadmap before you plunge into the waters called holiday sales is vital! Whatever action you decide to take—or ignore—will impact your sales and your conversion rate.

Start with advertising what you can offer during the holidays and why people should select you. Use newsletters, E-mails, social media, text messages, online adverts, and online banners to communicate your message.

Investing in a robust promotional campaign and planning on any media channel can bring your website closer to the customers. Use all forms of communication to lure your customers. You can even offer deals and throw in discounts as a marketing gimmick.

If possible, use the traits of content marketing to convey your message uniquely.

8. Give your website a makeover, but not a drastic change

The festivals are coming up, and you want your regular users to shop from you again. However, on the flip side, you also want to tap new customers.

You have to work on the fine line here, and when it comes to renovating or rejuvenating your online store, the thread is even narrower. First, when the festivals are around the corner, you must wholeheartedly support the holiday season.

Put in things on the website like a Christmas Cap, use a new distinct holiday season logo, place a picture of Santa, or use snowflake animation here and there. Just blend in with the holiday spirit.

If you provide users with some festival spirit, they will feel more accommodated. But do not overdo it.

Any significant change to your identity, website ergonomics, brand, or even change of corporate colors just for one season may hit you hard. Your regular users will not like that you are changing or have changed—as it will cause inconvenience and disrupt their flow.

9. Listen to your customers sooner rather than later

70% of consumer experience depends on how the user is treated by companies: Touch Agency

If you want to serve your customers best, you have to listen to them first. Your consumer support and service team must note down all the feedback and complaints that your users may have. This feedback can be for various reasons, but you must rectify those issues before the holiday extravaganza begins.

Since the last quarter will be the most pivotal time for your online shop, you must patch up all loose ends to provide the best customer experience to all users. If you face or try to solve a problem during the high sales period itself, you will add unnecessary extra pressure to your already burdened-up team.

Thus, implementing relevant feedback and suggestions before the season starts is vital for business. Also, if you take customers’ advice, you are improving yourself for your users. Besides, consumers feel valued if you use their suggestions, and they stick with you just because of that. In this age, being customer-centric has its perks.

10. Have a quick return policy and an on-time delivery system

People hesitate to buy from an online store for two main reasons: bad/ambiguous return policy and failure to deliver on time. These are some hurdles that companies must eradicate if they want to make the most of holiday sales.

For instance, 51% of shoppers look for free return shipping when they buy from online stores.

If your store does not provide this important and fundamental feature, you might lose out on potential shoppers. Just try to pacify your shoppers with a hassle-free exchange or return guarantee. The help will allow users to relax and shop with you with even more enthusiasm.

Also, on-time delivery may be a challenge during the holiday season, as some logistic companies may not provide continuous and flawless service. Hence, double-check with your shippers before you provide the customer with an estimated delivery time.

You do not want to short-less the customer.

Final word

So, gear up, say Ho-Ho, and prepare your online store for this year's upcoming holiday season. We are sure that these pointers will help you provide an even better service to all your shoppers than they got last year.

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