It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!

Wow, how time flies when we are staying busy - yes we are all busy with our families, friends, and our shops!

We are again on the verge of the biggest sales period of the year,  so we decided to review a few basics and even make some suggestions of how to make our selling season "more successful and less stressful".  That sounds great - right?


Don't worry  -- we are not going to be able to go into a detailed holiday business plan in our blog and frankly it's too late for that, but what we will do is review what some of the best online selling experts say about getting ready for Holiday 2015!  We are going to list "best practices," options, and maybe some new ideas.  By no means will every one of these ideas apply to any specific
shop or business owner.  The intent is to get them out there for you so you can decide if they will work for you and your shop.   We certainly hope that some of what is reviewed here will be useful to you over the next few months.







Let's start with the key dates ahead:

November 

Thanksgiving  

11/26
Black Friday & Cyber Monday

Successful Black Friday/Cyber Monday event - START NOW:

Consider an online sales event for Black Friday through Cyber Monday -- November 27 -30th.
Plan what you are going to offer - NOW.  Try to answer these questions:

•    Are you going to have a sale?
•    What do you want your offering to be? 
•    Will your sale be Black Friday only or continue to Cyber Monday
•    Will you offer something different Cyber Monday than you did on Black Friday?

If you are going to have an event a quick "best practice" would be start now to build the excitement.
Examples of this include handwritten notes in all your shipments, on the packing slips or thank you cards if you use them.  Something like  "Stop back for our exciting Black Friday sale!", or "While our plans for Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not yet finalized, we know they will be BIG and you won't want to miss them!" Build excitement by teasing your customers - work at building momentum!

Think Mobile -According to IBM, last year mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic on Thanksgiving for the first time.  This trend should increase this year.  Have you tried to shop your store from your phone?  According to Shopify 80% of orders originating from Pinterest are done on mobile devices WoW!

Connect - with old and current customers.  Studies have shown that it is 50% easier to sell to existing customers than it is to brand new ones.  Offer these repeat customers something special -- like free shipping.

Consider - at least one door buster type sales event that will bring people to your shop. A limited time sale events builds a sense of scarcity which can drive sales. Scarcity is a great motivator.

December

Hanukkah 

December 6th - 14th
This is 7 days of potential gift giving, let's not forget these customers!

From the National Endowment for Humanities:

"Gift giving, another tradition of Hanukkah, has continued to grow in popularity over the years. The act of exchanging presents between family members and friends is a relatively new practice that evolved out of the modest monetary present (gelt-giving) that 17th or 18th century eastern European Jews bestowed on religious teachers around the time of this holiday. By the 19th century, the gifts had been transferred to children. . . . As with the modern celebration of Christmas, the relatively new addition of gift giving to this traditional celebration serves to bring people close to each other during the darkest time of the year."

                                                                Christmas
                                   From the National Endowment for Humanities:

"The holiday that celebrates the nativity of Christ, is as diverse as the many countries that observe it. . . .

No bearer of goodies and gifts is more recognizable in the popular imagination than that jolly old fellow, Saint Nick, accompanied by his trusty elves and reindeer. With little more thanks than the requisite glass of milk with cookies, and carrot for Rudolph, Santa magically transcends space and time delivering presents to all the good children of the world. The character Santa Clause and his precursor, St. Nick, symbolize the underlying theme of generosity during the holiday season"

Christmas is on a Friday this year! 

Post Holiday Sales Plans

After Christmas Sales & Clearance start on a SATURDAY which is a huge lift for brick & mortar stores

And this turn of the calendar could be big for online shoppers too.   So plan your event NOW!
Again, start now to answer these questions:

• Are you going to have a sale?
• What will your offering (sale) be?
• How long will your sale last?

Doing this planning now makes your efforts much more focused and "purpose driven" rather than random or stress driven.  Take your time with this, look at some of your favorite brick and mortar stores and online shops and see what ideas have motivated you as a customer.

Kwanzaa  

December 26th (Gifts are exchanged on the last of a 7 period - January 1st)

From the National Endowment for Humanities:



"The last day of Kwanzaa, or Imani, focuses on gift giving as a means to honor the creative spirit and reaffirm self worth. Therefore, the gifts are often homemade rather than purchased. However, the essence of Kwanzaa does not lie in exchanging presents, but in commemorating a shared heritage. Togetherness is emphasized as family and friends come together through this special time to align themselves with the guided principles."

Best Practices for Survival!

Take care of yourself, get enough sleep, (this time of the year can be exhausting), and yes take your vitamins.  Did you know that often this is the time of the year that major chain store managers hand out care packages of aspirin, and vitamin C to their sales staff.  It can be a stressful crazy season made more so if you are NOT taking care of yourself.  So that is Number One. No joke!


Stay positive. Don't buy into negative talk or thoughts, as that is very contagious and drains you of the one thing you absolutely need -- energy and a clear mind.  You will be successful because no matter what you will be learning and growing.  Some times we just have to work harder at being positive!

The best practices are 100% for all of us!

More Best Practices to Drive Holiday Sales 

Now let's look at some general best practices for customer service and salesmanship - suggested by a number of eCommerce experts and trainers.

In this section we provide a number of concepts and ideas that relate to good business practices and customer support.  If you find some that look right for your shop give them a try.

• Track Holiday Sales Patterns by category (or section) so you build your history for next year.

• Test different content for featuring (or promoting) whether by section or by category.

• Provide Shipping and Ordering deadlines for all your customers as a call to action! Good customer support.  

• Ensure your shop delivers a message of  Holiday "Cheer". You can send "holiday cheer" emails to your repeat customers, for example.  Including a small holiday note in your shipments is another good way to do this.

 Holiday Visual Changes:

•  Possible shop design change for the holidays (if you go in to Macy's it should look different now)
•  Keep your shop branding in place even with holiday designs. 
•  Develop ways to include your visual brand in your Social Media sites (shop updates are a great resource for this) - learn how to do them and creative ways to use them.  There are a lot of visual tools that help expand your brand!
• Highlight best sellers - for example if you notice a certain type of item is selling well, be sure to feature it in visual marketing for Social Media 

General Best Practices:

Do something special to welcome new customers; A handwritten note on the packing slips that says something like  "We are glad you've found our shop, and to say thanks for your order we are offering free shipping (or 10% off, -- whatever you wish.) on your next order!"  First time shopper offers could be just the nudge to convert them to regular repeat customers. There is no bad time to turn a first time customer into a returning one.  In fact, this is a year round best practices.


Remember these are all suggestions,  not rules and there is no silver bullet or one  specific thing that will work for every one.  Let's just try the ones that appeal to us and share our experiences!

Now for a Social Media "biggie" ~ virtually every eCommerce business expert out there is saying this;  Our communication with customers and our use of Social Media MUST include A CALL TO ACTION. This one takes some thought and consideration when applying it to Etsy shops. Let's look at this a little more closely:

What is exactly is "A CALL TO ACTION"?  It is something that compels the customer to do literally that -- take action!  Some examples are:

•   A "Buy Now" button (one we can't add on Etsy)
•   "Add to Cart"
•   Request to have your pin re-pinned as a tag.
•   Request to be followed as a hashtag.
•   "Sale ends in 3 Days!" We used this and it was very effective.
•   "Get started"
•   "Read Now!"
•   "See How!"

We included a "Buy Now" button just to help with understanding this concept



 Characteristics of an effective "call to action":

•  They are concise and clear
•  They are short active phrases
•  They can be requests, for example "please follow my shop."
•  You can use Twitter Ads and Lead Cards (a service that one needs to buy --we have not tried) 
•  You can use sign-ups for special coupons, or special sales

Should we be asking folks in general to follow on Social Media?  The answer is a resounding YES!!
And here's why;

Marketing experts have sure knowledge about human searching and purchasing behaviors -- just think of the last thing you searched for and purchased online.

Structure of how the general public does a Social Media search:

• People always start a search as very general -- for example "vintage jewelry".
• When doing a general search they like to mark, follow, or favorite the items they saw that they liked

This is the main point:

• When people are making their purchasing decisions they always start with the shops they have saved, or followed because they know they saw things they liked there. YOU WANT TO BE IN THIS GROUP!!!

You are probably already doing at least some of the action items outlined above. Now, try to think of creative ways you can use the concept of a "call to action" in your shop.

More Social Media Best Practices:

Don't Forget to ask for your family and friends help.  Ask them to re-tweet, like, or re-pin some of your shop's post 1 or 2 times a week; expanding the audience of who is seeing the news from your shop.

Twitter;  Consider adding a quote to your tweets.  Studies have shown that quotes get a 19% increase in re-tweets. This is because they are seen as shareable.  Twitter users see them as short, sweet, and effective. So find ways you can add inspirational, motivational, entertaining, educational, or funny quotes to an image of your product.  Looking for quotes - try Reddit.

Pinterest; Consider making different Pinterest boards for different audiences.  Did you know currently 80% of the users on Pinterest are women.   However, the male audience is growing quite rapidly.  Another interesting number is 87% of Pinterest users say they have purchased something they discover while pinning.  There are 73 million users that log into Pinterest each month, that's a Wowzer!  With these numbers this is an important population so let's write thoughtful, accurate, and detailed descriptions to your boards, pins, and product pages.

Instagram; The amazing success of Instagram comes from building on Facebook's most engaging aspect, that of sharing images.  Remember the whole point of Instagram is sharing great images that create excitement and build an audience.  Your other Instagram tools for building a following or audience are hashtags.  The best hashtags are a good mix of general and more specific terms.  Make it your goal 5-10 hashtags per image. Another great guideline is 1 -2 postings a day on this site.  For more excitement and engagement you can have special offers for your Instagram followers, or you can create a photo contest with photos of customers wearing their purchase.  Have fun be creative and enjoy this mobile site.

Tumblr;  1st remember tumblr is a blog, so keep it very specific and focused on a theme. It should be used as an "offshoot" of any brand blog you already have, don't just reproduce your company blog here.  If you've picked a theme for your blog you must be able to support your theme with your posts.  Pick a creative name that will make people curious and bring more attention to your blog and posts (try not to use the name of your shop).  One really cute one we saw was "OCD" Obessive Corgy Disorder.  Again, like Instagram you will use tags both general and specific to go along with your post.  The general rule of thumb to Tumblr is 7 - 12 tags.  The majority of Tumblr users are between the ages of 18-34 is this your target audience(?) - only you know this answer.

This article from the PewResearchCenter takes a look at the demographics for a number Social Media platforms.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/



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Shipping Best Practices:

Every package you ship has the possibility to effect your customer's experience and it will either;

• Fall below expectations
• Meet expectations
• Exceed expectations

Packaging inserts can range from including a business card or thank you note to adding a little something extra like a small very inexpensive brooch or such.  One of us includes aromatic tea bags in our packages for the holidays which has resulted in specific positive feedback!  The benefits of using packaging inserts to help retain customers are:

• Inserts are low cost.
• They can be highly targeted.
• They are delivering with shipping so they are already paid for.
• They are a great opportunity for cross selling.
• They can increase loyalty.

Types of inserts used by online retails

• Discount offers. An example is a 10% discount card. Good sources for these inserts are Overnight Prints and Moo Cards.

 

• Product samples or gifts. Vintage Imagine has done this by including Intercept anti-tarnish bags for sterling silver purchases. Customers love it!

• One of our favorites are handwritten Thank You cards and personal notes.

• Ask for a product review that can be used on Social Media.

All of the above ideas are about exceeding the customers expectations.  A beautifully packaged piece of jewelry delivered as if it were a gift for someone special in your life with small gifts and especially thank you notes makes the experience of buying from your store intimate and delightful.

GracesVintageGarden has incorporated some of these practices since it opened -- the results are positive feedback and repeat customers.




Another set of best practices to use before you even ship an order are to use order confirmation emails::

• Personalize order confirmation emails

• Send the email out as soon as possible when the purchase in fresh in the customer's mind.

• Say "Thank You" loud and clear.  When was the last time you didn't like feeling appreciated? Those two words trigger positive emotions and that's a good thing!

•  Use an attractive image - we are working in a digital realm and visual sells.  

• You can ask for feedback.  An example is "We love to hear how we are doing"!

If it's appropriate mention a special offer.  Just remember if you are offering a specific"deal" make it the center of attention and remember (as a call to action) conversion rates are best when urgency plays a role.

If appropriate you can recommend another item that makes complements or goes with the one they bought and/or you can offer a special price on another item.  Do not start your confirmation email with this message -- the thank you comes first and must be sincere.


Avoid information overload on these emails, mention one or two of your Social Media platforms and the benefit they will receive using them --  for example "Please follow us on twitter where we feature all new items".  This gives them a reason to follow through on the call to action.  This is much more effective than a laundry listing of SM addresses.

You can even ask customer to share an image on a social media network they use.  If they use Instagram or twitter then ask them to #tag your brand.  You can show them other customers' posts as examples. You can send these emails twice when the order is placed and when the item has been received.

If you do this successfully you can turn customers into "brand ambassadors"!

Make email templates that are ready to send.  An emphasis on visual and light on text is the best recipe!


General Best Practices for Discounts and Pricing :

• Studies have shown that 10% is the "sweet spot" for regular sales

• Deeper discounts should be restricted to limited-time offers

• Package discounts to encourage multiple sales

• Offer free shipping (which is a big benefit during the holiday season)

A unique pricing strategy for online sellers

(For this example we are keeping the number of items low to help clarify the concept)

Let's say you have decided to open a high-end shop and you have 10 items

Your pricing structure should look like this

 4 Middle priced  items

 4 High Priced items

 1 or 2 Very High Priced  items (think of this as "shop candy")

Studies using actual retailers have shown when the sales of their 4 High Priced items are slow

and they add 1 or 2 Very High Priced items, the sales on the 4 High Priced items increase.  Why:

Because the addition of the Very High Priced items has now put these items in the middle of their pricing structure and most importantly;  the majority of shoppers buy from the middle where they are the most comfortable.

While we have not tried this "strategy" it is unique and appears it may have some merit.

Did you know there are user testing sites researching how your shop functions for a customer?
One is called, http://www.peek.usertesting.com.  The site gives you a 5 minute video of someone actually using your shop --pretty amazing! Note: We have not used it nor do we know the effectiveness.

Always ensure you have quick and courteous response for customer inquiries.

The holiday season is a great time for you to learn from mistakes and successes.  This knowledge is worth as much as the money you are making.  That's why you should track and note everything that works and does not work.  Document anything new you are trying. You can do this by taking a few screenshots and notes to review later.  It will create a wonderful resource for the future.

In summary,  preparation, planning, and starting earlier rather than later are keys for a successful holiday selling period.  If this is your first holiday for your business think of it as a learning experience.  Be sure you take the time to ENJOY!  And remember, your mother was right. Don't forget to say thank you!!

"Happy Sales to all and to all a Good Night!"