This blog post was updated on October 15,2018.

The 2018 edition of the Monetate Holiday Prep Guide for ecommerce retailers is now available. It includes over 24 ways you can tweak your ecommerce website to maximize conversions during the holiday season. It also includes some interesting stats that can help inform your priorities. Here’s a sneak peek of a few of our favorite ideas.

1. Put a badge on it

Make the most of a small space with product badges. These little callouts, placed on product thumbnails, help shoppers find products faster. They can also increase sales: a Monetate report found a 55% improvement in conversion rate among websites that use product badges compared to those that don’t.

Call out key holiday messages, such as:

• Holiday best sellers
• Shipping deadlines
• Good gifts for moms, kids, etc.
• Special holiday promotions

Also good to new: badges work great on mobile devices, too. They’re particularly helpful on those small screens, since they communicate more than one type of information (product attribute + thumbnail).

2. Optimize your website for new visitors

You’ll probably see significantly more first-time shoppers who aren’t familiar with your brand during Q4.

What’s up with those new customers? Are they likely to turn into new long-term customers? What can you do to optimize the experience for them?

One of the ways you can make the most of this reality is to prominently highlight relevant policies and promotions. And don’t be shy! New shoppers may not be familiar with your brand and what sets you apart from the competition. Make sure you help those new customers along every step of the buying process.

3. Embrace alternate payment options

Since many new Q4 shoppers don’t plan on coming back, they may be reluctant to enter their credit card data.

Make it easy for new shoppers to feel secure buying from you while speeding up the process with third-party payment options.

Prominently feature icons for customer favorites like PayPal and MasterPass, and highlight mobile-friendly options like Apple Pay and Android Pay that make checking out simple and secure.

Get more holiday ecommerce optimization tips.

Download the 2018 Holiday Prep Guide. It covers:

• Ecommerce Holiday Optimization Strategies: Tactics to Implement and Those to Avoid
• How to Generate Customer Loyalty from New Users for Revenue Growth in 2019
• How to Personalize the Ecommerce Experience to Generate Sales