10 Top Tips for Boosting Holiday Sales and Reducing Speed-To-Purchase Online

How to Boost Holiday Sales for Ecommerce Shoppers

There are several ways to ensure an optimal customer experience for online shoppers. Here are our top 10 tips for reducing speed to purchase and boosting sales this holiday  season.

1. Optimize Your Landing Page for Mobile

With consumers looking for a quick and easy shopping experience, you should limit the size of landing hero images for mobile experiences—and avoid videos altogether, if possible. High-bandwidth creative content slows down performance and could deter visitors from continuing their journey down the funnel, especially during a higher traffic season.

2. Include Personalized Messaging

Personalized content can help clarify shipping costs and timelines to the shopper’s location and reduce the Cart Abandonment Rate. Shoppers may experience frustration and cut their shopping journey short if they were expecting free shipping or a quick turnaround, and it was not made clear upfront.

3. Promote Fulfillment Options Early

Retailers should promote fulfillment options such as buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) on product pages. In-store locators can also be promoted when a store is within a specific range of the user’s location. This way, visitors are more likely to convert during their shopping journey online if delivery times or costs are unfavorable.

4. Simplify the Checkout Process

Don’t let small distractions stall a purchase once the customer has made it to the checkout page. Remove large or complex creative pieces on the cart and checkout pages, such as high-resolution photos, GIFs, or videos. This is especially important for mobile users who are looking at a smaller screen than desktop users. Data shows that many online purchases are made through a mobile experience—79% of smartphone users have purchased online using their mobile devices in the last six months. Ensuring that the cart/checkout process renders seamlessly can prevent any hang time during payment processing.

5. Use Social Proof to Influence Purchases

Social proof is based on the idea that people will conform to be accepted by society. For example, offering clues to users about your brand’s most popular items is a form of social proof. Consider adding messages that identify products likely purchased as gifts on product pages to steer shoppers toward additional purchases.  

6. Promote Product Finder

Promote usage of a product finder to help visitors find the perfect gifts for their loved ones. This could be included on each Top-Level Category Index page.

7. Use Badging to Identify Holiday Exclusives

Identifying items as “Holiday Exclusive” or “Limited Time” by using badges can lead to a higher Average Order Value, as shoppers may want to stock up for the year due to scarcity. Think pumpkin spice in the fall. Many consumers are more likely to buy multiples of pumpkin-flavored coffee creamer, knowing they won’t be able to purchase it come December. Some even buy products they wouldn’t usually buy because the holiday version is special.

8. Personalize Recommendations Based on Demographics

Personalized recommendations based on demographic data on product listing pages can garner great results for those hard to shop for friends and family. For example, a section labeled “For Mom” would focus on personalized recommendations by utilizing gender and age-based data, such as best sellers among females in the 40-59 age group. Likewise, a “For Brother” section would focus on personalized recommendations by utilizing gender and age-based data on best sellers among males in the 18-30 age group.

These types of recommendations help shoppers who may only be visiting your site to browse. Because they don’t yet have an item in mind, personalized recommendations point them toward an actual purchase.

9. Take Advantage of Holiday Bundles

Personalized recommendations based on items frequently bought together is another excellent method for boosting holiday sales.. Marketed Holiday Bundles often sell out quickly, while the individual products remain available to purchase independently. As such, a recommendation carousel titled “Found Together in Our Holiday Bundle” or “Create Your Own Gift Bundle” that returns all items included in the Holiday Bundle encourages the addition of multiple items to the cart.

10. Don’t Forget the Stocking Stuffers

Offering personalized recommendations based on cost during the checkout process is often effective during the holiday season. For example, adding a “Stocking Stuffer” recommendation slider on the cart/checkout page that returns popular lower-priced point items, ensuring relevancy to the items added to the cart, can positively impact Average Order Value and Revenue Per Session.

Increasing Holiday Sales in a Changing Retail World

The COVID-19 Pandemic forever changed how consumers shop. While this created several new risks and challenges, it has also presented retailers with a plethora of new opportunities. 

eMarketer estimates that total retail sales growth for the United States for the 2023 holiday season is expected to increase by 4.5%, resulting in $1.328 trillion in sales value.

Retailers who are ready to capitalize on this opportunity—a continuously growing shift to online retail—will stand apart from the competition and likely see an increase in holiday sales this season. Consider our 10 tips for an optimal customer experience as you prepare for what lies ahead.

This blog is by Monetate’s Senior Digital Experience Consultant, Andie Bourgeois.