Christmas food for thought

Christmas is now less than 90 days away, and for many shoppers, online Christmas shopping will begin very soon. Obviously you’ll be wanting to convert as many of these browsers into buyers as possible!

For online retailers, Christmas is the time where you can really reap the rewards of providing a stunning online experience for your customers. But it’s also the time of year where you can lose the most in sales opportunities if your customers aren’t given what they need.

In this article, we thought we’d give you some food for thought when it comes to deciding what treatments and embellishments you may be considering for your Christmas-ready website.

The Basics

Whatever the season, you need to have some fundamentals in place to maximise conversion rates. This includes simple things such as clear pathways to product offerings, simple navigation, persuasive imagery and web copy, easy check out processes etc. By getting these basics right, you’ll provide more satisfaction to your site visitors and therefore be more likely to get the sales.

The Home Page

For many businesses, especially established brands, the home page is the primary entry point to your website. At Christmas, it’s really important to make your site feel Christmassy by providing some features that are relevant to the season. Here are some ideas:

• Decorate your logo — Add some Christmas decoration to your logo such as a Santa hat or tinsel. This will give your company extra character and provide a sense of holiday spirit.

• Go big with imagery — Use a large evocative image that combines your product offerings with seasonal trappings. This will grab the customer’s attention and if done right, make them feel at home while doing their Christmas shopping.

• Emphasise key categories — People are more rushed than ever at this time of year, so identify your prime categories for the season and put them right under the purchaser’s eyes, even within the big image itself. Highlighting your key offerings adds to the online shopping ease that the customer is after during the busy season.

Gift Ideas

At Christmas time there are more hunters and explorers than any other time of the year. We all have lists of people to buy for, and many of us could use help when it comes to choosing gifts for someone else. If you can make a shopper’s life easier at this busy time, they will be more likely to buy. A good idea is to provide easy pathways to products based on customer needs, such as:

• Shop by price range — many shoppers have a very specific price range when shopping at Christmas. Provide a list of typical price ranges so that customers can narrow their choices very quickly to products within their budget, i.e. $1-$25, $25-$50, $50-$100 and so on. A list of four to six options allows for enough range without being too overwhelming.

• Shop for him/her — What are the best choices for him or her this Christmas? Provide clear links for ‘Gifts for him’ and ‘Gifts for her’. At the next step, present a specially designed page that shows a short list of great gift ideas for him or her. Remember that shoppers do not want to be dazzled with too many options as this can cost you.

• Shop by interest — Shoppers often know what someone is ‘into’ so product suggestions can be really useful. They help locate products quickly and give a sense that the gift will be something that the recipient will enjoy.

• Be specific — If possible, offer a simple way for your customers be very unambiguous by allowing them to narrow their search through choosing ‘any or all of the above choices’. For example, an outdoor goods website could allow a shopper to find most popular, products for him, for mountain bikers and up to $50.

Shipping and Returns

When considering a purchase, shipping and returns are key to decision making. People want to know about it as they are time pressured, so give it to them up front. Here’s some ways to help:

• Get it in time for Christmas — People want the assurance that they will have their goods well in time for Christmas so be as clear as possible about your shipping dates. The products that are available in time may actually change as we approach Christmas so you may need to update this information. Good design in this area can help persuade the purchase. For example ‘Only 3 days left to order for delivery by December 24th’ will add some urgency to purchase.

• Shipping Costs — How does your company charge shipping? Is it by size, weight, quantity or something else? These charges can be puzzling for would-be customers so the easier you make it for them the better. It is especially important to provide the costs and time periods for international shipping as if not directly stated, may cause great confustion. Give all of this information up front and definitely don’t make people wait until the checkout to finally discover the cost. This will likely lose the customers trust and obviously the sale.

• Easy Returns — Your returns policy should also be very clear and up front as more people are buying for others at this time of year and will be worried about whether he or she will like it. Take the doubt away as early as possible by using comforting copy/imagery/panels that state things like ‘Easy returns’, ‘How to send it back’, ‘Enjoy risk free shopping’. Consider offering extended returns for the Christmas period, as many people are away during the holidays and may need more time.

More Christmas Finger Food

Hopefully there’s something here that can help you achieve a more profitable Christmas season. If you have any other ideas that you’d like to share or comments on the above, feel free to leave a post here and tell us about it!