Re-Committing To Goals

Clearly I need to be on a path of repentance, especially since my last post wasn't even during this last season. So here I am, entering one of the busiest parts of the year for online sales, ready to lend some support and guidance to any who would like it. Below are my own personal short term goals:

1. Post on setting up a Google Trusted Stores account. There is a 30 day (I actually think it is a 28 day) probation period, so if you would like to have a Google Trusted Stores account setup by December, you will need to get that set up by next week.
2. Create New Friendlier Design. I have been looking at redesigning my website and blog for a while now.  With the hype of this holiday season approaching, I think I will be able to finally get the new look implemented.
3. More Customer Support Avenues. I normally only provide customer support via email.  This goal has 2 parts, the first is setting up and advertising a website analysis option.  I will offer my own website analysis, as well as provide detailed information on how merchants can do their own website analysis.  I think this is especially important for merchants who hire companies to do work for them.  The merchant should be able to check, to some extent, the quality of the work being done.  The second is to actually setup a business phone number. I am sure that most of your companies already have a business phone number setup, but since my company is mostly just me, I haven't needed it.  I find that I have been a little hindered without an option for customers to call me directly, so I will be setting that up before the end of the year.

I would advise that you sit down and map out a few short term goals for your company that you would be able to complete before the holiday season gets crazy.  Make these goals things that can take advantage of the holiday season sales, such as setting up an avenue for new customers to be added to a newsletter, or to streamline promotions. Whatever your goals are, bullet point a few steps that will help you reach those goals in the coming weeks.

Push to Christmas - Emergency Preparedness

Cyber Monday is over, you have a little calm before the last-minute-Christmas-shopper storm. Now is the time to do your emergency preparedness. Getting ready for those frantic shoppers needing their orders on time and those customers who ordered and expected their order by the holidays is essential for making your business' holiday season finish smoothly. One of the best ways to do this is to let customers know approximately when they will receive their order. Do this on your home page, your product pages, in the cart, and on the email receipt.

• Home Page Delivery Notice - on your home page, or in a main area on your website, advertise when is the approximate last day to place an order in your store and safely receive it by Christmas.
• Product Page Delivery Notice - some products ship quicker than others.  If you drop ship products, have custom products or products that ship at a different time, you will want to let customers know.  Include some text near the add to cart button letting customers know approximately when to expect each individual product if they ordered it that day.  Or, for each individual product, list the last day that product can safely be ordered to arrive by Christmas.
• Shopping Cart Delivery Notice - this should be the most exact delivery notice because at this point you have the customer's shipping zip code.  Include on this screen the delivery date as exact as possible.  Make this notice clear so that customers can assess if their gifts will arrive when they want.
• Thank You Delivery Notice - include the approximately delivery date in the email receipt if possible.

Another thing you may want to offer this time of year is expedited delivery. This will put some of your last minute shoppers very excited.

Good luck preparing for the final push of the hectic holiday season!

Reward Your Tired and Weary Shoppers

Everybody knows about the sales on Black Friday.  If you've participated in the craziness, you know that stores open as early as 4 or 5 in the morning, which means you are up at least by 2. However this year the sales start even earlier.  Stores such as Walmart, Target and Kohl's are opening their doors at midnight. Stores are putting more of an emphasis on the Black Friday sales. Another interesting bit of information is that NRF's Holiday Survey found that people are planning on spending more on themselves this year. So how can you use this knowledge to your advantage? Reward the weary!

The equivalent for online retailers of Black Friday is Cyber Monday, yet, by this point shoppers have already spent an exhausting weekend at local retailers hunting for deals.  By the time Cyber Monday rolls around you have some pretty exhausted and sleep deprived shoppers.  They have not been able to get all the items that they wanted at local retailers, so they are turning to the internet to solve their gift giving problems.  Yes, they are likely still looking for some glimmer of those sale prices that they saw over the weekend, but, as NRF's survey forecasts, they are also looking for a little pick-me-up for themselves. So show your tired shoppers some love by offering them free gifts or bonuses.  They can purchase the gifts for their loved ones, then get a guilt-free bonus gift for themselves.  You'll want to make this incentive worth your while, so offer deals such as "Spend over $X and get a FREE X!" This will increase your total per sale and will raise your customer's spirits over the busy shopping weekend.