It’s been a challenging year so far for online retailers and agencies alike. The covid bubble bursting, the introduction of new campaign structures across the board due to new things like Google’s Performance Max, CAPI and Meta’s new introductions, and TikTok’s growth and expansion. The Golden Quarter is the time where big uplifts in website revenue and site visitors can occur, due to the well known sales periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Christmas period sales.
With a lot of footfall dropping in the high street, YoY, and the introduction of a new online user base due to Covid-19, more users now understand how to purchase online and have adapted that into their new shopping habits. With the availability to search for the best deal and the convenience factor, Everything Digital believes that this could be the biggest and best in foregone years to capitalise, along with increasing both brand loyal users and revenue through doing everything you can in the busy period. Be kind to yourself and your site visitors (you will reap the rewards.)
I’ve experienced this period on the front line through our eCommerce agency and I’m currently working alongside big players in sectors such as: clothing, sports equipment, and home improvement retailers. I’ll run through a number of things that online store owners should be putting into place and considering before you miss the boat and opportunity that’s nearly upon us.
Considerations
Increased Traffic – Is Your Store Prepared For The Golden Quarter?
Making sure your online store is prepared for the massive influx of traffic available is imperative and something you should be double checking with your web dev professional.
Eradicating issues you may have uncovered the year before, such as:
Poor Server Performance: This is something you should be looking at based on your projected visitors through previous periods. If adopting a cloud solution, then speak to your provider and explore scalability options.
Introducing a CDN: (Content Delivery Network) This can help to relieve the stress on your server through housing important and relevant content elsewhere.
General Tidy Up: Give your platform the best possible chance of highest performance through a general spring clean, the little things all add up in terms of site speed.
The Best Possible User Experience: Make sure you’re analysing the data produced on your website. Users in this period, especially this one, will expect a seamless navigation and checkout process in a timely manner to make you the retailer they convert with. If you’re paying to generate the traffic, a lot will be through paid ads. Make sure you’re driving users to a website that delivers at every point.
Setting Up Promotions In Advance?
Having a clear strategy, along with preparation, is always the best way to make the Golden Quarter period seamless and as stress free as possible. We work with all our clients 6 weeks prior to this period kicking off so we can implement everything needed and maximise our efforts into performance and data analysis on a daily basis. Some advanced platforms allow you to pre load all promotions in advance, set to go live, and cut off on specific times and dates. If you’re a serious retailer, you should be looking at the best platform available to you website wise, with these little factors being available on the likes of Aero Commerce and Magento 2 to name a few. Teaser promotions to events like Black Friday etc are a great way to build the suspense in your audience, countdown timers serve this purpose well too.
Are Discount Codes Decided?
Promo codes are extremely important for this sales period and in short, many people ask the question, will it increase sales? The short answer is yes, conversions will rise. However, average order value may decrease due to the pricing so make sure you prepare for this and give an enticing discount to your users that also makes business sense. The aim of the game is for everyone to benefit from this, not just the customer.
Warehouse At The Ready?
Fulfilment of orders is key to spring-boarding off the back of this period. Regardless of the increased users and conversions your platform will receive, you should aim to consistently provide a great service. This will of course ensure those users come back to the platform in the future and builds a trustworthy business to customer relationship for years to come. Ask yourself, have you analysed the current state of play in terms of picking, packing, and shipping? Are there any issues that need ironing out before this period kicks off? Short staffed maybe? Potentially, look at using the increased orders as an opportunity to get a better deal from your delivery partners. These are just some of the things you should consider if you’re serious about pushing a big uplift in conversions and orders.
Think Beyond The ‘Golden Quarter’ To Create Brand Ambassadors
Most serious retailers who have scaling in mind are thinking past this period in terms of attracting new, loyal customers on their platforms. With this comes the preparation for giving a little more away than the competition, understanding that customer satisfaction is going to win the day. Ensure you’re able to fulfil every order in the specified time and make certain the communication from checking out on the website, to the customer receiving their goods is at the highest level. Tracking of products, email confirmations, and updates should enable you to keep your customer coming back for more due their positive experience.
Final Say
The name of the game is a positive uplift in conversion rates. Keep in mind always, no matter your strategy, this is the end goal. Along with the points I’ve listed above in detail, use an omni channel approach this quarter, such as:
- Paid Search – Google PMAX, Shopping, Search, Display etc.
- Social Media Ads – Meta, Facebook, and Instagram.
- TikTok
- Abandon Cart Emails
As well as, excellent and intriguing ad copy. This will result in you having a fantastic quarter.
If you’re struggling to implement these yourself or you’re not getting the right attention from your current marketing agency, we can help! Everything Digital can plan and implement all the above in a short period of time. Don’t miss out, there is still time!
Let’s get prepared and attack these major shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Festive Season together and yield some incredible results. Don’t be the one who misses out.
