Creative Marketing Tools to Increase Holiday Sales

Holidays Or Bust? For some, the holiday season is seen as a nostalgic respite from the rest of the busy and bustling year. For those in the retail and e-tail industries, the holidays are a pressure-filled, make-or-break opportunity to close out the year with increased revenue.

During the holiday season, customers shop both online and offline, but more online each year. Last year, U.S. customers purchased more than $123 billion worth of merchandise online and $874 billion in offline spending. Combining to just shy of $1 trillion — with the heaviest amount ($7.87 billion) being on Cyber Monday — makes the holiday season the most important time period for plenty of global retailers and e-tailers. This year will be even greater. With a string economy and more disposable income, consumers are ready to spend, and spend, and spend more.

Consider the following advice, filled with creative marketing ideas...

Launch exclusive sales and encourage clients to utilize live customer service and chat

Launching exclusive holiday sales to your newsletter subscribers is a great strategy to grow and nurture your email list. If you don't want to keep it exclusive to your subscribers, keep it exclusive for a certain period before your entire customer base has access to the promotion.

You can also ramp up your lead generation by explicitly telling your customers to subscribe to get access to the holiday promo. Update your email opt-in forms way before the holidays start. Simply modify the copy around the opt-in form to something like: "Get Exclusive Cyber Monday Deals In Your Inbox."

Messaging like this conveys real value to your customers and can increase your email volume prior to the holiday season.

Utilize your customer service agents to help customers make purchases, suggest items and ideas, and offer your customers discounts to complete purchases. If you do not currently offer live 24/7/365 customer service, you should because your competitors do, and it help increase sales and reduce disputes. NETbilling offers this service for your customers in our US based call center. Inquire with NETbilling via phone or email for more information.

Create a sense of urgency

Behavioral psychologists have found that urgent situations cause people to suspend deliberate thought of procrastination and persuade them to act quickly. Creating a sense of urgency is a great way to entice your customers to purchase your products during the holiday season. No one likes to miss out on a cool offer. When you put a deadline on a specific action, people automatically lean toward taking that action without hesitation.

The most obvious way to create a sense of urgency is to simply insert a countdown timer on your product page. By showing a timer, you're reminding your customers that the clock is ticking, which raises the urgency level and compels action.

Seasonalize your social media properties

If done right, social networks can be a huge asset for your business to promote your holiday sales. Updating your social media properties with a holiday feel is the best way to keep your brand relevant in the holiday season. A complete overhaul isn't necessary. You can bring small changes like updating your brand's profile image and posting holiday-themed messages to help associate your brand with the holiday sales you offer.

Use Twitter to proactively seek out opportunities to help your customers with their purchases. You may also monitor relevant seasonal hashtags and join the conversations where it is appropriate.

Give a dose of the holiday spirit by pointing customers to a cause or charity you care about, especially around Thanksgiving. Offer a gift certificate with every order purchased during a certain period.

Be creative with your promotional campaigns

The holidays are a time when customers are ready to spend. But that doesn't ensure that all your holiday campaigns will bring in extremely high returns on investment. Get creative while curating your marketing campaigns.

Here are a few ways to do so:

Offer a personalized combo. Create a personalized holiday combo for every individual customer. This is a win-win for both you and your customers. You can boost your sales, while customers can conveniently purchase combo products and save their money.
Create a holiday gift guide. Help your customers find the perfect gift with a holiday gift guide. Create collages of your best products and curate them together around a theme.
Offer free shipping. Offer free shipping and free holiday gift wrapping. If you sell low-priced items, you can set a minimum-spend threshold for free shipping.

Holidays are the biggest chance for online stores to boost their revenue. For any business, it is the best opportunity to offer deals that persuade customers to stick around and keep them coming back even after the season. By following the above tactics, you're more likely to keep your products top of mind for customers.

Happy Holidays And High Profits For Your Business!