When it comes to strategising for your website, you may think that the updates you made during the November and December season are sufficient to get you through the year. Wrong! Online shoppers are a very discerning group that loves discovering fresh content , products and ideas on the websites they visit.
Even though the Christmas shopping “rush” is over, it’s important to continue working with your web design agency to build upon the momentum you’ve created during the Christmas. Read on to find out why.
Leveraging Your Investment
Like many online retailers, you too may have made significant investments in your online presence to draw more traffic during the Christmas. Whether it was for new web pages of Special Offers, or social media updates about the latest products and services you are offering – those web site design updates shouldn’t be wasted.
Here’s how you can now leverage that investment by building momentum on Christmas traffic to capture post-Christmas traffic:
1) Refresh, refresh…refresh: Just because the Christmas season has ended, doesn’t mean online shoppers are done looking for your products and services. In fact, studies show that shoppers are more likely to look for fresh buying opportunities well into the New Year. To capitalise on that trend, you need to work with your web design agency to refresh your site and attract additional post-Christmas traffic
2) Time to harvest the stragglers: If you have an updated shopping cart app (if you don’t – it’s time to rethink your website to add one), you’ll likely have valuable statistics on abandoned Christmas shopping cart sessions. One key post-Christmas online marketing strategy is to harvest those stragglers and offer them some New Year incentive (“Complete your purchase and receive a Special New Year’s Gift!”) to buy from you.
3) New Year Sales: As part of the Christmas euphoria, you probably created Christmas Sales content on your website. It’s now time to update your site and add Post-Christmas Sales pages so that those that missed out on buying earlier, may now find something NEW to purchase from your website
4) Leverage existing customers: A great post- Christmas web designing strategy is to initiate a Thank You campaign targeting existing customers (those who may have purchased online from your site during the Christmas), and offer them Promo Codes or Discount Vouchers to redeem on your site. Work with your Website team to create compelling content that entices existing customers into realising how much they can save by simply “extending” their Christmas purchasing spree to take advantage of the new post- Christmas Promos or Discount Vouchers
5) Entice mobile shopping: Of all the shrewd post- Christmas website design strategies available, one of the most cost-effective and rewarding approaches in to go mobile. If you haven’t moved into the mobile marketing arena, then now’s the perfect time. With the mad in-store rush over, many shoppers will be using their mobile devices to scan for post- Christmas deals. Make sure you are there to catch some of that traffic.
Don’t think of post- Christmas website updates as “yet another expense”. Instead, look at it as a “continuing investment” into your online marketing efforts. You’ve already made a significant Christmas marketing investment. Now’s the time to work with your web design company and leverage that investment to ensure you continue to guide post-Christmas traffic to your website.
Post-Christmas Shopping Psychology 101
The 5-point website design and update strategy discussed above is rooted in post-Christmas shopping psychology. Online shoppers that feel they missed out on some great Christmas deals are more likely to open their wallets and spend on things they see on your website shortly after the Christmas shopping rush has ended. However, they will only do that if they see something new and fresh on the site – otherwise they will look elsewhere.
The most effective post- Christmas website update strategy is to make sure you continue to appeal to your website visitors through incremental changes to your website throughout the year. You need to consult with your web design agency now, and develop an update plan for the rest of the year. Then, make sure you implement at least one change/update every month, tweaking your content for special events like St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Halloween etc.
Give us a call on 01-6216866 or email info@myit.ie if you have website/online plans that you need some help with.
