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We can all agree that 2020 has been quite a ride. As we turn the last corner of the year and head into the holiday shopping season, it’s logical to assume that we will see an uptick in online shopping with many stores remaining closed and people remaining home. In fact, Salesforce has been accurately predicting online shopping trends since the pandemic started in April, and their forecast for the upcoming holiday shopping season does not show any slowdown. They estimate that at least 30% of all holiday shopping will be made through digital channels, that many brick and mortar stores will shift to a fulfillment type model with curbside pickup, and that parcel services will exceed capacity and put as many as 700 million packages at risk of not being delivered on time.
If you’re an online retailer, now is the time to make sure your website is up to snuff and prepared to handle the influx of holiday traffic and shopping. Here’s how.
Prepare For Window Shoppers
Shoppers are always looking for the best deal on holiday gifts, and this year will be no exception. Plan for window shoppers by:
Adding a comparison tool
Shoppers will always compare products to find the best features and price. Instead of making them open 10 tabs and leave your site, give them the ability to make these comparisons right on your own website by adding a comparison tool. Many e-commerce platforms make this functionality easily available via an extension, app, or plugin.
Adding onsite retargeting offers
Cart abandonment is a real issue for online retailers. One conversion marketing strategy uses online retargeting offers, or pop-up ads, to catch shoppers before they leave your website by offering them something valuable. During the holiday shopping season, the offer is usually a discount, coupon, free gift, expedited shipping, etc. with the goal of getting them to complete their transaction.
Creating a cart abandonment strategy
Of course, there will still be plenty of shoppers who add items to their cart then go check out other websites and mull over the purchase. There are a couple different ways you can reconnect with these shoppers. First, you can use retargeting to drop a cookie on the shopper’s browser so that your ads follow them around the web. Or, for returning customers who have logged into your website, you can send them an email reminding them that they left items in their cart.
Improve User Experience
Ideally, you squash cart abandonment before it even happens by providing a stellar user experience on your website by:
Adding a chat function
People want answers, and they want them fast. The younger generations of shoppers also prefer live chat over a phone call (especially the wait time). While you shouldn’t abandon your phone and email support, adding a chat function is an easy and affordable way to improve customer satisfaction and conversions. Many retailers have found success with a hybrid model of an automated chatbot that answers common questions and pulls order information, and a real person that takes over for more in-depth questions.
Streamline your checkout process
Of the top 10 reasons shoppers abandon items in their cart, 9 of them have something to do with the checkout process. The number one reason? Unexpected shipping costs. While it’s true that you may not be able to offer free shipping, you can be transparent about fees before a shopper gets too far into the checkout process – we’d even go so far as to provide shipping estimates right on product pages.
Other ways to streamline the checkout process include:
- Allow guest checkout
- Ensure secure payment with SSL
- Add automated payment and checkout (PayPal, Apple Pay, etc)
- Minimize form fields
- Enable auto-fill
Bump up your shipping cutoff
USPS, FedEx, UPS, and other parcel carriers are already experiencing delays and struggling to keep up with demand with the rise in online shopping. Go ahead and assume the holiday shopping season isn’t going to fare much better. Start promoting your holiday offers now, and remind customers to shop early to ensure delivery in time.
If you need help getting your website ready for the holiday shopping season, PixelPeople is here for you! We specialize in both custom PHP-powered e-commerce websites, as well as popular platforms such as WooCommerce. Contact us today to learn how we can help.
