With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, let’s take a tally. How many people shopped online? And how many people went into a physical store? If you’re like me, I did both, although the majority of those days were spent online shopping.
There is a Fine Line Between Informative and Annoying
My inbox was LIT. Full of emails boasting 40% off, 50% off, 80% off, etc. And you know what? These emails worked! There were two companies I purchased from on Cyber Monday, simply because their promotions notices went straight to my inbox. And the deals were just too good to pass up.
That being said, there were a few companies who overdid it. Some companies that I regularly purchase products from sent me no less than 15 emails on Cyber Monday, and about 30 emails in total from Black Friday through the weekend. This was absurd, and very annoying. It left a bad taste in my mouth about the company and their products.
Authentic Marketing All Year Round
Rosewood is a proponent of Authentic Marketing. If you are providing a service of value, people will purchase it even at full price. Your product/service should speak for itself. If you decide to run a promotion, make sure people know about it, but do it in a respectful way. Think about your own habits as a consumer.
Taking Advantage of Automated Tools:
Abandoned Cart
We’ve all been there: shopping on a website, adding items to your cart, and then leaving before you finish the checkout. Most companies have enabled some sort of an “Abandoned Cart” tool. If the person is logged in or has input their email address before abandoning the cart, the store will email them, notifying them of the items in their cart. Sometimes they’ll even offer an incentive discount. This can be a great strategy, since you already know they are a qualified lead, and perhaps just need a little push (ex. free shipping) to close the deal.
Sales Countdowns
This tool comes in and out of fashion. It offers a countdown sale unique to every visitor. It is incredibly smart, and tracks the IP address of the visitor so it knows how long is left in their specific sale period. You can also set up automations that will offer incentives if they’re closing in on the end of their sale period. There are many possibilities!
The holidays are competitive for online sales. If you have an online store, what tools are you taking advantage of this holiday season? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.
If you’d like to discuss your website needs with us feel free to contact me. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly newsletter as well for more education and inspiration!
Deanna
