How to Prepare Your Client’s Ecommerce Website for the Holidays
The holiday season is full of opportunities for small businesses. As people look for perfect gifts for all the loved ones on their list, would-be customers turn into motivated shoppers. Everyone is actively searching for things to buy, giving businesses a unique chance to land new customers, drive more sales, and generate renewed brand awareness.
As a web designer, this is a great time to reconnect with past clients. Consider how you can help them prepare for the holidays ahead. By reaching out in October, you can revamp your client’s website in time for major shopping holidays, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can also help your client maximize online holiday sales with thoughtful branding, timely promotions, and a seamless user experience.
Set clear, data-backed goals
Before touching up your client’s website, clarify their holiday ecommerce goals. Are they hoping to drive sales, land long-term customers, or spotlight specific products and services?
Use website analytics to make these goals specific. Look at what traffic your client’s website got last holiday season. Note how many customers visited the site, how they discovered it, and whether they bought something or signed up for the newsletter. Then, do a deep dive on holiday sales data, looking at total sales and revenue, top products, and average order value.
These insights can help you set ambitious but practical goals. (Think: increase year-over-year holiday sales by 15%, website traffic by 20%, or newsletter sign-ups by 2.5%). They can also help you hone your holiday ecommerce strategy.
Use seasonal increases in traffic, search engine data, and site search keyboards to guide your project timeline, launching holiday promotions before people typically search for them. Pair traffic source data with purchase funnel data to see which marketing channels drive the most sales. Use abandoned cart analytics to pinpoint potential email marketing opportunities. Additionally, use product sales analytics to see which items your client should stock up on—and which ones you should spotlight leading up to the holidays.
Build a top-notch product catalog
Help your client make the most of the holiday online shopping season by optimizing their online store. Work with them to review their product catalog: what are their best-sellers, what new arrivals will they stock up on, and what do they want to highlight during online holiday sales? Avoid out-of-stock mishaps by streamlining their inventory management system. Verify that they’re equipped to process payments, calculate taxes, offer local pickups, and handle shipping and fulfillment without delays.
Once you’ve handled the nitty-gritty, focus on driving sales. Outfit each product listing with enticing imagery, compelling product descriptions, and helpful product reviews. Then, cross-sell by displaying related products and flag low-stock items with limited availability labels. Merchandise the store thoughtfully, prominently featuring best sellers, new arrivals, and other holiday sale favorites. And invite your client to share their products on other platforms, like search engines and social media sites.
You can also help your client diversify their holiday offerings—without giving them more inventory to manage. They can sell gift cards, online courses, services, and more. You can even help them create seasonal Custom Merch to sell exclusively during the holidays.
Launch enticing seasonal promotions
Leading up to the holidays, discounts are everywhere–and this is a gift. Fresh markdowns are a great way to draw in customers and drive sales, and give your client timely content to share all season long.
Work with your client to devise an online holiday sales strategy. Map out Black Friday deals, Cyber Monday deals, and general seasonal discounts. Get creative: launch store-wide sales, create festive promo codes, give exclusive discounts to newsletter subscribers, and offer free two-day shipping on last-minute purchases. Clarify how long each promotion will last, and verify every sale you’ve scheduled starts and ends on time.
During this discount-packed period, keep your client’s website updated. Use promotional pop-ups and announcement bars to share news with customers. Advertise new arrivals, flash sales, and other active promotions, and let customers know how much longer deals will last. Then, help them take advantage of available markdowns by showcasing on-sale items in a summary block, creating a sale category, and adding a sale link to the main navigation menu.
Keep your client’s online holiday sales top-of-mind by thoughtfully marketing them throughout the season. Ensure their website adheres to SEO best practices, reuse holiday URLs year after year, and update their Google Business page to reflect their holiday hours (if your client has in-person stores). Create Email Campaigns reminding customers about seasonal promotions, and automate abandoned cart recovery emails to salvage would-be sales. If your client has a blog, update it with holiday gift guides. Lastly, design a shareable Bio Site that markets all their deals in one place.
Optimize for holiday shopping
Get customers in the holiday spirit by giving your client’s website a festive makeover. Add beautiful imagery showcasing their seasonal best-sellers. Include festive colors in their palette. Make a seasonal twist to their logo that nods to the holidays. This holiday website refresh doesn’t have to feel kitschy: with a few festive touches, you can celebrate the season while honoring your client’s brand identity.
These updates should extend beyond the surface. Once your client’s website looks the part, check that it delivers a seamless user experience for holiday shoppers.
Optimize site navigation with online holiday shopping in mind: add a sale page to every menu, sprinkle product blocks across the site, and organize products into categories, so customers can filter to find what they’re looking for. Streamline shopping trips by enabling special features, like quick view, image zoom, and express checkout. Set up waitlists to notify customers when sold-out products are back in stock.
Make the holiday season even merrier by letting shoppers add gift messages and gift wrapping options at checkout. Then, help your client end each sale on a high note by automatically sending personalized thank you emails to customers.
Invest in customer support
Great customer support is an absolute must during the holidays. Customers are bound to have questions and quick, clear answers will save them stress, while giving your client one less thing to worry about.
Dedicate an FAQ page—or a section of an FAQ page—to holiday online shopping. Clarify order cutoff dates, share expected shipping turnaround times, and troubleshoot common checkout issues. Keep this page updated throughout the holiday season, and share it anywhere customers may turn for answers. Include it on the checkout page, the order confirmation page, and in order confirmation emails, and consider adding it to the main navigation menu.
Even if your FAQ page is incredibly thorough, customers may need one-on-one help. By enabling LiveChat support, you can ensure these special cases are handled quickly and efficiently. Your client can then decide to use the service year-round, or to exclusively offer it during the busy holiday season.
Prepare for higher-than-usual traffic
If all goes well, your client’s website will be flooded with holiday customers. So plan for the best case scenario, and give them the confidence that their website is ready for the holidays ahead.
Double-check that your client has an ecommerce plan that supports their holiday selling goals on Squarespace. Basic Commerce plans offer 0% transaction fees, advanced site analytics, and built-in merchandising tools–but an Advanced Commerce plan will give your client more control over shipping rates and discounts.
Then, check that the website is equipped for lots of visitors. Squarespace’s servers are built to handle high traffic. But if you want the site to run faster, reducing page size, shrinking images, and shortening galleries may do the trick.
Stress-test the website
Before launching any online holiday sales, take your client’s website for a test drive. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes by placing a test order, check the user experience on different devices, and check that the website loads quickly, even with high traffic.
If you spot a bug, handle it before the big holiday relaunch. Create a plan for the weeks to come. The website will likely need updates and upkeep, and by including those services in your seasonal package, you can confirm that your client—and their website—is in good hands.
The holidays mark an ideal time to reconnect with past clients, so take advantage of the season ahead. As a web designer, you can help businesses make the most of the shopping-packed season and end your (and your client’s) year on a high note.
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