The upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday presents a perfect opportunity for brands to increase sales after the dreaded post-holiday slump. If your online business sells products relevant to Valentine’s Day—whether they be fun gifts, decorations, clothing, or other items—then it’s time to get your online store and marketing efforts in gear (if you haven’t already). Below, we cover eight helpful steps ecommerce business owners can take to boost sales this Valentine’s Day season—or at least take advantage of positive association with the holiday.
1. Create Landing Pages Specific to Valentine’s Day
Not only will having this type of landing page help customers find the Valentine’s Day content they want more quickly; it will also improve your business’s searchability in relation to the holiday. Of course, SEO initiatives like this need to be implemented as quickly as possible to allow them time to begin producing results. But once they’re in place, your store has a stronger likelihood of appearing in SERPs as shoppers execute Valentine’s Day-related searches if you’re within the industry they’re seeking.
Suggestions: Dedicate a Category Page on your site to Valentine’s Day-related items, or create and publish a Gift Guide (more on this below) in a format that can be indexed in search.
2. Add Valentine’s Day-Related Keywords to Paid Ads
If you’re already running paid ads, adding holiday-specific keywords can help them achieve more impressions as searches in general shift more toward preparing for Valentine’s Day. Make sure the keywords you use are specific and unique to your industry—many, many businesses will be competing for broad keywords like “valentines day gifts” and “valentines decorations,” so their costs will undoubtedly be higher.
Suggestions: As an example, a pet supply store could include keywords like “valentines day dog outfits,” “valentines pet supplies,” “valentines treats for pets,” “cat bowtie hearts,” etc.
3. Update Your Site & Socials with Valentine’s Day Imagery
Festivity increases excitement. If your customers are already excited for Valentine’s Day and they see your brand associated with the holiday in some way, they’ll subconsciously transfer some of that positive feeling toward your brand. The easiest way for your business to appear festive is to make changes to your design and imagery that hearken back to the holiday—think red and pink, hearts, roses, etc.
Suggestions: Use Valentine’s-themed cover photos and hero images on your site and social media accounts. Go the extra mile by making a slightly tweaked “Valentine’s Day” version of your logo as well.
4. Generate and Share Valentine’s Gift Guides for Your Store
As mentioned above, a Gift Guide is a great way to easily put together Valentine’s Day-related content for your business. The purpose of a Gift Guide is to highlight the products you sell that you think will be of most interest to shoppers during the holiday in question. For Valentine’s Day, this could include typical Valentine’s gifts—like picture frames, jewelry, flowers, plush toys, candy, or other things typically favored during the holiday—or out-of-the-ordinary ideas for niche groups of customers. A Gift Guide will draw customers to exactly what they’re looking for for Valentine’s Day—and the less work they have to do to find it, the more they are likely to be happy and make a purchase.
Suggestions: An interactive landing page is great for SEO, but if you’re in a time crunch, a clickable PDF will do. Distribute your guide via email, social media, your homepage banner, etc.
5. Offer a Discount or Sale Unique to Valentine’s Day
Everyone loves to save money, and shoppers are more inclined to purchase items that they feel they’re getting a great deal on. Plus, all of your competitors are likely offering some kind of money-saving option for the holiday. To meet (or surpass) the competition and entice shoppers, create a Valentine’s Day-specific sale or discount. This will show customers that you care about securing their business for this holiday and are willing to reward them for doing so.
Suggestions: Offer a general discount like $5 off any purchase over $25 using the code “VALENTINE” at checkout, or simply hold a sale for 15% off all Valentine’s Day-related items.
6. Specify “Delivery by Valentine’s Day” Dates
Know that your products are typically delivered in a specific number of days? Let customers know when they must place their orders to have them arrive before Valentine’s Day so that they can be fully prepared. This will also create a sense of urgency for shoppers who may still be on the fence about whether to complete a purchase or not.
Suggestions: Include a countdown widget on your site or change your header image/banner daily to include the message “## days left for guaranteed delivery by Valentine’s Day.” After the specified date, offer a printable “I♥U + IOU” card with space to write which gift is on the way that customers can present to loved ones while they wait for their gift to be delivered.
7. Provide Gift Wrapping Options
Give your customers an extra dose of delight and satisfaction by offering to gift wrap any orders that are likely gifts (if you don’t offer this service already). This small extra step on your part will save your customers time and effort having to wrap your product and make it look presentable on their end, which makes their gift-getting experience with your business feel more complete.
Suggestions: Use Valentine’s-specific wrapping paper/bags, or simply spice up any holiday-agnostic gift wrap you already use with red or pink ribbon.
8. Execute a Social Media Campaign or Giveaway
Any time you experience an influx of purchases is a great time to drum up social engagement and collect user-generated content for your brand. Plus, as mentioned previously, the inherently heartwarming feeling of Valentine’s Day in particular will give customers positive associations with your brand. To achieve this, set up a Valentine’s Day-related social media campaign geared toward collecting positive sentiments from customers to boost your brand’s image.
Suggestions: Giveaway example: “Received our product as a Valentine’s Day gift? Tag us in a pic of you holding it for a chance to win a $50 gift card!” vs. Engagement example: “Did you get [YOUR PRODUCT] as a gift for Valentine’s Day? Tell us all about it in the comments below!”
Final Thoughts
Implementing one or all of these strategies can help your ecommerce business experience its best Valentine’s Day yet. Just remember to start as early as possible so that all of your hard work has time to gain traction and generate success.
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By: Elisabeth Newell
Title: 8 Ways to Prepare Your Ecommerce Business for the Valentine’s Day Holiday
Sourced From: www.volusion.com/blog/ways-to-prepare-your-ecommerce-business-for-the-valentines-day-holiday/
Published Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2022 16:05:00 GMT
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