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With the holidays rapidly approaching, it’s difficult for small businesses to navigate the looming clouds of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As a business owner, you might not be a website expert, and it’s essential to ensure your e-commerce platforms are locked and loaded when the buyers roll in. Websites consist of quite a few details that can make or break your holiday income, so we’re here to ensure you know what’s necessary to succeed in the year’s biggest shopping weekend!
#1: Mobile Optimization
Without mobile optimization, you’re missing out on MASSIVE groups of consumers. More than half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices, and 62% of smartphone users have made purchases from their device. If you think about how busy people are during the last two months of the year, it’s not hard to believe that people might be buying gifts via mobile on their lunch break, sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, or when they’re in line buying something for someone else. Even if you don’t see your website as an e-commerce opportunity, consider that 80% of consumers use their phone while in a storefront to look up reviews, compare pricing, or find another store location. Mobile optimization for any website is vital in this space, and without it, can cause loss of sales. Instead, be mobile optimized and be Cyber Monday ready!
#2: Test Your Hosting Service
If you’re expecting a lot of web traffic, you’ll want to see if simultaneous website requests are going to crash the entire site. It takes an enormous amount of visitors for this type of crash to occur, but it’s always good to know if your hosting service would be able to handle the possibility. Many small businesses have experienced these crashes, especially when working with big influencers. So, be prepared and check with your hosting service to see how much web traffic your site can handle to prevent your potential buyers from seeing an error page.
#3: Consider Implementing Abandoned Cart Emails
While you might be making a lot of sales during Black Friday weekend, you’re also incurring 74.5% abandoned carts. Abandoned carts happen for a vast variety of reasons, and many of them have nothing to do with not wanting the product. Someone may have stepped away from the computer to attend to something. They might have gotten an urgent phone call and accidentally closed the tab. Maybe they were distracted by social media or are waiting for their paycheck to clear. You can’t assume that people don’t want what you have to offer. By implementing abandoned cart emails, you can entice potential buyers back with compelling email reminders and discounts.
#4: Holiday Branding
Use your homepage sliders and other areas of your website to advertise what you’re offering throughout the holiday season! Promote your sales with branded holiday graphics that website visitors can use to their advantage. Showcase bundles of related products or add photos that highlight people using your products. You can ultimately show endless consumer possibilities through website graphic packages. If you don’t possess graphic design skills, you can use tools like Canva or other template based design programs to get the job done.
Checking these four things off your holiday prep checklist is going to help maximize your sales potential this season. Making sure your website is Black Friday & Cyber Monday prepared allows you to focus on ensuring customers get their orders on time rather than panicking about a crashed site. If you lack a web team to work towards your e-commerce goals, we’d love to discuss how IDG can help bring you to the next level. Make sure to give us a call at (714) 221-4377!
