Hello everyone! Today we are going to talk about the nuts and bolts of increasing your handmade shop’s holiday sales.
There are two reasons you might be reading this article:
Some of you are looking ahead to the holidays, planning ahead of time to make this your best year yet . . . And that’s brilliant, these are the strategies that you definitely will be needing to consider and prep for as early as you can, so that you know what you want to do and when you’re going to do it.
The second reason you might be reading this article is that it’s already pretty close to holiday sales and you’re looking for last minute strategies to boost your holiday sales or improve your sales conversion rates—so you can turn more peeps into customers over the holidays!
Whether you are planning ahead or in the thick of holiday sales, I think it’s awesome that you are thinking strategically like this—and this article is going to help you get there!
I’m going to talk about 16 specific promo strategies that will help convince your shoppers to buy from YOU!
Each one of these tips can help convert a shopper into a buyer, which will help you reach those holiday sales goals and maybe even exceed them!
I’ll also link to some articles and resources below where I walk you through the 4 stages of a profitable holiday season and more, so make sure to check those out too.
You ready?
Let’s dive in.
So before you choose any promo strategies for your handmade shop, you need to remember three very important things:
OK—now that we have covered those important points, let’s talk about strategies!
This is a big list, so I’ve tried to group them into categories for you.
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When deciding which of these ideas you want to use, put yourself in your customers’ shoes and choose the ones you feel will speak to your customers and that really match up with your brand and brand vision.
1. “Regular’” Discounts – % off and $ off
2. Early shopping coupons and specials
Coupon and discount strategies are pretty self-explanatory. Offering discounts and special offers can make your customer feel like they are getting a “deal” that they should take advantage of.
Options to consider include regular discounts (% off and $ off), early shopping coupons and specials for those customers who shop early or before a certain date, and cart abandonment coupons for those customers who aaaaalmost purchased from you and added your products to their cart but didn’t complete the check out process.
Sometimes reducing or eliminating shipping will clinch the sale or give you a leg up over your competition. There are different ways you can approach a shipping promo: of course you can offer free shipping, but you can also offer discounted shipping, or a free upgrade to express shipping. So these are your 3 options:
4. Shipping costs deals
5. Free shipping
6. Express shipping
Do your shoppers like to receive “extras” or “freebies?” What gifts and buying bonuses might entice them to buy?
7. Buy one Get one (free/ half off), Buy 2 get one, etc.
Be creative—maybe you want to offer some variation of a buy one get one free or half off, or a buy 2 get one free. It doesn’t have to be your typical BOGO offer.
8. Free gift at certain purchase amount
Another option is to offer a free gift for any purchase that is over a certain amount. For example, a free key ring with every wallet, etc. Here again – know your numbers, you’re not really giving that key ring away ok? You’re still making a profit.
9. Social media contest / giveaway
If you have an engaged or a large social media following, use it to generate more holiday sales— a great way to do that is to create a contest or giveaway by leveraging your current audience to reach even more peeps!
Psychological triggers can also be very persuasive— if your customer thinks they might miss out, that might be just the push they need to complete the sale now instead of waiting until later.
There are two types of triggers you can use:
10. Genuine scarcity
Genuine scarcity triggers convey that the product is an exclusive gift that will never be offered again, or that product availability is time sensitive; once they are gone they’re gone.
11. Genuine urgency
Genuine urgency triggers are discounts that create a sense of urgency to get the purchase completed before the discount opportunity ends.
When you post discounts that are good for a limited number of days or put countdown timers on product pages showing when the discount expires, you create that feeling or urgency that can compel a shopper to complete their purchase.
Now – keyword: GENUINE. Please use these ETHICALLY. Notice how I said GENUINE scarcity and GENUINE urgency. Don’t make stuff up just to push people into buying your products. Don’t be that marketer. But if there is a genuine urgency or scarcity then communicate it.
If using paid advertising, be sure to spend your dollars wisely. I recommend targeting a warm audience (as in customers who have engaged with your page/shop in some way before) as it’s the most cost effective type of campaign. This is called a retargeting campaign and is what will give you the most bang for your buck – especially since the holiday season is an expensive time for ads.
You can also use shopper aids to help your shopper find the gift they are looking for.
When you create shopper aids, you need to think like a holiday shopper: what would make your products more valuable to your customers?
13. Create gift guides
Could you put together a handy gift guide that puts your products into categories like “perfect for coffee drinkers” or “great for dog lovers” so your shopper can browse based on the interest of the person they are buying for? You can even get your products featured in holiday gift guides made by magazines – online or printed!
14. Product bundles
Think of those times when you’ve been shopping— surfing the web for hours for a gift— but everything you’ve seen has been kinda “meh” and just not quite right.
Then you click on a page that has the kind of products you are looking for, all arranged in a cute themed gift box, ready to wrap and give, and you’re like “YES!!! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for!”
Bundles are also a great way to increase your average order value by selling more than one product per order.
Finally, think about what special extras you could provide that would make your customer have a better shopping experience.
15. Offer gift wrapping and/or adding notes.
Could you offer to wrap gifts, and/or add personalized notes to a gift before shipping it?
16. Answer customer questions – BEFORE they ask!
Make sure ANY customer question is answered in the listing – as in BEFORE they need to ask it!
The key here is that you want to remove barriers to purchase. This means you want to have CLEAR and VISIBLE information about the following details:
The idea of course is not to implement ALL these strategies but to get you thinking about what YOU could do, what would work for YOUR shop.
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, or want some help getting your holiday plan in order, come join me and your fellow Tizzit HQ members for our “Prep For Holiday Success” workshop!
watch this free 15-min training
and learn how to scale your website sales (without working around the clock or spending 24/7 marketing on social media)
We’re going to dive into the details of each stage of holiday planning, along with workbooks and checklists, to help you have a profitable holiday season and get your holiday sales ducks all in a row. 😊
I also have more resources to help you listed below, so make sure to check them out!
Until next time, aurevoir!
Other Holiday Planning Articles:
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