The festive season is a crazy time if you think about it. You suddenly have people randomly singing Christmas carols, Mariah Carry and Wham! hijack the radios, people wear quirky Christmas sweaters and preach about love while ripping each other's hair out over a microwave on Black Friday.
Not only people can get crazy during this time, but also the number of orders flying in. As a small business owner, you know how hectic it can get.
In our Blogpost "Strategies for managing seasonal order spikes", we've already talked about the best way to handle your post-purchase process behind the scenes during these stressful times. But to go one step further, instead of just dealing with the order spikes, why not using them to optimise your post-purchase process visible for your customers?
During the festive season, the chance of new customers finding your business is high. Make it part of your priority to transform these new customers into loyal customers. The festive season is your chance to do so and this post is your chance to find out how.
Consistent branding at every touchpoint
Your brand is your business' salesman, if you will. It tells your customer what you stand for, what your brand thrives on and your mission. It is also the part that separates your company from every other company, making you stand out and be recognisable to your customer.
No need to tell you to show off your brand on your website, but what about the time after the purchase? From the moment the customer orders to the moment the package arrives, it can take hours, if not days. You can easily forget the brand in that time, especially when the customer buys their Christmas presents from 50 different companies.
Having a branded tracking page makes your business stand out from your competition.
On one hand, offering your customers the opportunity to track their parcels alone has a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Especially for short term shoppers, the anxiety to get the Christmas present before Christmas morning is skyrocketing. If they can track their order, they can plan ahead. Instead of being frustrated the day the gift was supposed to arrive, they already know ahead of time and can act on it.
Most companies offer the opportunity to track a parcel over the currier's website, which is still better than not being able to track your package at all. Still, by using a curriers website, you stand out against competitors and make your brand recognisable.
On the other hand, offering a branded tracking experience gives your customers the information they need and further shows your brand. This way, your brand stands out during the whole post-purchase process. This process is the last part before the item arrives at the customers, so it is the customer's final impression of your business. Make it count.
Mobile commerce
Mobile commerce is getting more and more important. Sitting down on a desk to shop actively has been surpassed by scrolling through marketplaces on the phone. No matter if standing on a train or sitting on the couch watching the latest episode of the British bake-off.
Having a website that isn't suitable for mobile commerce can be frustrating for the user and end up pushing valuable customers away rather than attracting them. Mobile accessibility is crucial throughout the whole customer journey, including your tracking page.
How frustrating is it to quickly check your order status standing in a train when the tracking page is just cut of at the end and is only fully visible in landscape mode or way too small to click the right buttons? So, if you try to click it, you end up accidentally tapping an advert and getting redirected.
This frustration might end up being connected to your business, even though the tracking page itself might not be yours but the curriers. Instead of gambling with tracking pages of the curriers, make sure to make delivery communication as easy as possible, no matter where your customer is and from what device they want to access your page.
Give your customers a personalised eCommerce experience.
Personalisation can be a significant driver in sales. You don't even need the latest technology or algorithms to implement a personalisation strategy. Just have a personalised message attached to your email marketing. Especially during the festive season, giving your Mails a festive makeover can raise the sales by loads.
And don't just stop with the personalised message after the item has arrived. You can target your customer again ten days after their purchase with a personalised product recommendation. If they still remember your brands at that point, chances are higher they will buy from you again. With a branded tracking page, you can easily raise brand recognition and ensure that your marketing efforts are successful after the purchase.
The power of social media
Social media is an excellent tool to gain new customers. Most Social Media networks work based on an algorithm that shows you the type of content you would interact with. Using it in your marketing is inevitable. It is so far integrated into our lives by now that it is unavoidable in marketing. Especially in combination with a happy customer, social media can be the most successful marketing tool and it is entirely free.
Making it as easy as possible for your customer to follow your social media channels can raise brand awareness further. The exciting thing about social media is that people follow like-minded people. On some social networks, you can even see what posts and profiles people are interacting with.
Say a happy customer started following you on Twitter, chances are that the follower of their profile sees this interaction in their feed, get interested and click on your profile as well.
Without knowing, the customer who started following you advertised your business to other people who are highly likely to be interested in your product as well.
In a nutshell, social media is a marketing tool that is entirely free and easy to implement.
Showing off your socials on all customer journey touchpoints helps motivate your customer to give you a follow. Put the socials on your website, put a card in the package with your social channels, and implement your socials onto your tracking page. Instead of actively typing out your brand's name, they just have to click a link and get redirected to your company's socials right away.
Offer free shipping
Shipping costs are a crucial part of getting the sales through. Not only are unexpected or high shipping costs the number one reason for cart abandonment, but also orders with free shipping are on average 30% higher in value.
There are many options for how to offer free shipping. You can, for example, set a price limit for free shipping, promote free shipping as an event or include shipping costs in the product price. Especially during the festive season, the wrong shipping options can quickly break the deal, and your customer goes to their competition.
With Siid’s shipping management software, you can always get the best rates, which allows you to give your customers more choices at checkout.
Free shipping is great, but if it takes three days to arrive, people shopping for Christmas presents on the 23rd aren't going to be happy with it. They would, however, pay a bit more to receive their item with next day delivery.
By giving your customers a choice, you can almost be confident they are happy with the price and the time it took.
Improving your post-purchase experience starts with the purchase itself and optimising the last step of the order, so everyone has their Christmas presents ready to be unwrapped.
