The holidays are quickly approaching, which means it’s time to watch your holiday strategy come to life. If you haven’t started planning for the holidays yet, there’s still time to get started. Below are some strategies you can use to start optimizing your site so you can improve the customer experience and increase eCommerce conversion rates this holiday season.
Optimize for speed to keep customers on your site
When your site loads too slowly, customers get frustrated and look to your competitors. Ensuring your site is performing smoothly and efficiently is critical during the holidays. As site sessions increase, servers can become overloaded if you aren’t prepared. To simulate the traffic spikes, you can conduct load testing to push your site to its limits to see where you can improve. During the holidays you’ll want to continuously monitor site performance, so any issues are reported in real time, before customers catch them.
Implement fraud protections and ensure your site is accessible
Security is even more important during the holidays as many new users will be accessing your site and providing sensitive information at checkout. Ensure fraud protections are in place to keep your customers and their data safe from fraudulent actors online. Further, to guarantee that everyone can use your site regardless of how they process information, confirm your site is compliant with accessibility regulations for a more efficient user experience.
Simplify your UX to guide customers to checkout
Checkout is where the magic happens, and the experience of getting there is critical to your conversion rate. Cluttered and inefficient UX can cause customers to abandon their journey to checkout, and too much friction during checkout can result in lost sales. For mobile adaptability and accessibility, always ensure pages are concise and clean, without unnecessary animations or copy. Ensure checkout flow is smooth, enable guest checkout, mobile wallet options, and only provide information that is necessary to remove any friction that could cause customers to leave and never return.
Leverage your loyalty program to boost long-term retention
The holidays will bring a significant surge in traffic to your eCommerce site, but the key to retaining those customers beyond the holidays is through incentives. Reward your customers for repeat business with coupons and promotional offers to strengthen the relationship and give them a reason to return, which is why a successful loyalty program is such a great way to build your customer base year-round. This will result in long-term customer relationships and stronger brand recognition that will outlast the holiday season and bring in continuous revenue indefinitely.
Boost your visibility in AI search
The discovery phase is a critical first step that allows customers to find you, and it’s changed a lot in recent years. Previously, customers could find you through ad placements, Google searches, social media, and more. Since the rise of AI tools that allow customers to search and shop through conversation, retailers now rely on AI visibility to get their name in front of potential customers. The Virid team can run an AI audit on your site to see how information is pulled and delivered to customers, so you can optimize your site’s content specifically for AI search. This way you can ensure your site is in good shape for traditional search methods as well as AI assisted discovery.
Begin streamlining operations ahead of the holiday season
During the holidays, you’ll want your teams to be operating as efficiently as possible to get customers the help they need and ensure the journey from discovery to fulfillment is smooth and painless. What works for you for most of the year just might not be enough to support the surge in traffic on your site throughout the holiday rush. To ensure your site operations are optimized and refined, have a plan in place and get started early. Train your AI chatbots and virtual assistants on holiday specific queries and prepare your teams so they know what to expect. Communicate with suppliers to ensure stock will be available and continue to test what’s working so you can make adjustments on the fly. For more on how to get your eCommerce site ready for the holidays, download our whitepaper.
Final Thoughts
Looking for more personalized insights to drive eCommerce conversions this holiday season? Schedule a free site audit with the Virid team. For more insights on how to optimize your site for the holidays, watch the recording from our webinar featuring the eCommerce experts at Virid, where we dive into key strategies to ensure your site is ready to convert.
