Blog-imgThe behavior of consumers is currently undergoing some drastic changes, especially with regards to the Coronavirus situation. E-commerce vendors are seeing exponential growth in their sales and with traffic generation.

We see that many retailers are working diligently to reopen their doors, however, consumers still prefer the convenience and easy accessibility of shopping online. More than 71% of shoppers want to make their holiday purchases online, this year.

In addition to the increase in online shopping, about 46% of consumers in the U.S. have gone after new brands and businesses in order to find better value, higher rate of accessibility, and more convenience for these kinds of circumstances.

Since these consumers are making the quick transition to online shopping, trust is important to establish from the get-go, especially if consumers are using your brand’s services or products for the first time. Without trust, this won’t lead to any conversions or leads for your business.

Today, we’re going to be looking at some effective tips and tricks that will help you in enticing E-Commerce buyers for this holiday season and how it will be helpful for your business, for the foreseeable future.

The holiday season is very taxing for all of us. When we are in the pursuit of finding gifts for our loved ones, we want to ensure that they arrive in a timely manner. This puts added pressure on the retailers because they need to have the bandwidth in order to facilitate these demands.

See below for 3 effective tips for engaging with consumers during the holiday season.

Be Honest About Logistics

Since the inception of the coronavirus, many consumers are understanding about any delays that can come up when it comes to receiving their orders in a timely manner. During other points in the year, this is acceptable.

But will this fly during the holiday season? Yes and no. As long as your business is willing to be open and honest about the logistics during this time, this can give consumers peace of mind, and help them prepare for their orders.

How can you achieve this? One way to do this is by having a banner on the homepage of your website that indicates all of the details for logistics during the holidays.

For instance, you can guarantee to your consumers that if they order by a certain deadline, they will have their gifts sent to them by Christmas Eve.

E-Commerce sites are reaping the benefits of a tool known as JustUno, which allows these companies to input banners and message bars on their website.

If you have a lot of information to cover when it comes to your logistics, you also have the option of putting this on its own dedicated page. It can be implemented on the FAQ, help center page, regardless of where it goes, it should be in an easy spot for customers to locate it.

Look into incorporating messages and alerts to your consumers as well. If there are certain times around the holidays that are better to order than others, make this known.

If consumers are put on the spot, they are more likely to make a quick decision if they know it’s going to give them a positive outcome.

Provide Guidance On Gift-Giving

Customers can be very indecisive, at times. They want to do right by their loved ones and get them the appropriate gifts that they deserve, but they don’t always have the right ideas in mind for gifts.

With that being said, there is no shame in coordinating with these associates in order to assess what are the gifts that will be the most suitable for your recipients.

Thankfully, many of these E-Commerce power houses have categories and suggestions on their webpages. Product recommendations are vital. Suppose a customer is looking for a certain product on your site, but it’s out of stock. Your team should enable a feature that can suggest products that are similar to what you’re searching for.

Engage With Your Conscious Shoppers

These days, shoppers are more socially conscious with their purchasing decisions. In the United States, 15% of consumers are buying from companies based on their purpose and value, and 26% buy from companies that take good care of their employees. If you have good morals and ethics, this will do wonders in communicating with your target audience that you are authentic and transparent.

An alternative option to a donation or fundraisers to match sales, try giving consumers the option to donate extra money on top of their purchases.

Most recently, 7 in 10 shoppers said they wanted to be a part of a charitable activity, so it’s likely that many shoppers are willing to be a part of it this year as well.

As far as choosing causes that you would like to contribute to, think of the mission and purpose of your own business, and how it aligns with charitable organizations that are on your radar.

Additional Trust Building Exercises:

  • Make it Easy for Buyers To Get In Touch With People: Have your contact information be easily accessible on your website. When visitors can have their questions answered by real people, they will take comfort in knowing that you can be trusted. About 51% of consumers trust companies that are easy to get a hold of.
  • Mobile Communication: Mobile for E-Commerce has steadily been on the rise too. Visitors should be able to easily contact you, no matter what device they are using.
  • Utilize Live Chat Rooms: If you’re going to use live chat for the very first time, be selective about the pages you have this feature enabled on, the hours you operate, and the agents who monitor your chats. Start by granting access to the chat, only on pages that customers commonly visit when they run into issues or are unsure of something, such as the returns page or an FAQ page. As previously stated before, nothing replaces that human connection when we encounter issues or have lingering questions that need to be answered.