Order fulfillment is incredibly important in eCommerce. It affects customer happiness directly. Problems here can cause bad reviews, lost sales, and less brand loyalty.

If you want to avoid these issues, you need to make your order fulfillment process smooth, clear, and reliable. Fixing common problems and giving great service will help you keep up your reputation. And that will help you keep your customers happy and loyal, and your store profitable.

1. Eliminate surprise costs.

The top reason people abandon their online shopping carts is high shipping costs. No one wants to buy a $25 item with a $15 shipping fee.

Many businesses still make this mistake. At the very least, clearly list your shipping prices on your store. This way, people won’t add items to their cart only to back out when they see the total price is too high.

This is the best way to reduce your cart abandonment rate. Use it wisely to increase your revenue with little effort.

2. Offer free shipping.

Free shipping isn’t actually free. When you buy something with free shipping, the seller pays for the postage. No free lunch, right?

But not offering free shipping isn’t free either. About 75% of customers expect free shipping even on orders under $50 according to the National Retail Federation, and this number is rising. This goes back to eliminating surprise costs. Free shipping is the best way to remove unexpected fees for customers.

This tip might not always make financial sense, but if it does, use it. It can reduce your cart abandonment rate, bringing in enough revenue to cover shipping costs. Plus, free shipping makes customers happier with their experience!

3. Use address verification.

Shipping can go wrong if the package goes to the wrong address. You might think this is out of your control, but it’s not.

Address verification helps make sure customers enter the right address. This reduces the chance of sending a package to the wrong place, a mistake that can make customers angry and be expensive to fix.

Shopify users can use the app Streetify, which costs $0.03 per address lookup. WooCommerce users can use Postcode/Address Validation by SkyVerge, costing $49 per year.

These are just a couple of examples, though. There are many apps for Shopify, WooCommerce, and other eCommerce software you might use!

4. Provide expedited shipping options.

Many consumers are willing to pay for fast delivery. About 41% will pay for same-day delivery, and 24% will pay more for delivery within 1-2 hours (source: Conveyco). Also, 70% of US consumers buy from one online store over another because of more delivery options.

So, one of the easiest ways to improve shipping is to offer more options. Next-day delivery through USPS, UPS, and FedEx at a premium is a simple way to let customers choose what suits them.

5. Ship as soon as possible.

One big reason for shipping delays isn’t the postal carriers. FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL are pros at delivery. Once you hand over the package, they handle the rest.

But what if you take too long to get a package ready? Miss the cutoff time by a few minutes, and you delay delivery by a whole day! Customers expect two-day delivery now, and anything slower feels like forever.

The solution? Ship orders as soon as they come in or use an order fulfillment service. If you don’t want to drop everything to ship an order, outsource it.

Order fulfillment companies ship packages all day, every day. Postal carriers visit their warehouses multiple times a day, getting your packages in the mail faster and shaving a day off delivery time.

6. Make two-day shipping your default.

Remember how I mentioned that two-day delivery is the expectation now? The data backs me up on this.

Two-day delivery is the new standard. A whopping 79.3% of online shoppers expect it. If you can, make free two-day shipping the default for your business.

7. Provide shipping notifications.

Online shopping is weird because you pay right away but wait days for your package. Customers like to track their orders to feel at ease.

Send tracking numbers and status updates by default. Let customers know when their orders ship and give an estimated delivery date. If something goes wrong, tell the customer immediately. An astounding 98.3% of customers want to be notified if a package is delayed per supply chain firm, Project44!

Keeping customers informed shows you care about their experience, increasing the chances they’ll shop with you again.

8. Don’t be stingy with returns and refunds.

Every year, three billion packages are lost or damaged. This problem comes with handling so many packages daily.

Customers don’t care if UPS damaged the package; it’s your job to fix it. Forty-eight percent of customers returned an item last year, and 80.2% did so because it arrived damaged.

Returns and refunds are tied directly to the shipping experience. Happy with the returns process? Ninety-five percent of shoppers will buy from you again. Unhappy? They’re three times more likely to never shop with you again.

Make returns easy. Allow free returns with refunds for up to 90 days. Let customers print return labels at your expense. Sure, you cover shipping and inventory costs, but you save the customer relationship, which is worth much more in the long run.

9. Pack items properly.

Shipping damage happens, but you can cut the risk with a few tricks:

• Fill empty spaces with bubble wrap, corrugated rolls, or air cushions.
• Use sturdy outer packaging like corrugated boxes.
• Keep liquids away from other items.
• Label fragile packages clearly.
• Separate fragile items within boxes.

These steps reduce the chance of items breaking and needing returns. That means more money stays in your pocket!

10. Provide great customer service.

Even with fast, free shipping, great packing, and a solid return policy, things can still go wrong. When they do, excellent customer service is key to keeping customers happy and coming back.

Offer friendly, accessible support. Have an email, phone number, and maybe even live chat. Make it easy for customers to reach you and solve their problems quickly. It pays off in the long run!

11. Brand your packaging.

People form opinions about products in just 3 seconds. Good packaging can make a great first impression. Over 50% of consumers say they’d buy more from a brand with branded packaging, and 68% say it makes a brand seem more high-end.

Represent your store brand right when customers open the box. Use custom packaging like boxes, bags, or bottles.

12. Ask for feedback.

Simple but often forgotten: ask your customers what they think! You can look at statistics all day long but never get a truly good feel for what your specific customers truly want.

The easiest way to find out is to simply ask them! Send out automated surveys so you can learn more about what you’re doing well and what you’re not. Then you can lean into your strengths and resolve your weaknesses.

If you follow tips like these, you’re likely to start converting more traffic and retaining more customers. But things will still go wrong from time to time, so here are some tips to help you handle occasional customer service issues as they arise.

7 Tips For Handling Customer Service Issues

Even if you prepare everything correctly, items will still break in the mail and get lost. Not often, but sometimes!

Because of that, you need a plan to handle issues when they come up. Here’s how you can do that.

1. Respond promptly to customer inquiries.

Quick responses can stop small issues from turning into big headaches. Imagine a customer with a simple question about their order. If they get an answer fast, they’re happy. If not, they might get frustrated.

Make sure your customer service team is always ready. They should be available and alert, ready to jump in and solve problems as soon as they arise.

2. Offer clear and proactive communication.

Keep your customers in the loop. Regular updates about their order status are crucial. Did something go wrong? Is there a delay? Tell them right away! Explain what happened and what you’re doing to fix it.

This kind of transparency builds trust. Customers feel reassured when they know you’re on top of things, and their frustration levels drop.

3. Provide multiple contact options.

Make it super easy for customers to reach you. Some people prefer email, others like to call, and many love live chat. Offer all these options and more if possible.

Accessibility is key. When customers can contact you easily, issues get resolved faster, and everyone’s happier.

4. Empower your customer service team.

Give your customer service reps the power to make decisions. They should be able to solve problems on the spot without always having to ask a manager.

Empowered employees are more confident and can provide quicker, more satisfying resolutions. When your team feels trusted, they work more effectively and customers benefit from faster service.

5. Offer compensation for significant issues.

Sometimes, things go really wrong. In these cases, consider offering compensation like refunds, discounts, or free products. This can turn a bad situation into a positive experience.

Imagine a customer receiving a damaged product. A quick refund or a discount on their next purchase can make them feel valued and understood, keeping them loyal to your brand.

6. Track and analyze customer complaints.

Keep a close eye on customer complaints. Record them, analyze them, and look for patterns. Is there a common issue popping up? Understanding these problems helps you fix them at the source.

Addressing recurring issues will prevent future complaints, making your overall service better and more reliable.

7. Follow up with customers.

After you’ve resolved an issue, don’t just leave it there. Follow up with the customer to ensure they’re happy with the resolution. This extra step shows that you care about their experience.

It’s a small gesture that can make a big difference. Customers appreciate knowing that their satisfaction matters to you.

Final Thoughts

Fast, competent order fulfillment and responsive customer service are both essential for keeping customers happy. Doing both of these things well can play a huge role in whether customers come back to shop more in the future.

Preventing shipping issues and addressing them quickly when they arise will allow you to build a strong reputation and increase customer loyalty. When in doubt – act like the kind of company that you want to shop from!

The holiday rush is great for eCommerce. But what do you do when it’s done? How can you turn one-off holidays into steady post-holiday eCommerce sales?

That’s a big question and there are a lot of ways you can answer it. In this guide, we’ve compiled a list of tips to help you do just that.

Below, you will find 23 suggestions on how to achieve steady post-holiday sales, broken down into actionable tips. If you follow some of these tips, you can ratchet up your post-holiday sales and lock in continued growth for your eCommerce business.

Marketing Strategies

If you want to drive sales, you need a great marketing plan. Of course, there are a million ways you can draw attention to your products. You will want to focus on targeted campaigns that have your market in mind.

Here are a few tips to inspire you.

#1: Create targeted email campaigns.

If you want emails to sell, you need to customize your pitch to your recipient. The best way to do that is by segmenting your email list based on customer behavior and preferences.

For example, separate customers who bought gifts from those who purchased items for themselves. That factor alone tells you a lot about their intent behind purchasing.

Once you do that, you can send personalized emails with relevant product recommendations and exclusive offers tailored to each segment. Use engaging subject lines and clear calls to action to increase open and click-through rates.

Timing is key. You will want to send emails when customers are most likely to engage, such as early morning or late evening. When in doubt, though, most email software can help you pick the right time.

You may also consider using automated email workflows to follow up with customers who clicked on links but did not make a purchase.

#2: Use social media for promotion.

Run post-holiday promotions on social media platforms. No matter how you choose to do this, you will want to use eye-catching visuals and engaging captions to attract attention.

Here are a few specific ideas you can implement:

• Offer limited-time discounts and exclusive deals to your followers.
• Collaborate with influencers to expand your reach and drive traffic to your website
• Track the performance of your campaigns to optimize your strategy.
• Use platform-specific features like Instagram Stories, Facebook Ads, and X/Twitter polls to engage your audience.
• Create interactive content such as contests and giveaways to increase participation and visibility.

Social media is all about building up a relationship with your audience. Give them reasons to be excited!

#3: Offer exclusive post-holiday discounts.

Create special discounts available only after the holiday season. Use scarcity tactics, such as limited-time offers, to encourage quick purchases. Promote these discounts through email marketing, social media, and your website.

Highlight the savings customers can enjoy by shopping now rather than later. Additionally, consider creating a sense of urgency by showing low stock levels for discounted items.

If you want to go a step further, you can use countdown timers on product pages to emphasize the limited availability and encourage immediate action.

#4: Launch a New Year sale event.

Organize a sale event to celebrate the New Year. You can offer significant discounts on popular products and create bundled deals to increase average order value. This is the perfect excuse to start selling again, even during the post-holiday slowdown.

You can then the event through all your marketing channels, including email, social media, and your website. You might also consider hosting live streams or virtual events to showcase your products, if you want to provide a more interactive experience.

#5: Implement a referral program.

Encourage your customers to refer friends and family by offering rewards for successful referrals. Provide incentives such as discounts or free products for both the referrer and the referee.

You can also promote your referral program through email, social media, and your website to maximize participation. If you really want to lean into this strategy, you can use referral tracking software to more easily manage and reward referrals.

#6: Work with influencers for promotions.

Start by finding influencers who share your brand values and have a loyal, active following. Give them unique discount codes to share with their audience. This can help you attract new customers and increase sales.

Focus on building long-term relationships with these influencers. That way, not only will you make a key marketing ally, but it will also help you keep the brand message consistent. Also, encourage them to create authentic, personalized content showing how they use your products in their everyday lives. This approach makes their promotions more genuine and relatable to their followers.

And when in doubt, always pick with influencers who seem more genuine. They tend to keep their followers happy for longer!

Customer Engagement

The holidays are a great time to win new customers. But if you really want to succeed in the long run, you need to engage with your customers after the holiday rush. That’s how you keep customers loyal and ready to make repeat purchases.

Below, you will find tips on how to do that.

#7: Personalize follow-up emails.

Send personalized follow-up emails to customers who made purchases during the holidays. Thank them for their business and recommend products based on their previous purchases.

Use dynamic content – even if it’s something as simple as adding their first name – to tailor the email to each recipient. This will increase the likelihood of engagement and repeat sales. You can also mention specific items they bought and suggest complementary products.

In those emails, include special offers or discounts just for them to make them feel valued and appreciated. Keep the tone friendly and conversational, making sure your message feels like a genuine thank you rather than a generic marketing email.

#8: Offer loyalty rewards for repeat purchases.

Implement a loyalty program that rewards customers for repeat purchases. One way to do this is to offer points for every dollar spent, which can be redeemed for discounts or free products.

Promote the benefits of your loyalty program through email marketing, on your website, and in-store if applicable. Create different tiers in your loyalty program to encourage customers to spend more to reach higher levels of rewards. Then you can send regular updates about their points balance and remind them of the benefits they can unlock.

#9: Collect user-generated content (UGC).

There is no marketing better than word of mouth. So you need to give customers a reason to start talking!

Ask customers to share photos and reviews of their purchases on social media. Create a branded hashtag to make it easy to find and share this content. Offer incentives like discounts or entries into a giveaway for those who share their content.

UGC is just a fancy way of talking about things that customers say about you online. Once you have UGC, you can feature it on your website and social media. This helps build trust and can encourage fence-sitters to make purchases for the first time.

You can also share user stories and photos in your marketing emails. This will help you show real customers enjoying your products. It’s great promotion, yes, but it can also build a sense of community too!

#10: Provide exceptional customer service.

Make sure your customer service team is responsive and helpful. Address any post-holiday issues or questions promptly. The two weeks after Christmas are especially critical.

Providing exceptional customer service can turn one-time buyers into loyal customers and generate positive word-of-mouth referrals. You can even salvage a lot of returns too, since good return processes can lead to people who are willing to come back again in the future as customers.

For that reason, you need to train your team to handle common post-holiday issues. That includes all the usual post-holiday problems like returns, exchanges, and shipping inquiries. Empathy and efficiency go a long way here.

Once problems are resolved, you can then follow up with customers to make sure they are satisfied with the solution. After all, a follow up email after a problem is a good excuse to stay in touch with a potential long-term customer.

#11: Host a social media contest.

Run a contest on your social media platforms to engage your audience. Contests can increase brand visibility and drive traffic to your website. Set clear and simple rules to make it easy for people to join. Promote the contest through all your marketing channels and remind your followers regularly until the contest ends.

As part of the contest, you can ask participants to share photos, videos, or stories related to your products. Be sure to offer attractive prizes to bring new people on-board, of course!

Last but not least, be sure to announce winners publicly. This is a great way to build excitement and encourage future participation.

You can use Gleam.io and Rafflepress to help you do this.

#12: Share holiday-themed content to keep the festive spirit.

Continue sharing holiday-themed content even after the holidays are over. Share stories, recipes, or tips related to the season. This keeps the festive spirit alive and gives customers a reason to keep paying attention to your brand.

You can post content that reflects on the holiday season. That might mean talking about customer holiday experiences with your products or showing behind-the-scenes looks at how your team celebrated.

The vibe you want to go for is nostalgic and heartwarming. These themes evoke positive emotions and will help keep your audience connected to that fleeting festive feeling. And again, it’s another reason to stay in touch after the holiday rush!

Website Optimization

Optimizing your website is key to providing a smooth shopping experience. After all, nothing can break a potential sale like a slow, broken, hard-to-use website.

A little time spent on site improvements can lead to increased sales and higher conversion rates. Here’s how to make it happen!

#13: Make your website with mobile users in mind.

Make sure your website looks great and works well on mobile devices. After all, many – if not most – customers shop on their phones. Use a responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes.

Compress images to reduce loading times and make sure buttons are easy to tap. Test your website on various devices like phones and tablets to be sure it performs well.

Regularly check for any issues and fix them quickly. Don’t forget to check your navigation menus too. You want users to be able to find what they want quickly and easily.

#14: Update product listings with post-holiday offers.

Give your product listings a makeover to highlight post-holiday discounts and promotions. Use clear, concise descriptions and high-quality images to showcase your products.

Mention any limited-time offers or special deals to encourage quick purchases. Make your listings stand out with eye-catching graphics and bold text for important details.

Keep the content fresh by regularly updating the listings with new deals and relevant seasonal promotions. This keeps customers interested and coming back for more.

#15: Improve site speed and performance.

A fast-loading website is crucial for keeping customers around. Regularly monitor your website’s performance with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. This will let you address any issues promptly. That way, the shopping experience stays smooth.

Every second counts. For that matter, every tenth of a second counts! Even a slight delay can lead to lost sales.

When in doubt, follow these rules:

• Compress your images
• Use a content delivery network (CDN)
• Minify your code

These three tips alone will dramatically improve site performance if you haven’t done them already.

#16: Enhance the checkout process for ease.

If you haven’t already done this, double check your checkout process. It needs to be really easy to buy. You want as little friction as possible.

For one, offer guest check out. Customers don’t want to make accounts. Don’t make them.

Provide clear instructions and multiple payment methods. That way, customers don’t have to look for their credit card if they know their PayPal password by heart.

Test the checkout process yourself to identify any potential pain points and eliminate them. A hassle-free checkout is the easiest way to increase sales.

Don’t give people a reason to abandon their carts!

#17: Use A/B testing to find effective strategies.

Experiment with different website elements using A/B testing. Try out different headlines, images, and calls to action to see what works best.

Analyze the results to determine which variations perform the best. Implement the winning strategies to improve your website’s conversion rate.

Make a regular habit of this. It’s a good way to make sure your site experience is constantly getting better.

And if you need a tool to get started? Consider VWO.

#18: Add a live chat feature for immediate assistance.

Roll out a live chat feature on your website to provide real-time assistance to customers. This can help resolve any issues or questions they have while shopping, leading to higher conversion rates.

As you do this, be sure your live chat is staffed with knowledgeable and friendly representatives. Offer 24/7 support if possible to cater to all customers. By being available to help immediately, you can prevent lost sales and boost customer satisfaction.

Inventory Management

One of the problems of post-holiday eCommerce is inventory management. If you’re smart about how you handle it, though, you can get rid of your overstock and prevent stockouts at the same time.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you manage your inventory.

#19: Highlight overstocked items with special deals.

Identify overstocked items that are taking up valuable space. Promote these products with special deals to move them quickly. Offer discounts or bundle them with popular products to create attractive offers.

Highlight these deals prominently on your website and through various marketing channels like email newsletters and social media posts. Use eye-catching graphics and persuasive language to draw attention to these offers.

This not only helps clear excess inventory but also brings in customers looking for great deals.

#20: Bundle products to increase average order value.

Create product bundles that offer a better value than purchasing items individually. This strategy can increase your average order value and help move slower-selling items.

Combine popular products with less popular ones to create appealing bundles. Promote these bundles on your website’s homepage, in product descriptions, and through email marketing campaigns.

Use phrases like “best value” or “exclusive bundle” to entice customers. Bundles can also make great gift options, providing added convenience for shoppers and boosting sales.

#21: Introduce limited-time offers to create urgency.

Use limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency and encourage quick purchases. Highlight these offers prominently on your website, in marketing materials, and across social media platforms. Another trick you can use are countdown timers, which can emphasize limited availability and stop people from procrastinating.

Use phrases like “while supplies last” or “only a few left” to enhance the urgency. Limited-time offers can be applied to overstocked items, new arrivals, or seasonal products, making them a versatile tool in your marketing strategy.

#22: Promote seasonal products with creative marketing.

Market seasonal products with creative campaigns that resonate with your audience. Use holiday themes, seasonal colors, and storytelling to make your promotions more engaging.

And yes, while this might seem like it’s more of a holiday marketing tactic than a post-holiday marketing tactic, it still works in January and February. Winter-themed items still work well in January. And Christmas red isn’t all that different from Valentine’s red.

Just like with the BFCM season, post-holiday seasonal promotions can include limited-edition products, themed packaging, or special discounts, all designed to attract customers and boost sales.

It doesn’t have to be complex either. Just think of how much revenue Starbucks has made just by using holiday-themed cups!

#23: Restock popular items quickly.

Monitor your inventory levels closely and restock popular items promptly to meet customer demand. Be sure to communicate regularly with suppliers to lock in quick turnaround times.

You will also want to keep customers informed about restocked items through email newsletters, social media updates, and website notifications. Use phrases like “back in stock” or “just restocked” to create excitement and drive repeat purchases.

Offering a pre-order option for out-of-stock items can also maintain customer interest and lock in immediate sales once the items are available again.

Final Thoughts

Boosting post-holiday eCommerce sales takes a mix of a lot of tactics. In our list, we discussed targeted marketing, smart customer engagement, optimized websites, and efficient inventory management. But, of course, there are many more ways that you can secure post-holiday sales that we didn’t even mention.

We hope you find these tips useful and that you’re able to use them to keep sales strong long after the holidays are over!

The holiday season is a wonderful opportunity for eCommerce businesses to shine. It’s a time when shoppers are eagerly looking for gifts and deals, and are in a generally festive mood. If you’re smart about how you handle holiday promotions, you can pick up a ton of new customers, some of which you might keep for a long time!

To help you do that, we’ve made a list of 31 proven holiday promotion ideas. Take some of the ones you like and they will help your eCommerce store thrive this coming holiday season!

Early Preparation

Start planning your holiday promotions early to stay ahead of the competition and capture more customers. Early preparation helps you organize your campaigns better.

That means you’ll have enough stock to meet the holiday demand. If you want to succeed, you need to get a head start to maximize your holiday sales potential.

#1: Offer pre-holiday sneak peeks.

Generate excitement by showcasing upcoming holiday products early. Share sneak peeks on your website and social media to build anticipation and build up early interest in your offerings.

One way you could do this is to tease your customers with a glimpse of a limited-edition holiday item or a special bundle. It’s a tried and true technique! Early previews create buzz and encourage customers to plan their purchases, and that leads to higher engagement and sales.

Another example: you could post a sneak peek video on Instagram to showcase a holiday-themed gift set. For the loyal customers following you Instagram, this could make them eager to grab it as soon as it launches.

#2: Implement early bird discounts.

Reward early shoppers with special discounts. Offering early bird discounts encourages customers to make their holiday purchases sooner, boosting your early sales and reducing the last-minute rush.

For instance, you could offer a 10% discount for orders placed before December 1st. Early bird deals can also help you gauge the popularity of your products and adjust your inventory accordingly. That way, you can be sure you’re well-stocked for the peak shopping season.

#3: Host a holiday preview sale.

Organize a special sale event to preview holiday items. A holiday preview sale gives customers a chance to buy exclusive products before they’re available to the general public.

This strategy can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, driving more traffic to your store. As an example, you could host an online event where loyal customers can access new holiday merchandise a week before the official release.

This not only boosts sales but also strengthens customer loyalty.

#4: Create VIP exclusive offers.

Make your loyal customers feel special with VIP-only deals. Send exclusive offers to your VIP customers, and you’ll likely see repeat purchases as a result. VIP deals can include early access to sales, special discounts, or unique holiday bundles that are not available to regular customers.

For example, a VIP email could offer a 20% discount on a new holiday collection, available only to your most loyal patrons. Not only will this incentivize customers to buy, but they’ll probably look forward to your next email too!

Email Marketing

According to Litmus, the average ROI for email marketing is $36 per every dollar spent. Saying that’s an excellent return on investment is a massive understatement.

Any way you look at it, email marketing is a great way to make sales and keep in touch with your audience. The trick is provide the right people with the right messages at the right time. This comes down to segmenting your audience by behavior and interest, and figuring out what offers they’re most interested in.

Here are some tips on how you can use email marketing to your advantage over the holidays.

#5: Launch a 12 Days of Deals campaign.

One easy way to excite your customers is to run a 12 Days of Deals email campaign. Each day, offer a different promotion or discount to keep customers returning to your store. This strategy builds excitement and encourages repeated visits, increasing the chances of multiple purchases.

For instance, on Day 1, you could offer 15% off all sweaters. On Day 2, a buy-one-get-one-free deal on accessories.

But it also serves another purpose – you get a chance to run 12 different deals. Seeing who clicks on which emails and who makes purchases can help you segment your audience. Then you can use that to make better emails in the future.

#6: Curate gift guides by price.

Some of the people on your mailing list might be shopping for others. To engage them, you can create gift guides sorted by price to help customers find the perfect gifts within their budget.

Send these guides via email to make holiday shopping easier for your subscribers. Price-based gift guides can simplify the decision-making process, which takes away one more barrier to making a purchase.

For example, you could have sections like “Gifts Under $25,” “Gifts Under $50,” and “Luxury Gifts” to help shoppers quickly find what they need.

#7: Send a holiday countdown series.

Sometimes, it helps to create an event, if only so you have something to celebrate. Online stores do this really well with countdown series.

Send regular emails counting down to a big holiday sale or event, offering sneak peeks and exclusive deals along the way. Countdown series create a sense of urgency and excitement. And, of course, this drives more traffic to your store.

Think about it: you could send an email each day of December leading up to Christmas, each with a special offer or a new product highlight.

#8: Promote exclusive email subscriber discounts.

If you’re new to email marketing, sometimes, priority 1 is just building up the mailing list. So you need to give people an opt-in incentive.

A simple way to do this is to reward your email subscribers with exclusive discounts. Offer special deals only available to your email list to encourage sign-ups and loyalty. Exclusive email discounts can make your subscribers feel valued and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases.

One way you could do this is to offer a 25% discount code in your holiday newsletter. Then all you have to do is make it available only to those who have subscribed to your emails.

Social Media Engagement

Social media is great for reaching a broad audience and creating interactive and engaging content. You can use a bunch of strategies to keep your followers excited about your holiday promotions.

Here are a few simple ideas to get your wheels turning.

#9: Run a social media advent calendar.

Create a social media advent calendar, sharing a new deal or promotion each day leading up to the holidays. It gives customers the perfect excuse to check your store every day.

When you do this, your customers can wake up each day to a new surprise offer. It’s like opening a little gift every morning.

To give you some ideas, Day 1 could feature a 20% discount on all accessories, while Day 2 offers a free gift with any purchase.

#10: Host holiday-themed contests.

Boost engagement by hosting holiday-themed contests on your social media platforms. Contests can include photo submissions, caption contests, or holiday trivia, offering prizes to the winners.

Picture your followers competing to post the best holiday-themed photo or coming up with the funniest caption for a festive image. Contests create a fun and interactive way to engage with your audience and promote your products.

For instance, a “Best Holiday Decor” contest could encourage customers to showcase their decorations, with the winner receiving a shopping spree.

#11: Collaborate with influencers for exclusive promotions.

Partner with influencers to reach a broader audience with exclusive promotions. Influencers can help you tap into their followers’ trust and loyalty, driving more traffic and sales to your store.

There are a lot of ways you can do this, but one common way is to provide special discount codes for influencers. This helps with tracking the success of your partnership as well. You can also work together on giveaways or sponsored content.

Imagine your favorite influencer announcing a 15% discount code exclusively for their followers. This not only drives sales but also enhances your brand’s credibility.

When in doubt, work with influencers that feel genuine. They tend to last longer!

#12: Share user-generated holiday content.

Nothing your marketing team can say will ever be as powerful as what your actual customers say.

So with that in mind, encourage your customers to share their holiday experiences with your products on social media. Share user-generated content (UGC) on your platforms to build a sense of community and authenticity.

UGC is the perfect example of social proof. Good UGC makes your brand more credible and can pull in new shoppers. For example, reposting a customer’s photo of your product under their Christmas tree shows real-life usage and satisfaction, encouraging others to buy.

Website Optimization

Slow websites ruin sales. Your site needs to be a lean, mean selling machine for the coming holidays.

Here are some tips on how you can optimize your website, improve the shopping experience, and increase your conversion rate.

#13: Create holiday-themed landing pages.

Design landing pages with holiday themes to capture the festive spirit. To do this, use holiday graphics, colors, and messaging to make these pages appealing.

Picture a homepage decked out in red and green with twinkling lights and snowflakes. It’s the perfect way to instantly put visitors in the holiday shopping mood. It’s no wonder that holiday-themed landing pages can not only improve engagement, but also make your promotions more memorable.

#14: Offer gift wrapping options at checkout.

Provide gift wrapping services at checkout to make holiday shopping easier for customers. This added convenience can increase your average order value and make your store a go-to destination for holiday shoppers.

Think about a busy parent completing their holiday shopping in one go. They would no doubt be relieved to know that their gifts will arrive beautifully wrapped and ready to place under the tree. Convenience is, itself, a product worth selling!

#15: Highlight limited-time offers with countdown timers.

Use countdown timers to create urgency for limited-time offers. Displaying the remaining time for a deal encourages customers to act quickly, boosting conversion rates and driving more sales during the holiday season.

So think about a timer ticking down. Imagine it showing only 30 minutes left to get 30% off your purchase. If you’re like many people, then that might be enough to push you to make that decision fast!

#16: Optimize for mobile shoppers.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly to cater to the increasing number of mobile shoppers. Think from the customer’s perspective – if you’re trying to shop on your phone but the website keeps crashing or loading slowly, would you really stick around to finish the purchase? Most would not.

A responsive design and fast loading times can enhance the shopping experience for mobile users, leading to higher sales. Make sure your site runs smoothly on mobile devices to keep those sales rolling in.

In-Store and Online Integration

Do you have both physical and online locations? You can integrate your online and in-store experiences to provide a seamless shopping journey. This approach can drive traffic to both your physical and online stores, maximizing sales opportunities.

#17: Promote Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store (BOPIS) options.

Encourage customers to buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS). This option combines the convenience of online shopping with the immediacy of in-store pickup, appealing to last-minute holiday shoppers.

Imagine a customer buying a gift online during their lunch break and picking it up on their way home—super convenient and time-saving. But don’t forget the added bonus – when the customer comes in to pick up their item, they may very well make another purchase!

#18: Offer special in-store discounts for online followers.

Reward your online followers with exclusive in-store discounts. Promote these offers on your social media channels to drive foot traffic to your physical locations and increase in-store sales.

For example, you could announce on Instagram that followers who show a specific post at checkout get 20% off their in-store purchase.

#19: Host live shopping events on social media.

Engage customers with live shopping events on social media platforms. Show off your holiday products, offer exclusive deals, and interact with viewers in real-time to create a fun and engaging shopping experience.

As an example, wouldn’t it be neat to have a live video where a host walks through the store? Along the way, they could highlight special holiday items, answer questions, and give out discount codes to viewers. It would be like a personal shopping experience from the comfort of home.

Customer Loyalty

Paying attention to customer loyalty during the holidays can lead to repeat business and long-term relationships over the course of the next year. So if you’re serious about maximizing long-term customer value, think about loyalty programs and exclusive offers. You want to give customers a reason to keep coming back.

#20: Launch a holiday rewards program.

Introduce a holiday rewards program to incentivize repeat purchases. Offer points or discounts for every purchase, encouraging customers to shop more frequently during the holiday season.

Imagine every time you buy something, you earn points that can be redeemed for discounts or free items. It’s like getting a little gift every time you shop. For example, “Earn 10 points for every dollar spent, and get $10 off once you reach 100 points.”

#21: Offer bonus points for purchases during the holiday season.

Reward customers with bonus loyalty points for purchases made during the holiday season. This strategy can increase sales and encourage customers to choose your store for their holiday shopping.

Picture this: you’re already earning points, but during the holidays, you get double or even triple points for every purchase. It’s a great incentive to do all your holiday shopping in one place.

For instance, “Double points on all purchases from December 1st to December 31st!”

#22: Provide exclusive deals for returning customers.

Offer special deals exclusively for returning customers. Showing appreciation for their loyalty can strengthen your relationship and also make them more likely to shop with you again.

Have you ever gotten an email that says, “Thanks for being a loyal customer! Here’s a special 20% off just for you.” If so, it probably made you feel valued and more inclined to return.

Upselling and Cross-Selling

Smart use of upselling and cross-selling techniques during the normal sales process can help you increase your average order value. And it doesn’t have to be at your customer’s expense either! You can suggest relevant products and make enticing bundles, both of which could make for an even better shopping experience.

But that’s just the surface – check out some of the ideas below for more inspiration.

#23: Bundle products for holiday specials.

Create special holiday bundles that combine complementary products at a discounted price. Bundling products can increase the perceived value and encourage customers to spend more.

For instance, “Holiday Bundle: Get a scarf, hat, and gloves set for just $29.99.” That’s a pretty good deal overall, and if your customer is already shopping for gloves, there’s a good chance they need a hat too, even if they would have otherwise forgotten.

#24: Suggest complementary products at checkout.

Recommend complementary products at checkout to enhance the shopping experience and increase sales. Displaying helpful suggestions can prompt customers to add more items to their cart. For example, if someone buys a French press, you can always suggest a coffee grinder and a nice whole-bean blend. That way they can actually use the product they just bought!

If you need another example, then consider the following. You’re buying a laptop, and at checkout, you see suggestions for a laptop bag and a mouse. If you’re working on the go, then both of those purchases would make a lot of sense. And having the suggestions delivered right to you would be very convenient.

Six magic words to keep in mind here: “People who bought this also bought…”

#25: Create themed product bundles.

Develop themed product bundles that cater to different holiday needs and preferences. If you do this well, then your themed bundles can attract customers looking for unique and convenient gift options.

Imagine a “Winter Wonderland” bundle with a snow globe, a holiday mug, and a cozy blanket. It’s an attractive package that’s perfect for the season. Perhaps it’s a great fit for Secret Santa for that coworker you don’t know all that well.

Post-holiday strategies

When the holidays end, the sales don’t have to. If you play your cards right, you can still keeps sales up even even after the holidays. To do this, you need strategic promotions and offers.

With that in mind, here are some post-holiday strategies to help clear out excess inventory and keep customers engaged.

#26: Promote post-holiday clearance sales.

Encourage customers to continue shopping with post-holiday clearance sales. Discounting leftover holiday stock can attract bargain hunters and help you quickly clear inventory. That way, you make some sales and room for new products.

#27: Offer coupons for January shopping.

Provide customers with coupons valid for January purchases. This strategy encourages repeat business and helps maintain sales momentum into the new year. Customers appreciate the savings, and it keeps your store top of mind.

For example, you could always give out coupons that say “Save 20% on your January purchase!” Or you could say something like “New Year, New Deals: 15% off your first purchase in January!”

This is a hard strategy to mess up, so you have lots of options.

#28: Encourage gift card purchases with a post-holiday bonus.

Promote gift card purchases by offering a bonus. For example, offer a small bonus gift card for every gift card purchased. This tactic can drive immediate sales and encourage future visits to your store.

Wouldn’t it be great, for example, to buy a $50 gift card and get an extra $10 gift card for free?

#29: Send thank you emails with exclusive New Year deals.

Show appreciation by sending thank you emails to holiday shoppers. Include exclusive deals for the new year to encourage continued patronage. A personalized thank you can strengthen customer relationships and foster loyalty.

This could take the form of an email that says, “Thank you for shopping with us this holiday season! Here’s a special offer just for you.” Then you have the perfect chance to slip in something like: “Exclusive New Year Deal: 20% off your next purchase!”

#30: Organize an exclusive event for top shoppers.

Reward your top shoppers with an exclusive event. This could be an early access sale or a special appreciation event. Exclusivity makes customers feel valued and can turn them into long-term loyal patrons.

You could send out an invitation to a VIP shopping event with early access to new arrivals and special discounts. For example, you could use copy like: “Join us for an exclusive VIP shopping event! Early access and 25% off new collections.”

#31: Provide special offers to newsletter subscribers.

Give your newsletter subscribers special offers as a post-holiday thank you. Exclusive discounts or early access to sales can boost engagement and reward your loyal audience, which naturally encourages them to stay subscribed.

That could look like getting an email with a special discount code just for being a subscriber. For example, “Thank you for subscribing! Enjoy 20% off your next purchase.”

Final Thoughts

Many long-term customers will come to your store for the first time because of the holidays. Their guards will be down and they simply need to get gifts for others. It’s an excuse to take a chance on new stores.

But statistically speaking, some of them will want to stick around for a long time. It’s in your best interest to do everything you can to promote your store to get tons of new customers during the shopping frenzy at the end of the year.

Take a few of these holiday promotion ideas and run with them. You might be surprised how big of a difference they can make!

Ecommerce is exciting because you can sell practically anything to anyone. The internet makes that possible! But actually getting people to make purchases and keeping your eCommerce conversion rate up – that’s harder than it looks.

Your conversion rate—the percentage of visitors who make a purchase—is a critical metric for your online store’s success. So improving it can unlock tremendous growth and profitability.

In this guide, we list 36 proven strategies to boost your conversion rate. These strategies cover a number of topics, including website design, user experience, marketing tactics, and customer engagement. But they’re all ultimately aimed at one thing – boosting your eCommerce conversion rate.

Website Design Improvements

A well-designed website can significantly enhance user engagement and conversion rates. Below, you will find some actionable tips to make your website shine so that you can increase sales.

#1: Use high-quality images and videos.

High-quality visuals will help show off your products effectively. When people shop online, they can’t inspect items like they could in the store. So you need to give them the evidence they need to feel comfortable making a purchase.

To do this, use professional photos and videos to highlight product features and benefits, making your offerings more appealing to potential customers. For example, if you sell clothing, show detailed images of the fabric and stitching. Include videos of the clothing being worn to give customers a better idea of how it looks in real life.

#2: Simplify navigation.

Make it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for. Use clear categories, intuitive menus, and a search bar to help users navigate your site effortlessly, thus improving their overall experience.

Think about how you organize your closet. You want everything in its place and easy to find. The same goes for your website. Label sections clearly and avoid clutter.

#3: Optimize for mobile devices.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. A significant portion – some even say the majority – of traffic comes from mobile users. So be sure to use responsive design principles so you can provide a great experience across all devices. Doing so will boost conversions in general, but especially on mobile devices.

Imagine you’re shopping on your phone and the site isn’t loading properly. Frustrating, right? Avoid this by making sure images resize correctly and buttons are easy to tap.

#4: Implement fast loading times.

Speed is crucial for user retention. That is why you must optimize your website’s performance. You can do this by compressing images, using efficient coding practices, and – if needed – setting up a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure a quick loading time.

No one likes waiting around for a page to load. It’s like standing in a long line at a store. Keep things moving quickly to keep your customers happy.

#5: Use attractive and functional design elements.

Be sure to use visually appealing design elements that also enhance functionality. Use clear calls to action (CTAs), easy-to-read fonts, and a cohesive color scheme to create an engaging user experience

When you build an eCommerce store, sometimes it’s helpful to thing about what you’d do if you were making a physical store. So imagine walking into a well-decorated store with signs pointing you to the best deals. That’s what your website should feel like.

For the digital equivalent of that, use bright buttons for important actions like “Buy Now” or “Sign Up”.

Enhancing User Experience (UX)

Improving UX can lead to higher customer satisfaction and increased conversion rates. After all, who doesn’t want to use a website that provides a good experience?

To help you do that, here are some tips to keep your users happy and coming back for more.

#6: Offer guest checkout options.

Allow customers to make purchases without creating an account. Guest checkout simplifies shopping because it reduces friction and cart abandonment. As a result, this leads to higher conversion rates.

Think about how annoying it is when you have to fill out endless forms just to buy something simple. You need to make it easy for your customers to check out quickly.

#7: Streamline the checkout process.

To go a bit further into that last point, it’s a good practical to generally minimize the number of steps in your checkout process. When possible, use single-page checkout. And if you can’t manage that, reduce the number of form fields users have to fill out to make the process quicker and more user-friendly.

Shopping online needs to be easier than using a drive-thru. You get in, you get out. So keep it simple and fast!

#8: Provide multiple payment options.

Offer a variety of payment methods to cater to different customer preferences. Include options like credit/debit cards, PayPal, and digital wallets to increase the likelihood of completed purchases.

Some people prefer using their credit card, but others might prefer PayPal or Apple Pay. Give them choices to make it easy.

#9: Use exit-intent popups.

Sometimes, if you offer users the right incentive, you can keep them from leaving your site. To do this, use exit-intent popups to recapture attention from visitors before they leave your site. With them, you can offer discounts, free shipping, or special deals to encourage them to complete their purchase.

If the user is about to leave, then you really have nothing to lose. So giving an offer like “10% off” right before they leave might just be enough to make a sale you would otherwise have lost.

#10: Make sure your website is accessible.

Make your site is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. To do that, use alt text for images, make sure they can use keyboard navigation, and follow web accessibility guidelines to provide an inclusive experience.

Not only will this make your site look good, but it will also help increase sales. Even users without disabilities benefit from accessibility tweaks.

#11: Display customer reviews and testimonials.

Marketing copy is important, but it only goes so far. Customer reviews and testimonials, on the other hand, will help you build trust and credibility in a way buzzwords never could.

It’s really not surprising – positive feedback from satisfied customers can influence potential buyers’ decisions and increase conversion rates. Just imagine you’re shopping online and see glowing reviews about a product. If you were leaning toward buying it, but were still on the fence, then seeing that review might just make your decision for you.

When you get good reviews, display them prominently on product pages, homepages, and landing pages. And if you don’t have good reviews, come up with a system to collect them more easily!

#12: Offer limited-time promotions.

Procrastination kills sales. But you can fight back by creating urgency with limited-time promotions.

Flash sales, countdown timers, and exclusive deals can motivate customers to make quick purchasing decisions, increasing your conversion rates. Picture a big website banner saying, “Hurry, only 2 hours left for 50% off!” It makes you want to buy now, doesn’t it?

Even simple phrases like “Limited stock” or “Offer ends soon” go a long way toward creating a sense of urgency.

#13: Use upselling and cross-selling.

When a customer buys one product from you, there’s a good chance you can get them to buy another. So encourage customers to buy more by recommending related or higher-end products.

Done properly, upselling and cross-selling techniques can increase the average order value and overall sales. For instance, if someone is buying a camera, suggest a high-end lens or a protective case. You make more money, and your customer has a better overall experience as a result.

#14: Roll out a loyalty program.

“Every time you make a purchase, you earn 1 point for every dollar spent. Once you reach 100 points, you’ll get $10 off on your next purchase.”

Loyalty programs work like a charm. That’s why companies ranging from retail giants like Kohl’s to airlines like Delta use them. And, indeed, so do a lot of small eCommerce shops.

Just like these bigger companies, you can reward your repeat customers with a loyalty program. The concept is simple – just offer points, discounts, or exclusive perks. As a natural result, this will incentivize repeat purchases and keep customers loyal for a long time.

#15: Conduct email marketing campaigns.

Use targeted email marketing campaigns to reach your audience. Send personalized offers, product recommendations, and abandoned cart reminders to drive conversions and increase sales.

Imagine receiving an email that says, “Hey, we noticed you left something in your cart. Here’s 10% off to complete your purchase!”

It feels personal and encourages you to take action.

Using Data & Feedback

What your users do on your website tells you a lot about how well it’s working. Analyzing data and customer feedback can help you increase sales, if you do it right.

Here are some tips on how you can do that.

#16: Set up conversion tracking.

You don’t have to start big here. Even using Google Analytics and Shopify’s built-in data will help you monitor and analyze your site’s performance.

Priority one should be setting up conversion tracking. Once you do this, you can see which business strategies lead to sales and which ones don’t.

Other useful metrics include bounce rate, session duration, and conversion paths. This can help you see how long people spend on your site and where they go while there.

#17: Analyze user behavior with heatmaps.

If you want to step up your data analysis game, then you can use heatmaps to visualize how visitors interact with your site. One favorite tool of ours is Hotjar, but there are many good options out there.

Heatmaps are great visual indicators of how people behave online. If a button is red-hot, it means it’s getting lots of attention.

You can use heat maps to identify areas of high engagement, as well as potential issues. The big question you should ask yourself is: “are people clicking where I think they ought to?”

And if the answer is no – you make changes!

#18: Regularly A/B test key elements.

The concept of A/B testing couldn’t be simpler. All you do is you take two version of something, like a headline, call to action, or product page. You run each version by part of your audience, and you see what performs best.

When you do this, it gives you a way to see what people really respond to. It’s a great way to get out of your head and see what people like in the real word.

If you want a tool to help you do this, then we recommend you check out VWO.

#19: Gather and implement customer feedback.

Another way you can collect feedback is through surveys, focus groups, and even asking directly. No matter how you do it, you can use this information to understand customer needs and preferences and make sensible changes to your store. Do this often enough and it can really help you improve shopping experience and increase conversions.

If you need a tool to run surveys to people in your target market, then check out PickFu.

Advanced Conversion Strategies

Conversion rate optimization is a deep rabbit hole. This is for good reason – anything you can do to increase the odds that people make a purchase can and will increase your profitability.

With that in mind, here are some time-tested tips to help you further dial in your conversion rates.

#20: Personalize user experiences.

Ecommerce can feel cold in a way that in-person retail doesn’t. The missing ingredient? A human being who can observe your behavior and guess what you are looking for.

But you can still personalize eCommerce experiences, even if you can’t talk to your individual customers as they shop. Watching what they do on your site can help you determine which products to recommend. If you collect someone’s email address, then you can make educated guesses about what kind of products they might need even when they’re not on your site.

This is a pretty complex subject, so we’ve included an interview with an expert below if you want to get into the weeds on this.

#21: Optimize product pages for conversions.

Unlike physical stores, eCommerce stores are not populated with salespeople. Instead, your product pages will have to do their jobs. So all the information that customers need to make their decisions needs to be spelled out on the page.

That includes specs, uses, and real-life images. Your product pages will perform best if you have detailed descriptions, high-quality images, and meaningful customer reviews.

And, of course, make sure your call to action – probably “add to cart” is very easy to spot.

#22: Use dynamic pricing strategies.

In some cases, it makes sense to adjust prices in real-time based on demand, competition, and other factors. For situations where it is appropriate, dynamic pricing can help maximize sales and profits by offering competitive prices that appeal to shoppers.

Gas stations do this all the time with the fluctuating price of gas, as does Uber during busy events with “surge pricing.”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean having wildly different prices from week to week like with gas or periodically bumping up prices by huge amounts like Uber. In fact, one way to do this is simple and intuitive – adjust prices during sales or holidays to attract more buyers.

#23: Use chatbots for instant customer service.

You can use chatbots to provide instant assistance to visitors. Chatbots can answer common questions, guide users through the buying process, and resolve issues quickly, improving customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Unlike with physical commerce, customers can’t walk into a store and immediately expect someone to help. But if you set your chatbots up well, they can do this for you online.

They can answer questions like, “What’s your return policy?” or “Can you recommend a product for my needs?”

Are chatbots perfect? No! But they can answer a lot of common questions that can save you and your staff a bit of time everyday.

Trust and Reassurance

Purchasing online is an act of trust. Everything you can do to give people a reason to trust you will help increase your odds of making a sale.

Here are some specific tips on how you can increase your perceived trustworthiness.

#24: Provide money-back guarantees.

Offer a money-back guarantee to reduce purchase risk for customers. Knowing they can get a refund if unsatisfied can increase their confidence and willingness to buy.

If you were buying a new gadget online, but were unsure if it’ll meet your needs, then seeing a “30-Day Money-Back Guarantee” would probably settle your nerves. You might think, “Well, if it doesn’t work out, I can always get my money back.”

This kind of assurance can push hesitant buyers to make a purchase.

#25: Include trust signals.

Display trust badges, secure payment icons, and certifications prominently on your site. Trust signals reassure customers that their transactions are safe and your business is reliable.

Seeing familiar words, logos, and phrases like “Visa,” “MasterCard,” or “Secure Checkout” can make customers feel more secure. Likewise, reviews and testimonials can put people at ease as well.

And if that feels like very basic advice, consider what’s it’s like when you go to a store and these things are absent. It’s not comfortable!

#26: Highlight best-selling items.

Your best-selling items are probably best-sellers for a reason. So show off your best-selling products – they’re likely to get purchases!Anything you sell a lot of is also likely to have more social proof which can help influence purchase decisions.

Imagine walking into a bookstore and seeing a section labeled “Best Sellers.” You’re probably immediately go toward these books because you’d assume they must be good if so many people are buying them.

Online, you can do the same by featuring “Top Sellers” or “Customer Favorites” sections.

#27: Add a progress indicator during checkout.

You want to actively eliminate reasons customers don’t want to complete their checkout. But if customers don’t know how long checking out will take, that’s tough to do. One easy way around this is to include a progress bar showing how many steps remain

Simply put, a progress bar can reduce anxiety, making the process feel quicker and encouraging completion.

#28: Enhance product descriptions.

This is an incredibly detailed topic, so we recommend you check out our guide on eCommerce copywriting. Bottom line – if you know how to write good descriptions, you’re going to sell a lot more.

#29: Offer free shipping.

Provide free shipping to reduce purchase friction. So if you offer free shipping, make it immediately obvious to customers. High shipping costs are a common reason for cart abandonment.

#30: Create urgency with countdown timers.

Use countdown timers for limited-time offers and flash sales. Creating a sense of urgency can drive immediate action and increase conversion rates by encouraging customers to make quick decisions.

Picture a big, ticking clock on your website that says, “Only 2 hours left for 50% off!” This makes people feel they need to buy right now before the deal disappears.

(This works wonders during Black Friday sales!)

#31: Implement live customer support.

If you can manage it, offer live chat support to assist customers in real-time. Live support can help answer questions, resolve issues, and guide customers through the purchasing process, enhancing their overall experience.

Consider in-person shopping again for a moment. If you’re in a store and need help finding a product and friendly staff member immediately comes to assist you, you’re then a lot more likely to walk out of that store with shopping bags in hand.

#32: Optimize for voice search.

Be sure your site is optimized for voice search by using natural language and long-tail keywords. With the rise of voice-activated devices, optimizing for voice search can capture additional traffic and improve conversions.

But how do you do this, exactly?

Think about how you ask questions to Siri or Alexa. Instead of using terms like “running shoes,” you use full sentences, like “Where can I buy affordable running shoes?”

If your website is written in a natural way, then you will be more likely to pick up searches who use queries like this.

#33: Use retargeting strategies.

Sometimes people just need to be reminded that you exist. So you can use retargeting campaigns to re-engage with visitors who left your site without making a purchase.

To do this, show targeted ads on other platforms to remind them of their interest and encourage them to return and complete their purchase.

Let’s say someone visited your site, looked at a cool gadget, but didn’t buy it. Later, they see an ad for that exact gadget while browsing Facebook. It reminds them of what they liked and might push them to finally make that purchase.

#34: Create video product reviews.

Videos show what copywriting can only say.

If you really want to impress shoppers, then produce video reviews to show your products in action. Videos give people a more comprehensive understanding of the product they’re thinking about buying. As a result, customers have more reasons to trust you.

For example, a video showing someone unboxing and using a new tech gadget can answer potential buyers’ questions. Plus, it can highlight the product’s features in a way pictures and text can’t.

Customer engagement

Building strong customer relationships is crucial for boosting conversion rates and fostering loyalty. Here are some tips to create a loyal customer base.

#35: Create a sense of community around your brand.

Develop a community through social media groups, forums, and events where customers can interact and share their experiences. Encouraging a sense of belonging can enhance customer loyalty and increase repeat purchases.

Think about popular brands like Apple or Nike. They have huge communities of fans who love to share tips, show off their latest purchases, and stay updated on new releases. Create spaces where your customers can connect and engage with each other and your brand.

#36: Offer flexible payment plans.

Sometimes paying for everything upfront is just too much. So provide flexible payment options like installment plans or buy now, pay later services. Flexible payment plans make high-ticket items more affordable and accessible, encouraging customers to complete their purchases.

Let’s say you want to buy a pricey laptop, but it’s out of your immediate budget. If the store offers a payment plan, you can pay in smaller chunks over time, making it much easier to afford. This can be a godsend for customers on a budget.

Final Thoughts

Improving your eCommerce conversion rate requires patience and commitment to continual testing and refinement. But sometimes, when you don’t know where to start, a list of tips is exactly what you need.

We hope the strategies outlined in this guide inspire you to touch up your eCommerce store and increase conversion rates!

Words sell. But only if you use them well. Ecommerce copywriting is a tricky skill to master, but the basics are easy to understand.

Well-crafted copy can be the difference between a sale and a lost opportunity. A successful product line and a dud. A thriving business and a dead one.

In this article, we’ll teach you how to make your copy more persuasive so you can win customers and keep them loyal.

Understanding the Basics of Ecommerce Copywriting

Ecommerce copywriting is basically just writing, but used for the purpose of promoting and selling products online. It includes product descriptions, landing pages, and other written content aimed at convincing customers to make a purchase.

Effective copywriting attracts attention, builds trust, and encourages conversions. Ineffective copywriting makes people zone out, doubt your value, and makes them click the X button on the tab.

Bearing that in mind, here are some practical ways you can improve the copywriting on your eCommerce store.

Crafting Compelling Product Descriptions

People read product descriptions before they buy. As a result, these descriptions play a big role in convincing customers to make a purchase…or not. So product descriptions needs to be engaging, informative, and focused on the benefits of the product.

Below, we’ll share a few quick examples on how that works in practice.

#1: Focus on benefits, not just features.

Highlighting benefits that speak to customers’ real needs is key. Instead of simply listing features, explain how the product solves problems or improves the customer’s life.

For example, instead of saying “This jacket is waterproof,” say “Stay dry and comfortable even in the heaviest rain with our waterproof jacket.”

The goal here is to paint a vivid picture. You want the customer to imagine themselves staying dry and cozy in a downpour. When you do this, you help your customer think about how the product will function in their day-to-day life.

#2: Use persuasive and descriptive language.

“This sweater is soft.”

“Experience the luxurious softness of our cashmere sweater, perfect for cozy winter evenings”

That second quote felt more persuasive, didn’t it? And it’s not just because the second option is more benefits-focused, although that definitely helps.

When you look at the second version of the copy, it makes you feel something. It puts an image in your mind and stirs up emotions. That makes the product a lot more appealing.

“This sweater is soft” is something you think when you’re feeling shirts at the thrift store. But “perfect for cozy winter evenings” is what you think about when it’s December, it’s snowing, and you’re snuggling on the couch with your loved ones.

This is how you turn a description into an invitation.

#3: Be concise yet informative.

So far, you might be tempted to think that flowery language outsells plain descriptions. But that’s not the case.

You need to balance between providing enough information and keeping it succinct. The trick here is to avoid overwhelming the reader with too much detail, but still make sure they have all the necessary information to make an informed decision.

Consider using bullet points and short paragraphs to make the content easy to read and digest. For example, instead of a long-winded paragraph about a phone’s features, use a list:

• Battery Life: Lasts up to 48 hours on a single charge.
• Camera: Capture stunning photos with a 12MP dual-lens camera.
• Storage: Available with 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of storage.

This format is easier to scan and helps customers quickly find the information they need.

Enhancing Usability and Readability

Good copy is easy to read. But it’s also easy to use, which means it is practical.

That means your copy needs to give your customers what they need to find and understand the information they want before they make a purchase.

The principle here is simple – if customers that can easily find and understand the information they need, then they will naturally be more likely to make a purchase.

#4: Use bullet points for clarity.

We mentioned this in the previous tip, but it bears repeating.

Structure information in a digestible format by using bullet points. This helps highlight key features and benefits, making it easier for customers to scan and absorb the content quickly.

For example, list product specifications or unique selling points as bullet points to enhance clarity and readability. Instead of a dense block of text, you could write:

• Material: 100% organic cotton.
• Fit: Slim fit, tailored for a modern look.
• Care: Machine washable, easy to maintain.

This way, the information is clear and immediately accessible.

#5: Maintain a consistent voice.

Having a consistent brand voice across all content reinforces your brand identity and builds trust with customers. Whether your brand voice is casual, professional, or playful, ensure it remains uniform in product descriptions, emails, and social media posts.

Consistency helps create a recognizable and reliable brand image. For example, if your brand voice is friendly and approachable, your product description might say, “Our jeans are perfect for every adventure, from casual Fridays to weekend getaways,” and your social media might follow with, “Ready for the weekend? Our jeans sure are!”

#6: Optimize for readability.

Make your text easy on the eyes by using short paragraphs, varying sentence lengths, and plenty of white space. Use subheadings to break up long blocks of text and improve the flow.

Choose a readable font size and style, and avoid cluttering the page with too much information at once. Instead of a long, unbroken paragraph, break it up:

Comfortable and Stylish Our sneakers are designed with both comfort and style in mind. Whether you’re hitting the gym or going for a casual walk, you’ll love how they feel.

Durable and Long-Lasting Made from high-quality materials, these sneakers are built to last. You can trust them to keep up with your active lifestyle.

This structure makes the content much more inviting and easier to read.

Using Psychological Triggers

Good copy is compelling. But to know what’s compelling, you need to use psychology. There are certain triggers you can use in your copy that will motivate customers to take action and make a purchase. Here are a few that come to mind.

#7: Use urgency and scarcity.

Procrastination kills sales. You need to create a sense of urgency and scarcity to encourage immediate purchases.

Phrases like “Limited time offer,” “Only a few left in stock,” or “Sale ends soon” can prompt customers to act quickly to avoid missing out. Highlight time-sensitive deals and limited availability to drive sales.

For example, if you’re selling a popular toy during the holiday season, you could say, “Only 5 left! Order now before it’s too late!”

This makes customers feel the pressure to buy right away, fearing they might miss out if they wait too long.

#8: Use social proof.

Use testimonials, reviews, and ratings to build trust and credibility. Sharing positive feedback from other customers can reassure potential buyers of the product’s quality and your brand’s reliability. Use quotes from satisfied customers and display ratings prominently on product pages.

For instance, include a customer review saying, “These shoes changed my life! Super comfortable and stylish,” along with a 5-star rating. Seeing others’ positive experiences makes new customers more confident in their purchase.

#9: Appeal to emotions.

Connect emotionally with readers by addressing their desires, fears, and aspirations. Use storytelling techniques to make your products more relatable and appealing.

Let’s say you’re marketing a new pair of noise-canceling headphones. You could describe them as, “Your personal escape into a world of clarity and peace. Perfect for drowning out the bustling noise of daily life, these headphones let you immerse yourself in your favorite melodies or podcasts.”

If you’ve made it this far, then you probably noticed that this combines the vividness and benefits-focused language of tips #1 and #2. But there’s more going on than that. This picks a specific feeling – a desire for peace – and completely focuses on it. That’s how you can make an effective appeal to emotion.

SEO Best Practices for Copywriting

You’re not just writing for people on the internet. You also need to write for robots.

Ecommerce copy needs to work well in search engines. Do this right and you can drive more organic traffic and boost sales.

Here’s how you can do that without making it feel overly-optimized or robotic.

#10: Include targeted keywords naturally.

Work keywords seamlessly into your copy without compromising readability. Use keywords in product titles, descriptions, and headers. Be sure they flow naturally within the context.

For example, instead of keyword stuffing, write: “Our organic cotton T-shirts are perfect for eco-conscious consumers looking for stylish comfort.” This not only includes the keyword “organic cotton T-shirts” but also adds context that appeals to the target audience.

When in doubt, read your copy out loud. If it feels like you’re repeating yourself too much, then you are probably overdoing it on keywords.

#11: Use SEO-friendly headings and titles.

Write headings that improve SEO and attract readers. Use relevant keywords and make headings clear and informative. For instance, “Top 10 Summer Shoes for Women” is better than “Summer Shoes” because it is specific and keyword-rich, making it more likely to rank well in search results.

Being specific helps search engines understand what your content is about and can improve your page’s ranking.

#12: Optimize meta descriptions and titles for search engines.

Create compelling meta descriptions and titles that include targeted keywords. These should accurately reflect the page content and entice users to click.

For example, a meta description like “Shop our wide range of eco-friendly T-shirts made from organic cotton. Perfect for a sustainable lifestyle!” can boost click-through rates. People can see what the page is about before they click.

This description tells potential customers exactly what they can expect while incorporating relevant keywords, making it attractive to both search engines and users.

Continuous Improvement and Testing

Even if you write the perfect copy today, it won’t be perfect tomorrow. You have to change things up regularly. That’s how you keep copy effective and relevant.;

Here is how you can tweak your copy while making sure you don’t break what’s working.

#13: A/B test different copy versions.

Use A/B testing to compare different versions of your copy. Change one element at a time, such as headlines or call-to-action phrases, and see which version performs better.

This method helps you understand what resonates with your audience and continually improve your copywriting efforts. For example, test two headlines: “Grab Your Discount Now!” versus “Limited Time Offer – Shop Today!”

When you see which one gets more clicks, you learn what drives your customers to act.

#14: Gather and act on customer feedback.

Collect feedback from customers to identify areas for improvement in your product descriptions and other copy. Use surveys, reviews, and direct feedback to understand customer preferences and pain points.

Make changes based on this feedback to enhance the effectiveness of your copy. For instance, if multiple customers mention that they love the softness of your T-shirts, highlight the softness in your product descriptions.

Naturally, not every change can be fixed with a copywriting update. But collecting the feedback will help all the same. After all, if your customers want more color options, collecting feedback will give you a sign that it’s time to expand your color palette.

Advanced Copywriting Techniques

The following tips require a greater understanding of the basics of copywriting. But if you can work these techniques in naturally, you can enhance your eCommerce copywriting even more, which will help drive sales.

#15: Tell a story with your copy.

Use storytelling to create a memorable brand experience. Share stories that highlight the benefits of your products or your brand’s mission. For example, describe how your product was developed to solve a common problem, connecting with customers on an emotional level and making your brand more relatable.

Imagine saying, “Our founder created this eco-friendly backpack after struggling to find a durable, stylish, and sustainable option. Now, you can carry your essentials guilt-free!”

#16: Integrate multimedia elements.

You can sell even more by pairing written content with images, videos, and audio. Visuals can make your copy pop and help explain product features better.

Use high-quality images and demo videos to provide a richer, more interactive experience for your customers. This can increase time spent on your site and improve conversion rates.

As an example, you could use a video showing how to use a multi-functional kitchen gadget can be far more persuasive than a written description alone.

Final Thoughts

When in doubt, keep your copy clear, concise, and compelling. You want to give people reasons to trust you enough to give you their hard earned money.

Ecommerce copywriting is not an easy skill to master. But it’s easy to start and mastering it is worth the time.

If you can master eCommerce copywriting, you’ll increase sales, engage your customers, and you may very well build a successful business as a result. Naturally, this is a skill you will need to practice again and again to truly master. But starting from scratch is intimidating, so hopefully the tips in this guide will help ease that learning curve for you!

Additional Resources

To further improve your copywriting skills, consider these resources:

• Copyblogger for in-depth articles and tips on copywriting.
• HubSpot’s Content Marketing Course for comprehensive training.
• Yoast SEO Blog for SEO best practices and tips.
• Grammarly for writing assistance and grammar checks.
• Ahrefs Blog for advanced SEO and marketing strategies.

Kickstarter is loved by creators and backers alike because it provides the tools to raise funds and connects people looking for the next new thing with creators.

It’s no secret that many creators still favor launching on Kickstarter over other platforms because of Kickstarter’s traffic. Kickstarter draws in millions of unique visitors every month, so getting a slice of that traffic can greatly benefit your campaign.

But making sure Kickstarter drives traffic to your particular project can be challenging. We’ve seen more than enough examples of creators who just launch a project without much preparation, hoping for Kickstarter to drive all their sales, and the project falling flat on its face.

Luckily, there are tangible things you can do to rank higher on Kickstarter, like having a strong pre-launch game. But pre-launch alone is not all you can do, in this post, you’ll learn from YG Crowdfunding’s founder, who also used to work at Kickstarter, what you can do to rank higher in the Kickstarter algorithm.

How Kickstarter promotes projects

Before diving into the algorithm and how to optimize your project for maximal exposure, it’s important to understand the different ways in which Kickstarter promotes projects.

First, there is editorial promotion, which means, ways in which your project gets promoted by the team at Kickstarter, without the algorithm being involved.

This includes being awarded the “Project We Love” badge, and receiving a placement in one of Kickstarter’s newsletters.

Both these forms of promotion are completely at the discretion of Kickstarter staff and are based on their preference for a project they see on the site. A great way to make your project more eligible for editorial promotion is often overlooked, yet is extremely simple. On Kickstarter.com/honest, you can find clear guidelines on how to talk about your project, which greatly increases your chances of receiving editorial promotion.

The algorithm explained

Now that you know how editorial promotion works, let’s take a look at how the algorithm works.

The first thing to note is that an algorithm factors in multiple metrics, and this may be a moving target. Doing the things outlined in this blog post will not guarantee success, and you should never fully rely on Kickstarter to drive all your traffic.

In fact, Kickstarter’s algorithm doesn’t drive traffic, it amplifies it!

This means you need to light the fire yourself, Kickstarter will only pour rocket fuel on it, but a project with 0 traffic or transactions will not magically receive backers from Kickstarter.

#1: Get fully funded in the first 24 hours

One important metric for every campaign is whether or not it reaches its funding goal within the first 24 hours.

Not only does this give a strong signal to future backers that this campaign is something not to miss out on, but the Kickstarter algorithm also looks at this as a weighting factor.

Campaigns that reach their funding goal in the first 24 hours typically see increased visibility and traffic from Kickstarter for the remainder of their campaign.

#2: Video through plays

Your campaign video is an important marketing asset, but not just because of the video content.

Once your campaign is live, Kickstarter measures how many people complete your video and watch to the end, this is called through plays.

Projects that have a video with a high percentage of through plays are seen as good projects and get boosted as a result.

That’s why you want to make sure your video is no longer than 2 minutes, as videos longer than that get dramatically fewer people watching it till the end, which can negatively impact your Kickstarter algorithm score.

#3: Transaction frequency

There is a common misconception that the more you raise on Kickstarter, the more Kickstarter will promote your project.

And although it’s an understandable theory, it’s not completely true. The absolute number of funds raised does not impact your ranking, but rather, the number of pledges does.

Kickstarter is a great platform for projects of any size, and it does not prioritize projects that raise large sums of money. To keep things fair for smaller projects, or those with rewards that have lower prices, Kickstarter looks at the frequency with which you receive pledges.

That means that having a lower-tiered reward, for example, a sticker pack can be a great way to increase your frequency!

Final Thoughts

Kickstarter can be a huge driver of traffic for your campaign when you play your cards right, but don’t rely on it completely!

As you can see from these tips, you need to bring traffic to get traffic. Only campaigns with strong performance out the gate will benefit from Kickstarter’s reach. Think of Kickstarter as a way to amplify your campaign, but don’t expect Kickstarter to do all the heavy lifting for you.

Need help with your Kickstarter marketing and ensuring a strong launch? Feel free to schedule a meeting with me so we can review your strategy together. 

George Lam is the founder of YG Crowdfunding and former Kickstarter outreach lead. He and his team have helped hundreds of creators raise millions of dollars across the games and hardware categories on Kickstarter.

Canada is really big. And the population is the size of California.

So how do you ship to such a big country in a cost-efficient, timely way?

That’s a big question, and that’s why we’ve brought on Adayra Lopez from InterFulfillment to shed some light on this question!

Transcript

This transcript was generated by AI and may have minor errors.

Brandon Rollins: Canada is big. Yes, that’s right, only the hard hitting facts here on Fulfillrite YouTube. But seriously, look at this on the map. Even when you account for the distortion up at the top, it’s still enormous. And the population? Considerably smaller than the U. S., about the population of California. That makes shipping tricky, and that’s why you need a local expert.

That’s why I brought on Adaira Lopez from Interfulfillment to talk about that. Now, we’re going to cut to the interview in just a minute, but real quick, my name is Brandon. This video is brought to you by FulfillRite. We ship orders for ecommerce and crowdfunding. Link below for more details. Quotes are always free.

Now, one last quick note. We edited this with a light touch on the interview because we wanted to keep it lo fi and simple, uh, just an honest, just like two professionals on a zoom call. All right, let’s cut to the interview. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining and for taking the time to do that, to do this video with us.

We really appreciate it.

Adayra Lopez: My pleasure. It’s really a pleasure, uh, you know, uh, having, uh, this interview with Fulfillrite, uh, and being able to help, uh, Online vendors to understand the Canadian market a bit better.

Brandon Rollins: Absolutely. And, um, I, I’m going to go ahead and just start with a ridiculously naive question.

Just to, uh, just go ahead and get that out there. And that is why not ship to Canada from a US based fulfillment center?

Adayra Lopez: It’s not. necessarily something that, uh, businesses should avoid. Um, most of the time is necessary because you’re exploring the market. And, uh, it is really a big decision to do it, to make that big jump.

And, um, And do it from here locally. So most of the customers that, um, are just penetrating the Canadian market, what they do is they start from their origin point. If that, let’s say, is the US, then they start shipping from the US to Canada. For a short period of time, it’s okay to do it, um, but it’s not sustainable because at the end of the day, you want to have your Canadian customers, uh, happy.

And that means you want to make sure that their shipments get delivered fast as opposed to having to wait for a delivery for 10, two weeks and, or God knows how much it will be. Um, and also they will encounter, uh, paying duties and taxes. And, um, You know, when as a consumer, when you go out and try and buy something from another country, uh, you know, you don’t know what you’re going to get hit at a later time.

Uh, and then you, you, you have extra costs that you did not anticipate. So in order for, uh, you to test the market is okay. But once you, um, are. Ensure about, uh, the growth that you can have in Canada. It is ideal to find a partner here for your order fulfillment, logistics, uh, solutions, and be able to then grow the market from within.

Brandon Rollins: I think that’s a good consideration because it is expensive to have multiple different warehouses in a whole bunch of different locations. Um, but once you start shipping a bunch of Canadian orders, I have to imagine the crossing the border and the customs that come along with that is expensive. The postage itself is probably a lot.

And then it’s like you said, 10, 12, 14 day travel times. And that can, um, not every customer is going to want to agree to that, especially once you start shipping a larger order volume and fewer people know you personally.

Adayra Lopez: That is right.

Brandon Rollins: So. Obviously, Canada is a really big country, but, uh, like really big.

It’s kind of ridiculous when you look at it on a map and you realize that. Along those lines, what are the factors that make Canadian order fulfillment different than other countries?

Adayra Lopez: You know, I can think of three factors that are important to emphasize. Population is one of them. Um, the country is huge, but we’re not as populated as, for example, the U.

S. Um, just to give you a perspective, you know, it’s 39, 000, 000 people in Canada, which is only. I believe the population of California stayed alone. So, um, in Canada, we have 10 provinces and 3 territories. Then if every province has remote locations. So, number 1, because of that, population or their volumes are not going to be as perhaps, uh, other countries, um, with more people in them.

And, uh, also you have those remote locations that will increase the shipping costs. Um, so that is different, um, than The European nations or the U. S. or the U. K. Um, and you also have the fuel store charge. Um, Canada seems to have more strict, um, gasoline taxes and also more strict environmental regulatory aspects.

So that drives the cost of gas to be higher at the pump and therefore carriers here delivering the goods will Continue to change the fuel surcharge on, um, the shipments and that changes every week. Um, and as you advance in the year towards the last quarter, um, that’s when you see the highest fuel surcharge on shipping.

So it is important to be aware of it. So that you can, um, be able to price your, uh, products correctly and make changes if necessary. Um, but Canadians are used to it. So that is the good news. So whoever lives in Canada, we know that. The cost of shipping is what it is, and we’re used to it. And if I live in the middle of nowhere, in an island in the North Pole, and that has been very extreme, um, I know I will pay a lot for shipping.

So, and I’m used to it. So it is more of a learning curve. For, um, foreign, uh, companies doing business in Canada, then the consumer that you are trying to target, which is, you know, well aware of

it.

Brandon Rollins: And I suppose if a lot of your markets and your Vancouver or Toronto areas or other larger cities, I think like Edmonton and Calgary, places like that, maybe Halifax, it’s probably less of an issue, but I have to imagine if you’re out and say, Yellowknife, or, um, I think you would say it Iqaluit or something like that.

Very different story than you’re talking about fuel surcharges and some of the stuff that people wouldn’t be thinking about all that often if they don’t ship to Canada very much.

Adayra Lopez: It is. And, um, it is very true that. You know, Canada Post is the only carrier that gets to every corner in Canada. Um, and so they do have, uh, airstage locations, uh, in which there is no more, uh, you know, they have, um, uh, a depot where in very small towns, remote, super remote locations where they drop off the packages by a small plane.

And people from that. Town will need to go there and pick up their packages. So it is as extreme as that, but you know, I don’t really want to scare anybody. Uh, uh, because of that, it’s really a very small percentage of orders that you will ever get to ship to those locations. Um, you know, the, the. Most of the orders in Canada are shipped to the East coast and the West coast and metropolitan areas.

So, um, you do have to pay attention to those remote areas, um, but you can still definitely, uh, run a business, uh, here and ship your products to many, many Canadians in, in metropolitan locations.

Brandon Rollins: Yeah, that makes sense. Um, so along those lines, what do you think are the biggest challenges of Canadian order fulfillment?

I feel like we’ve already touched on it a little bit anyway.

Adayra Lopez: Yes, you’re right about that. It is, um, the biggest challenge is learning, uh, the landscape in Canada and therefore be able to price your products uh, accordingly. Um, You know, the postal codes in Canada that have 2 zeros in them indicate they are remote areas.

So you can always have a way to, um, add more charges to those locations when customers get to your shopping cart. And, or you can also plan for targeted marketing so that you, um, start by just doing marketing in, um, populated cities. So that can be another option now successful online vendors. What they do is, uh, and that we’ve seen, uh, we’ve seen working is they incentivize customers by, um, you know, on the website.

Setting up offers such as buy a hundred dollar, uh, in, in, in products or 150 or depending on what it is and what the cost of it is in order to get free shipping, or they will put a flat fee for shipping across Canada and the rest will be. added to the price of the product. Um, so those are working well.

And, um, Canadians definitely, um, are able to, you know, also make the best out of their purchase. They can buy more products for almost the same amount of shipping. And, and that’s typically what happens for when you sell, you know, not, you Huge products, but more on the smaller size items that if it’s the same shipping costs, if you buy one, or if you buy two, it’s practically going to be very, very similar in cost, especially because carriers in Canada only charge, um, they don’t break, uh, the one pound, uh, weight, um, of parcels like it is in the U.

S., um, which is broken by, uh, One ounce, two ounces, three ounces and so on. And here is, if you ship a feather, still going to be a one pound price that you pay for.

Brandon Rollins: Yeah. And I suppose that’s something to definitely be aware of. If you’re shipping really lightweight items, there are only a couple of ounces or maybe like, uh, two ounces.

I think that would equate roughly to 60 grams or something like that, two ounces, literally. Um, because you are right. If you, if you are rounding up to the nearest pound, which is about 450 grams thereabouts, then yeah, that could be a very nasty surprise if you’re on the low end of that range.

Adayra Lopez: Yes, definitely. And also there’s the volumetric weight too, right? Um, carriers will take whatever is the, the, the biggest of the two, the actual, between the actual weight and the volumetric weight. So those factors are, uh, are something that can change the, the outcome of the cost for sure.

Brandon Rollins: Something to keep in mind if you’re shipping something lightweight that is huge, like, for example, a pillow might be a good example.

Adayra Lopez: Right. Yes, exactly. And then you can get hit by surcharges too. So, yeah, it is just important just to see all the costs that it involves to ship your products. And based on that, you can put a strategy, uh, um, and an offering on the website that will allow still to, for you to generate profits, but also for customers to be able to be, you know, happy going to purchase your items for sure.

Brandon Rollins: That makes sense. So what’s the best way to handle cross border shipping and customs?

Adayra Lopez: You, it is very straightforward, Brandon. If you’re a foreign company, you can always, um, get a status of a non resident importer, and that is, um, a process that you can get in place through a Canadian broker. Um, basically what they do is they.

Ask you to fill out a form. Um, and within three to four days, they get back to you with your importer number. And that allows you to be able to import the product in Canada and shipping, shipping that to your, uh, 3PL center. But the government also allows foreign companies to do business here. Um, Under that status.

So, so long as you don’t go by over the threshold that they set up for your revenue sales quarterly. And I always encourage customers to get familiar with their visit the Canadian government to see. What the threshold is, because regulation change from time to time, and you always want to be aware of it.

The idea from the government is that they find you, they invite you over to start doing business here. But once you get over that threshold, then you are supposed to create, uh, to register your, uh, company here in Canada and then be able to operate as a Canadian corporation. Um, the other, um, factor or important detail to to look at, look after is, um, make sure that your items are not regulated here.

You know, every country is different. Um, if you have products that are regulated, such as vitamins or supplements, um, those most likely are regulated in Canada by health Canada. And there is a certification that you have to have in place per SKU. So, um, Again, again, it’s nothing impossible, it’s just you just need to be aware of it to start the process.

Mm-Hmm. , get that in place and then be able to, uh, you know, legally sell products here so that you don’t encounter problems down the road. Mm-Hmm. Or get your inventory stocking customers because you don’t have a regulation that, uh, or a certification that is required. Um. But yeah, those are practically, um, the ways and how you can handle cross, uh, wording.

Brandon Rollins: And it sounds like working with a Canadian 3PL is probably a good way of going about, um, just making sure those things are taken care of as well.

Adayra Lopez: Yes. Yes, Canadian regulations and the government and everything is, it’s a strict, um, and it’s a structure, but they also, um, it’s just, at the end of the day, these are just processes that some take longer than others.

But once you have that, um, in place and approved, then. You know, everything else is just like in any other country where you operate. Um,

Brandon Rollins: that makes sense, which speaking of regulations, there’s also a lot of taxes as well, like GST and HST and PST, which are just some facts, some things I found when I was Googling this, um, how does that work when you are talking about e commerce order processing and fulfillment?

Adayra Lopez: So GST is the federal tax. PST is the provincial tax and the combination of both is the harmonized sales tax, GST. If you’re a Canadian corporation, you do have to file your income tax return, corporate business income tax return annually. Um, and when you operate as a Canadian corporation, then you definitely have to charge your customers with taxes.

Um, so I always encourage customers to be familiar with, um, with that by seeking the advice from a charter accountant. Um, that honestly is the best. Um, we pick, pack and ship, but we’re not necessarily extreme experts on, in that matter. So it is always good to, to consult with a charter accountant to be able to know at what point, uh, a registration is required and then what.

Uh, are your obligations as a Canadian corporation, uh, around taxes.

Brandon Rollins: Do you have a sense of when it might be a good idea to reach out to somebody to help with that?

Adayra Lopez: You know, it doesn’t hurt to do it right away just so that you know what to expect once you go over the threshold that we discussed before, in which you go from a non resident importer To a Canadian corporation.

Um, so it is good to do it as soon as you can. If you’re thinking to do business in Canada for the long term, um, that way you are able to have everything, uh, ready, uh, by the time that you actually have to register and be able to start, um, collecting taxes and

dealing

Adayra Lopez: with that.

Brandon Rollins: That’s understandable. Um, So going back to just shipping for a minute, what’s the best way you can go about, um, getting fast and reliable delivery within both the major Canadian cities and also some of the remote areas as well?

Adayra Lopez: Because Canada is very different in terms of how big we are and, and, and,

you know,

Adayra Lopez: You know, all the carriers in Canada that the major carriers in Canada have a state of the art technology in their facilities that allow already for them to, uh, support, uh, when it comes to shipping, uh, parcels fast and, uh, reliable.

So that is there already in place. You assuming that you already work also with a 3PL, uh, partner that helps. With, uh, meeting the call of times, shipping daily, um, that is also important that you look after, um, so that everything moves, um, and nothing gets delayed and, and then it ends up being in an, uh, you know, having an angry customer on, uh, at the other end.

Now, the services in Canada are available through carriers that are, um, because it’s such a. Huge territory, um, you can offer customers on your website, different options and not just stick to standard services, standard services. Let’s say, Brandon, if you ship from Toronto to Toronto is one day. Toronto to Vancouver across the entire nation, it can be five to six days.

So having said that, um, you can offer customers with standard Extra options when it comes to shipping, and that will be one standard. Uh, the second one can be express and the third one can be overnight. Obviously express and overnight will be more costly, but it allows your customer to have that, uh, service available and you know, why not make them, Um, Accountable for the decision as to how fast they want their package, right?

Um, and the carriers offered. All those services, um, and, and they’re reliable when it comes to guaranteeing it. So, um, it’s important to take advantage of that. The other option is to consider shipping from Toronto. And from Vancouver, because that will definitely reduce the delivery times for your customers that are on each side of the country.

Um, you know, keep in mind if you do fulfill from Vancouver, um, now your customer will have also the same delivery time than a Toronto, Toronto one day, um, rather than five to six days. And you hope that there is not a snowstorm or flooding that he can. affect that even more. So, you know, it depends on the situation for every online vendor.

Um, many of them start fulfilling from Toronto and they continue for years. Uh, and maybe they never really have that other step on location more precisely because of their items may be very small, but any other customers that do want, uh, to have that faster delivery, the solution is having, uh, orders fulfilled from both sides.

And be able to reduce costs as well, because that will bring the cost down on the shipping. Um, for you and your customers, you know, what it, what it used to be across nation. Now it’s going to be a local price.

Brandon Rollins: And which carriers tend to be the most reliable when it comes to speedy and, um, cost efficient shipping?

Adayra Lopez: All the major carriers here are. Reliable and they all have different footprints in the market for what they’re best for. So Canada Post, uh, gets to every single corner of Canada, P. O. boxes, uh, condominiums, uh, and they are great for very small parcels. Then you have UPS. UPS is a carrier that can handle heavier parcels and bigger in dimension.

Um, and. So, and they also do express services in a really remarkable way. They are incredible for that type of service, as well as a standard. And then you have the overnight, which I think the king of overnight, um, parcels is always, uh, It’s going to be FedEx, at least up until today. And so if you want to offer customers an overnight shipment, then FedEx will be the option to go to.

There are other carriers like Pirolator and Kampart and, um, and, and the key is also If you offer a standard service in which they’re all equally reliable, and try and use, uh, features such as Ray Shop, um, if your three PL has that feature, um, into fulfillment, offers, ratio feature, so that you can, um, shop amongst them all and pick the lowest, uh, to ship to that particular destination.

And, and this service will be equally good at the end of the day.

Brandon Rollins: That’s good. Now, of course, Canada is also bilingual as well. So does that create any issues with packaging and communication orders? And if it does, how do you, how do you handle that?

Adayra Lopez: It, you know, some people may call it a challenge and, uh, others will just say it’s just a requirement.

Uh, and that’s the way we see it. It is really just a requirement. Uh, from the government to have, uh, labels in French and English, and there are companies, um, that specialize in providing you advice about, uh, labeling your products and depending what they are, uh, is how you are supposed to have the format of the label.

So again, it is really just a process that, um, you just need to Have in place and once it’s done, it really is good for, for, for the, for, for any other, uh, plans you have to, to work here for any other products in Canada. So, um, stick for, um, help when it comes to, um, labeling, if you’re not sure of it, there are companies that I specialize in, in that service and that can help with that.

And the process then becomes very smoothly.

Brandon Rollins: Yeah, it seems like one of those things that once you get it right for the first time, every other time after that is not going to be an issue.

Adayra Lopez: Right. Once it’s done, it’s done. For sure. Absolutely.

Brandon Rollins: So, um, what advice would you give to companies who are looking to improve their order fulfillment processes overall in Canada?

Adayra Lopez: Uh, there are several things that I can think of. Um, one that is very, uh, straightforward, but not everybody perhaps has it at the beginning is, uh, obviously, obviously established companies, they, they do, or anybody that is already dealing with retailers that they do, but, uh, any online businesses that are just launching, uh, the business barcoding is key.

Barcoding your units. It’s an important because the 3PO, um, partner that, uh, works with you will receive big pack, um, with using barcode scanners. It’s just a quality, um, measure that, um, It is important to have in order to avoid misspeaks. It’s just the domino effect. You have a misspeak, then you have an end consumer that will not be too happy to get the incorrect product.

So always make sure that you have barcodes for your products in order to have that quality control when it comes to your fulfillment. Um, Another one is do plan for a marketing, um, campaign or campaigns to have a marketing plan throughout the year. Um, many times what we see is Canada is, um, it’s a, it’s a country that has, Enough, um, drive, I guess, on, on for e commerce, uh, orders.

And so customers that expand outside their own country, they usually have Canada in their, um, in their top three list of countries to expand to, but once they come and launch, uh, uh, the, the, the account, uh, sometimes what happens is they just forget about it because. It may not be a priority such as their biggest market that they can have.

So let’s say if you have a US and Canada, the US market will have a lot more volume than Canada. And once they launch here, they tend to forget a little bit that. Unless you do marketing here, you will then accelerate those sales, boost your sales in order to gain a more volume of orders. Um, so I always remind customers to have that marketing plan in place and not let it just grow organically because oftentimes that will be a very slow, uh, growth.

Right. And long

Brandon Rollins: term storage and a fulfillment center gets expensive pretty quickly.

Right.

Adayra Lopez: It can be and so that takes me to the next point, which is inventory. So it is important that you. When you start, if you don’t know how good or bad, even though you have an established company in another country, you still don’t know maybe how good or bad is going to, uh, go in Canada in terms of maybe having right away the order volume that you plan for, or maybe that’s not going to happen.

So I always suggest customers to start with the most minimum amount of inventory. Um, that way. They don’t find themselves in a situation where they overstock and now they have a lot of, uh, inventory that does not sell, but it does carry cost of storage. Um, so trying to have management around inventory is key, not just to start, but ongoing, um, because you also don’t want to be on the other side of the spectrum, which will be.

Now you have no inventory. You don’t have enough to be able to fulfill you, get your orders fulfilled. And then now you have customers waiting for the product to arrive. So you want to, um, you know, start with, uh, an amount that is. It’s good to cope with the demand of your orders, um, but then you can adjust to what it is, uh, that you’re, um, scaling it to, right?

So that is, that is good. Um, another suggestion is because fuel surcharge can be something that will change your shipping cost, uh, practically ongoing on an ongoing basis and more so in the last quarter, um, Always have someone paying attention to that fuel surcharge today. For example, from Canada post, I think this week is at 25.

5%. Um, but it can really go in November, black Friday, you now have a 40 percent fuel surcharge, so, uh, it can drastically change the price again, we’re used to it, we know that, but you do have to be aware of it because if you have a price that is now no longer. Um, you know, being able to get you to remain profitable because you didn’t adjust it.

Now you’re going to encounter problems and all those beautiful orders you got during Black Friday or holidays. Now it’s just not going to be, uh, you know, uh, good news once you reconciliate everything. So, um, Have someone looking after, uh, those, um, those trends on, on fuel surcharge, um, and then try to incentivize customers to, um, you know, buy more products for, uh, a good deal on shipping.

Um, so. Those things can help for sure. And have always a direct channel of communication with whoever you work with in Canada for your fulfillment solution. So it is important to have a point of contact for day to day. Um, inquiries, concerns, anything that, uh, is related to your operation so that it can run smoothly.

Um, and you can quickly get to, um, overcome challenges that happen on a daily basis, rather than not having that communication in place. And then you get to find out. In months from now, when you really need a smooth logistic solution, now you also have to cope with other challenges that you could have just addressed right away if you have that communication in place.

So, all those is what I would suggest to to pay attention to.

Brandon Rollins: Yeah, that’s all good advice. Now, how can InterFulfillment help?

Adayra Lopez: InterFulfillment has been in this industry for over 10 years. Um, we have the experience, the knowledge, um, to be able to help. Even if you’re unsure if this is the right time, do not hesitate.

You know, we welcome anybody and everybody to contact us and provide advice in what we do best. We pick, pack, and ship on behalf of our customers. And it’s whether that is direct to consumers or to businesses, we do it, we try to stay true to your brand. So we follow specifications to the T of how you want us to handle your orders, your packages, and so on.

We’re also very flexible around your business. So if during the year you have any sort of changes on the way you want us to package your orders, uh, we can follow that, uh, in order to help you get in that, um, you know, differentiate from others in this competitive market, because that is what ultimately we want.

We want to help you grow and we want to, uh, you know, be able to, um, you know, provide you a service that is fast, reliable, accurate, um, and scalable. Um, we have an HR department in place that can quickly scale, um, when needed. Um, also, uh, you know, we have facilities in both, uh, the East coast and the West coast.

Uh, in Toronto and in Vancouver, so if both are required, definitely we’re happy to help, uh, of fulfilling from both locations. And yeah, so definitely if anybody’s interested in our services, uh, we can, we can help send us an email, um, look, uh, visit our website, interfulfillment. com. And the email is sales at interfulfillment.

com. We’re interested in, in, in, in, you know, Discussing further in order to see how, uh, we can help, uh, contributing to your growth, uh, in market, in market, like, especially when you don’t know anything about Canada, you can rely on us to, to be able to serve you, uh, with extra information and advice

Brandon Rollins: and all the links are down there for anybody who wants to click on those.

Um, We, we can vouch for interfulfillment as you’re well aware, we send you leads quite a bit whenever we have somebody who needs to ship in Canada and it’s just not something we do. Um, and we, we, we always, we want to pass people along to partners that we trust for that sort of thing.

Adayra Lopez: Yeah, we’re extremely appreciative of it.

Um, we definitely, I know what you mean. We have referred at least to fulfill right, uh, seeking for a reputable company in the U. S. that they can not only start with, but start with. Scale with and grow. Um, so the common, uh, around that is, is incredible. Um, and, and we continue to, um, you know, seek opportunities in which we can help each other.

I, I am always a true believer that, uh, not because we’re in the same uh, industry, uh, we cannot, uh, you know. Also, uh, help each other.

Brandon Rollins: Absolutely. So on that note, thank you for your time on this. Lots of good information here about Canadian order fulfillment. Again, links are all down there below for anybody who wants to check out InterFulfillment and learn more.

Um, and thank you for watching.

Adayra Lopez: Thank you, Brandon.

Brandon Rollins: Thanks for watching this interview. I appreciate it. I know that Adaira does too. Details on both of our companies are down there in the description. And just in case you missed the name earlier, My name is Brandon, and I’m here on behalf of FulfillRite. If you need help shipping your orders, go to FulfillRite.

com and request a quote. We’ve shipped for thousands of crowdfunding campaigns before, and we’re happy to help you ship too. The quote doesn’t cost a thing, so if nothing else, you get some good information about pricing. Link in the description. Now, if you enjoyed this video, please take a moment to like and scribe and subscribe.

Don’t forget to slap some postage on the bell so we can express ship new videos to you as soon as they drop. And last but not least, if you have any questions, leave a comment below. I will personally answer as many as I can. Thanks for watching.

Launching your brand is exciting, but the journey to attracting customers can be daunting. Luckily, social media allows you to connect with your target audience and build a loyal following of potential purchasers all at once. But how do you navigate the vast world of social media effectively? Fear not, fellow entrepreneur! This guide will equip you with the key strategies to turn your social media presence into a customer-generating machine.

But first, let’s define what CPG, or consumer packaged goods, means. CPG brands are the everyday items you find at the grocery store, pharmacy, or big box store that you use up (consume) and then need to buy again. Think about all the things you consume every day that come in packages! Here are some examples of we’re talking about:

• Food and beverage: Cereal, milk, soda, chips, yogurt, frozen meals (like our clients Simek’s & Chung’s Gourmet Foods), bottled water (like our client Flow Water), ready-to-drink coffee, tea, etc.
• Personal care: Soap, beauty products (like our client Folk Potions), shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, makeup, razors, etc.
• Household & pet products: Laundry detergent, cleaning wipes, pet food, dish soap, etc.
• Supplements & over-the-counter medicines: Pain relievers, allergy medication, cough syrup, Melatonin, tinctures (like our mushroom tincture client Rainbo), etc.

Basically, if it’s something you use regularly, gets used up over time, and comes in a container, it’s likely a CPG product.

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way let’s get into how you can use social media to scale your business!

Know your brand, audience, & craft your message

It all starts with understanding your ideal customer. Research their demographics, interests, and online behavior. Develop buyer personas to truly grasp their needs and aspirations. This knowledge fuels authentic content creation and helps you build that know, like, and trust with your ideal customer.

Before we start working with a new brand, we ask them identifying questions on things like who their brand is at its core, their tone & voice, how they want to be perceived, etc. We also identify their core customer using collected data from their previous purchasers, as well as customer surveys.

If you are a new brand without customers, you can use tools like Reddit, Instagram, and Amazon’s reviews section to help define your potential customers. To do this, first, identify the competitors in your category, then dive into each of your competitors through the above channels to see how their communities speak, who they are, what they’re saying, etc. Take note, as this is a great starting point to know who your ideal customer is and how to speak to them. Down the line, you’ll be able to better define this person as you gain more of your own customer data as your brand scales, and be sure to continue to revisit & iterate on your brand’s ideal avatars as your brand grows!

Pick the right platform, and play to its strengths

Not all platforms are created equal. Choose the social platforms your company will play on based on your audience and product. Does your customer mainly hang out on YouTube? Does your brand voice use long-form or short-form content? Research platform-specific best practices and content formats to maximize your impact.

Depending on your brand’s size, start with a few of these channels (the top channels your customer hangs out; FYI, you can’t go wrong with being active on Instagram no matter your brand) and then expand as you nail each channel and have the time to commit to ongoing, quality content for each.

Content is queen

Content is queen, and it’s the best way to properly connect to your core customer. Don’t focus on perfection, instead, focus on being genuine, relatable, and entertaining, as this will show your brand’s true authenticity on a smaller budget. Showcase your product in action, share user testimonials, and offer valuable tips related to its use. Remember, storytelling is key – weave narratives that connect emotionally with your audience whenever possible.

Brands that kill it at storytelling on social media are Diaspora, A Dozen Cousins, Omsom, and Force of Nature.

(P.S. If you need more inspo for storytelling on social media, be sure and join our free newsletter for top social trends delivered to your inbox each week!) 

Build a community, not just followers

Social media is about two-way interaction. Respond to comments, answer questions promptly, and engage in genuine conversations on your posts, DMs, and even strangers’ posts that have nothing to do with you. Posting content is only half the battle, jumping into your comment section, as well as other people’s content, is just as important. Encourage your customers to share user-generated content and their testimonials and share them by highlighting them on your stories or feed! Building a community fosters loyalty and turns followers into brand advocates.

Capitalize on influencers that share your audience:

Partnering with micro-influencers relevant to your niche is a great way to boost brand awareness and credibility among their engaged audience. Choose influencers who genuinely align with your brand values and engage in authentic collaborations (avoid serial promoters at all costs, especially if their engagement is low on those sponsored posts). We recommend starting off the relationship by engaging with an influencer’s content before working up to a DM gauging if they’d like to work with you! Taking these steps to actually form a relationship will go a long way for your brand. Most influencers, even micro-influencers, will request to be paid, but that doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate rates or even start by sending them free products to see what they think before you engage in a paid partnership. If they truly love your product, they’ll be more likely to be flexible with their rates.

Paid ads can be the boost your brand needs

If you’re looking to increase brand awareness and engagement on social media, you might want to consider allocating a budget to boosting posts. You can boost your top-performing social posts to reach a larger audience, boost collabs or giveaways to try and generate a low cost per follow, or boost a bit more targeted audiences to support a local event or launch. This is a great way to get that first touch point on potential new customers in a fairly cost-effective way.

In addition to boosts, you can also invest in social ads via direct response. So, if you’re launching in a new retail location, you can direct people to click on your ads link to find their nearest store. Or, if you’re a D2C brand, you can direct people to go to your website to buy.

Start small, target your ads carefully based on demographics and interests, and track your campaign performance. Remember, paid advertising is a tool, not a magic wand – use it wisely and optimize your approach for better results.

Consistency & cadence

Building a successful social media presence takes time and dedication. Post regularly, stay consistent, and experiment with different strategies. When we speak to early-stage brands and brands with small but mighty teams, who need to wear all the hats, one of our biggest pieces of advice is for them to get real with themselves on what they can commit to with their marketing. Even if that’s one post a week – great! It’s much better to set a cadence and produce consistent content vs. sharing haphazardly. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a thriving social media community.

Bonus tip: Track industry trends, stay updated on platform changes and adapt your strategy accordingly. The social media landscape is dynamic, so continuous learning is crucial. If you’re looking for resources to stay up to date with social trends and get daily inspo, join our free Facebook group here!

By implementing these strategies, you can transform your social media presence from a blank page to a vibrant hub that attracts customers and fuels your brand’s success. Remember: authenticity, engagement, and valuable content are your key ingredients. And if you’re looking for an agency to bring your brand to life on social, book a call with us here. We’d love to help you conquer your #socialmediagoals!

Howdy! We’re UMAI Marketing, a boutique digital marketing and branding & package design agency. We specialize in crafting content and winning strategies for consumer packaged goods brands. We’ve launched countless CPG brands, like Serenity Kids Baby Food, and helped them go from $0 to $12MM+ in revenue in only a few short years, to helping scale multiple multi-million dollar established brands like Om Mushroom, Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi, and CANTEEN Spirits. We love helping brands of any size relate to, entertain, and engage their customers, and today we’re sharing some ways you can do just that using social media marketing.

 

 

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Imagine making a board game about collecting flowers…

…And then raising over $1 million on Kickstarter.

That’s what Amy & Dusty Droz, the husband and wife duo behind Dux Somnium Games, did last year.

It’s a remarkable story of success, and one which is remarkably grounded, relatable, and repeatable. Not to mention interesting and shareable!

And so we want to share that with you today.

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Did you know that 40% of businesses struggle more with customer acquisition than retention? To entice someone to click the “buy now” button in this commotion may seem like conquering Mount Everest.

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, customer acquisition is the lifeblood of online businesses. Businesses prioritize customer acquisition methods to stay ahead in the game. It is crucial to ensure you spend your customer acquisition cost wisely.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll unravel strategies to acquire new customers efficiently, ensuring your customer’s lifetime value far outweighs the initial investment. Let’s optimize and create a powerful customer acquisition strategy.

1. Defining Your Target Audience

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Recognizing and defining your ideal customer is essential for optimizing marketing efforts. It ensures your digital marketing strategies, content marketing, and influencer marketing campaigns resonate with those who matter most.

A fundamental step in this process is to do market research. This helps in diving deep into customer insights, understanding the customer journey, and fine-tuning acquisition marketing. By focusing on the right customer or client, businesses can reduce customer acquisition costs and increase their chances of converting prospects.

Every stage of the customer acquisition funnel should align with your target audience’s needs and preferences. This alignment bolsters acquisition tactics and emphasizes customer satisfaction and lifetime value.

2. Crafting a Compelling Value Proposition

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A compelling value proposition lies at the heart of an effective customer acquisition strategy. It’s more than just a catchy sentence; it’s the promise of value your business delivers. Your value proposition should address the needs of your ideal customer and stand out amidst the noise of today’s digital marketing landscape. It’s pivotal to your marketing and sales initiatives as the backbone for email campaigns and content marketing endeavors.

A robust value proposition can increase your chances of customer retention and define your customer acquisition marketing strategy. So, how do you craft one? Identify your customer’s pain points and uniquely align your solutions. Ensure it speaks to both customer experience and customer satisfaction.

Always measure customer acquisition outcomes after refining your proposition. A significant customer acquisition strategy pivots on how effectively you can communicate your unique value in a crowded market.

3. Leveraging Multiple Digital Marketing Channels

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Optimizing your customer acquisition strategy means being present where your audience is. One of the best ways to achieve effective customer acquisition is by diversifying your customer acquisition channels. Sole reliance on a single marketing channel can leave your business vulnerable to unforeseen changes, such as algorithm tweaks or market saturation.

By embracing various customer acquisition strategies, you not only lower your customer acquisition risks but also improve your customer acquisition strategy. For instance, while social media marketing effectively catches users’ attention, a well-timed welcome email can enhance that initial interaction.

Speaking of which, if you need inspiration, here are some excellent welcome email examples that can serve as a touchpoint in your acquisition funnel. A multi-channel approach is crucial in ensuring a sustainable customer acquisition strategy for your business.

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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In pursuing a sustainable customer acquisition strategy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) stands out as one of the best ways to optimize customer acquisition efforts. SEO, at its core, enhances the visibility of your online presence, ensuring that when potential customers search for services or products similar to yours, your business lands at the top of their search results.

SEO is an essential stage of the customer acquisition funnel, where new customer acquisition begins. When done right, SEO can significantly lower your customer acquisition costs by driving organic, targeted traffic to your site.

Strategies like social media marketing can be impactful; a solid SEO foundation ensures that you’re not just reaching out but that the right customers are finding you. It’s not just about acquiring new customers or clients; it’s about ensuring the right customer acquisition strategy for your business is in place.

5. Content Marketing

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In the online business landscape, optimizing customer acquisition is a clear growth path. Enter content marketing, a powerhouse in this realm. It’s not just about creating content; it’s about crafting relevant, engaging narratives tailored to your audience.

When you provide valuable insights or solutions through your content, you’re not just shouting into the void—you’re building trust. This trust, in turn, nudges potential customers closer to your brand. It’s essential to know your audience, understand their pain points, and address them with your content.

Distribute this content where they frequent and in formats they prefer. As you consistently offer value, you not only enhance your brand’s authority but also amplify your customer acquisition efforts. In the vast online marketplace, content marketing is your beacon, guiding prospects to your business and fostering growth.

6. User Experience (UX) Optimization

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User Experience (UX) stands at the forefront. When users land on your platform, the ease and intuitiveness they navigate can either boost or hinder your customer acquisition efforts. An optimal UX is one of the best ways to ensure effective customer acquisition. It goes beyond aesthetics; it’s about ensuring each stage of the customer acquisition funnel is seamless.

A positive experience can lead to customer referrals, significantly helping to reduce customer acquisition costs. A solid customer service team, attuned to user needs and feedback, can enhance the overall UX.

As marketing is the process of reaching new audiences, having an outstanding UX can make marketing to new customers more fruitful. The goal is not just acquisition but also customer retention and customer satisfaction. UX optimization is a pivotal component in your acquisition strategy for your business.

7. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

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Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) revolves around refining the user experience to drive more conversions. Think of it this way: marketing is a valuable way to bring traffic to your site, but without an effective CRO, potential customers might leave without making a purchase or taking desired actions.

A robust client acquisition strategy should not just focus on new acquisitions but also on harnessing the power of the traffic you already have. Here’s where your marketing or sales team comes into play.

By analyzing user behavior and making targeted changes, they can ensure that the amount spent on marketing yields a higher return. It’s like customer care but before the purchase. Get the right customer acquisition strategy, which is as vital as the strategy that works for CRO, and watch your business thrive.

8. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

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Customer Relationship Management, popularly known as CRM, serves as the backbone of any sustainable customer acquisition and customer retention strategy. But why? Behind every successful online business is an unwavering focus on understanding, anticipating, and catering to customer needs.

A potent CRM system doesn’t just store customer data—it deciphers patterns, forecasts behaviors, and aids in crafting a tailored client acquisition strategy. The best way to get insights into your audience’s preferences and pain points is through a CRM.

A synchronized sales and marketing approach is paramount, and a CRM bridges the gap between marketing and customer experiences. When used effectively, it can significantly reduce customer attrition, ensuring that your digital marketing strategies and investments bear fruit. Attracting new customers is essential; retaining them and understanding the ‘why’ behind customer choices can propel your business to greater heights.

9. Analytics and Data-Driven Decision Making

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Understanding and leveraging analytics is crucial for an effective customer acquisition strategy. It’s not just about attracting a vast number of visitors; it’s about attracting the right visitors. To identify your customers and truly understand your target market, delve deep into the data. The insights obtained can illuminate the cost of customer acquisition and highlight the customer lifetime value for each segment.

Relying on gut feelings or hunches is no longer sustainable. Instead, adopting data-driven decisions ensures that every dollar spent produces the best possible return per new customer. Incorporating analytics into your customer acquisition plan helps fine-tune email marketing campaigns, ensuring email marketing is a valuable asset in your arsenal.

By monitoring the marketing funnel closely, businesses can adapt a variety of customer acquisition strategies, ensuring a strong customer acquisition strategy for steady online growth. The goal is not just to build a customer base but to sustain and grow it with precision and intent.

10. Scaling and Iterating

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Expanding your online presence requires more than initial success; it demands constant adaptation and refinement. A great customer acquisition strategy isn’t stagnant; it evolves. As you scale, it’s imperative to continuously create a customer acquisition strategy that factors in new insights, market shifts, and feedback. This dynamic approach ensures that the cost of customer acquisition remains optimal, maximizing your return per customer.

Regularly revisiting and iterating on your customer acquisition plan allows businesses to tap into unexplored avenues and improve current customer acquisition tactics. For instance, email marketing can constantly be enhanced, given its evolving best practices and tools. Your email marketing campaigns today might drastically differ from those a year later, emphasizing its adaptability.

With many acquisition tools available, it’s beneficial to experiment and iterate. Creating a customer acquisition strategy is a continuous journey, not a one-time task. The ultimate aim is to grow a robust customer base efficiently and sustainably.

Conclusion

In the digital realm, mastering customer acquisition is paramount for sustained online business growth. By clearly defining your target audience, you can craft a compelling value proposition tailored to their needs.

Employing various customer acquisition strategies, from SEO and content marketing to UX optimization and CRO, will ensure you reach your audience effectively. Leveraging multiple marketing channels emphasizes that email marketing is a valuable tool in this mix. Adopting CRM systems streamlines relationship-building, while analytics offer insights, guiding data-driven decisions.

For continuous growth, create a customer acquisition plan that allows for scaling and iterating based on feedback and results. It’s not just about attracting customers but nurturing them and refining your strategies based on the FAQs about customer acquisition that arise. The roadmap to success is multifaceted; each step, when optimized, propels your business further.

Will Schneider is the founder of WarehousingAndFulfillment.com, a company that operates as a match-making service for the fulfillment industry. Prior to starting WarehousingAndFulfillment.com, Mr. Schneider gained extensive experience in the logistics industry running two private warehousing and fulfillment companies, and served as the Vice President of netQuote, a real-time quoting service for the insurance industry. In addition to writing informative posts about outsourced fulfillment and shipping services, he is also passionate about helping businesses find the right solutions to improve their overall operations. When not working, Will enjoys coaching youth basketball.

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Successful crowdfunding comes from putting the same effort into the campaign story as you did the project itself.

Your crowdfunding campaign story:

• Is the first impression you give potential supporters,
• Persuades readers to engage with your campaign, and
• Encourages them to share your campaign with their networks.

Without an engaging story, how will the world know about your phenomenal project? Spread your passion for this project and solidify support with a gripping narrative that grasps readers’ emotions.

Crowdfunding campaign stories and online reader behaviour

All stories target emotions. Your crowdfunding story is no different, but you only have a few seconds to grab those emotions and hold onto them.

The average internet user doesn’t read articles, they skim. They look for headings, graphics, lists, and other eye-catching content to tell them what they want to know.

Consider your behaviour when you first opened this article. Did you start reading from line one and continue word-by-word? Or was your eye drawn to the three-point list in the first section, then moved to check out more section headers?

If you said the former, you’re in the minority. Most readers will predictably glance through the headers in this article to find the pieces they’re looking for.

However, there is one major difference between this article and a crowdfunding story.

Crowdfunding stories are NOT blog articles

Advice and best practices for writing online articles are focused on search engine optimization (SEO = ranking as high as possible in online search results). Depending on the content, ideal word count for SEO purposes is around 2000 (beyond for financial articles).

But a blog article is teaching something. A crowdfunding campaign is selling something. And there’s a reason why marketing ads are brief.

“But all of the information is important!”

I’m sure it is… to you. The people you’re targeting require much less information than you think. And when someone wants further information, you’ll have links to where they can find it waiting. The core story for the project, however, must communicate only essential details.

One study found the average word count for successful crowdfunding campaigns was between 300 and 500 words.

This means you have less than 500 words to establish a strong enough connection with someone that they’ll contribute to your crowdfunding campaign.

And yes, it’s possible!

Crowdfunding campaign story elements

Opening (25 to 50 words)

Start strong with something eye-catching and relevant. It can be:

• An agreeable statement to bring the reader into your mindset,
• A rhetorical question to spur their thoughts about the problem you’re solving,
• A glowing review, award, or other accolade from a credible source (i.e. not your mom),
• Product quote or tagline.

Your opening material’s role is to prevent as many visitors from ‘bouncing’ (immediately exiting out of the campaign) as possible. You won’t catch everyone – a high percentage will click away without even scrolling. But, once you’ve hooked them, it’s easier to keep them long enough to convince them to support the campaign. So, this section, while the shortest, also requires the most consideration and creativity.

Example from The Collected Doug Wright Vol. 2 (Designed & edited by Seth)

Project background (50 to 100 words)

Provide a BRIEF background on the project. This is part of what helps readers emotionally connect with you. Why did you create this? Is it a passion project? Are you solving a problem you or someone else has?

Be real and open with your readers. Transparency enforces trust, and trust in crowdfunding is essential. In most cases, campaign supporters won’t receive their rewards (if there are any) right away, as the campaign works to raise funds to produce the project. Therefore, your supporters need to trust you.

Example from the One Tin Soldier campaign, a Burning Man art installation:

A close-up of blocks on the sand Description automatically generated

Project description (100 to 150 words)

A project description can include a variety of things, depending on what the campaign is for. Of course, you must include what the project is, relevant specs and available options, but the key is to highlight what makes your project unique.

Every project is different, which means every project brings something new and valuable. Aim for two or three important value-adds to highlight in your campaign.

Communicating that value is crucial, and doing so briefly can be difficult. Consider these questions when writing your description:

• What problem does your creation solve?
• What does it include or do that other comparable creations don’t?
• Are there components, characters, themes, or other characteristics focusing on under-represented groups or ideologies?
• Why do you believe you and your project are extraordinary?

Example from TPK Brewing and “The Blooms That Feed On Fire, A 5e adventure by Portland’s first TTRPG brewpub”

Who is going to love this project? (25 to 50 words)

Hint: The answer is NOT “everyone!”

Identifying your target audience is important for your campaign promotion as well as its story. You’re solving a problem for other people as well as yourself, so shout it out to them. What makes your project unique is what drives this specific set of people to support it.

If you haven’t yet gotten far enough in your campaign to determine your audience demographic, now is the time. Detailed descriptions are unnecessary, but here are some traits to consider when outlining who that audience might be:

• Age, gender, orientation
• Socioeconomic status
• Common pain points
• Hobbies, activities, interests
• Where do they live (geographic location and living situation)?
• When might they be most interested in this project?
• What are they passionate about?
• What similar well-known products, media, etc. might they also enjoy?

Example from “Ain’t Got Time to Die: Film Festival Run”

Outline what funds will be used for (25 to 50 words)

As supporters are pre-funding a project before it happens, they must trust you. Part of that is being open about how you arrived at your crowdfunding goal. Doing so helps supporters understand your project’s scope and likelihood of success, shows how well-planned your project and campaign are, and helps them understand the value of their contributions.

Some choose to simply list expenses, but a word-conservative and more effective way is through visual representation. Like pie charts!

Example from “Backstory One-Shot Comic by Ryan K Lindsay, Jen Vaughn, and Teo Acosta“

What is going to happen and when? (50 to 100 words)

The next thing supporters want to know is the timeline of events from the moment they contribute or claim a reward to when they receive said reward (or, to when the campaign ends and fulfills all promises if rewards aren’t a part of your campaign).

Considerations for this section are:

• What happens if you do not hit your campaign goal?
• When do you expect to ship rewards? (An approximation, such as ‘June 2024’ is acceptable)
• Do you foresee any risks or challenges?
• How will you communicate updates and changes?

Your timeline might change, even for reasons out of your control (cough-worldwidepandemic-cough). And that’s okay! Communication is key, here.

Crowdfundr provides multiple avenues to communicate with supporters, through public updates and private messaging in the communication centre.

Consider updates a required feature of your crowdfunding story. Updates aren’t only useful for communicating changes, they’re fantastic pieces of content for you and your current supporters to share and drive more contributions! This article helps explain further.

Crowdfunding story calls to action (20 words)

There are two calls to action for every crowdfunding campaign story: contribute (or claim a reward) and SHARE!

Unless you’re running a private campaign for a select group, you’ll want people to share your campaign. Even if they cannot contribute (not everyone is in a financial position to do so), they can still help support you by spreading the word.

Be direct with your ask and make it easy:

Help bring this project to life by:

1. Claiming a reward.and/or
2. Sharing this campaign with your network!

What about the ‘extra’ information?

Some supporters might want the nitty-gritty details you left out of your campaign story. It’s important to provide easy access to more information (like FAQs, specs, shipping information, etc.) for those who want it, without crowding your story. There are multiple places you can put these details and link to them in your story:

• Outside website
• Newsletter
• Crowdfundr user profile / Organization account profile
• Crowdfundr extra story tabs
• Downloadable files

Where are campaign rewards included?

While every platform is different, Crowdfundr was designed to highlight rewards with descriptions, images, add-ons, and variant options to exist within the reward itself. So, when it comes time to describe your rewards, a simple “Discover reward options on the right side of the campaign (for desktop) or scroll to the bottom (mobile devices),” is all you need.

Visual appeal of a crowdfunding campaign story matters!

You could have every element listed above within the suggested word count, an intriguing project, and rewards to die for… but that will all fall flat if not presented in an attractive way.

Three things will help with this:

• Headers. Remember, online readers skim. Make it easy for them by separating story elements with headers.
• Colour and font style. Highlight extra-important information with a colour and/or font change. Keep these changes minimal to keep their effect, and don’t go overboard! One or two extra colours (with the main story components in black) are more than enough, and they should align with the rest of the campaign and your brand.
• Images. Of yourself, of your project creation, of your rewards, of anything of value that attracts attention. Break up content with carefully chosen images to bring supporters closer to you and your project.

There is no single “right” way to write a crowdfunding campaign story

The points listed above for writing your story are meant to be guidelines. We at Crowdfundr have seen successful campaigns ignore most of these recommendations, but they’re not common.

If you are to take one key message away from this article, let it be to keep your campaign story short, informative, and highlighting your project’s key values.

Yours in success,

Shan Reeb, Crowdfundr

If you are interested in tabletop role-playing games, Crowdfundr is currently running the Tabletop Nonstop Spotlight. Check out amazing crowdfunding campaigns from TTRPG creators!

Shipping to Canadian shoppers can be a daunting task for eCommerce merchants. With various regulations, duties, and shipping costs to consider, it is essential to establish best practices to ensure customer satisfaction while maintaining profitability. In this article, we will discuss the importance of shipping from Canadian fulfillment centers, considerations for free shipping promotions, selecting the right courier, and choosing the best 3PL partner.

Shipping from Canadian Order Fulfillment Centers

Shipping orders from Canadian order fulfillment centers can significantly benefit both the merchant and the customer. When Canadians receive an order with a declared value of over CAD $200, they are likely to be charged customs or duties upon delivery. Couriers such as UPS and FedEx are known to charge additional fees to collect these taxes and duties. This often results in the shopper refusing the package altogether, and the seller is forced to refund the order, ultimately losing the sale. To mitigate this, merchants should consider importing products and storing them at a Canadian-based 3PL company. By shipping from within Canada, shoppers are not charged any additional duties and taxes upon delivery, thus reducing the return rate on Canadian orders.

It is also important to note that using USPS to ship to Canadian shoppers from the USA is rarely a good idea. The parcels will be handed off from USPS to Canada Post for delivery, which can result in disjointed tracking numbers and potential delays, particularly during busy seasons. Carriers like UPS and FedEx will deliver parcels without handing them off, ensuring a more seamless delivery process. This is an important consideration if a merchant opts to ship products to Canada from the United States.

Canadian Customs has the authority to hold any parcel indefinitely. This is a crucial point for merchants shipping from outside of Canada to communicate with their Canadian shoppers. Clear communication about potential delays due to customs processing is essential. Failure to do so can result in negative reviews and a poor customer experience, especially if a buyer is expecting to receive a package by a specific date for a holiday, birthday, or other special event. By being transparent about the potential hurdles in the shipping process, merchants can set realistic expectations and foster a positive relationship with their Canadian customers.

Understanding Canadian Shopper Expectations

When it comes to online shopping, the expectations of Canadian consumers can vary greatly depending on their location. Generally, Canadians expect their orders to be processed and shipped promptly, similar to American consumers. However, the delivery time expectations can differ significantly.

For those living in rural or remote areas, there is an understanding that parcels may take longer to arrive. The lack of infrastructure and the vast distances that need to be covered mean that next-day delivery is not a common expectation. These consumers are usually accustomed to waiting a bit longer for their packages to arrive.

On the other hand, consumers living in city centers and metropolitan areas like the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA) have higher expectations when it comes to delivery times. The presence of better infrastructure and more delivery options in these areas means that shoppers often anticipate shorter delivery timeframes, similar to what American consumers expect. This is a critical distinction that merchants need to consider when setting delivery expectations for their Canadian customers.

By taking into account the geographical and logistical differences that exist within Canada, merchants can better manage customer expectations and improve overall satisfaction. This includes providing accurate and clear information on delivery timeframes during the checkout process, and being transparent about any potential delays that may occur.

Considerations for Free Shipping Promotions

When it comes to promotions offering free shipping across Canada, merchants must tread carefully. The cost of shipping a package can vary greatly from one location to another. For example, shipping to remote Canadian addresses can be ten times more expensive than shipping the same parcel to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). All merchants should familiarize themselves with remote location postal codes to avoid any surprises when setting up their shipping policies and charges. While some products may be suitable for free shipping promotions in certain areas, others may not be feasible. This can be a significant challenge for merchants shipping to Canadian consumers for the first time, especially when they are accustomed to USPS Priority Flat Rate shipping, which does not exist in Canada from Canada Post or any other carrier.

Selecting the Right Courier and Shipping Service

Understanding the Canadian landscape and selecting the right courier is crucial. Canada is a vast landmass, and not all carriers have the capability to deliver parcels to remote locations in a cost-effective manner. Choosing the same courier across all orders can have negative ramifications for the merchant. While a courier may be cost-effective when shipping to a major city or a specific part of a province, they can charge excessively for another. This can easily wipe out any profit margins and put an order in the red. It is also important to note that Canada Post Lettermail does not offer tracking, unlike USPS First Class. This is a crucial distinction, as eCommerce consumers typically expect to receive a tracking number as soon as an order is processed. Merchants must take this into account when shipping to Canadian consumers. InterFulfillment offers a RateShop feature that allows their system to automatically shop for the most cost-effective rate for each parcel, ensuring that the best carrier and service are selected.

Delivery Timeframes

Delivery timeframes can be just as tricky in the Canadian shipping landscape. Online shoppers typically expect items to be delivered in a timely fashion or at least have an estimated timeframe when checking out on a website. This is not always possible in Canada. One shipping service may result in a parcel being delivered the next day to a certain address, while another address may cost more and take over a week or even longer for delivery. This comes down to understanding the landscape and the various carriers and services offered.

Canada Post offers carbon-neutral shipping, with many tracking emails featuring a badge indicating that a shipment will be carbon-neutral. This may be an important value-added aspect of shipping for consumers. Generally, Canada Post is the most suitable across the board when it comes to shipping in Canada. However, there are instances when using UPS, a company that continues to improve its Canadian infrastructure and shipping capabilities, may be more cost-effective. The fact that a large number of Canada Post shipments are carbon neutral, paired with the fact that Canada Post is typically the most suitable carrier with their Expedited Parcel service, may be reason enough for certain merchants to choose them over others.

Choosing the Right 3PL Partner

Selecting the appropriate third-party logistics (3PL) partner is crucial to the success of any e-commerce merchant shipping to Canada. The ideal 3PL provider will offer a range of comprehensive order fulfillment services that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the merchant and their Canadian customers. This includes warehousing, pick and pack services, and transportation management. By leveraging the expertise and infrastructure of a 3PL partner, merchants can optimize their logistics operations and focus more on growing their business.

In addition to logistical support, a good 3PL partner should also serve as a knowledgeable guide for merchants navigating the complex landscape of shipping to Canadian consumers. This includes understanding the intricacies of customs regulations, taxes, and duties, as well as the various shipping options available to reach customers across Canada’s vast and diverse geography. The 3PL provider should take the time to learn about the merchant’s products, asking detailed questions about the shape, size, and weight of typical parcels to determine the most efficient and cost-effective shipping methods.

They should help the merchant strike the right balance between shipping costs and delivery times. This is especially important in the Canadian market, where shipping costs can vary significantly based on the destination. A suitable Canadian 3PL partner will have established relationships with various carriers and can negotiate competitive rates on behalf of the merchant. They should also offer a range of shipping options, from standard to expedited, to meet the expectations of different customers.

One way to ensure that you are choosing the right 3PL partner is to request a comprehensive quote that outlines all the costs associated with shipping your products to Canadian customers. Companies like InterFulfillment can provide detailed cost analyses that take into account all the variables involved in the shipping process. This will provide a clear picture of the costs involved and help you make an informed decision based on your business needs and budget.

Conclusion

In conclusion, shipping to Canadian shoppers requires a strategic approach. By shipping from Canadian fulfillment centers, considering the implications of free shipping promotions, selecting the right courier, and choosing a suitable 3PL partner, eCommerce merchants can successfully navigate the Canadian shipping landscape, ensuring customer satisfaction and profitability.

Ready to start shipping orders to your customers from Canada? InterFulfillment has you covered. Request your quote today or email us at sales@interfulfillment.com!

Adayra Lopez is the Sales Manager at InterFulfillment.