David Khandrius is an ecommerce expert.
No, seriously. We all hear of ‘experts’ all the time these days – but David started in ecommerce at the age of 14, and has since built multiple Amazon brands, and consulted for companies in product and digital marketing. He knows ecommerce.
We sat down to talk about ecommerce in the 4th quarter we’re all about to enter.. Turns out, Q4 is a critical period for any company to make some serious online sales. Holiday shopping soars, resulting in enormous sales opportunities. But it isn’t as easy as it seems. Just because customers are more in the mood to purchase online doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to buy from you. Competitors are also using the powerful potential of Q4 to amp up their marketing efforts. It’s fiercely competitive, and as a result advertising becomes more expensive.
Here’s a full list of David’s most critical e-commerce tips to help you own Q4, stay ahead of the curve, and increase performance in a way that will prime your business for Q1 new year.
1.Save your customer some moola. One of the best ways to do this is to offer free shipping on your products. Everyone else is doing it. It’s worth the marginal cost to pay for shipping to make sure your customers don’t pass on your product for your competition’s just so they can save on that shipping cost (which they will – even I do it.) If you can’t eat the cost – roll it into the price! Psychologically, consumers are primed to purchase items with free shipping even if the price is higher. And the second best way to save your customers some money is everyone’s favorite – holiday-themed flash sales! Thanksgiving sale! Black Friday sale! 25 days of Christmas sale! Almost the new year sale!
2.Make sure your website is optimized for conversion. You’re going to be getting more traffic than usual. Is your website ready for it? You need to make sure that you’ve minimized any friction in the buying process and made it as clear as possible to shoppers what they should buy. Test this out with market research! Ask strangers in malls (because, c’mon, there will be quite a few this time of year) what their thoughts are looking at your home screen. Ask them what they’d go to on the website first. Or, just monitor website activity with tech that can show heat maps of how your customers engage. Go through your funnel yourself! Test everything as if you were a customer – not a business owner.
3.Appeal to Emotion. ‘Tis the season for generosity! Everyone wants to treat their loved ones to gifts galore during this season, but not everyone has the budget to do so. It’s just like that meme, “What do I do when my mom deserves an island for Christmas, but I can only afford to get her a candle?”. A way to capture this psychology is by sorting your products by price, and offering easy-on-your-wallet yet still wonderful gifts front and center.
4.Make sure you’re all set on inventory. Q4 is a crazy time for everyone – so, if you make a slam dunk and sell out, you’re indefinitely sold out. Fulfillment centers and Amazon take exponentially longer to receive inventory during this peak season, meaning you may be rapidly losing potential customers by not being ready for the rush. Set your goal to ‘sell out,’ but make sure you can’t.
These eCommerce tips are applicable for any business that operates online with their own website. But what about if you’re selling online via Amazon? David shares, “Optimize your Amazon listing by making sure the bullet points and title have the your most relevant keywords and are using the maximum character allowance to take advantage of all the possible keywords. Try not to duplicate keywords.” And because your customer can’t pick up or touch your product, images matter. “Use photos that fully feature your product, try to avoid too many lifestyle photos, and use a white background. Search relevant keywords to see what your competitors are doing with their photos” David advises.
Well, I’d say we’re all set for Q4 thanks to David’s insights. Want to ask David your own questions about eCommerce, or get his advice on how you personally can own Q4 in your niche? Email him at [email protected].