The holiday shopping season can be one of the busiest and most important times of year for an ecommerce business. More people are searching for gifts, comparing products and making purchases online, which creates a valuable opportunity to reach new customers and increase sales.
It also means there is less room for website problems. A broken checkout, outdated product information or slow-loading page can quickly turn a potential customer into a lost sale.
With the holidays approaching, now is the time to make sure your ecommerce website is ready. Waiting until November to discover a problem can leave little time to fix it. Here are 10 things businesses should check before the holiday shopping season begins.
1. Review Product Pages
Make sure product descriptions, photos, prices and available options are accurate. Remove outdated information and confirm that important details such as sizes, colors and product specifications are easy to find.
Product pages should give shoppers the information they need to make a purchase without creating unnecessary questions.
2. Test the Checkout Process
Go through the entire purchasing process as a customer would. Add products to the cart, enter shipping information and complete the checkout process.
Check that payment options are working properly and that customers receive appropriate confirmation after placing an order. Even a small issue during checkout can cause customers to abandon their carts.
3. Check the Mobile Experience
Holiday shoppers are not necessarily sitting at a desktop computer. Many will browse products, compare prices and make purchases from their phones.
Review the website on mobile devices to make sure products are easy to view, menus are simple to navigate and buttons and forms work properly.
4. Confirm Shipping and Return Information
Holiday shoppers want to know when an order will arrive and what happens if a purchase needs to be returned. Make shipping costs, delivery estimates and return policies easy to find.
Consider creating a dedicated holiday shipping page or adding seasonal information to relevant product pages if deadlines or policies change during the holidays.
5. Check Inventory Information
Make sure products listed as available are actually in stock. If inventory changes frequently, confirm that the ecommerce system is accurately updating product availability.
Clear information about out-of-stock products can also help prevent customer frustration and unnecessary orders.
6. Review Website Speed
A slow website can create a poor shopping experience, particularly when customers are browsing multiple products or trying to complete a purchase.
Before the holiday rush begins, review page loading speeds and address unnecessary elements that could be slowing the site down. A faster, easier-to-use website can help shoppers stay engaged through the purchasing process.
7. Make Sure Analytics are Working
Website traffic is useful, but businesses also need to understand what visitors are doing once they arrive.
Check that analytics and conversion tracking are working correctly. This can help identify which products, promotions and marketing channels are generating sales during the holiday season.
8. Prepare Holiday Promotions
If holiday sales, discounts or special offers are planned, make sure the website is ready to support them.
Create promotional landing pages, update relevant banners and confirm that discount codes work as intended. It is better to test these features well before customers begin using them.
9. Review Calls to Action
Every ecommerce website should make it clear what shoppers can do next. Review buttons and calls to action throughout the site to make sure they are easy to understand and easy to find.
Simple changes to product pages, shopping carts and promotional pages can make the path to purchase more straightforward.
10. Start Marketing Early
One of the biggest mistakes businesses can make is waiting until the holiday shopping season is already underway to start promoting products.
Use the weeks leading up to the holidays to build awareness through email marketing, social media, search engine optimization, paid advertising and other digital marketing efforts. Starting early provides more opportunities to reach shoppers before they are ready to make a purchase.
Get Your Ecommerce Website Holiday Ready
The holiday shopping season can bring significant opportunities for ecommerce businesses, but a successful season starts with preparation. Reviewing the website now gives businesses time to identify problems, improve the customer experience and make sure marketing efforts are supported by a website that is ready to convert visitors into customers.
From ecommerce web design and optimization to SEO and digital marketing, WebDrafter can help businesses build and maintain an online presence that is prepared for both seasonal opportunities and year-round growth. Give us a call at 717-589-7812 or contact us!
