Running holiday promotions seems to be industry standard. Though, if I’m completely honest, the more business I do, the more I believe industry standard is more of a statement than an actual thing. That said, running holiday promotions with deep discounts is a huge thing.
While this discussion is about to be moot due to the holiday season being fast approaching, it’s relevant for every holiday-themed sale you may run, whether that be Christmas, Easter or Halloween.
Should You Run a Holiday Promotion?
When I talk about holiday promotions, what do I actually mean? I’m talking about those great sales you offer customers (and potential customers) during November and December to boost your sales. Maybe it’s 30 percent off for Cyber Monday or 50 percent off on Boxing Day… whatever it is, it’s a sale that is directly related to a holiday. And it might not be a bad idea…
According to Constant Contact, 20 to 40 percent of sales for small to mid-sized retailers take places in the last two months of the year (a.k.a the Christmas season). With email being the top marketing channel for over 50 percent of brands. Furthermore, the Christmas holiday season is often used as a make it or break it scenario for businesses.
What Can You Do?
If you’re unsure about holiday promotions and want to dip your toe in but not over commit, you might try offering something smaller than the traditional huge slashes (read: 50, 60 and 75 percent off). Instead, you can offer something simple like free shipping or a small price reduction (10% to 20% off) if orders meet a certain criterion (perhaps a $50 or $100 minimum).
Not only does it give you a chance to get some additional sales, but you can do a quick test run to see how holiday sales work for you and your company specifically.
Setting Up Your Own Holiday Promotions
If you think you’re ready to set up your own holiday promotion, here’s a quick checklist of what you should do:
- Decide on your holiday promotion. Pick the items (services or products), their discount and the target audience.
- Prepare your holiday campaign far in advance. Previously as an in-house marketer for a national company, I started working on holiday campaigns in August. Granted, you don’t need that much time but do note that 40 percent of customers start looking and making holiday purchases before Halloween.
- Launch your holiday campaign prior to Halloween, 49 percent of marketers working on their holiday campaigns do too!
- Monitor your campaign for your specified time frame; this may be the entire holiday seasons or just a portion of it.
- After the promotion is over, make sure to analyze your metrics and evaluate whether your holiday sale worked for you or not!
WooCommerce offers an excellent quick guide to planning the best holiday sale for your business.
Do holiday sales work for your business? Tell me about it in the comments below!
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Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!
