- Hello people of the internet.
Today, we are going to talk
about the nuts and bolts of increasing
your handmade shop's holiday sales.
There are two reasons
that you may be watching this video.
Some of you are looking ahead to the holidays,
planning ahead of time
to make this your best year yet.
And that's brilliant.
These are the strategies
that you definitely want to be considering,
and prepping for as early as you can,
so that you know what you want to do,
and when you're going to do it.
The second reason you might be watching this video
is that it's already pretty close
to holiday sales time.
And you're looking for last minute strategies
to boost your holiday sales,
or improve your sales conversion rates,
so you can turn more visitors
into customers over the holiday period.
Whether you're planning ahead,
or in the thick of it,
I think it's awesome
that you are thinking strategically like this
and this video is going to help you get there.
I'm going to talk about 16 specific promo strategies
that can help convince more shoppers
to buy from you.
Ready?
Let's dive in.
(upbeat music)
Bonjuor!
My name is Deb and I'm the founder of Tizzit.co,
a membership community for makers
and handmade shop owners,
just like your fabulous self.
You can learn more about our community,
Tizzit HQ by the link below this video,
but for now let's jump straight
into today's conversation:
16 tips to boost your handmade holiday sales.
So before you choose any promo strategies
for your handmade shop,
you need to remember two very important things.
One: be clear about what your cost
and profit margins are.
We would never want you to do promotions
that put you into zero profit,
or worse,
lose money.
Remember the number one rule
always make a profit,
even when discounting or offering
a free gift or free shipping.
Profit is always the end goal.
Two: choose promotion that fit with your overall
brand positioning and strategy.
If a promo isn't a good match
for your brand,
that's okay.
Don't use it.
One shop may offer a discount,
another may charge full price,
but offer a free gift.
Each has a different feel to your customers,
so you need to keep your brand positioning
in mind when choosing what to use.
Okay,
now that we have covered
those important points,
let's talk about strategies.
This is a big list,
so I've tried to group them
into categories for you.
And when deciding which of these strategies
you want to use,
put yourself in your customer's shoes again,
and choose the ones you feel
will speak to your customers
and that really match up
with your brand and brand vision.
First, we have coupons and discounts.
These are pretty self-explanatory,
offering discounts and special offers
can make your customers feel
like they are getting a deal
that they should take advantage of.
Options to consider here include:
regular discounts,
either offering a percentage of,
or dollar amount of,
and we also have early shopping coupons
and specials for those customers
who shop early or before a certain date,
and finally cart abandonment coupons
for those customers who almost purchased from you
and added your products to their cart,
but didn't quite complete the checkout process.
Then we have our shipping related promos.
Sometimes reducing or eliminating shipping
will clinch the sale,
or give you a leg up over your competition.
There are different ways
that you can approach a shipping promo.
Of course you can offer free shipping,
but you can also offer discounted shipping,
or a free upgrade to express shipping.
So these are your three options:
Shipping cost deals,
free shipping,
express shipping.
Now onto our gifts and buying bonuses.
These are great,
if you prefer to stay away
from the idea of discounts,
if, for example,
you feel it contradicts the positioning
you're going for.
If you're wanting to position yourself
as a high-end luxuriant option in your niche,
offering something extra for free
often works better than reducing a price.
In the end, it's really the same,
but perceived differently by the customers.
Be creative,
maybe you want to offer some variation
of a buy one, get one,
like buy one
get half off the second one,
or buy two, get one free.
It doesn't have to be a typical BOGO offer,
it's really about knowing
what you can afford here.
We're still making a profit.
Another option is to offer a free gift
for any purchase that is over a certain amount.
For example,
a free key ring
with a purchase wallet or bag.
Here again,
know your numbers.
You're not really giving that key ring away, okay?
You're still making a profit.
Okay,
social media is next on our list,
with number nine:
If you have an engaged
or a large social media following,
use it to generate more holiday sales.
A great way to do that
is to create a contest or give away,
but leveraging your current audience
to reach even more people.
Next are psychological triggers.
Psychological triggers can
also be very persuasive,
if your customers think they might miss out,
that may be just the push
they need to complete the sale now,
instead of waiting until later.
There are two types of triggers that you can use:
Genuine scarcity triggers
convey that the product is an exclusive offer,
that will never be offered again,
or that,
that product availability is time sensitive.
Once they are gone,
they're gone.
Genuine urgency triggers
are discounts that create
a sense of urgency to get the purchase completed
before the discount opportunity ends.
When you post discounts that are good
for a limited number of days,
or put countdown timers on product pages,
showing when the discount expires,
you create that feeling of urgency
that can compel a shopper to complete their purchase.
Now, please use these ethically.
Notice how I said genuine scarcity
and genuine urgency.
Don't make stuff up
just to push people into buying your products.
Don't be that marketer.
But if there is a genuine urgency or scarcity,
then most definitely communicate it.
Next is paid advertising.
If using paid advertising,
be sure to spend your dollars wisely.
I recommend targeting a warm audience
as in people who have engaged with your page
or with your shop in some way before,
as it's the most cost effective type of campaign.
This is called a retargeting campaign,
and is what will give you
the most bank for your buck,
especially since the holiday season
is an expensive time for ads.
Next, are what we'll call shopper aides,
to help your shopper find the perfect gift to buy.
When you create shopper aides,
you need to think like a holiday shopper.
What would make your products
more valuable to your customers?
Could you put together, for example,
a handy gift guide that puts your products into categories,
like perfect for coffee drinkers,
or great for dog lovers,
so your shopper can browse
based on the interest
of the person they are buying for.
Or maybe your product bundle
is the way to go.
Think of those times
when you've been shopping,
surfing the web for hours,
maybe that's just me,
for a gift,
but everything that you're seeing
is kind of just not quite right.
Then you click on a page
that has the kind of products
you're looking for,
all arranged in a cute themed box,
ready to wrap and gift,
and you're like,
"Yes! This is what I've been looking for."
And bonus,
bundles are also a great way
to increase your average order value
by selling more than one product per order.
Finally, think about special extras
you could provide that would make your customer
have a better shopping experience.
Could you offer to wrap gifts
and/or personalised notes,
to a gift before shipping it?
And second,
make sure any customer question
is answered in the listing,
before they need to ask it.
The key here is that you want to
remove barriers to purchase.
This means that you want to have clear
and visible information
about the following details for the holidays:
When items will ship?
When the product would arrive
based on each shipping options?
This reassures them that,
"Okay, yes,
I can get this on time
to put under the Christmas tree.
What the cutoff dates are to get things in time?
So what time do they need to order by?
And if an item can't arrive on time,
think creatively to suggest alternatives to them.
Think about ways you can offer something,
if shipping is not possible before Christmas.
For example,
you could email them a pretty branded card
to print that says something is on the way
or something like that,
that they can just put under the Christmas tree
if they don't have the product quite yet.
And look,
the idea of course is not to implement
all these strategies,
but to get you thinking
about what you could do,
and what could work for your shop.
For more holiday planning tips,
I'm putting links down below
to other helpful holiday planning videos
to help you plan,
and prepare for your holiday season,
including a holiday season prep workshop,
available inside Tizzit.co HQ
with workbooks,
and checklists,
and all that good stuff
that will help you get more
out of this holiday season.
Thanks for watching,
make sure to subscribe.
And until next time,
au revoir.