Christmas is over and you’re now relaxing with your feet up and a celebratory drink! Well, the holiday period is not over and with a little push now you can extend your holiday sales into January, even February.
Update your Zen Cart Store
Keep your store fresh by adding a couple of small updates to your store front. Both customers and search engines are reassured that your store is credible and open-for-business by new content and quick removal of out-of-date information.
Updates could include:
- a new banner (for example, to thank your customers for their support during the year, wish your customers a happy New Year or notice that you are now returning to your normal shipping schedule).
- a feature section where you focus on ‘upselling’ for a particular product (for example, focus on the accessories available for your main product);
- a new banner or sidebox to advertise your upcoming New Year Sale or current specials.
Don’t forget to remove all information from your store front that is no longer relevant. You do not want references to ‘delivery before Christmas’ once Christmas Day has passed.
Have a plan for when you will remove all references to the holiday period. Have your new banners, header, sideboxes, etc ready to go for the change-over date you decide.
Customer Contact
The most valuable customer is a repeat customer and the primary reason customers return is contact after an order. An important part of your Zen Cart Store Configuration is the Zen Cart Emails, the transactional and confirmation email messages such as when a new customer registers or when an order is shipped. However, there are also other ways you can keep in touch with your customers.
- Send a follow up email to all customers or a random selection of customers who purchased in the lead up to Christmas and thank them for their custom and let them know to contact you if there are any problems. Make sure your email is personalised and always follow up on any issues that are raised.
- Run a Customer Satisfaction Survey be sending a brief email questionnaire to all customers that purchased in the last two months. Offer a special discount or other promotion to increase participation.
- Regular newsletters, offers and promotions based on previous purchases are great ways of getting that all important repeat custom.
Remember, all email messages should be branded to match your online store and include your logo and contact information. The last thing you want is your email messages to leave a bad impression.
Clearance Sale
Depending on your product range, you may wish to plan a holiday clearance sale for January to sell off any overstocked or slow moving items. Hold a limited duration sale to energise sales during a typically slower month. Also, launch your new product range as soon as possible so that customers drawn to your clearance sale can also purchase your new products (at full price off course!)
Holiday Period In Review
Finally, review your results. What worked successfully and what actions should have been started earlier? Look at what your most popular products were, how successful your advertising campaigns were and the results of your Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Make some notes so that you can review them easily in August/September next year and build on what you have already learned. Mark important milestone dates in your calendar for next year .
