February 13th usually is a day of widespread panic, as romantics globally realise that they haven’t bought anything for their loved one for Valentine’s Day.
As retailers look for the next opportunity to sell since the Christmas break, leaving your Valentine’s Day ecommerce strategy too late could hurt your online sales.
So how can retailers avoid a last minute panic in the countdown to February 14th?
Say it with social
Social platforms offer a great way of engaging with your intended audiences. Facebook advertising is a great way of getting your Valentine’s products in the timelines of potential buyers. With Facebook ads you can target users who are in relationships, target by their interests and other factors which help ensure that your ads get before the correct audience.
With Facebook Ad Carousel, 3-5 images can be displayed in a single ad. Carousel means you can show different views of a single product or photos of a range of products.
Don’t forget to update your Facebook page header image to reflect your Valentine’s Day campaign and add a call to action back to a landing page.
Be found
Use Google Keyword Planner, a free part of Google’s AdWords platform, to discover what people are actually searching for, rather than what you think they might be. The results might surprise you, such as considerably more people in the UK search for “Valentines Day Ideas” rather than “Valentines Day Gifts”.
Once you’ve done your research, use your findings to create keywords and phrases for your web and social content. Pay per click advertising with Google’s AdWords could also be a good investment providing the competition isn’t too big and the price isn’t too high, or you have a large budget.
Beat the bounce
Creating content and ads to attract potential cupid customers is half the battle, but have you created landing pages on your website with your users in mind? Is it easy for them to view their required product and purchase it easily from your site?
I’m still amazed by the large number of click-throughs which don’t end in sales due to poor navigation, often to the home page and shopping carts are difficult to use, set up poorly and subsequently abandoned by customers.
Make a date
Sadly, it doesn’t matter how good your social content, adverts or website is if you can’t deliver. The box of chocolates may be the best Valentine’s Day gift ever, but it’s not going to be well received if it arrives on February 15th. And don’t forget February 14th 2016 is on a Sunday which limits delivery options, although a few companies now offer Sunday delivery.
So make sure at the checkout you have a range of delivery options including next day, which people will no doubt pay a premium for if you can save them from embarrassment.
If you’re a retailer, what’s boosted your Valentine’s Day ecommerce day sales? We’d love to hear from you.