Q4 Holiday eCommerce Prep Checklist

The eComm Growth Show

How To Get More eComm Sales During The Holiday Season

Our Checklist For A Very Merry (And Profitable!) Fourth Quarter

‘Tis the season for holiday promotions. We know you’re probably thinking, “It’s not even Halloween yet!” And sure, most of us haven’t exactly booked our flights home for Thanksgiving either.

But we’ve already started seeing ads for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all those other “holidays” people look forward to this time of year. With that said, if you haven’t started decking the halls of your eComm strategy with festive promos, well, we’ve got bad news and good news.

Late Is Almost As Bad As Never

The bad news? You’re technically on the naughty list. But the good news is we’re feeling extra nice today.

To be fair, 2022 has been a whirlwind. So we understand if you’ve fallen a bit behind. Unfortunately, there’s no sugarcoating this plum: you need to fully prepare and have every offer dialed in – long before the most wonderful time of the year!

And that’s exactly why we’re giving you our Q4 Holiday eComm Checklist. (You're welcome!)

Pick Out The Perfect Offer

The first step is to ask yourself, “What is my offer going to be?”

It shouldn’t be something overly complex or elaborate. After all, sitewide discounts and specials like “purchase $X worth of stuff to get $Y off” are classics for a reason. Keep it simple to avoid confusing your audience. Otherwise, they’ll take their gift list (and their wallet!) elsewhere.

And while we’re talkin’ strategy, do NOT throw a random offer together at the last minute. Campaigns come with a lot of creative. There’s email flows, social posts . . . you name it! So start planning every promo now; we promise your creative team will appreciate the head’s up.

Wrap Your Schedule (And Budget!) Around The Season

Next, schedule your budget and start running test campaigns immediately. Don’t wait for Black Friday to arrive. Figure out which audiences are warmest and where to allocate your funds.

Also, if you really want to get ahead of the game, make sure to prep all your emails, SMS flows, and entire content calendar ASAP. Personally? We like to have that done by October 1st. (Bonus tip: Make sure your site speed is fast enough to handle all that extra traffic after Turkey Day.)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, a big mistake we often see DTC brands make is they only plan for those end-of-November sales. They completely neglect Christmas – even though the few weeks leading up to Santa’s arrival is one of the biggest buying frenzies of the year!

Give Your Plan A Nametag

Time to get specific. Before you jump into your strategy, clearly identify every part of it. And we’re not just talkin’ about Q4 strategy. Remember, the holidays run through New Year’s celebrations. (Wassup, Q1?!)

Start making those eComm “resolutions” today. Because, sure, January may seem like a long way off, but Q4 can be crazy – even with the most proactive planning! The last thing you want is to fall behind and get caught off guard.

Plus, that’s usually when big brands start pulling back on ad spend and everything gets cheaper to run. Not to mention all the Christmas money that your customers will want to spend in the new year! Translation? It’s a great time for small brands to start scaling.

Tying Up The Loose Ribbons

The final step is to double-check and triple-check everything you have in place. Test those email flow architectures. Take another look at your ad creative. Proofread your copy. Review your budgeting. Because you’re not spending thousands of dollars to make careless mistakes and lose out on potential sales.

Always have a backup plan for your backup plan – create a second ad account if need be! As the saying (kinda) goes, don’t put all your Christmas ornaments in one basket.

Put Your Plan Under The Tree Into Action

That’s it. With our Q4 checklist, we’ve pretty much given you everything you need to make this quarter your biggest one yet. So the time for excuses is over. No more delays.

On Dasher, on Dancer, on . . . ok, we’re done with the festive metaphors! Get going already! And listen to our full podcast.

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