The holidays are just around the corner now, but don't stress! We still have a few weeks left to get ready, so we're sharing some tips to help you prepare your website for the holidays.
The holidays are a great time to get a boost in revenue before you close out the year, and reach your profit goal.
Quick Note on Vacation Mode
Some might choose to take a break from running their online business while they are on vacation. If you're looking for a way to place your Wix store into "Vacation Mode" there currently isn't a setting that allows this, but there is a workaround. In the meantime, to vote for this feature, click here.
2 Options for a Vacation Mode Workaround:
The first option is to create a landing page with your header and footer hidden and set this as your homepage.
Create the landing page with the message about your store being closed (include contact info and set expectations for when you'll be open again.
Hide your store pages from your site menu or remove the header and footer from your landing page (click settings and choose no header or footer)
The second option is to disable your store's payment methods, which will block customers from completing checkout.
To disconnect a payment provider:
Go to Accept Payments on your site's dashboard
Click the toggle that says "Active on your Checkout" to temporarily remove the payment provider
We believe the first option is the better option of the two because customers might think there is an error with your store with the second option and reach out because they cannot complete a purchase. It's better to set expectations and let them know that you're away and when you'll be back.
First, it's important to talk about the supply chain issues many big businesses are facing. These large companies are dealing with bottlenecks, and already stating that there will be a delay on shipments for the holidays.
BUT, this can be an opportunity for smaller, local businesses to shine!
This brings us to #1 on our list of tips to help you prepare your Wix website for the holidays in 2021.
1. Consider How You Can Better Serve Your Community
Amazon disrupted the market and forced many small bookstores to close because of how much quicker they delivered. They served customers' convenience need.
But, as Amazon may feel the pressure now to deliver during the holidays, this could be your time to utilize technology and your business smarts to provide a BETTER experience to your community.
For example, with Wix you can setup local delivery, or in-store visits for local pickup. The more simplified options you can offer your customer, the more likely you are to win the sale.
Make sure you have your store policies not only identified, but clearly displayed on your website. This way, you can set expectations, and potentially, win the sale over the big box stores.
2. Create a Marketing Plan to Drive Traffic
Sitting back and hoping that people will find your website is a plan, but it's not a great one. So, to ensure you have a solid plan, you'll want to take time to create a strategy for driving traffic to your website.
This could be through social media posts where you notify your followers about any holiday promotions you're offering, email campaigns to your mailing list, paid ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, guest posting on a popular site, writing content that features popular keywords, and the list goes on!
If you need help, we've included a link to access our free traffic planner guide here.
Pro Tip: Do yourself a favor and automate as much of your marketing plan as you can. Wix has many resources to help you schedule social posts, automate emails, and setup advertising campaigns, so start exploring those now. Your future self will thank you!
3. Implement any Updates Now
You still have time to implement and test any changes you want to make, so stop putting it off, and get to work.
While you're in the editor, check the following:
Your hours of operation are up-to-date
You have a clear way for visitors to contact you (and that email works)
All of your forms on the site work
Verify a visitor can complete checkout on the site (you don't want to wait until Black Friday morning to find out customers can't check out!)
Your policies & any promotions are clearly displayed
Consider adding a countdown timer or a scrolling message bar to the header of your site
The site looks good on mobile (check the mobile editor to be sure)
Consider adding a chat option for the holidays, so visitors can have their questions answered quickly
4. Streamline Checkout As Much As Possible
Small businesses have to build trust on their websites because many do not have the same level of trust built as many of the big box stores.
What we mean by that is let's say you get someone to click on your TikTok ad, and they land on the special landing page you've built for your product.
f anything on that page, or during the checkout process spooks them, or makes them feel uncomfortable about entering in their credit card, you'll lose the sale and the money you spent on the ad will be wasted.
So, how can you build trust on these key pages:
Make sure your business name or logo is clearly displayed (and is consistent with your website) Now is not the time to change things up, we want consistency.
Verify you have the checkout fields you need to gather information from the customer
Clearly display your store policies
Consider offering PayPal or a pay later option to your website
5. Create a Holiday Themed Landing Page
Depending on the promotions you've come up with, consider creating a holiday themed landing page for visitors to easily see key services or products.
Keep in mind that in order to land on this page they'll have had to come from social media, an email you sent out, clicking an article link, or by clicking an ad, so they should have an idea of who you are.
This means that you can choose to provide a brief refresher (so they're reminded of what you do & who it's for), and then jump into why they need it and next steps.
A targeted landing page is also a great way to track your holiday marketing efforts, so you can see what should be tweaked for next year.
6. Prepare for the Unexpected
If the pandemic has taught us anything it's that we should prepare for the unexpected. The same goes for your website during the holidays.
It's always possible that even after rigorous testing and checks that something unexpected happens.
So, here's what you can you do to best prepare:
Create a checklist of what you want to update or verify, and cross it off as you go
Check the speed of your website (GT Metrix or Pingdom are great resources)
Wix has servers all around the world, as well as back up servers, but you'll want to make sure that your website is optimized as much as possible for speed as well.
Make sure you the business owner are comfortable with making updates to your website (if for some reason you can't get ahold of your developer, or employee during the holidays, you will want to know how to make a change)
Not sure if you're comfortable doing this? Ask your team for a training video of basic updates and changes, so you can refer back to it if you get stuck. This is something we do for all of our clients to make sure they feel comfortable. You can also checkout Wix's great support articles.
7. Add a Retargeting Pixel to Your Website
Just incase you did everything above and the visitor still left your website, by adding a retargeting pixel, you can then display targeted ads to encourage them to come back to your site.
You have to be running paid ads in order for this to work, but it's a good way to stay top of mind with a potential client or customer.
