Its almost here, the season to be #jollyshopping! Christmas…

Time to line up your soldiers and prepare for the biggest cyber sale battle of the year! For some of us the excitement is building up to get those Christmas presents for our family and friends at great value or maybe treating ourselves to a good bargain. You feel like a millionaire right ? Also for some of us, the challenge is how we make this quarter count for our clients to reach 2016 sales goals, Q4 sales goals, Cyber Monday sales goals, the list goes on!  You need a miracle right?

Yes I know its October and yes I know there is no snow yet but as the saying goes fail to plan, plan to fail. In case you thought #CyberMonday was a fad, well I think we have established that its not. In fact google trends shows Ireland is still in growth yoy when it comes to people’s interest and searches for Cyber Monday.

From a retailer’s POV, Cyber Monday is the last chance to boost your online sales and make things right. You have done all you can during the research period, driven consideration, prompted and achieved a certain % of your sales targets. While your Christmas plan is intact for maximising reach, utilising highly impactful and innovative formats, all of this is a waste if the fundamentals are overlooked. You only have 24 hours to win the battle so think 360 across all your digital platforms.

Be clever, use mobile cleverly

We have a savvy customer people! According to IAB Global’s 2016 research, a staggering 75% of mobile internet users have in the past 6 months used their device to purchase a product or service. In Ireland, the figure is a decent 30%. So consider your audience insights and their media consumption habits. Take for example this age group of 16-34 year olds:

• 96% Irish people under 35 use a smartphone.
• almost 50% of them look for inspiration and initial discoveries on their smartphones.
• almost 40% of them compare choices on their device before making a purchase.

The sales journey for them should start on mobile and end on mobile (where possible). Mobile will probably account for huge traffic to your site on this day, so a balanced strategy is essential (across desktop & mobile). It’s not going to be just about the best propositions or products. Mobile innovation, cleverly woven into the entire strategy should be key to deliver a strong performance. e.g. time targeted engaging social ads or count down search ads on mobile can inject a sense of urgency in consumers and result in higher sales volumes. The proximity of mobile in our day to day lives makes the experience a personal one, so use mobile throughout the day at key moments to maximise sales.

Experience matters, so make it #flawless

Consumers will be spoilt for choice on Cyber Monday, so they are likely going to be (more than ever) demanding and less forgiving. How will you ensure a flawless experience for your potential customers? Remember you are dealing with a savvy consumer. Is your advertising and overall online strategy aligned to deliver a good experience? Consider these 3 points:

• So from first ad exposure to the moment a customer considers purchasing your product and hitting that ‘buy now’ button, make this a simple, clear and efficient process.
• Every touchpoint counts. For example, are Search, Display, Social, VOD ads driving customers to a landing page optimised for the 24 hour sale?
• All content online (or indeed offline) should feel like a single experience otherwise there will be missed opportunities.

Oh yeah and I assume your site will be ‘crushproof’ too considering the potential volume of traffic that will be coming to your online shop!

A suitcase full of data, time for action

So you have a suitcase full of data, now is the time to action those insights from this data.

• Don’t underestimate what you have, from past campaign results to basic customer data. Assuming you have been here before, you are data rich from last year’s experience. Utilise all the data insights you have on your customers and to focus on driving sales.
• What trends do you see from your analytics, how can these inform your advertising strategy early on? How have consumers behaved in the past and how are they likely to behave?
• What are the hero products you will focus on for the cyber Monday sale and what products can you use to upsell in order to increase the value of the shopping basket?
• Past campaign data can show you the optimal conversion time frame that should help form the foundation of your online sales strategy. Have you research data that gives you insights into why customers do what they do on your site?

Remember consumers are real people who want to be understood and engage with your brand so take action based on these insights. Now is the time to bring out the big guns and make use of all you know to the give your customers the ultimate shopping experience!

The days that follow on after Cyber Monday are as important as the ones that are leading up to it. Make sure you have a holistic view of what you want to happen post this day. Is your re-targeting strategy set to maximise sales post Cyber Monday? Do you have enough budget set aside to continue till Christmas week? What other channels can you use to fulfill online sales offline? (e.g. store collection/ click and collect). In my experience while #CyberMonday can deliver aupto 100%+ increase in sales, brands can also see an incremental uplift in sales of up to 20%+, post Cyber Monday.

So its not over until its really over!

Sources:

IAB Global

Google Barometer

Google Trends

statingthedigitallyobvious

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