In the previous edition of this 3-part series, I explained how the annual holiday season started in October the past two years, and how important it is to make sure your store is ready for early shoppers.

We covered MOBILE, REVIEWS & MERCHANDISING -  in this installment, we're talking about PAYMENTS, DELIVERY & EMAILS.

1) PAYMENTS – When you offer more payment options, you’re more likely to appeal to a wider audience. That’s because you’re making it easier for people to pay you, thereby making it easier for money to come into your store.

Cards are the dominant online payment method in the US, accounting for 47 percent of all ecommerce transactions. And the widespread use of cards has made them an enabler of digital wallets. With smartphones, digital wallets have the potential to extend the benefits of physical cards by seamlessly integrating loyalty programs and personalized financing offers.

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Action items–

• Make sure your store has integrated payment methods like PayPal, Amazon Pay, Google Pay or other widely used methods like Stripe, Square, American Express, Visa Checkout, etc.
• Test to ensure your checkout process is fast and efficient. You don’t want to lose customers who are spoiled for choice when it comes to online shopping.

2) DELIVERY – We know this as consumers ourselves. When shopping online, we want to see delivery and return policies upfront. Otherwise hours of browsing and shopping will go to waste.

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Action items –

• Offer a variety of shipping options. The pandemic made home delivery more popular than ever before, with people opting for home delivery over picking up a parcel from a hub or parcel agent. Stores with an online and offline presence also offer click & collect or store pick-up options. This allows for quicker fulfillment of orders, within a few hours even, making the purchase decision that much easier.
• And finally, make sure to communicate your shipping and return policies clearly, with adequate disclaimers for the shopping season. Setting the right expectations helps avoid poor customer experience, and can even encourage repeat users when you’re honest.
  

3) EMAILS – Due to the various distractions we’re presented with, almost everyday, customers often abandon carts or stop browsing, without making a purchase. Making use of your customers’ behavior on your website to send them relevant email product recommendations can boost your email click-through rate, conversion rate and sales.

Action items –

• Personalize your newsletter. Boost the relevance of your emails by including product recommendations based on what your users viewed or purchased.
• Include recommendations in your transactional emails. These emails usually have higher open rates than promotional emails and a well-placed block of attractive and personalized product recommendations can go a long way in boosting repeat shoppers.
  

The Argoid Shopify app offers a personalized email solution that allows you to deliver product recommendations in email to each shopper based on their historical interactions, similar user behavior, and product popularity that are custom tailored for each shopper at the time of email open. It offers email campaign personalization for all these use-cases –

• Cart Abandonment & Repurchase Flow
• Abandoned View & New Account Sign-up
• Order Confirmation Email & Review Email
• Back In Stock & Win Back Emails
  

In our third installment of this series, as promised, we'll share a report on the personalization fiascos of BFCM 2021 so you can avoid them in 2022!

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