February 22, 2023
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You might not be feeling festive yet, but the holiday season’s about to start.
We’ve Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) a fortnight away, Christmas creeping up, January sales soon after—and it’ll be Valentine’s Day before you know it!
It’s definitely time to start ringing the bells (at least in the e-commerce department!). That’s why we’ve picked out our recommended Shopify features, that’ll set your store up for a smooth and successful season. Read on...
It’s not just the minds of e-com pros that are already fixed on the holiday season. The more serious of shoppers are putting together their wishlists now, ready to shop and save on-the-day browsing time.
Keen to get savvy with your marketing? Introduce your new wishlist feature to your mailing list now. Then, follow-up with a remailer around key e-commerce dates like BFCM, prompting your customers to check their wishlists for any discounts.
Yet to implement this function within your e-commerce store? For one that’s feature-packed and doesn’t bust your budget, we’re recommending Wishlist.
Pricing: $2/month
With customer support requests up 65% during peak holiday dates like BFCM, you won’t want to miss out on leveraging all those golden interactions to drive sales.
Ease the stresses of your customer support team through a customer service and live chat help desk like Gorgias—managing all your support and service in one place. Simple!
Pricing: $60/month
BFCM brings lots of new browsers to your e-commerce store. Increase the chances of them becoming customers, by showcasing high-impact ratings and reviews with customer marketing platform, Okendo.
Pricing: from $99/month
It’s easy to get excited about the mass spending that comes with the holiday season. But let’s also think longer-term; all this traffic makes it prime-time to get more customers onto a loyalty scheme. Because with more rewards, comes more return purchases—holiday season and beyond.
It doesn’t stop there. Recent research shows customers are just as likely to leave reviews and make referrals during key holiday dates as they are during the rest of the year; the holiday season’s still a great time to encourage brand advocacy and drive more qualified traffic, despite shoppers’ frenzy!
Turn your holiday season shoppers into loyal and advocating customers, through customizing a program with points, referrals, and rewards, with LoyaltyLion.
Pricing: FREE-$699/month
Not everyone’s payday falls on the last Friday of the month. But don’t let this hinder those AOVs or order numbers during key holiday season dates. Offering interest-free payments and pay-later plans, such as through Klarna, can increase your browsers’ buying power and help your sales rocket.
Pricing: FREE to install, % per transaction
Order numbers are set to soar during the holiday season, but is your shipping game shipshape and ready for the madness? Make sure importing, managing, and shipping your orders is as efficient as it can be, with ShipStation.
Pricing: $9-$159/month
Sign up for their 30-day free trial.
With all those holiday season orders, you’ll have a lot more returns to juggle. But plenty of opportunities to turn those returns into repurchases, with a feature like AfterShip.
Build trust through seamless returns experiences, delivery updates and a personalized tracking page (which also draws customers back in after those key retailing dates. Win-win!).
Pricing: FREE-$99/month
Start their 14-day free trial.
So, there you have it—all you need to stay out of dark this holiday season, and have a smooth and successful run of e-commerce.
Want more recommendations for boosting your online store’s productivity, holiday season and beyond? Check these out.
If you're thinking of moving to Shopify Plus, get in touch and one of our experts will help discuss your options.
