Tips & tricks to optimize your webshop

Summer is upon us. We are slowly replacing our summer outfits for cozy blankets indoors. Soon the high season for e-commerce platforms will also start. Black Friday and the end-of-year period are upon us. Preparation is key for these e-commerce high days. On the one hand, it is important to optimize your own webshop. On the other hand, you want a solid strategy to score well through marketplaces such as amazon.be and bol.com. But how do you stand out during the busiest time of the year? And how do you prepare your company for a period that puts enormous pressure on your logistics, marketing and sales activities?

A good start is half the battle. Therefore, first take the time to determine your webshop's goals. What do you want to achieve during the e-commerce high season?

• Higher percentage of customers making purchases?
• Higher purchase numbers per customer?
• Acquisition of new customers?
• Fewer abandoned and forgotten shopping carts?
• Improved brand awareness?

Once you have your goals clearly in mind, determine the strategy. For example, you can bet on one plus one free. Or offer existing customers discount codes. Or a free item with a certain purchase amount. The possibilities are endless.

With those endless possibilities, a good mix of your channels is indispensable. Each digital channel - from social media, to your website, to the actual web shop - has its specific characteristics. Use those characteristics. Capitalize on the strengths of each channel to support your sales strategy.

Ask yourself, “What are my strongest selling products?” Focus primarily on those products that you expect to sell best during the holidays and stock up adequately. After all, if these “high performers” are out of stock too soon, you will miss a very large portion of these sales opportunities.

So stock up sufficiently in time. A golden rule states that your stock should ideally be complete by November 1, 2023. Then don't forget January's stock. After the holidays, it's business as usual again, but then your products must also be in stock. Be sure to get your January stock in stock before December 25, 2023.

The next step is making sure your infrastructure is ready. Optimize your shop proactively. You can optimize filter options or activate extra labels. Think for example of a Black-Friday label or a Saint Nicholas label. A smooth navigation ensures more ease of use.

Make it easy for your customers, too. Just like in a physical store, they like to receive guidance. Therefore, help them via a live chat or set up buyers guides.

Invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make your web shop findable. Relevant content ensures that you score high with SEO. You can target in a targeted way. This can be done through e-mail marketing, but also through paid advertisements. Digital ads increase your visibility online. Curious about some practical SEO tips for your e-commerce? Read it in our blog.

You often already have a clear picture of your existing customers. Use those insights in customer profiles. During Black Friday or the Christmas period, you can make product recommendations. You analyze existing customers' purchase history so you can make targeted recommendations for them.

Next, provide excellent customer service. Answer questions quickly and solve problems smoothly. Keep in mind that customer service inquiries can increase as much as 50% during the end-of-year period. The biggest spike occurs a week after the holidays. By the way, did you know that you can proactively prepare your customer service by creating FAQs? In addition, you can provide email templates for those common questions.

Would you like help optimizing your SEO? Contact our experts, they will be happy to help you.

Another useful tool is User Generated Content. Users are the best ambassadors of your systems. Engage influencers proactively. Especially during days like Black Friday, being able to surf along on their popularity with followers is a gift.

Acquiring customers is an important step, but you also need to ensure conversion. For that, you need to optimize your website and web shop. Too long loading times of your website are a killer for customers.

Also double check if all the different platforms are working properly. The mobile website of your webshop must be in good shape. This is extremely important, because many customers shop via their smartphones nowadays.

Another important concern during the end-of-year period is scalability of your software. Make sure your systems can handle the increased user numbers. Therefore, test your e-commerce platform extensively. You can perform load tests to proactively identify bottlenecks in your systems. That way, you can make sure there are no problems when customers want to checkout their shopping cart.

Want to know more about how to optimize the conversion of your webshop? Then be sure to read our article on conversion optimization and benefit from our practical tips for more conversion on your web shop.