by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

Do you want to have your best holiday sales ever at your online shop? Then I have one HUGE tip that I want you to start doing right NOW that will greatly help your sales come the peak period of late October to mid December.

do this one thing now for best holiday sales

Too many times, sellers do not understand how important your current customer base is. Shops always seem to be looking for new customers as opposed to trying to get more business out of the people who have already bought from them, and this is a mistake.

SO HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO. Starting today, every time you make a sale, include the message below in your outgoing email to the customer (as well as on a card in the package):

Thank you so much for your purchase! We hope you will return for your holiday shopping with this coupon code for 15% off every item in the store: HOLIDAY2016 (valid until December 22, 2016).

Now, you can make the offer whatever you wish, whether it is free shipping, buy one get one half off, or any other value deal that makes sense for your shop. If you offer free gift wrapping, include this as well. The key is you are putting the idea in their head now that they should think of your shop come holiday shopping time PLUS you are giving them an incentive to do so.

You can even get more specific, so if you sell women’s jewelry, for example, you can say:

Thank you so much for your purchase! We hope you will return for holiday gifts for your mother, sisters, children, best friends, colleagues – anyone who loves jewelry – with this coupon code for 15% off every item in the store: HOLIDAY2016 (valid until December 22, 2016).

Now, a few more tips. You may also want to finish with a line such as:

Thank you so much for supporting small businesses!

Again, this reminds people the importance of buying from smaller vendors and not always the big retailers, and it makes them feel better about their purchase and want to support you further.

If you personalize or customize items, then you may want to add:

We are offering FREE personalization for any holiday gift, just be sure to order before December 1st so that it arrives in time. 

We can create a gift specifically for someone special (or hard to buy for), just be sure to order before December 1st so that it arrives in time. 

This gets them to act faster. You want as many holiday sales as possible before the big hype of Black Friday, where it is going to be tough to compete with online retailers such as Amazon.

If you don’t sell items that typically constitute as gifts, the holiday shopping season is also big for purchases that have to do with decorating and entertaining as people are getting their homes in order for family visits, holiday parties, and so forth, so you could say something such as:

Thank you so much for your purchase! With the holidays just around the corner, we hope you will return for any of your holiday decorating or entertaining needs with this coupon code for 15% off every item in the store: HOLIDAY2016 (valid until December 22, 2016).

Etsy Shops!

Did you know that I offer a 30-Minute Phone Critique of your Etsy shop for just $59? I evaluate every aspect of your shop and advise you on the changes you need to make to get more traffic and sales. You can order it from my Etsy shop here

© 2016 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved.