Holiday Season Planning: Tips & Tools You Need To Know

September 14th, 2018 | 3 min. read

Labor Day is over. Summer hours have ended. And while fall is arguably the best season, your ecommerce company is already thinking months ahead and gearing up for the holiday season. From creating extensive campaigns to break through the Christmas-themed emails to budgeting for Thanksgiving ads, the holiday season is right around the corner and we have some great planning tools and tips for you to look into.

Test, Test, Test

If you haven’t tested your website, now is the time to do so. Ever heard of Murphy’s Law? Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Don't let that happen to your site. Research conducted by New Relic, 18% of online shoppers will abandon their cart due to slow page load times, which accounts for approximately $3 billion in lost sales across the United States each year. Poor running sites can be detrimental to potential customers and force them to look at competitors. It is good to test rigorous loading ahead of your busy season to correct breakpoints and bottlenecks on your site.

We recommend: LoadRunner

LoadRunner is a good tool that allows you to test how your site handles higher levels of traffic. The software can simulate thousands of users simultaneously using application software. Then this tool can record and later analyze the performance of key components of the application.

What’s the Plan, Stan?

Divide and conquer is the strategy here. You and your team need to pick a set date to finalize what tools and resources you will be using. That way you won’t be bogged down with trying out new tech and software when you should be focusing on campaign KPIs. Document your plan of attack so everyone on your team can follow efficiently. Physically laying out your strategy and time schedule will make your team effectual this holiday season.

We recommend: Mintent

Mintent is the ultimate team organizer when it comes to having a visual planning board. This content marketing tool is a live, easy-to-use calendar and workflow that has built-in analytics and real-time engagement tracking. It's a saving grace when it comes to handling blogs, newsletters, social campaigns, and emails.

Socialize on Social Media.

Take time out of your day to see what your customers are commenting and retweeting. This is when you social media stalk like no other. See what they are saying about other brands or what they want this holiday season. Maybe you thought the era of Pumpkin Spiced Lattes ended (it didn't).

We recommend: Social Rank

Social Rank lets you manage your Twitter and Instagram followers. You can create lists of specific followers and sort by bio keywords, location, and more to track leads. You can even export these lists to share with other departments as well. Social Ranks will also track who is the most engaging followers so you can create loyalty programs.

There is a lot to do! But, by building a plan for your pre-holiday promotions, campaigns, and social, let’s not only your team but also your shoppers be armed with the information they need before the big shopping days.