{"id":23653,"date":"2019-10-23T08:22:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T13:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=23653"},"modified":"2026-01-20T12:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T18:09:29","slug":"last-minute-website-changes-to-boost-holiday-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/last-minute-website-changes-to-boost-holiday-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Last-Minute Website Changes You Can Make Now to Boost Holiday Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is there ever enough time to plan for the holidays? Not really, especially when you run an eCommerce store<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you feel like you\u2019re falling behind before the season even begins, don\u2019t stress. Here are eleven things you can do over the next few days to get your site up to speed for more holiday sales. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"best<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

1. Upgrade your hosting plan. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Start the season by heading off eCommerce disaster. Traffic spikes on peak sales days can crash your site, cost you sales and damage your brand. Case in point: J. Crew\u2019s 2018 Black Friday site crash<\/a> cost the clothing retailer an estimated $700,000 in lost sales. It also generated negative press and lots of customer complaints on social media. <\/p>\n\n\n

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An online retailer\u2019s worst-case Black Friday scenario<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

That\u2019s no way to ring in the holidays. Check now to make sure your plan can accommodate your estimated peak traffic, and upgrade<\/a> for more capacity if you need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Reuse what worked last holiday season. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Look over your sales and site traffic data. What were your most popular products and promotions? Feature them again. Which days were your busiest? Tease your best deals for those days. What search keywords led to the most conversions? Make sure they\u2019re part of your holiday section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Set up your holiday section now. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Build your Black Friday and Cyber Monday landing, category and product pages<\/a> now. Test them for load time, display and function on desktop and mobile. Use the keywords that your holiday shoppers searched for most last year, plus any that are trending now. Make sure navigation between your store\u2019s holiday section and the rest of your shop is seamless. Once you know it all works, put it up for your early bird shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game, a UK-based retailer, consistently gets kudos for its well-designed Black Friday landing pages. Here\u2019s its Black Friday preview page from 2017:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Deals sorted by console, a newsletter opt-in and holiday keywords (Christmas gift ideas, Xbox deals, PS4deals). Nice!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what Game already has up for 2019, more than two months ahead of the big day:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Game is serious about Black Friday<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

4. Put your holiday gift cards front and center. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gift cards were the most sought-after kind of present during the 2018 holiday season, and shoppers love them, too. Make sure visitors to your store can find them fast-especially once the shipping deadline passes for Dec. 25 delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n

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National Retail Federation 2018 survey results<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

5. Don\u2019t skimp on deals. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

'Getting a great deal'\u009d was the top priority for 74% of 2018 holiday shoppers surveyed by Deloitte. Discounts<\/a> are by far the most popular deal, but free shipping, bonus gifts and rewards points are popular, too. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Deloitte 2018 Holiday Survey of Consumers<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Promote your upcoming deals early. Forty percent of shoppers have already started buying gifts by Nov. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Show off your shipping options. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes, you should offer free shipping deals, because online shoppers love them-see the chart above. Also, make sure customers know about your free shipping deals, plus your other shipping options<\/a> and the deadlines to ship for holiday arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A crystal-clear holiday shipping deadline notice<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be subtle. Make a big, easy to see statement and include it on your homepage, product pages and checkout. Remember, shoppers are busy, most are on their phones, and they don\u2019t want to dig through your site to find shipping deadlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Step up your customer service game. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

More than half of online holiday purchases in 2017 were made on smartphones, Google found, as busy shoppers worked through their lists whenever they had a few spare minutes. Be ready to quickly answer customer questions about products, deliver times and deals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may need to scale up or outsource your human or chatbot customer service<\/a> capacity during the holidays to meet demand. Facebook Messenger for Business<\/a> is an easy and inexpensive always-on customer service option, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Check your social sharing capabilities. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Make it easy for customers people to share your products, deals, holiday content and promo codes on social media this holiday season. If your social share plugin doesn\u2019t integrate with Google Analytics, you\u2019re losing data that could help you create more effective promos and posts. AddToAny includes lots of social platforms, lets you customize more and delivers the analytics you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Serve up fun holiday content. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now\u2019s the time to update holiday content<\/a> that did well for you last year or create something new. Stuck for ideas? Consider<\/p>\n\n\n\n