This post was originally published on May 25, 2018, and was updated on June 10, 2019.
Father’s Day sales have shot up like a rocket in the last few years.
According to the National Retail Federation, Father’s Day sales are expected to hit an all-time high of $16 billion in 2019. Even better, more than one-third of consumers plan to purchase Father’s Day gifts online, which means you can earn some serious coin if you have an online store.
Consider the sales funnel
Having an online store is only one part of the equation; you still need to consider the sales funnel: a series of stages that guide prospective customers toward a buying decision.
The stages of the sales funnel are composed of different marketing collateral that attracts, educates, and converts potential Father’s Day sales in your online store.
For example, to attract potential buyers, you might create a landing page about the best Father’s Day gifts of this year, or you might send an email marketing campaign to your list of contacts to promote your Father’s Day products.
To educate potential buyers once they reach your online store, you might create a video to showcase your products or write a series of blog posts to educate them on the features and benefits of each product.
Finally, to convert the buyer, you’ll want to make sure your checkout process is seamless and easy-to-use.
5 ways to drive Father’s Day sales
Keeping the sales funnel in mind, here are three marketing ideas you can capitalize on to boost Father’s Day sales this year.
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- Attract sales with email.
- Educate customers with video.
- Create a seamless shopping experience.
- Offer Father’s Day-themed product bundles.
- Create a sense of urgency.
Ready to see how these options can work for your eCommerce business? Then keep reading.
1. Attracting sales with email
For every $1 you invest in email marketing, you can expect to make an average return on investment of $44.
If you’re currently sending email marketing campaigns, you know they are a powerful addition to your marketing tool belt.
From welcome emails to drip-marketing autoresponders to one-off sales promotions, email campaigns effectively catch the attention of your email contacts and, when designed properly, drive the sales you need.
As with any of your other marketing initiatives, it’s important to keep your mobile audience in mind, so you’ll want to use a mobile-responsive email template.
In fact, more than half of all email is now opened on mobile devices, and 75 percent of subscribers will delete an email if they can’t read it on a mobile device.
Needless to say, it’s important your leads, prospects and customers can open and click your email campaign on their tiny smartphone screens.
Be sure that your email campaign includes a single call-to-action, so the reader knows exactly what they’re supposed to do:
- Shop Now
- Grab His Gift
- Get It Now
- Save Now
- Buy Now
Also, and this is very important, be sure that your links go to the right pages. You can lose a lot of potential Father’s Day sales if you confuse or alienate your customers, so be sure to send the email to yourself and test everything before sending to your list.
Editor’s note: Need to create a beautiful email campaign to boost Father’s Day sales this year? Check out GoDaddy Email Marketing. With mobile-friendly designs, professional templates and integration possibilities with your website, it’s the perfect solution to capture new leads!
2. Educate customers with video
Video marketing should be a cornerstone of your overall marketing strategy. Once you have your buyer persona defined, you’ll want to outline your video content plan and be sure that you’re diversifying the types of videos you publish. Fortunately, you have many types of video content you can choose:
- Educational videos
- How-to videos
- Tips and tricks videos
- Product explainer videos
- Product review videos
- Customer testimonial videos and more
Consider how-to videos if you’re selling products, as these tend to garner the most attention of any content category on YouTube. Considering the importance of online reviews, you might also want to capture customer testimonials to convince your online store visitors to shop with you.
When creating the videos, you’ll want to create a brief outline of your videos and run through your speaking points a few times to get a good sense of the video length. According to Wistia, you’ll see the most engagement if your videos are two minutes or less.
Also, be sure you have a good amount of light (natural light is preferable) and try to limit background sounds and noises, as it can be distracting to the audience and detract from the quality of your video.
Related: 9 types of video content to move customers through the sales funnel
3. Create a seamless shopping experience
Above all, once you’ve attracted and educated potential buyers on why they should purchase from you, it’s essential that they be able to purchase easily. For that reason, it’s important that you test and optimize your website to prepare for holiday shopping:
Use a one-page checkout process
According to my colleague, Jonathan Long: “A single-page checkout should be the ultimate goal of every eCommerce website, especially during the busy holiday season when you’re attempting to convert as much website traffic into sales as possible.”
Use professional product images
According to an MIT study, the human brain can process an image in just 13 milliseconds. In contrast, it takes a human 300 to 400 milliseconds to blink an eye, so you could process about 23 images within the blink of an eye. Well, if that is the case, then it’s important that your potential customers are seeing beautiful, high-quality images of your products when making their buying decisions.
Incorporate SSL for a secure shopping experience?
With increased privacy and security concerns amongst consumers, it’s imperative that you have an SSL certificate installed on the site. Of course, virtually all merchant service providers will require you to install an SSL certificate on your site in order to accept payments.
Optimize your categories and menu for mobile
With more than half of all web traffic coming from smartphones and tablets, you need to ensure that your site is mobile-responsive. Your categories should be easy to navigate, and your menus should be short and drive consumers to the products that matter most.
Make sure all buttons and links work
Have friends and family play around on your site to make sure that all buttons and links work properly. You’d be surprised how easily you can lose a sale because the customer is confused or frustrated while navigating your site.
4. Offer a Father’s Day-themed product bundle
If you’re trying to push certain products or clear inventory of a low-selling product, consider putting together a Father’s Day-themed bundle.
If you sell clothes, consider putting together a few themes, like “Day at the Beach” and fill it with swim shorts, hats and sunglasses or “For the Sports Dad” that includes running shoes, gym shorts and sport-themed shirts. Consider selling these bundles at a discount (think “bundle and save”) to entice buyers.
Related: 10 ways to sell old inventory in your clothing store
5. Create a sense of urgency
Father’s Day only happens once a year, so it’s easy to create a sense of urgency around it.
Remind your customers that Father’s Day is coming up and it’s time to buy a gift.
Create flash sales leading up to Father’s Day that only last 24 hours. This way, customers won’t want to miss out on a good deal and will jump on the chance to buy from you at a lower price point. Use the email marketing tips above to send out emails about your flash sales to ensure you get eyes on it.
Related: How to use discounts and coupons to increase eCommerce revenue
Hold on tight
If this year is anything like years past, you can expect another rocket boost to your Father’s Day sales if you can effectively attract, educate, and convert those customers. Follow the suggestions above and add more of your own marketing ideas to really blast off this June.
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