Q4 is closer than you think and the sooner you start planning + prepping, the more successful and less stressed you’ll be. In today’s episode, I share 5 things you’ll want to have in place for the holiday season in your eCommerce business. Consider these non-negotiable and make sure you carve out time between now and September to get these in place.
Here we are again diving into Q4 planning and prep! Last week we talked about the foundational things you need in place for a successful Q4, and I directed you to my previous Holiday Planning Series that walks you through step-by-step everything you need to know and do for Q4. Those are episodes 72 through 74.
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Use A Product Recommendations Quiz as a Gift Finder
So first up, let’s talk about quizzes! Product recommendation quizzes are a great way to help your customers find the perfect product for them while also collecting a lot of data about them that you can use moving forward in your marketing. If you haven’t already thought about adding a quiz to your eCommerce store, definitely take a listen to episode 107 where we talk in-depth about this. But another way you could use a quiz is to position it as a gift finder.
If you already have a quiz, you can probably just use that one, you’ll just want to change your messaging a bit and market it as a gift finder.
I would just go through it again and confirm that the questions aren’t too specific and that it would still be easy enough for the gift giver to answer.
If the quiz is a little too personal, you could create a second version that’s slightly less specific and market that as your gift finder.
The nice thing about creating a separate quiz specifically for the gift finder is that you’ll know that customer is shopping specifically for a gift and you can tailor the email flow that you send them to speak to that.
Admittedly, this CAN get a little complicated, so I would say consider the bandwidth of your team and everything else you need to get ready for Q4. Consider this a nice to have.
Use ManyChat for Instagram DM Automation for Customer Service + Create a Gift Finder
I also want to talk about ManyChat. We take a deep dive into ManyChat in episode 109 with the founder and CEO Mike Yan, but here are the cliff notes. ManyChat is an Instagram-approved DM automation tool that lets you create a chatbot that can do things like answer frequently asked questions, grow your email list, and even host a giveaway.
So you could set up FAQs specifically for holiday, like your shipping cut-offs, return policy, etc. You can use ManyChat in conjunction with your pre-launch to build your email list and of course host a giveaway.
But you could also create a quiz in ManyChat that customers can take right in your Instagram DMs to help them find the perfect gift for their recipient or themselves! And, because you can use ManyChat to collect emails, you can still grow your list in the process. Use my ManyChat affiliate link to get 30 days of pro for free!
Start Promoting Your Business Early With a Product Pre-Launch
The other thing you’ll want to think about when it comes to promoting your eCommerce business during Q4 is to start earlier than you think. I mentioned the product launch + promotion process in last week’s episode, and you can dive deeper into that process in episode 127, but when it comes specifically to Q4 I want you to start thinking about warming up your audience for the holiday as early as October.
Now you don’t want to go too hard here, so you don’t run out of content to share in November, but you will want to pepper it into your marketing just to get people primed and paying attention. I talk more about this in episode 79 and in the Holiday Content Bundle I share some prompts that I recommend you share specifically in October.
Focus on List Building So You Have More Customers to Sell To During Holiday
The rest of Q3 and October is also a great time to focus on list building overall so that you have more people to sell to once Holiday shopping is in full swing. Using a quiz and ManyChat is a great way to be proactive here and if you want to throw some money behind it with ads, check out episode 91 where I chat with our resident FB Ads strategist and my partner in the Lounge, Nicole Diedrich. She shares the exact strategies she’s used to generate over $3 million dollars for her clients. And you don’t need a lot of money to get results. In fact, with her strategy, you can get started with as little as $500 per month.
Use Video Content in Your Marketing to Fast Track Your Success
Now let’s talk a little about content for Q4, more specifically video. And no, I’m not just talking about reels, though as you know they are being favored by content consumers and in response, by the platform too. But the point of me mentioning this isn’t about doing reels… it’s really just about video in general and showing your face. Now, you can be successful without being the face of your brand. But time and time again, we’ve seen that doing so will grow your business faster and with much more loyal customers who continue to buy from you over and over. So, look, I’m not going to harp on this too much here, but if you’re ready to finally get over your fear of live video or video in general, listen to episode 78 where I share what I did to get over my fear and finally starting showing up.
Create Beginner Educational Content for Your Audience
Aside from video, when it comes to your content in general, I don’t want you to be afraid of being basic. And what I mean by that, is sharing things that you think are obvious and that everyone already knows. Whether it’s educational content or specific to your brand and products, remember that holiday is an opportunity to get in front of a lot of new customers and those potential customers don’t know jack about you or what you sell… so make sure you work that content into your plan. And remember that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can recycle content that you’ve created in the past to save yourself some time and energy.
Get Done For You Holiday Content Prompts + Subject Lines
If you need help with content ideas, make sure you check out my holiday content bundle. It’s super affordable and has 90 Fill-in-the-Blank Holiday Content Prompts and 75 Holiday Subject Lines that can be mixed, matched, and reused for different products, collections + promotions for way more content than you’ll even need for all of Q4.
Promote Your Business More Than You’re Comfortable With to Break Through the Noise
And then lastly, remember to go balls to the wall when it comes to promoting your business during this time. Create more content, send more emails, do more partnerships… consumers are going to be inundated with messaging throughout the season and if you want to break through the noise, you have to step up your game. Don’t worry about being annoying. Such a small % of your audience is going to see your stuff anyway. And if you want to stay top of mind you have to make sure you’re getting in front of your people.
Learn My Strategy For Crafting a Black Friday Email Schedule
To help you with this, on next week’s episode I’ll be walking you through how a recommended Black Friday weekend email schedule, so make sure you don’t miss it. Go ahead and hit that plus button in your apple podcast player or follow wherever you’re listening so you don’t miss a beat.
Listen to the Episode
Episodes Mentioned
107. The Power of Quizzes for eCommerce
109. Build Your Email List with Instagram DM Automation
79. Warm Up Your Audience for the Holiday Season
91. FB Ads After iOS14 with Nicole Diedrich
78 How I Got Over My Fear of Live Video
72. How to Plan for the Holiday Season in Your eCommerce Business
73. How to Prep Your eCommerce Business for the Holiday Season
74. How to Promote Your eCommerce Business During the Holiday Season
Links Mentioned
Holiday Planning Guide + Holiday Content Prompts
ManyChat – Get 30 Days of Pro Free (Affiliate Link)
72. How to Plan for Q4 in Your eCommerce Business
73. How to Prep Your eCommerce Business for Q4
74. How to Promote Your eCommerce Business in Q4
In episode 74, how to promote your business for the holiday season we talk a lot about what to do from a marketing perspective and that is still 100% relevant and valid. But over the last year or so, I’ve come across some really amazing tools and dug deeper into strategies that aren’t covered in that episode, and so I wanted to walk you through how you can apply those specific strategies to your Q4 promo plan. Consider this a supplement to that original episode.
