As reported in the Economic Times, several brands, sellers, and e-commerce executives anticipate an increase of 30-40% in sales during Diwali this year compared with last year. Off late, as a result of inflationary pressures and offline stores opening up fully, these online retailers have posted relatively muted sales.
The massive growth in festive sales will further push the overall online retail GMV (Gross Merchandise Value), which stood at $52 billion in 2021, to grow by 30% to reach $68 billion in 2022.
Generally, the festival season starts one month before Diwali. To achieve your festive season goals during the busiest time of the year, you need channels that work smarter (not harder). It's here that Whatsapp comes in handy and every business owner needs to understand the importance of being active on platforms where your customers are.
In addition to acquiring new customers, engaging customers on WhatsApp helps improve loyalty and retention. D2C brands are now using the power of WhatsApp to build a personal connection with their customers and the festive season is the best time to do this.
However, to do this, you must first develop your festive season marketing strategy. Only then will you be able to capture your customers' attention and make the most of the festive season!
Here are our best holiday e-commerce tips and strategies to tackle the holiday season with personalized Whatsapp experiences that complement your other channels.
Whatsapp has a modest conversion rate of 45-60%. Out of every 100 users that receive a message sent on WhatsApp, 45-60 users click & convert into paying customers. WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app with a very high open rate and therefore, it makes sense for brands to move their marketing to WhatsApp. Hence building your audience data from these WhatsApp users is essential and a great idea to build your loyal customer base is to incentivize it.
Convert High Intent browsers to sign up
The larger your target audience list, the greater your chance of engaging and converting them. When shoppers are already browsing, it's a great time to grab their attention. Strategically-placed sign-up units on your mobile and desktop websites are one of the most powerful ways to convert high-intent browsers into WhatsApp messaging subscribers.
Reward for signing up for Marketing communications
According to most D2C brands, the most successful sign-up units reward customers who opt in with a special discount. Your aim should be to get the WhatsApp number of the customer as this then opens a very high conversion channel for you to take your offers, discount and the latest collections to your them.
With over 95% open rate, WhatsApp is the best channel for customer communication. However, to keep your customers engaged on this channel, you need to create special offers for the customers who have shared their WhatsApp numbers with you. They have given access to their personal life by sharing their WhatsApp number and hence as a brand, you need to reward them till they find value in this new channel. This way, you can not only increase your conversions from broadcasts but also prevent your number from getting blocked.
According to a consumer survey conducted by Yotpo, 60.1 % of consumers prefer Early access to sales from a loyalty program other than free shipping and discounts. According to LoyaltyLion, customers who sign up for loyalty programs are 47% more likely to make a second purchase from that brand. Increasing retention by 5% can increase profits upto 125%, according to Salesforce.
The early access code or a dedicated link can be shared exclusively via WhatsApp 24 hours before the sale starts. WhatsApp will get you the maximum visibility for any campaign and hence it makes complete sense to incentivise your top customers via WhatsApp.
To drive last-minute purchases and added urgency, send a reminder a few hours before the early access goes live. But remember - Overdoing broadcasts on WhatsApp can get you flagged. So be wise while planning your broadcasts.
Gamifying your whatsapp marketing strategy can make the shopping experience more fun and also increases customer’s curiosity and desire to win. Brands that adopt gamification see an improvement of over 150% in customer engagement. Gamifying your website can also boot browsing time by up to 30%
As per stats, Gamifying a website increases comments by 13%, social sharing by 22%, and content discovery by 68%. As a result, engagement metrics such as unique views, page views, community activities, and time on site can increase by 100-150%.
You can make use of games, fortunate draws, and spin the wheel which can be sent on whatsapp with dedicated links redirecting the customer to your website. This can instantly increase your website traffic and at the same time customers get a chance to view the festive arrivals and offers happening on your website which otherwise they might have missed.
Abandoned carts are among the biggest E- Commerce's issues. Globally, 69.82% of shoppers ditch their carts.
A fantastic technique to deal with the shopping cart abandonment problem around Diwali is to send WhatsApp promotional messages with a diwali theme. The templates that go out in your notifications during Diwali can be customized to suit the festive mood.
Diwali themed images, exclusive discounts, referral discounts, and bulk order discounts especially for the products abandoned in cart from the Diwali collection or sale can give the final push to complete the purchase.
You may also include checkout timers to give customers a sense of urgency
Send a WhatsApp message 30 minutes after a shopper abandons their cart. If he hasn't made a purchase after 4 hours, send them a second reminder with an emotional note of wanting to be a part of their celebrations and offer an exclusive coupon for cart redemption. Also add an expiry time for the offer. Follow this up with a final reminder message 3hours before the offer expires.
Diwali Season is always a right time to build an emotional connection with your customers so that they always make your brand a part of their family.
You can send free hampers or samples of products that you want to upsell with every new order on your website with a personalized note wishing the customer for Diwali. You can notify the customer on whatsapp along with their Order confirmation, that a surprise is on its way ! These freebies can be new products that you are launching to market or products that haven’t got enough orders and you would like your customers to try out.
This small gesture makes a lasting impression about your brand in the customer’s mind and catches their sentiment. Compared with the average of 45%, customers with an emotional relationship with a brand will recommend the company at a rate of 71%, resulting in a 306% higher lifetime value. According to research, 94% of customers feel better about a company if they receive a surprise gift. Customers who are happy are less likely to churn.
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