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4 tips for an irresistible Valentine’s shopping experience: Deliver a Valentine’s shopping experience that customers will fall in love with.
Valentine’s Day isn’t all blissful romance and spontaneous displays of affection. For panicked gift-buyers, the run-up to February 14th can be filled with stress as they search for the perfect gift for their loved ones. How much should they spend? What brand should they buy? Which color should they choose? As an online retailer, anything you can do to ease this experience and simplify the selection process will earn you a grateful, repeat customer.
Keep reading to find out how you can deliver a Valentine’s shopping experience that customers will fall in love with.
4 tips for an irresistible Valentine’s shopping experience
Follow these four merchandising tips to streamline the gift-buying journey for your customers this Valentine’s Day.
1. Curate a show-stopping gift guide
Sometimes, shopping for the one person we know better than anyone else can be surprisingly difficult. Finding a gift that reflects a loved one’s specific preferences is often made more challenging when shoppers are on an unfamiliar site researching products they do not buy for themselves. This is where a gift guide comes in.
Curate your most Valentine’s-friendly products on a dedicated category page. Merchandise that page with a romantic aesthetic and make it easy for customers to navigate their way to the perfect result. Use badges to highlight bestsellers or top picks for uncertain shoppers. Filters for fast shipping or in-store pickup options are another good idea for last-minute purchases. Any finishing touches you can put on this page to quickly surface relevant products will translate into easier conversions. Plus, a well-executed gift guide can form the basis of your entire Valentine’s marketing campaign, giving you the perfect landing page to link to from email communications, social media, and more.
2. Offer product finders for the perfect match
Product finders offer a slightly different method for uncovering the perfect gift, but the results are essentially the same. By asking shoppers a series of questions – who they are buying for, what styles they like, what their favorite color is, what budget they have, etc. – you can guide them directly to a relevant set of results. This approach is just one way of replicating the in-store assistance that many Valentine’s shoppers would be offered at a brick-and-mortar store.
Gift finder tools can be particularly useful for sites that sell jewelry or beauty products, for example. Again, a lack of product familiarity when shopping for someone else can be a serious obstacle in the path to purchase – especially when the gift recipient probably has very specific preferences. Don’t force these potentially confused shoppers to navigate unknown categories and product terminology when you can refine their search and do the heavy lifting for them.
Auditing Your Ecommerce Website
3. Inspire romance with your merchandising aesthetic
If you happen to pass almost any brick-and-mortar store in early February, you’re sure to encounter a sea of pink and red signage and heart-covered displays. This tactic isn’t just intended to inspire warm and fuzzy feelings, it also serves as a reminder that Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and encourages customers to explore the relevant stock and start shopping.
Your ecommerce store should be no different. Update your homepage to draw attention to your gift guide and feature inline banners throughout category pages to invite shoppers to check it out. Beyond your gift guide, it’s worth boosting or pinning Valentine-related products to the top of other pages during this period – whether it’s to showcase a particular color aesthetic, or to focus on date night styles. Badges highlighting “gifts for him” or “styles she’ll love” can also catch a shopper’s eye and help narrow down their choice.
4. Read shoppers’ minds with recommendations
Intelligent product recommendations are another helpful way to simplify gift-buying for shoppers. Much like the in-store shopping experience, your ecommerce recommendations should play the role of knowledgeable store assistant who can quickly point overwhelmed or unsure customers in the right direction.
On product pages, offer suggestions of other similar results to spotlight more of their loved one’s favorite styles. You should also consider cross-selling matching accessories, such as earring and necklace sets. Finally, try adding a last minute upsell at the checkout by giving shoppers the option to add flowers or chocolates to their order, for example. Any gift-buying guidance that reduces the amount of searching and comparison a shopper has to undertake is sure to boost Valentine’s conversions.
Form a lasting relationship with shoppers this Valentine’s Day
Whether it’s a budding romance or long-term love, Valentine’s shopping can be a daunting task. By making gift buying a breeze, retailers stand to build lasting relationships with customers who will come back time and again. An expertly curated gift guide lies at the heart of your strategy. From there, eye-catching merchandising and effortless navigation will equip shoppers with the tools they need to find the perfect gift with ease.
