Are you eager to do whatever it takes to help your ecommerce store avoid the summer slump?
We don’t blame you. The summer season is notoriously known for slower sales as people begin to check out in anticipation of long nights and vacation fun with family and friends.
But … what if there were ways to make this slow season an opportunity to generate more profit? What if there were strategies you could use to turn summer into a positive experience for your ecommerce store?
Luckily, there are.
If you’re ready to set your ecommerce business up for success during the hot summer months, stick around. Today we’re sharing seven simple tips you can use to start attracting summer ecommerce sales right away.
Ready to discover what they are?
Grab a pen and a notepad, and let’s get started!
1. Make sure your online store is ultra mobile-friendly
It’s hard to believe that in 2009, mobile devices accounted for less than 1% of all online traffic. That percentage has increased to a whopping 54.4% as of 2023.
In other words, if you’re not optimizing for mobile, you’re leaving serious sales on the table.
But beyond having a store that looks right and works well on mobile and desktop devices, you also need to prioritize high functionality across the board.
That means all product pages, links, images, and descriptions should load quickly, regardless of a shopper's device when viewing your online store.
Consider starting your mobile app to simplify shopping. This allows you to build an in-app community as well as the option to send push notifications to remind shoppers about upcoming sales and product launches.
If you decide not to add an app to the mix, create a system to help you collect your prospects’ and customers’ phone numbers. You can do this by installing chatbot software, setting up a lead magnet funnel, or asking shoppers to fill out a contact page to sign up for your newsletter or finish a purchase.
Once you have their phone numbers, add them to segmented SMS campaigns so you can text them whenever you have a summer sale or launch a new special.
2. Revamp your storefront’s design for summer
You can add some summer flair to your storefront to help set the scene and get your audience excited about shopping during the warmer months.
Here are some quick tips you can use to make your online store more “summery”:
- Add a summer-themed banner at the top of your store
- Feature summer product lines on your store’s homepage
- Include images of real customers happily using your products to enjoy the summer throughout your home page and to illustrate items on your product pages
- Add light and airy summer colors as part of your site’s color palette and in your marketing materials
3. Plan and promote summer sales your audience can’t say no to
Plan irresistible sales with your audience’s behavior in mind. This is when research and data analysis become pivotal to your campaigns’ success.
If you have a large customer base and lead list, consider using Reverse ETL to simplify data analysis. The Reverse ETL process works by copying data from your central data warehouse to your operational systems and SaaS tools so you can leverage it to personalize customer experiences.
In this case, you can use Reverse ETL to help uncover which items to draw attention to when planning your summer sales.
For instance, if you specialize in selling women’s wellness products, the data may reveal that shoppers rave about your hair regrowth options, such as your Minoxidil foam for women, organic hair masks, and liquid morning multivitamins.
In this case, consider creating campaigns that showcase these products at a generous discount for a set time. You can choose to have them all go on sale simultaneously — or you can dedicate specific windows for each product. For instance, you might spotlight the hair foam during June, the hair masks in July, and the multivitamins in August.
Consider offering a special summer bundle that includes all three of these products at a lower price. Since hair growth can take a few months, showing the bundle at the beginning of the summer can help your customers start seeing the results they’re looking for by the end of August.
Once you’ve uncovered which items to promote in your summer sales, follow these additional tips:
Use FOMO messaging
Implement fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) language to pressure and encourage sales while they’re fresh on your audience’s mind.
Try messaging like “limited time,” “you won’t want to miss this,” and “coupon expires at midnight,” for example.
Capitalize on summer holidays
Use official summer holidays to your advantage by showcasing products your audience can use to celebrate the occasion or give as gifts — think Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Back to School, Summer Vacation, and Fourth of July, for example.
Use paid and organic methods to spread the word about your sales
Feature your summer sales in:
- PPC ads
- Social media ads
- Social media posts and stories
- Your email newsletter
- Your storefront banners and product pages
- Push notifications
- SMS campaigns
4. Set up a segmented and automated email campaign series with a focus on summer
Give email subscribers something fun to look forward to by crafting a segmented and automated email campaign series with a summer theme.
When creating content to support your campaign, focus on your target customer’s summer interests, needs, and plans. Find out what they’re looking for and doing by posting a poll or survey on your social media profiles and emailing a questionnaire to your list.
Then, look for patterns and similarities between the answers they provide. Use these insights to finalize the themes, copy, images, and calls to action (CTAs) you’ll be weaving into your email marketing campaign.
For instance, if your audience plans many outdoor get-togethers, consider highlighting heart-warming experiences and the supplies you sell to help make these events memorable.
For example, you could share real photos, videos, and stories of happy customers using the items you sell to host a picnic, barbecue, baby shower — or anything they’ve planned. This can help set the tone and get your audience excited about using your products to create their own memorable experiences over the summer.
5. Prevent shopping cart abandonment by setting up fast and easy checkout flows and offering faster delivery options
People on vacation or in summer entertainment need more patience for clunky checkout flows or slow shipping. They want to purchase what they want as soon as possible — and they want it in their hands even faster than it took to order.
Think about it. If you’re heading out for vacation on Friday and you just realized you forgot to buy a sunhat on a Tuesday, you need a way to get your purchase in your hands and on your head ASAP.
In other words, your checkout process and shipping options must be fast, pristine, and easy to work with. In fact, Google recommends keeping your page load speeds at an average of three seconds to prevent bounce rates. Research shows that if a page takes 10 seconds to load, bounce rates increase to 123%.
Our advice? Test and improve how long your checkout process takes across multiple devices and browsers. Test and improve this on additional pages, links, or apps to sell your products beyond your online store.
We also recommend offering faster shipping options, such as same-day, two-day, and rush shipping. Again, summer shoppers would rather be enjoying their time off. If they’ve put in the time to order something, they expect to have it at their door ASAP.
6. Partner with summer influencers and affiliates who share the same target audience
Lock arms with brand ambassadors who target your target audience and have them start user-generated content (UGC) campaigns — think giveaways with branded hashtags.
This strategy can be a genius way to boost social proof, build trust, and spread the word about your summer specials.
For instance, if you’re an online store that sells nutritional supplements, partner with influencers and affiliates with followers in the health and fitness sector.
Have them:
- Run contests, giveaways, and online quizzes to generate UGC content
- Share informative and engaging content related to summer health tips
- Offer exclusive discounts on your products and services
- Use your supplements and online services and then share honest reviews about how they affected their health
- Collect and hand over branded mentions, visual products, and other UGC content you can implement in your marketing campaigns
7. Partner with sales reps to conduct an outreach campaign
As summer approaches, ecommerce businesses need to rev up their sales strategies. One crucial aspect to consider is lead scoring, a powerful tool that can elevate your business performance.
With HubSpot lead scoring, you can streamline your sales process, identify high-quality leads, and focus on nurturing them into loyal customers.
Our advice? Work with your sales reps to create a special summer outreach campaign. Have them run through the lead scoring process and then use the insights they gather to reach out to qualified leads to schedule demos, welcome calls, and email check-ins.
Wrap up
And there you go! Today we shared seven simple ways to prepare your ecommerce store for summer sales.
What is your next step? Put these insights into action! Meet with your sales and marketing team, decide which tactics you will use, plan a schedule, and set up automated campaigns to do the rest of the work.
That’s it, for now, sellers.
Here’s to your success! PS: Craving more ecommerce sales and business growth tips? We’ve got you covered. Have a look at our “ecommerce growth” tab, “ecommerce news” tab, or our “Shopify podcast” tab on our website for more juicy business advice.
