When I’m out and about, trying to complete my holiday shopping, it’s easy to remember how quickly I’m running out of time to get it all done. The traffic, the crowds, the incredible (and time-sensitive) sales all help to reinforce my sense of urgency. However, I find that when I’m at home, at my computer, shopping online, the sense of urgency tends to fade and take a back seat, giving me a false sense of “having plenty of time” to get everything done.

As an online store owner, though, I want to remind my visitors of the proximity of the holiday, and do what I can to recreate a similar sense of urgency. It’s even more important online than in the “offline” world - the choice of online stores is nearly infinite in comparison to the brick-and-mortar choices within a reasonable driving distance. Also, when you factor in shipping times, it’s even more important for the customer to buy now rather than waiting. If they’ve made it to my website, it is imperative that I do everything I can to make the sale before they are off to the next site.

A subtle, but powerful, way to increase the sense of urgency to buy now is to put a countdown timer on your site. Here is a snapshot of the timer that I’ve put on all my ecommerce sites (and even my eBay listings):

It’s a flash-based timer that continually counts down the time left until Christmas day. I used a similar timer on the run-up to Halloween, and saw a significant increase in sales. It’s pleasant to look at, non intrusive, and yet reinforces the idea (through the continual ticking off of the hours, minutes and seconds left) that time is running out.

If you’d like this timer to put on your own site, it’s free! I created the timer myself, so I’m giving it away to my subscribers. Subscribers to this blog will get free access to the timer, all necessary files to set it up, and instructions. An email will be going out later today to current subscribers with the link. (Not a subscriber? It’s easy - fill in your name and email in the form at the upper right, and be sure to “confirm” when you receive the confirmation email. The link will then be emailed to you).

Happy Holidays!

Tags: black friday, ecommerce, free countdown timer, holiday countdown, holiday sales, marketing

The 2007 Holiday season is poised to be yet another record-breaker for ecommerce. This could lead to a flood of orders, late nights for you and more work for your accountant. Never fear, here are 7 simple ways to miss out on your share of this year’s online holiday spending and avoid the headaches altogether:

1. Limit the ways your customers can pay you. Let’s face it, some payment methods will cost you a percentage of each sale to accept them, and it’s a lot of trouble to set up more than one payment method.Assume that your customers will adapt to your needs.
2. Refuse to offer Gift Certificates. Your customers shouldn’t be allowed to take the easy way out – make them choose that gift right now!
3. Don’t bother reassuring visitors that your site is safe. Hackersafe, Geotrust, BBBOnline… come on. This is the “Internet Age” – doesn’t everyone know by now to look for the little “lock” icon in the browser?
4. Treat each customer as a “one-time sale”. Email marketing is hard.Besides, you don’t need to maintain relationships with customers – this is the Internet, there’s always another buyer right around the corner.
5. Make it hard to order. If a shopper wants it bad enough, they’ll figure out on their own how to navigate your site and place an order. Call it “customer quality control.”
6. Ship only to the billing address. Sure, you’ll have to answer emails day in and day out asking “Can you please ship my order as a gift?” Gently remind them that it’s not your job to manage their gift-giving – it’s your job to protect yourself from a possibly fraudulent order. In fact, consider making customers fax in their credit card number and signature before you’ll ship at all.
7. Ship on YOUR timetable. Your business is your business… ship when it’s convenient for you. Your customer had all year to order – it’s not your fault they waited until the “week before”! Also, don’t worry about offering faster shipping methods… they only serve to set delivery expectations too high.

Congratulations, you can now rest easy knowing that this holiday season will have little impact on your bottom line. And don’t worry about the customers you’ll miss – your competitors will take good care of them for you. :)

Tags: black friday, holiday ecommerce, holiday shopping online