The Holiday Countdown - Getting Your Visitors to Buy
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!
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[...] Erickson presents The Holiday Countdown - Getting Your Visitors to Buy posted at WebSite [...]
Electronic Commerce - Blog Carnival (18th December…
Welcome to the December 18, 2007 edition of electronic commerce. (Vol 1, No. 7, 2007)…
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Matt OC…
A very nice timer indeed. I hope it will help you get more customers. As you are an online shop owner, you might be interested in methods you can make even more money by implementing methods to secure all the online payments with credit cards involved. PCI DSS and Using Credit Cards Online is an article for all who care for their internet-based firm and future success. Good luck!
The counter will also mean an extra outgoing link on our sites… Well, for some of us, the counter is quite beneficial, so I think there will be people who will place it on their web pages. But it seems to me that just a counter won’t lure hungry surfers to the online shop. There must be promotions,discounts, or something else to make people come to the site and really buy something.