Want to increase holiday sales without the stress? Let’s face it – the holiday season can be tough for small business owners. You’re juggling orders, planning promotions, and trying to keep your sanity intact. But what if I told you there’s an easier way?
In this post, I’m sharing 25 clever marketing strategies to boost your holiday sales – without the overwhelm. These aren’t complicated tactics that’ll eat up your time. They’re simple, effective ways to grow your business and enjoy the season.
Ready to turn your holiday rush into a success story? Let’s dive in! By the end of this article, you’ll have a toolkit of practical ideas to make this your best holiday season yet. Are you excited? I know I am!
This post includes affiliate links to products I love and recommend, meaning I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
Why should you start thinking about holiday sales 3 months in advance?
You should plan your holiday sales 3 or even 4 months in advance simply because it will be much easier to prepare when you still have time.
You probably heard about stressed-out entrepreneurs who were winging it just because they didn’t think ahead. And their results were horrific! I should know because that used to be me.
Well, it’s not a good situation to find yourself in, especially if you’re trying to provide for your family. Here is my main advice: don’t wait and start planning now! So let’s talk about that.
Start planning for the holidays
If you’re serious about increasing your holiday sales, then this is the best time to do it! It’s never too early to begin planning.
All successful entrepreneurs start drafting their holiday marketing ideas at least 3 months ahead. You might think that’s extreme, but it’s not!
There’s so much you need to create! Write your email sales letters, holiday-themed Social Media posts, holiday graphics, and so much more. You will probably agree that it’s less stressful if you have all the material ready when the time comes.
Then you just copy, paste, schedule, and send out your content. You don’t have to do everything last minute because we all know how sloppy we can be when time is running out!
Your marketing efforts are best when they’re well-planned. And if that’s not a good enough reason, here’s another one: you’ll attract the right customers who want to buy from you.
Here’s what you should outline and create:
- Write down all the holidays of the year
- What products will you discount
- When will you promote your deals?
- How much will they be discounted (example: 20%)
- All your content (blog posts, emails, Social Media content, graphics, etc.)
- Where you’ll promote your discounted offers
- Include all the links to your products
If you need help planning all this out, grab my Holiday Sales Accelerator Kit and start a stress-free, profitable holiday season. Now let’s jump into all the ways you can increase holiday sales with less hustle.
25 Ways To Effortlessly Increase Holiday Sales
Offer special discounts
It’s the easiest and fastest way to encourage your potential customers to buy! How? Well, you need to create a discount code and send it in the sales letter or mention it in your Social Media post.
Then, when the customer uses this code during checkout, they will get a certain percentage off. As simple as that!
But you might be wondering what percentage you should offer. Most successful entrepreneurs provide between 20% to a maximum of 50%. Why not higher?
If you have a discount that’s too high, your customers might think your product isn’t valuable, and they won’t buy it.
You might also love to read: 17 Killer Halloween Marketing Ideas to Sell More Digital Products
Offer free shipping to increase holiday sales
Free shipping obviously won’t apply to digital products. But it’s a great marketing strategy for physical goods, and it never gets old! We all love free shipping! It’s such a good deal, so of course, it will boost your holiday sales.
If you have multiple products, then offer free shipping for those who buy more than one. It’s a great way to help your customers save money and also enhance their shopping experience. And the best part? They might come back to buy more!
Let’s talk about one of the most common questions many entrepreneurs have: “Should I offer free shipping if my customers live outside my country/state?” The answer is absolutely YES! But you need to do some research first.
To get your answer, you should know the following information about your customers:
- How far their location is from your business (distance plays a huge factor)
- How much will the shipping cost you
- Will you still make a profit
You might also want to read: 15 Insanely Clever Fall Marketing Ideas For Your Business
Include a gift or a bonus
Not all customers are the same. Some of them will buy from you if you give them a free gift. And it doesn’t have to be expensive or huge – but it has to be valuable!
There are plenty of free bonuses you can include with the purchase that’ll still make an impact on your customer’s shopping experience and encourage them to buy.
Here are some ideas for you:
- e-book
- workbook
- cheat sheets
- mini-course
- graphic templates
- coaching call
- email support
Give discounts on your top-selling products
Discounting your bestsellers during the holiday season is an easy way to encourage customers to buy.
Why? Well, because everyone wants to save some money! And if they are interested in your best-selling products but can’t afford to get them, then this method is perfect! In fact, it might even bring you more sales than the others!
Here’s what you should do:
- Find out which products are your bestsellers in the last 3-4 months
- You can also poll your audience to see what products they love most
- Then decide how much you will discount it
- And the final step is to create content for the special holiday sale!
You might also love to read: Killer Black Friday Promotional Ideas To Help You Stand Out
Have flash sales
The best part about flash sales is that they’re super effective. Why? Because they increase the perception of exclusiveness and also scarcity. People love anything exclusive and want to act quickly on it!
Create a countdown timer if you want to take it up a notch (we will discuss this further in this article). It will increase the perception of scarcity even more, and your customers might buy faster.
Create some urgency by telling them that it’s time-sensitive (1-3 days maximum) and that they have to act fast to take advantage of the flash sale. This will compel them to hurry up and grab your product asap!
Here’s another article you might want to read: Unique Winter Marketing Ideas to Boost Your Digital Business
Create limited-time offers
To encourage your customers to buy from your store and increase your holiday sales, create limited-time offers. They are a bit different than flash sales – they last for at least one week.
But it’s the same idea – to create urgency. You should make sure to highlight that if your audience doesn’t take advantage of this limited-time offer, they might end up missing out big time!
I can’t stress this enough – you need to create some kind of scarcity for your holiday sale. It’ll motivate your audience to act fast!
Create tripwire sales
A tripwire is an offer that usually appears on a ‘thank you’ page. It’s strategically designed (low-priced) to make your customers buy immediately!
Tripwires are usually priced between $7-$27 (you could go a bit lower or higher). So to increase holiday sales, you need at least one tripwire in place!
If you don’t have a tripwire offer, then it’s time to create one!
Bundle up your products
Bundling up your products is an effective sales strategy that you can use to increase holiday sales. And it works like a charm! You see, it makes the bundle appear more attractive and valuable.
So why not bundle up all the products that are related to each other? This way, they can buy everything together for a lower price than buying it separately. So you might ask: “How do I bundle up my products?”
Here’s what you need to do:
- Find out which products are related (they cover similar topics),
- If you’re using PayHip, click on the button ‘Add new product’ and choose a bundle,
- Then type the bundle title and choose the products you’ll sell together,
- Create a compelling, no-brainer price – and voila, you’re done!
Create a customer loyalty program
It should offer discounts and rewards points for purchases. This way, your customers will feel appreciated and rewarded for their loyalty. They’ll be more likely to buy from you again – because you’re showing them how much you care about them!
In fact, the SalesForce blog says that members of loyalty programs are willing to spend 18% more when they are rewarded! So it’s a win-win situation.
Create a ‘buy one get one free’ offer
When it comes to increasing holiday sales, this offer rocks! Your customers will love it because they can buy one product and get another one for FREE! Hey, two products are better than one, right?
Here’s what I recommend you to do: if they buy it, give them another one of equal or lesser value for free (obviously)! Yet make it valuable and an add-on to the first product. By appealing to their emotions, you’ll increase holiday sales fast!
Consider offering gift cards
A gift card is an excellent option for boosting your sales these holidays. It’s a fast way to persuade your customers to buy from you because they can now use it or give it as a gift to another person!
So if you want to make this work for your business, you’ll first have to think about what gift card would be valuable for your audience. You really have to know your customers – what do they love to buy, and where?
It can be something as simple as Amazon or a spa gift card. Another great idea is a coffee shop gift card. After all, coffee is a power juice for most of us entrepreneurs.
Create an irresistible upsell offer
Upselling is a great technique that will definitely help you increase holiday sales this year. You can offer your customers a great add-on to the product that they are buying.
An upsell should be low-priced yet high-value, so they quickly decide and add it to their original purchase. You can also test out higher-priced upsells, but holidays are all about saving, so keep that in mind.
Include countdown timer
If you’re running a time-sensitive offer, then you’ll want to flash an expiration date for it. This way, your audience will know they will have to act fast!
So to increase holiday sales, make sure that you have a countdown timer on your sales page. It will be a constant reminder of the time that’s left for the offer. And as I mentioned before, it will create scarcity, making them take action fast!
Get creative with your holiday graphics
You need to make your content stand out and be more eye-catching! Beautiful holiday graphics can help you do that!
But remember, you’ll need to add more creativity to your images than what you’d typically use for the rest of your content. So don’t just go with the flow! Really think about what you can do and what kind of emotions you will evoke in your audience.
What I found the most helpful is sharing something funny but related to your holiday offer. You’ll make your audience laugh, and they’ll remember you and your product!
The best tool that will help you create those amazing graphics is Canva PRO. It has many beautiful images and elements; plus, it’s also easy to use.
Create a holiday gift guide
A gift guide is a great way to help your audience find the perfect present for someone special. It’s also an excellent opportunity for you to increase holiday sales.
People love gift suggestions, so take advantage of this method. And don’t worry if you don’t have your own products. You can become an affiliate and recommend other people’s goods.
Create cart abandonment campaigns
Cart abandonment is a common problem faced by many entrepreneurs and marketers. It’s when your customers place an order on your sales page, but they don’t go through with the purchase.
This happens for several reasons; they are distracted or talk themselves out of it. But you can solve this situation by creating a cart abandonment campaign.
Just make a compelling email that overcomes some objections. You can learn more about how to create an abandoned cart campaign here.
Send out personalize emails
Personalized emails are a great way to stand out from the crowd. When you send out personal and customized emails, your audience will know that they are essential to you.
Even if it’s just an autoresponder, make sure that you put in the effort to tailor each message. It may look like extra work (and it is), but your audience will appreciate it. They’ll also start trusting you more, and when that happens, sales will happen naturally. So never neglect personalized emails!
Create great deals for your existing customers
Holiday deals are great for showing your current customers how much you appreciate them! So if you can make some special offers just for them, they’ll be more likely to come back and spend more in your online store.
Plus, you could add a gift into the mix that will make them feel valued even more. And something as simple as that can get you loyal customers for life!
Add more products to the online store
A lot of people are waiting until the last minute to search for holiday deals. These people are not just looking for one product, but they’ll be browsing for a bunch of goods that they want.
So if you have a large selection of different offers, then your chances of increasing holiday sales will skyrocket! Don’t miss this opportunity and start creating digital products.
Start your holiday sales early
Why is it wise to start promoting your offers earlier than everybody else? Simple – to avoid all competition. Most entrepreneurs start their special sales around holidays. But you don’t want to be like them and get lost among everyone else!
So why not increase the chance of getting more sales by releasing your holiday deals earlier? Instead of promoting it a week before Christmas – like everyone else – you can do it the first week of December. You’ll compete with fewer people, which is a huge advantage!
Leverage testimonials
One of the best ways to increase holiday sales is by leveraging testimonials. This is social proof that boosts your product’s credibility.
Testimonials are a lot more powerful than you could ever imagine, so if you can get some – do it! You’ll be surprised by how much they help boost sales. So take action and start asking your current customers if they can send you feedback.
Build your customer base before the holidays
With this strategy, you won’t just get some extra income. If you do it right and nurture the relationships – you can see massive results! But you have to start now because building great connections takes time.
Here are some of the tips that will help you:
- Start by providing fantastic value! With this method, you’ll be able to build genuine connections and get loyal customers.
- Send out appreciation emails and thank your subscribers for supporting you.
- Create some reports or freebies and give them to your audience
- Think of any other ways you can make them feel important
Create an excellent holiday content strategy
Magnetic content is the focal point of your business. It takes time and effort, but it’s worth it in the long run. This is because you’ll be able to attract more customers and build your reputation as an expert.
People who don’t buy from you during the holidays will return for advice. And that increases the chances they’ll purchase from you in the future.
So the goal of your holiday content is to make it so good that people come back for more year after year. The value increases buyer conversions in the long run!
Here are all my articles with a ton of content ideas for different seasons:
- 4th Of July Captions For Instagram To Help You Boost Engagement
- 145 Unique Fall Instagram Captions For Small Business
- 100+ Free Halloween Instagram Captions To Help You Stand Out Of The Crowd
- 200+ Killer Christmas Captions For Your Business
Have fun with promotions
This is a simple tip, but it’s often overlooked. When you’re promoting your special holiday sales, you’re attaching energy to it, and your audience can feel it. If it’s screaming ‘low-vibration,’ they will pick up on it and won’t buy!
So by having fun, you’ll get creative and find different ways to promote your deals that go beyond traditional marketing. Spread some holiday cheer, and it’s sure to pay off!
Have great customer service
Customer service is one of the most critical aspects of their business. Yet, many entrepreneurs don’t put much thought into it. But what do you think is easier:
A) Selling to new customers that don’t know you, or…
B) Selling to existing ones that already like & trust you?
Is your answer B? Congratulations, you’re right! This is why customer service is so important. If you give great support, then people won’t hesitate to buy from you during promotions!
That’s why this year, focus on helping customers before they even buy anything. Show them that you’re not just after their money but that you care about them. And they’ll be more likely to return the ‘favor’ and buy from you during the holidays!
Summing up the methods to increase holiday sales
If you want to increase your sales, then it’s time to take action. Choose a couple of methods from this article and start planning. Outlining your holiday campaigns as soon as possible is key to your success!
It will be helpful for you to start building significant connections with your audience. Get to know them on a deeper level and notice what they are searching for.
If you need holiday content, emails, planners, and strategies that work, then get my Holiday Sales Accelerator Kit. Here’s what you’ll get inside:
- How To Boost Your Holiday Sales Mastery E-book (51 pages): Learn key strategies to boost your holiday sales, with tips tailored for digital product creators.
- Holiday Business Planner (81 pages): Plan your entire holiday promotion calendar in one sitting.
- Fill-in-the-Blank Holiday Social Media Content Templates: 16 post templates to raise awareness of your audience’s challenges, 15 questions for market research, 17 promotional posts, 50 hooks, Call-to-action ideas
- 21 Holiday Email Templates: Ready-to-use emails for building relationships and boosting sales.
- 32 Holiday Canva Graphics: Eye-catching templates for various holiday promotions.
- And a ton of BONUSES: Holiday Marketing Checklist to help you get organized, Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas, 50+ AI-generated Holiday images, and stickers to make your designs pop, 17 Holiday Facebook Banner Templates, 13 Holiday Blog Banner Templates.
And finally, remember that having fun won’t hurt your promotions. People will feel your good energy and be more attracted to your offers. That means happy customers and more money in your pocket.
That’s all for now; I hope you enjoyed the article! If you found it helpful – don’t be shy to share it with your friends and subscribers.
Please share this article to help other digital marketers 💜
Petra Šranc (CEO of Big Income Paradise) is passionate about teaching female entrepreneurs how to do Social Media Marketing to grow their business online. She also focuses on teaching Social Media content tactics to skyrocket traffic, leads, and sales.