Five Creative Ways to Boost Sales This Month
If you were to ask our favorite strategy for hitting record holiday sales for your product business, it would be this:
Plan ahead.
But the reality is, sometimes the season gets away from us, and we didn’t get every promotion, launch, and idea perfectly in our calendar, and before we know it, we’re literally IN THE MIDDLE of the busiest time of the year, just trying to keep up with the holiday hustle.
Whew. First of all, take a breath. You are not alone.
And secondly, you’re not too late to make some serious holiday sales magic happen for your product-based business before the end of the year.
Below, I’m sharing five creative, engaging, and strategic ideas for boosting your sales between now and the end of the year — even if you previously had NO plan in place.
Let’s go.
Note: Before you start mapping out your ideas, grab a blank monthly calendar dated for the remaining days of the year. This will give you a canvas to work with when building out your sales plan for these final weeks.
01. Host a gift-away.
A gift-away is similar to a giveaway, but the winning product goes to the person who entered, as well as the person they tagged — two winners! This is a fun giveaway to run during the holidays to boost the spirit of sharing, and you’ll be exposed to MANY new customers through the tagging process in the comments, leading to additional interest and sales.
Pro tip: Any time you host a giveaway on social media, keep the rules SIMPLE. Those who enter should have to take no more than 2-3 actions to enter.
02. Offer up-sells at checkout to increase your average order value.
If you offer a complementary product to one your customer already has in their cart, offer an up-sell for that product to encourage adding on to their existing order. This is an easy way to increase the average order value for your customers while providing product suggestions aligned with their current product selections. Once this is set up on the back end of your site, the process is automated until you turn it off.
03. Create a quiz or just-for-you gift guide.
A quiz is a great way to gamify the shopping experience for your customers by pointing them to the exact product that was made just for them. Gear the quiz toward your target customer (“Discover your personal planner style for 2024”) OR, if your products are giftable, gear the quiz toward their gifting recipients. For example, “Which planner is perfect for your mom this year?” This makes the shopping experience that much more fun while personalizing the product selections on a whole new level.
04. Do a holiday Instagram takeover.
Collaborate with a complementary account on Instagram, and offer to do a takeover on their account for a day. This is a great way to gain exposure to new audiences that will LOVE your product. Make the most of this strategy by gifting their audience a special offer at the end of the day to help drive traffic, sales, and engagement with your own account.
05. Consider incorporating UGC.
UGC (user-generated content) is HUGE right now, helping to build trust and offer new perspectives on what you have to offer. There are platforms that exist solely for the purpose of connecting businesses with creators, and this style of content can be great for running ads to your target audience through the holiday season.
Bonus Idea: Look at what has worked well for you in the past. Not every strategy works perfectly for every business. Look at past years — promotions and strategies you’ve used to pinpoint those that have the most traction with YOUR audience — and ask yourself how you can recreate what worked so well in the past for the holiday season this year?
Are those creative juices moving?
Map out some of the best sales ideas for your business on your dated calendar, and start planning for the final weeks of the year with a sales-driven strategy you AND your audience will love!
Have you been feeling inspired and ready to kick off the design process for your own custom planner?
I created a guide featuring 5 things your day planner MUST include . . . and it’s available now at the link below.