21 Days of E-Commerce Christmas Sales Promotional Tips

It’s the beginning of November, and we are a little more than 21 days out before Thanksgiving Weekend, which includes Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and the entire month of December.

Here are 21 Tips to make sure your CBD eCommerce business is ready to get in front of customers and make some holiday sales.

1. Consistency — Be prepared to show up consistently. Please put it on your schedule and align with your team to prioritize these activities and ensure your company does these activities every day or on a clearly defined regular plan. Consistency is key to making things happen when it comes to your eCommerce sales.
2. Sales Objectives — Make sure your objectives are clearly defined. How many units are you looking to sell before the end of the year? How many customers would you like? What volume of sales are you looking to reach? You will be better able to recognize success when you define it from the outset.
3. Financials — Revisit your spreadsheets to make sure that your numbers add up both in terms of the revenue you expect from your sales objectives, as well as the strategic investments you will need to make to ensure that level of exposure, conversation, and compliance. Don’t forget about costs for compliant banking and processing, and consider your exposure if any of your existing services have any risk of being shut down during a busy holiday buying season.
4. Metrics — Go back over your numbers one more time regarding sales objectives, revenue goals, and expenses. Then align those with marketing, sales, and operational activities required to support that level of sales. If you need to engage support staff or any third-party services to help you achieve your objectives or secure, compliant financial services, now is the time to do it.
5. Customer Service — Make sure your customer service is activated and ready to field potential and existing customer questions or concerns. Ensure the details on your website or any other online channels are accurate in terms of hours, including the time zone, contact phone numbers, email address, and the right staff (including yourself as the business owner) are standing by to field customer inquiries.
6. Brand Awareness — Visit all of the existing channels your company uses to create brand awareness. Ask yourself is this enough, or do you need greater reach and impact. Then consider your ideal customer profile (primary and secondary), and your branding and messaging speak directly to them. If not, make the tweaks you need to get the attention your brand deserves.
7. Seasonal Content — This is your time to embrace the magic of the holiday season and make sure you dress your website and other marketing channels up for the holidays. Whether you do a photoshoot with your products next to seasonal items or bring your product photos into design software to add seasonal touches, make sure you capture the spirit of the holidays in your marketing materials and communications.
8. Website Refresh — If you plan to drive traffic to your website to generate sales, make sure it is ready for prime time. Add some seasonal touches, and make sure your stock is up-to-date. Be sure your content is compliant and does not make any medical claims. Make sure your shipping and return policy is clear, so you are not at risk of chargebacks. Furthermore, ensure that anti-fraud and security measures on your shopping cart are up-to-date, so you are not targeted for fraud. Whatever you do, given the holiday, add some jingle!
9. Social Media — Social media alone is not likely to turn sales. Still, used in combination with other marketing activity it can be highly effective at broadening your reach, telling your story, and keeping your brand top of mind. Popular channels are Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, and Linkedin. Now might be an excellent time to maximize your social media presence with the channels you have and consider adding and building up a following on a new one.
10. Tech Tools — Several tech tools can enhance the digital content you share. These include Canva to create social media-friendly designs and videos, Glorify to showcase eCommerce items beautifully. Linktr.ee gives you expanded content for a link in bio, Medium for sharing blogs and videos that can reach more people, and Notions.so for keeping things organized.
11. Customer Engagement — This is an excellent time to revisit your plan for getting in front of your customers and prospects. Engagement can be in-person and through webinars, podcasts, videos, pamphlets, flyers, digital media, SEO, lead magnets, landing pages, newsletters, online education, quizzes, raffles, and much more. Reach new buyers and reconnect with those who have purchased before to buy again. Look for where your brand has had the most success, and consider adding one or two more avenues to delight and engage your customers.
12. Lead Capture — Whether it is a content piece that can include a short white paper, video, free mini-online course, or an entry into a raffle, getting people to sign up for your newsletter has value. Get people on your list who are interested in your brand, products, and overall value proposition. There are several good CRM (customer relationship management) systems to choose from that can create simple and effective landing pages and automated communication sequences.
13. Newsletter — Whether you send a broadcast or segment your messages to specific groups. One way to segment is between previous customers and prospective customers. Emailing someone who has invited you to email them is an excellent way to get your message out. Use your newsletter list to deliver promotions, offers, and general invitations. For the holidays, remind them to purchase for themselves and those on their Christmas shopping list.
14. Customer Education — Get in front of your customers with educational content. They have heard about whatever you sell, but there is still a lot of missing or misinformation your brand can address. Create an extended list of words to convey your product benefits. They also need to know why they should buy from your brand, and this should include the many reasons why you sourced your product from your supplier over any other supplier and why they should buy from your brand over any other.
15. Social Proof — Building a social media channel and its followers and likes aids in showing social proof. Testimonials and reviews have a similar impact, and it’s great to get customers to tell a positive story about their experience with your product and company. Influencers, ambassadors, and superfans are all part of this effort. If you haven’t asked customers for reviews, now is a good time to do so or to set up automated systems that do that for you from now on. Be sure that if your client makes a medical claim, you ask them to edit it. Get their permission to edit it only to use the part of the review that remains vague enough to confirm value without making any direct claim that it treated or cured any disease.
16. Networking — In a post-vaccine COVID world, people are going out again. Now is an excellent time to get yourself and your staff out in front of people. Whether attending a gathering, hosting a party, or having a pop-up, being with people in the real world has enormous value. Be sure to take pictures and videos, turn that into social media content, and share online. Get yourself some business cards for your eCommerce brand to share as you walk through the world. You can also make stickers, hats, mugs, t-shirts, coasters, water bottles, pens, and much more to keep your brand top of mind and use for raffles and giveaways in exchange for an email address or a gift comes with their purchase.
17. Gift Cards — If your website does not offer gift cards, now would be a great time to add these products. You can create digital or physical ones to sell, and they can come in any denomination, such as $50, $100, or $250. These make great gifts if your store sells several products, and the gift-giver might now know what their gift recipient would enjoy the most from your store. You help them make gift giving easy!
18. Storytelling — Every brand is as unique as its owners. There is a specific reason for the choice of your products. Don’t miss the opportunity to share your story. Tell people about why you committed to improving people’s lives with your products and services. Make sure your customers know your account. Make sure this “signature story” about your purpose and mission comes across on your website, and parts and pieces of it embed into all of your communication channels.
19. Financial Solutions — Your business needs a bank account and merchant services. Make sure you have the most secure and cost-effective solutions for your business. Paypal, Stripe, and Square for processing are quick and easy solutions for a start-up. As you scale, getting a competitive processing rate with a low-risk provider can save you upwards of 2–3% per transaction and a lower per-transaction fee. Also, look for a banking relationship that will be an excellent long-term partner and one that will help you secure business credit through a credit card and line of credit if you need one. Keep up your credit score to get the best interest rates and access to capital when you need it. For your first two years in business, you will rely on your credit, and after two years, the bank will look at both your credit and business income.
20. Media — This can include traditional or new media but means getting your message out through other people’s media channels. Does your CBD business have a press kit? Make sure the owner and key employees have professional headshots and well-written bios that are ready to be shared to get booked on radio, television, or for a magazine or digital write-up, or on-camera interview.
21. Strategic Partnerships — Third-party endorsements and collaborations can do a lot to get your brand in front of new customers with an actual or implied endorsement from your joint activities promoting each other’s products or services. Take a closer look into your community and the overall industry to see who you can work with for mutual promotional benefit.

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Philippa Burgess is a creative professional. She provides marketing, operations, analysis, and advisory services through Muse and Metrics. She holds a BA in International Relations with a Minor in Cinema-TV from USC is currently an MA Candidate in Urban Planning at USC Price. She can be reached at philippa@museandmetrics.com.