Previously, with regards to Christmas marketing and sales, I've focused mainly on advertising, email marketing and social media. However, another string to the huge bow of Christmas sales, is the landing page your customer will view upon loading your website. Below, I have highlighted aspects of major retailers Christmas landing pages, so we can garner some tips from them to use on your website this Christmas. With little over 5 weeks to go, all online e-commerce business' need to get their jingle on and create some fun banners and campaigns!
John Lewis- The landing page has revolving banners, with large photos and limited wording to entice customers to click through to their seasonal products- from cards to jumpers, 'for her, for him, for the little one.' The first banner is always the most successful in terms of generating clicks, so John Lewis have gone with 'advent calendars' for their first banner- potentially to plant the seed in browsing customers minds of how close Christmas is- so they need to start buying their presents now. In a contrasting grey to the dark green used for their Christmas branding, they have a grey box to put their Christmas delivery options front and centre, pushing their free standard delivery options and the fact they deliver internationally.
Asda- Out of the major supermarkets, Asda's landing page is probably my favourite, the other brands have 'Christmas' as a separate category, presumably until closer to the date where it will be front and centre, however with little over a month to go until the big day, I think Asda are doing it right having it featured prominently. They also have their Christmas campaign hashtag '#becauseitschristmas' at the top of their banner, linking their 'Antlers on Dogs' to the online ad campaigns they're running which they want to show the fun behind Christmas, set to Fleur East's track 'Sax.' Their multi platform digital campaign is Asda's most advanced digital campaigns yet, as they plan to run the adverts throughout November and December with a final 30 second advert is shown on the final run up to Christmas Day which they hope will create a festive fun hype around the brand and their marketing campaign- so far, with antlers on cute dogs, they've got most of us hooked…
Harvey Nichols- If you saw last week's blog, you will know how great I think the Harvey Nichols advert is this year, featuring their hashtag 'Gift Face' – defined by the brand as, 'the contotion of one's face when feigning excitement, happiness or gratitude for a terrible, terrible Christmas gift.' Following their advert, the moving gif images on the square banners are great as the two people look down at their gifts, then then up, presenting 'gift face' at the camera. The concept behind this is, if you shop on their website and purchase their gifts for your loved one, you won't have to see the faux excited look on their face come Christmas day, the compelling tagline being, 'For all the times you've unwrapped and winced. For every time you've torn, untied and almost cried. Avoid #GiftFace this year. Gifting made easy.' Beneath, are categorised products, for both him and her with equal sections for both, laid out in a clear clean way which makes buying easy.
Charlotte Tilbury- On Charlotte Tilbury's website, the main banner which covers most of the landing page, features a YouTube video, which shows the products which would work best for Christmas presents with the, 'gift of makeup magic.' The festive video shows sparkles chasing round her make up items as they become interactive- all the lipsticks pop up etc, creating a fun advert which could provide inspiration for someone searching for the perfect present- to further push this, shown just below this are 4 of her 'best sellers'- in the customer's mind, these must therefore be the best and increase click through rates. Instead of the sections shown on the other website such as groceries, jumpers, advent calandars, Tilbury has gone with sections dependant on the price range of the customer, whilst keeping it festive and fun, calling them 'trinkets, treats and treasures.'
Currys-
Currys website is heavily centred around the price point of items- they're in such a competitive market for selling their items, the price on their products, and the service they provide to accompany their items are what will make them gain a sale against their competitors. Their homepage banner reinfoces this, they company are beginning to match prices from Argos, John Lewis, Tesco or AO.com even 7 days after purchase. They also feature their best deals and their advertised products easily, so they can gain attention as soon as a consumer loads their website- no dogs with antlers here, it's all completely focused on products and sales.
So adigi's top tips?
– Round up products, particularly in the style of Harvey Nichols and Charlotte Tilbury, get your categories in order- either by price, or by theme e.g. 'scents for her,' 'scents for him,' make the consumer's job easy and lead them by the hand through the gift buying process to ensure your sale.
– Like Asda, pick your campaign branding, and stick to it throughout, chopping and changing won't bring recognition- throughout the whole changing campaign as it develops close to the big day, expect to be able to still tell that it is Asda's advert without being told, simply because of the styling of it.
– Choose the feeling of your branding- are you going down the John Lewis route, that you want to pull on customers heart strings, or would you prefer to be less subtle and be heavily product led such as the route Currys have taken. As with the last point, pick a route and stick to it.
– Postage! If a customer cannot find out postage costs/ delivery times, your chance of gaining their custom is greatly reduced- you need to reassure them their present will arrive in time for Christmas Day- which is especially important if you are a purely e-commerce website- if a potential buyer doesn't know if their item will arrive on time or a few days after, they won't be willing to wait, with fickle markets due to so many options at everyone's fingertips, you need to be convenient and competitively priced.
– Videos- as shown on the Charlotte Tilbury website, a video is a great way to get across everything you want to say, without being incredibly blatant and writing huge blocks of texts- instead of showing your new lipstick range through a set of photos, show the audience in a few second film clip, this is hugely more effective.
– The more expensive brands websites- Harvey Nichols, Mulberry, Charlotte Tilbury, all have Christmas branding present live now, however none offer huge discounts or incentives, they are all heavily weighted on the quality and luxury of their items- Dior for example, showcase the beauty and grandeur of their brand by showing how their gifts can be presented.