Highlight Promotions to Drive User Engagement
“The thing is, I don’t want to be sold to when I walk into a store. I want to be welcomed.”
Angela Ahrendts, former SVP of Retail, Apple Inc.
Reflecting on Cyber 5 2019 can provide insight to increase customer engagement during this current year, including Cyber 5 2020. According to YOTTAA: Cyber 5 Retail Sales increased 17.7% over 2018, with US shoppers spending $28.45B.
What makes Cyber 5 – the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday – so lucrative for retailers? It’s the sales promotions – and oftentimes, it’s the crazy blow out sales promotions – often referred to as loss leaders.
My daughter and I have been avid Black Friday shoppers. The first time I took her Black Friday shopping was just after she turned 1 (which is over 20 years ago). While not intentional (she happened to wake up as I was leaving to head to Best Buy at 5:00 a.m. for a $25 printer), I found that as ‘cut-throat’ as many Black Friday shoppers can be as they’re vying for one of the five items the store has in stock, there’s always a soft spot for a baby. People let me cut in line before the store opened, and even let me cut in the checkout line – probably because, by the time I was checking out, she was crying from all the stimuli so early in the morning. I did, fortunately, leave with my $25 printer along with several other items that caught my eye. It was the sale that brought me to the store that year. And to every store, every Black Friday, every year, after that.
Fast forward to 2019, and the Black Friday sales were just as impressive! The big sale item for us this year was the $100 Nespresso machine with milk frothier at Kohls (a 60% discount). We snagged the last one this year and left with smiles on our faces.
The thing is, in both of those instances, I didn’t leave with only the one sales item I came to the store to purchase. I found other sales items that appealed to me that I purchased as well.
The same type of user engagement can be realized on your website too. A visitor may arrive at your site for a specific item. They may be there to buy, or perhaps compare prices. Your goal is to capture their curiosity. You want to engage them to not only purchase what they originally came looking for but to be curious about other products and services you offer. You want them to purchase additional items – those ‘impulse buy’ items. And…. You want them to come back and purchase more.
How can your website capture the same in-store effect of walking past a rack of clothes with a big “SALE” sign on top? 3 effective ways to highlight sales or promotions on your website and increase visitor engagement are:
- Pop-in widget – use a widget to offer a discount, free shipping, announce sale items, or suggest other products that are similar
- Landing page – use a landing page to highlight trending products, similar products, complimentary products, or sale/discounted products
- Hero image – use a hero page to boldly display important content or products, including sale and promotional items
By allowing your visitors the same on-line experience they’re accustomed to in-store, you’ll be able to keep them engaged longer while improving conversion rates.
