Setup your ecommerce calendar checklist or die...

...a little inside every time you miss an opportunity.

Banner photo by Derek Story.

Setting up your online store’s calendar checklist, then acting on it timeously, is a strategic mindset that can boost conversion rates throughout the year. Ok, it won’t kill you not to, but that’s bordering on double negative. If you’d rather hit your targets… Follow me!

Fire at 10 paces

Arming yourself with a comprehensive list of all the calendar dates that your ecommerce store can leverage off throughout each year is a good start. It’s also the easy bit. Your next 10 paces are the ones that will help you to slow things down, target your consumers, and ‘take out’ your competitors.

Remember: The reason you put your checklist in place is to give yourself time to strategize and implement changes that will help you increase your online sales. Depending on the day, and strategy, it could take two months to get your online store ready….

You aren’t going to get BFCM ready TFB-BFCM
(The Friday Before).

Giddy-up

Ok, that’s the tough love out the way. Let’s move forward. Regularly updating your content to suit the season, public holiday, or special occasion can actually be really fun. Proper prior planning will give you time to get creative. This is your opportunity to showcase your brand’s products and supercharge revenue.

Lasso them in

Online shoppers respond well to subtle site changes, relevant specials, and engaging competitions that show you have put time and thought into your calendar. This will also optimize their user experience and keep them coming back to see how you tackle the next celebration. Creating a memorable user experience could be all you need - something that makes the shopper stop and say, “Oh, I see what they did there.”

For example: Spring doesn’t have to be all about “Spring has sprung” specials and prizes. Why not simply take the time to feature your outdoorsy items with ‘al fresco’ styled images above the fold? It’s about prioritizing the right products at the right time.

The Magnificent Seven ecommerce calendar tips

1. Understand what the day means to your audience before you try to leverage off it.
2. Utilize post-sale ideas, like placing a happy mother’s day card in the gift box.
3. Don’t overdo discounts. This can drop the perceived item value and become the expected price.
4. Don’t forget to set up tracking around your calendar dates this year, so you can use the analytics data next year.
5. Keep an eye out for topical dates that don’t repeat every year, like World Cups, the Olympics, or smaller events your niche market cares about.
6. Not all occasions pertain to you. Carefully pick your dates in line with your brand, target market, and budget.
7. Be proactive. Don’t set your reminders for the special day itself, but rather for a day that gives you plenty of time to get your online store ready for it.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
— Will Rogers

Here’s a few events, dates, and occasions you could consider for your ecommerce calendar…

1. The Festive Season
2. Religious Holidays
3. New Year
4. Seasonal Dates (Spring Day etc.)
5. Valentine’s Day
6. Super Sunday
7. Women’s day
8. Mother’s day
9. Father’s day
10. April fools
11. Pride month
12. Freedom day
13. Independence day
14. Olympics
15. World Cup Rugby
16. World Cup Soccer
17. World Cup Cricket
18. St Patrick’s day
19. Oktoberfest
20. Halloween
21. Black Friday
22. Cyber Monday

Something we stumbled upon

A cool place to check out what’s happening on any specific date is https://www.daysoftheyear.com/ They even have an option that allows you to explore the calendar using your own keywords to help you find relevant dates!

Diarize-It

We have an exciting new service offering launching soon, which we have affectionately dubbed: Diarize-it, with ShopCreatify - for merchants who love it when a plan comes together.

We’ll work with you to create a comprehensive list of all the days your specific brand/online store should consider throughout each year.

Then we’ll Diarize-it and set a reminder that gives us time to strategize and implement the kind of changes your calendar entries deserve. We’ll notify you, and you can decide if you want to go ahead.

If this interests you, keep an eye out for the launch announcement in one of our upcoming newsletters. If you’re not on our mailing list yet...

Here’s to properly planning a profitable year!