Congratulations on surviving the biggest rush of the 2020 holiday shopping season!
Shopify reported record-breaking numbers for Black Friday with a whomping 75% growth in sales from last year totaling $2.4 BILLION globally and an average order value of $90.70, up 11% from 2019.
That’s a lot of online shoppers.
We saw some crazy volume ourselves. Tracktor, our order tracking app, processed over 2.8 orders a second non-stop between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
All that hard work up to this point is certainly worth celebrating. However, the hangover always takes 3x longer to overcome than the celebration itself. Rather than pop another bottle of bubbles, it’s time to focus on the people behind those orders. Here are a few key things to keep in mind:
Get Ahead of Status Updates
Porch Pirates know online ordering increased too, and we’re already hearing reports of package theft increasing. Customers want to track packages and receive order updates when they occur. Keep your support inquiries manageable by providing customers a place to follow along. Your inbox will thank you after the New Year celebrations. I guarantee it.
Acknowledge The Gift Givers
Many orders will be delivered to someone other than the buyer. Since they won’t know if the order was received in good condition and fulfills the promises made by your marketing efforts, it’s an excellent opportunity to acknowledge them with a follow-up email or postcard thanking them. Who knows, you may even motivate them to purchase something for themselves next time.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
At some point, you’re going to find yourself doing the same tasks multiple times in a week. If you can train a person to do it, you’re better off teaching a computer and automating the work instead. Humans are prone to input error anyhow, so don’t risk the accuracy of your business data when computers are perfect at performing those tasks. Schedule routine jobs to run in the background and move on to 2021 planning!
Happy Holidays!
Ryan O’Donnell
CMO @ ShopPad
Stay Informed…
If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive our monthly newsletter where the ShopPad leadership team share their unique perspective and learnings.
