5 Ways to Prepare Your eCommerce Business for Q4

The busiest quarter of any eCommerce retailer’s calendar is upon us, giving us the chance to look back at all the changes in the last year and create a robust Q4 plan. 

We take a look at the best ways to prepare your marketing plan and eCommerce strategy for Q4 to ensure you’re making the most of the increased traffic this golden quarter.

How to prepare for Q4

1. Plan your marketing calendar

With key dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, Singles’ Day and Christmas, you’ll need a well-thought-out marketing calendar to help you make the most of these opportunities.

Organising your calendar will allow you to benefit from the surge in website traffic on these key dates. In 2024, Black Friday alone attracted an average of 57% more visitors to eCommerce sites than on a typical day.¹

There’s no denying these calendar dates are a huge opportunity for retailers of all sizes. Even if you’re a small business, you can get one step ahead with your planning to help you identify new target audiences and gain sales. 

This may mean creating relevant campaigns, curating promotional landing pages and setting up targeted social media ads, taking steps to help you identify new potential customers and gain valuable sales in busy Q4 dates. 

Things to consider: It’s important to address the incentives you provide to separate your brand from competitors who may be offering similar discounts. Consider offering a free shipping day, creating product bundles, or offering free gifts alongside your Q4 promotions to set your offering apart from the rest.

Suggested reading: Explore the most important dates this golden quarter in our article ‘Key Dates for Your Q4 Diary’. 

2. Use data to look out for trends

Looking back on historical data and reviewing which campaigns were successful in the past will help inform your Q4 marketing strategy.

Using real-time data to inform your holiday campaigns will allow you to identify and react to changing trends.

By tracking, analysing and applying data to your strategy, you can see what’s working and what’s not quite right, making adjustments where appropriate.

To fully realise a reactive data-driven strategy, you’ll need to set up campaigns that are responsive to trends and user behaviour.

AI-powered eCommerce tools can help you effortlessly integrate data into your marketing strategy. For example, Salesfire uses AI to automatically deploy relevant on-site, email, and SMS campaigns based on the real-time data it collects from your shoppers.

Pro tip: You can also compare your business against competitors using real-time data from Salesfire’s eCommerce tracking platform, Trends, allowing you to make the most of key trends in your industry.

Suggested reading: Read our article ‘Data Analytics is the Key to eCommerce Success– Here’s Why’ to learn more about the importance of data-driven marketing strategies.

3. Optimise your site search

Increased online traffic means an abundance of users heading to your site to search for the best deals. 

This influx means that the speed and accuracy of your on-site search are key to optimising your conversion rate over this period.

Slow load times, inaccurate results and hard-to-find search bars all prevent customers from finding their perfect gifts.

Therefore, you can prepare for Q4 by ensuring your on-site search function can satisfy consumer needs for superfast product discovery. Salesfire’s Search uses artificial intelligence to deliver accurate results in the blink of an eye and unite shoppers with their perfect purchase.

This will enhance the shopping experience for your visitors, helping to boost sales and promote customer loyalty. 

Things to consider: Salesfire’s Search and Email solutions can also work together to help transform your increased search volume into sales during Q4. You can create Segments using data collected through your search bar to retarget shoppers with campaigns featuring the brands or products they were looking for.

Suggested reading: Learn more about the benefits of Search.

4. Maximise opportunities to upsell and cross-sell

eCommerce sites expect to see an influx of online shoppers in Q4, and with shoppers keen to make their Christmas gift purchases quickly, it’s a perfect time to secure extra sales.

Shoppers are likely to be more responsive to upsell or cross-sell attempts as buying more from you means they can tick more gifts off their shopping list.

You can use on-site personalisation strategies to encourage your shoppers to make additional purchases. 

On product pages, you could add personalised Recommendations of similar products that the shopper may also be interested in. This could help shoppers spot items they otherwise might have missed, which can help to drive both upsells and cross-sells. 

Effortlessly boost your AOV by using On-Site Messaging to promote incentives to build bigger baskets, like free delivery thresholds. Highlighting these incentives can give shoppers the motivation they need to add extra items to their cart.

Cross-selling is also not limited to your website. After a shopper purchases a gift, you could follow up with a post-purchase email campaign suggesting complementary products to inspire further purchases.

Suggested reading: Read our article The Importance of AOV for eCommerce Businesses | Tips to Boost Your Average Order Value.

5. Revisit your basket abandonment emails

The busiest shopping season of the year presents the perfect opportunity to review and update your email campaigns.

With nearly 7 out of 10 shopping carts being abandoned, improving your basket abandonment email sequence can recover crucial revenue from abandoned sales.²

After all, 1 in 2 abandoned cart email recipients will click through, and 50% will purchase something as a result of the email.³

Optimising your abandoned cart email sends is crucial for your Q4 strategy. You can test subject lines, content and the timing of your emails to identify opportunities to significantly increase your sales recovery. 

Revising your basket abandonment email sequence in line with the festive season will ensure your communications are timely and relevant to achieve the greatest impact.

Pro tip: Add another channel to your basket abandonment flows to maximise their effectiveness. Salesfire offers pre-built email and SMS flows which require minimal setup but can extend your marketing reach and boost engagement.

Suggested reading: Discover how to optimise your email campaigns to maximise engagement in our article ‘Email Marketing Best Practices’.

Get set for Q4 with Salesfire

With the holiday season excitement beginning earlier each year, retailers need to plan ahead to make the most of the busy period to ensure the increased traffic through their site has the best chance of converting.

By preparing your marketing calendar, creating targeted campaigns and offering excellent customer service, you can make the most of holiday traffic and excel in Q4.

1  How Holiday Season Traditions Affect Internet Traffic Trends | Akamai
2 23 cart abandonment stats you need to know to improve sales in 2024 | Hotjar
3 How To Reduce Cart Abandonment and Close Sales (2024) | Shopify