Start your holiday dropshipping on the right foot with these 7 helpful tips that will make business easier for you and give your customers a shopping experience that will have them coming back for more.
Tip #1: Find out what the final date is to get items ordered for them to be shipped in time for the holidays. Post this information on your website, as well as emailing it to your customers. This saves you the headache of dealing with customers who order for the holidays that gifts did not arrive in time.
Tip #2: Offer customers a reason to do all or most of their holiday shopping with you. Hint: they can avoid the dreaded holiday crowds by having their items shipped right to their door. A second reason would be that by doing all their online shopping with you they can save on shipping by combining it all into one box.
Tip #3: Offer specialty "Gift" packages of a collection of your items and give customers a discount. Many dropship companies offer these gift "baskets" or "kits" around the holidays anyway. Just be sure to "feature" them in a prominent spot on your home page and in your newsletter. These give the impression to gift receivers of a "wrapped" feeling making it feel more like a gift than a box full of products.
Tip #4: Find out if the dropshipping company offers gift wrapping and if they do offer it to your customers. Some people love this because they have packages shipped to distant friends and relatives that won't be able to make it to family gatherings for the holidays.
Tip #5: Give your customers a holiday "gift" certificate of 10% or more off of orders over a certain price amount that are made by a specified date. For example, for orders made before the date that orders must be made for them to be shipped in time for the holidays. Another popular one is to offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount. The holidays are the season for giving, and when you give your customers a "gift" certificate they feel like you have the holiday spirit.
Tip #6: Use holiday graphics on your website, order, and product pages. This gives your pages a cozy holiday feel and gets customers in the "mood" for holiday shopping when they visit your site.
Tip #7: Follow up with your customers after the holidays are over to make sure they got what they ordered in the right sizes/colors, etc. Make it easy for your customers to exchange items for the right sizes if they need to. This is just good customer service, but can be hard to find online. make it easy for your customers and they will come back.
Following these tips can help make your customers more satisfied with their experience when buying from you. Good customer service is the key to repeat orders. Happy Holidays!