The holiday shopping season is just around the corner and is the perfect time to look for ways to boost revenue for an MVP performance to close out the year. Just about every retail store will have various sales to coax shoppers into visiting their location. Smart retailers know that you or any other consumer will purchase something once inside the store even if it is not on sale. Most online shops do not have this luxury since it is easy to move from store to store online; just takes a few seconds with no wasted gas, driving or crowds. You can use this to your advantage but will likely need to make the incentives for purchasing from you more apparent. Here are some ways to attract attention without having a virtual sign flipper standing on the side of the page shouting “Buy From Me”.

Shipping Deadlines

Buying gifts online are a great way to save money but many consumers are still wary of the risks of buying online.  Some may have even had a very negative experience in the past that has jaded their view of online shopping.  You can make more sales by addressing and eliminating the fears shoppers have on your site before they ever add something to the basket.  A good place to start is a shipping guarantee that the item will arrive by a specific date in perfect condition for gift giving.  As the holidays grow closer this practice is even more important because no one wants to say, your gift is on the way.  Many people will travel this season and either want to take the gifts with them or have them arrive at their destination. If I am leaving on December 22 to go visit Grandma then you can bet I want to know my gift will be at my door no later than December 21st. These consumers need to know exactly when they will get their order otherwise they will buy somewhere else. Make it very apparent when the item will arrive before someone checks out to help boost confidence and move them through the checkout process.

Easy Return Policy

Another big concern of online shoppers is how easy (or hard) it is to return an item. Although a very small percentage of customers will actually need to return an item; the fear of a return being a hassle is enough to scare any buyer away.  Some return policy procedures buyers are increasingly wary of are restocking fees, shipping cost, turn around time and reason for return. No one wants to give a gift that cannot be easily returned no matter what the reason.  If you can go without a restocking fee or cover the shipping cost on returns then do it; even if it is just for the holiday months. You may already have a stellar return policy but you may not be taking full advantage of the policy. Make sure you highlight your return policy right along with your other promotions by displaying them on every page.

Gift wrapping

Holidays are one of the busiest times of the year not only for shopping but also everyone’s task list.  You have cards to fill out and send, parties, parades, plays, community events, family get togethers and more all happening with no extra time to get anything done. Gift wrapping all the gifts you buy online can be a hassle since you may not be getting the item until the last minute anyway. Also, many online gifts are sent directly to the recipient with no one in between to wrap the gift; but this is where you can step in and offer a gift wrapping service to make a few extra bucks while closing a sale you might have otherwise missed out on.

Black Monday

Just about everyone knows about Black Friday; the Friday after Thanksgiving where just about every store is having a sale big enough to make people camp outside the doors. How would you like people waiting at their computer until Midnight just so they can get first shot at buying one of your sale items? Well if you plan it right you can because the Monday after thanksgiving is the etailers version of Black Friday and has coined the term Black Monday (not to be confused with Black Monday referring to the stock market crash on October 19, 1987). Make sure you announce your black Monday sale plans well in advance so potential buyers know to come back. You likely don’t have the benefit of a national ad in newspaper circulars that everyone is looking at after stuffing themselves with a delicious home made dinner Thursday night. However you can get the word out on your huge sale for a fraction of the cost; maybe even free. Start by putting an announcement on your website a week or two leading up to the sale; you may also want to post on any forums that are specific to your industry or niche. If you have a newsletter announce the sale in your newsletter or send out a special edition version of the newsletter announcing the sale with specific details and something special just for newsletter subscribers. You will also want to post your sale to popular sites that cover Black Friday & Monday such as http://www.blackfriday.info/ and http://bfads.net/. Check with any nonprofits you work with what they are doing for the holidays; you might be able to sponsor an event or newsletter in return for a plug about your holiday sale. There are many other options you just have to be a bit creative.

Gift Certificates

Some people are only happy if they pick out their gift so they usually end up with a stack of gift cards and gift certificates after the holiday. Unless you only sell one product then there is a good chance at least one customer will want a gift card for your goods. Of course there are plenty of consumers who buy gift cards for the convenience since it takes out the frustration of picking the perfect gift and you don’t have to worry about anything arriving late. Online gift certificates usually have one drawback over their counter part sold offline; there is something physical to give even if it is just a piece of plastic. You may consider offering a fancy gift certificate page that can be emailed or printed off so there is something physical to exchange; to get some ideas try a Google image search on gift certificate.

So there you go 5 tips for increasing your conversion rate this holiday season by turning site visitors into customers. There are many more and the holidays are a great time to be creative. Have you used any of these ideas in the past? How did they work? What are you going to be trying this year? Share your ideas and thoughts below by leaving a comment so we can all learn together.

San Diego, CA, 2008/04/08 –

Dear Fellow Miva Merchant,

In a few short weeks, we will be streaming out the new 5.5 update to Miva Merchant 5. This is an important milestone for us since acquiring Miva Merchant some 8 months ago and I wanted to share a few highlights with you.First off, this is a major improvement to version 5 that will yet again establish Miva Merchant as the best-of-breed e-commerce platform–bar none. Here are just a few of the most noteworthy improvements:

• A far more intuitive Admin interface that focuses on click-efficiency and adds many conveniences, such as the new launchpad function
• Seamless import/export of all of your items and pages to/from Dreamweaver™
• Built-in SEO features including full control of your DOCTYPE, Product, and Category Metatags, and search-friendly links
• The ability switch between the default MMUI framework to our new skin-able CSS framework. This feature is currently in a public beta download and will ship about 30 days after 5.5

Most importantly, nothing you are doing now as a 5 storeowner will be negatively impacted by the new release, which was one of our driving principles. You’ll be right at home as soon as you update to the new product, and start benefitting from it immediately.

I want to personally thank you for your commitment to Miva Merchant and I’m confident that all of the hard work of our staff will show up in a better store for you, our valued clients.