IT’S NO SURPRISE that Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days to pop the question. Millions of couples get engaged on the day that’s all about love. But, it’s not just engagement rings that steal the show on Valentine’s Day. Jewelry, overall, tops the list of favorite gifts to give a Valentine. According to the National Retail Federation, $5.8 billion was spent on jewelry for Valentine’s Day in 2020.
Jewelers everywhere are hoping for lucrative sales leading up to the big day, and thanks to ongoing challenges brought on by COVID-19, it’s likely that many shoppers will be online. Are you doing enough to stand out from your competitors and win their attention? Simply having a digital storefront and a Facebook page aren’t enough to send shoppers through your doors.
Going digital takes some extra effort, but if you do it right, potential customers will not only find you, but choose to connect with your brand and depend on you for your products and expertise, again and again. Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, but it’s not too late to accelerate your digital marketing efforts in ways that will win shoppers and benefit you long after the holiday.
Here are 8 strategies to start now:
1. Capture Shoppers with Retargeting
Ninety-seven percent of people who visit a website leave without purchasing. They represent lost opportunities unless you can bring them back. And you can through strategic retargeting campaigns. Retargeting works to persuade shoppers who have visited your site to reconsider and improves the chance of them keeping you in mind when they’re ready to make a purchase.
It’s estimated that shoppers may need to visit a site five to eight times before they are willing to engage, so even if retargeting doesn’t result in an immediate purchase, it keeps visitors coming back. Consider using retargeting ads that showcase a best-selling product or new collection. It’s an opportunity to put your best foot forward.
2. Make an Offer Before They Go
Pop-up ads are often used to grab shoppers’ attention and get them to take action like buy something or provide their email address. Most would agree that being interrupted by a pop-up is irritating, especially when it hits immediately after you land on a website.
Why not instead add an exit interstitial ad to your site? An exit interstitial is an ad that appears only after a visitor tries to leave a site. It’s your opportunity to grab them before they go. Make the strategy impactful and persuasive by offering a discount or offer to help through a free online consultation.
3. Take Your Print Materials Digital
Your print media materials are great content for digital work, too. Augment your advertising to make it digital by adding slogans and visuals to your site, online ads and social media posts.
You can also add a QR code that enables viewers to interact and easily get to information they seek. QR codes can work somewhat like coupons if they send viewers directly to a page on your website that offers information about your products or, better yet, includes an offer or discount. QR codes don’t work as well if they simply send customers to your homepage and make them work to find product or contact information.
4. Build Your Email List, Always
It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to retarget customers, thanks to Apple and others moving away from traditional tracking cookies. Fortunately, they can take away your tracking, but they can’t take away your relationships. Once you have earned a visitor’s email address, hold tight to it, as your email lists are everything.
Be sure to map customer email addresses to your lead generation or new customer journey through email. You can automate this or have a partner do it for you. Re-engaging your opt-in email list is one of the most cost effective marketing tools available.
5. Generate Excitement
To cut through the clammer on the Internet and attract attention you need to generate excitement. Diamonds undoubtedly spark joy, so take advantage of their sparkle by leveraging quality visuals in your online campaigns.
Showcase your jewelry offerings and also include inclusive lifestyle and aspirational photos that reflect your brand and values. You add luster by incentivizing customers with something of value beyond jewelry. For instance, provide a discount or a coupon with a specialized QR code or offer a chance to enter a contest. Whatever you choose to give, be sure you can offer it at scale.
6. Optimize for Mobile Devices
Did you know that it’s estimated that half of web traffic comes from mobile devices? Chances are, jewelry shoppers are at very least browsing, if not completing purchases from their phones. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile, looking good and operating well. Your photos and copy need to translate well to a smaller screen and it needs to be easy for visitors to navigate your site to get to what they want. Be sure to offer convenience by providing options to connect with a sales representative for one-on-one attention and making it quick and easy to purchase products.
7. Strengthen Your Hometown Presence
The Internet goes beyond geographic borders, but you shouldn’t overlook the potential it has to build your local presence. You can strengthen your network in your hometown and beyond by smartly investing time to ensure your business ranks high in Google Search. You can do this by optimizing your Google Business profile to make sure customers can find you if they are looking for what you are selling. Owning that space is the basis of your business. If you miss out, you’re giving away your fair share of the market to your competitors and failing to deliver to customers what they can’t buy online.
8. Stay in Touch with Customers
Sixty-eight percent of people surveyed said checking, writing, and replying to text messages is the activity they are most engaged with on their phones. So, it goes without saying that your brand should be among the texts they read. Text message marketing (SMS) provides an excellent way to stay connected to customers who have already given you their email address. It allows you to regularly engage and offer something of value, such as a time-sensitive discount. With open rates as high as 98 percent, SMS marketing is a highly effective digital marketing tool. Leveraging a customer messaging platform makes it easy to do.