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- eCommerce Mission Control
eCommerce Mission Control
eCommerce Insights from Astronaut Party
Angellyne & Lukas Snelling
June 23, 2024
Hello,
June tends to be the kick-off of the summer slowdown in eCommerce. So this week, we’ve got some tips on how to beat that slowdown and offer some ad concepts you should be testing. I hope you are having a fantastic summer weekend!
Up and to the right,
Luke & The Astronaut Party Team
How to Slay the Summer Slowdown in eCommerce Sales
By Lukas B. Snelling
One truism in eCommerce is that our best days are when people are inside, working, at home, and undistracted. This is why we see Cyber Monday perform so well, it’s also why you should always extend your weekend promotions through Monday. But sadly, this also means that when people are on vacation, celebrating outside, and otherwise distracted, we tend to see slower sales days. So the truth is, unless you have a very summer-oriented brand, most likely, the summer months are some of your leanest for revenue and cash flow.
The good news is that there are several things you can do today to drive revenue now and in the fall when people tend to return to their devices.
What You Can Do To Drive Summer Revenue & Cash Flow
Seize the Summer Theme - The more relevant you can be to your customers, the more likely they are to convert. Consider making your promotions, bundles, and communications all relevant to the summer. Highlight products likely to be used in the heat or in the season. Name bundles after the moment. Run a weather-based promotion. However you can be topically relevant, do it. You’ll be rewarded with better engagement and, ultimately, higher revenue.
Lean Into Scarcity and Urgency - While your customer’s attention may be hard to get, you can attempt to get them to take action when they might not otherwise by leveraging scarcity and urgency. Consider selling a limited-edition or limited-quantity product. You can also run a promotion for a substantial deal, but in a very time-limited fashion (think 24 hours, you must act now).
Partner With A Summer Relevant Brand - Many products aren’t specifically seasonal. So they fall victim to the summer slowdown, while many are very seasonally relevant and sales explode in summer months. If you are in the former category, work with a seasonally relevant brand to offer a cross-selling bundle or offer cross-promotions to your shared customer file to drive engagement on your products you wouldn’t otherwise have.
Get Personal - Since customers are distracted, going the extra mile to communicate with them might capture their attention. Consider crafting personalized emails to top customers and offering them a promotion on a seasonally relevant product. This can take extra time and effort, but it’ll create a better customer relationship and encourage deeper engagement. Several Shopify apps will also use your customer information to send hand-written notes to customers.
Zag With a Holiday Sale - While customers might not be thinking about the holidays, they always want to be ahead of their holiday shopping. Consider holding a Holiday in July-type sale. This was the inspiration for Amazon’s Prime Day, and you could do similarly. Offer products at discounts they won’t see during the holidays to entice them to purchase now, not tomorrow.
Explore International & Channel Expansion - While growth from core markets can be tough in the summer, it does afford us the opportunity to think about where else we could be selling and capturing revenue. Consider turning on international sales and ads, or exploring a new marketplace channel you haven’t been in historically. You won’t regret the revenue today, and you’ll be even happier to have it in Q4.
Dial-In Terms & Funding - Now is a good time to increase your credit terms with suppliers and banking providers. You might have low cash flow right now, and extended terms can always be helpful. Consider asking for them now, and then you’ll have them in place if you need them.
What You Can Do Today to Drive Holiday Revenue
Learn Your Customer Today - The biggest conversion gains we see in our clients aren’t from small changes like the color of your add-to-cart button, but usually, instead, they are from new ways of talking to your customer. Now is a great time to run a customer survey and test and iterate on unique value propositions and differentiators. If you can learn what makes people buy today, you can implement these learnings before the holiday season to reap the benefits.
Get More Efficient in Ads & Conversion - Lean times are when you should focus on efficiency gains. Now is the time to dial in all things you know you should be doing but haven’t been high priorities in better times. It’s easy to forget about running an A/B test on one of your popular landing pages or updating your site link extensions on Google. Many small things done today can make a meaningful impact in Q4. Knock them out now, as you’ll have plenty to worry about in the coming months.
Inventory & Supply Chain Audit - Now is a great time to evaluate your inventory position for Q4 and ensure you have your orders in with suppliers to ensure you can service incoming demand during the holiday season.
Test New Channels - Channels that work in the summer will really work in the holiday season. Assuming you have the cash for testing, now is a great time to diversify your media mix and see if you can find new ways to acquire customers. If you can find something today, it’ll pay off big in the holiday season.
Create Content - Summer tends to be a great time to shoot lasting content with natural light. Consider taking a round of new photos of your products for future emails and marketing materials. It’s easier to do it now than to scramble for it as you head into the holidays.
Dial-In Costs Now - Chances are you’ve got some apps and vendors you are spending on but not getting the value from. Now is a great time to review where you are spending and pull back on anything that isn’t helping today and isn’t likely to help in the future.
Summer can be a challenging season for eCommerce businesses, but with the right mix of supporting the moment and preparing for the future, you can leverage this time to create a really strong year. Good luck, and let us know if you crack the eCommerce summer slowdown.
4 Ad Concepts Every Account Should Test at Least Once (with Examples)
By Angellyne De Perio
Finding super efficient ad creative is always hard and a gamble. However, some concepts are more likely to work than others. Here are four concepts that we consider go-to ad gold, and we think every brand should have them running or, at the very least, be testing them.
1. Big Bold Text Static
It’s a classic for a reason – highlight your product’s main benefit or UVP in attention-grabbing text. As much as video dominates conversations about ad creative, we’ve found that a simple static with a clear reason to buy is usually a consistent top performer. It gets to the point and delivers information in less than 3 seconds. A key is making sure both the text is bold and clear.
Bonus points: make the photo/graphic visually interesting or play with text placement to stop the scroll.
2. Product Demo Video
Remember when buying on the internet was generally met with suspicion? Times have changed, but one thing remains—people like seeing how the product works.
Some products need a demonstration to convince people to buy them. There’s a reason UGC is so popular—it shows consumers how this product would work for them.
Video is the best format for a product demonstration because of the amount of information that can be conveyed in terms of usage and features. And what’s more, you don’t need a high quality studio shoot to achieve this. Grab your smartphone, film a 15-second demo, and show off your product.
Bonus points: talk to the camera or at least add a voice-over.
3. Customer Review Static
This is word of mouth but in ad form. Hot take: if we had to choose just one, we would pick a customer review over a PR testimonial. Why? A customer who bought your product is your ideal customer. And if that customer wrote a gushing review about your product, then it’s likely there’s something there that will resonate with a potential customer considering your product.
A customer testimonial is a form of proof that real people use your product and that, as a brand, you deliver on your experience.
4. Comparison: Us vs. Them
This concept is less about the format and more about the content. Comparison content works because it can address potential objections to purchase due to another product option in the market. It also allows you to leverage the consumer’s existing knowledge of another brand or product type, even if they don’t know you.
Here, we can highlight our main differentiators and what makes our product unique. The challenge with this concept is how direct you want to be in taking on a competitor. We’ve seen a range of ways to do this, and there are definitely creative ways to do this without a direct callout. Make sure that the differentiation is in digestible bullet points, usually no more than four points. Take your pick on format: static, gif, or video.
Bonus: You can also create a comparison concept highlighting the product's effectiveness through a before/after comparison. A fun headline we’ve seen work is “how it started vs how its going”.
Bonus: Split-Screen: Video + Checklist
This format packs a lot of information in a small amount of space. It catches attention with motion and communicates information that is easy to read. Ideally, the video is a product demonstration or UGC video, and the static text side highlights benefits.
Joke of the Week
How many mystery writers does it take to change a light bulb? 💡
Two: One to screw it in most of the way and another to give it a surprise twist at the end. 🌀