5 ecommerce Christmas campaign ideas

If you have your own ecommerce business, Christmas provides a vast wealth of opportunities. But at a time of year where customers are actively seeking things to buy for family and friends, you have to make sure your marketing fits the Christmas spirit.

With these 5 ideas for Christmas marketing, your ecommerce business will be jingling all the way:

• Advent Instagram
• Email Christmas cards
• Livestream quizzes
• Christmas polls
• Charity drives

In the month leading up to Christmas, some brands have used their Instagram creatively. One popular idea is to use the platform’s reel feature for your posts, and have the first picture in the reel as the current day of the advent calendar. When users swipe to see the following picture in the rotation, it’s as if they’re opening the door of a physical calendar.

The key to the advent calendar idea is to have something that offers value, so the audience will come back to your page every day to see what they get by opening the door. The rewards will depend on the products your business sells, so be as creative as you can with it.

Ideally, you want to offer more and more value as it gets closer to Christmas, which encourages excitement in customers. An example might be having a different product behind each door and holding a competition to win the product. Here’s what it might look like:

Day 7 – One week down, not long now! To celebrate, we are giving away _____. 

To enter:

• like this perfectly wrapped post
• tag a friend who’s nearly as excited for Xmas as you

Getting the audience to like and tag each post is a perfect way to get the word out. According to Instagram, their algorithm will show your post to more people if you get more likes. So giving people a reason to do this is a great way to boost your brand’s profile.

Christmas cards are a holiday tradition that many people love to participate in. It’s a way to spread holiday cheer with friends and family, and to show that you’re thinking about them. A great branding strategy is to treat customers with the same friendly attitude. 

If you can start building a personal relationship with your customers, then you will likely have a broader audience to speak to by next Christmas. Sending a Christmas card through email might mean a funny picture (preferably related to your products or industry) and a festive message. Consider including a link to your website, too. The core idea should be about spreading joy and making sure your customers keep you in mind over the holidays.

A live stream is a feature of Facebook and Instagram which allows you to create a video event between you and your followers. They can join and leave at any time, commenting as they watch. It’s live so as soon as you set it up, you will be visible to anyone who clicks on the stream.

There are a number of things you can do on a live stream to reach your audience over Christmas, but a good example is to put on a quiz. Write your questions beforehand, and try to centre them around things your customers would be interested in. Schedule an evening and promote it on all your platforms, then Livestream the quiz. For added fun, dress up as Santa, an elf or a reindeer when you read out your questions.

Bring out your personality and make it cheerful or funny. At the end, remember to advertise your business by directing people to your website. You are going to be representing your brand, so make use of the time you get to talk to those customers. Building a thriving ecommerce business means taking advantage of every opportunity for your brand to be seen.

Because it’s a time for family gatherings, Christmas has become a time for heated discussion and friendly debate. You can use this to create more activity on your social media by asking some Christmas questions. By speaking to your customers and sparking their interest, you’ll have an easier time gaining more followers on your social media platforms. 

The more followers your brand can attract, the more opportunities you’ll have for potential customers to see your posts. Twitter allows you to create a poll when you post; Instagram gives this option through stories, and Facebook is always a great platform for discussion. Ask festive questions that promote discussion, but remember to relate them to your company or products somehow. 

If you are selling clothes, ask about people’s favourite Christmas jumpers. This allows you to create conversations and find inspiration for next year’s collection at the same time. Being a small business, you have the advantage of letting some of the quirkiness of the brand shine through. A lot of people will respond to a brand with some personality, and it can lead to more sales for you.

Christmas is traditionally the time of year to help others less fortunate than ourselves. Many brands use this season to help a charitable cause as it is a great way to improve your public image. Choose a charity whose values align with your own, as this will appeal to your audience. Highlight the work that the organisation is doing and encourage your customers to take the time to learn more about them.

There may be an opportunity to partner with an organisation, which may lead to them raising the profile of your brand as well. There are many ways for you to put on fundraisers for your partner charity. One example could be raising money to go for a swim at the beach on Christmas morning, a popular tradition across the UK.

By marketing your business around Christmas, you should see more sales coming in. Managing the resultant income can be stressful and time-consuming, though, so consider joining the thousands of business owners that use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier. 

Countingup is the business current account with built-in accounting software that allows you to manage all your financial data in one place. With features like automatic expense categorisation, invoicing on the go, receipt capture tools, tax estimates, and cash flow insights, you can confidently keep on top of your business finances wherever you are. 

You can also share your bookkeeping with your accountant instantly without worrying about duplication errors, data lags or inaccuracies. Seamless, simple, and straightforward! 

Start your three-month free trial today. 

Find out more here.