The holiday spirit has kickstarted already.  Agreed that there are still two months to go until Christmas, but the winter chill and the endless discussions about oncoming holidays are starting to grow.

The holiday season also means you need to perform a job loved (or hated, depending on which side of fence you reside) by many: researching and purchasing gifts.

In earlier days, options for gifts were limited to 10 or 20 odd items available at your next-door mom-and-pop shop. But these days, thanks to the hyper-connected world, you can find most exotic gifts online: from instant underpants to an inflatable 6-foot alien.

The holiday season is the most important period for e-commerce websites. Last year, it was estimated that consumers spent about $38 billion online during the holiday season alone, which is about 24% of total online sales generated in 2010.

In other words, about a quarter of total yearly sales online is generated during just two months: November and December. Clearly, the holiday season is what defines most of the e-commerce companies.

A/B Testing & Conversion Rate Optimization During Holiday Season

E-commerce customers that I work with can be clearly segmented into two buckets: one who stops A/B testing completely in order to focus on holidays, the other who goes into hyper-excited mode and tries out a lot of ideas (using A/B testing) because s/he wants to make most out of holidays.

My personal preference is to always keep testing new ideas and strategies even during the holiday season because trends change from year to year and what may have worked in 2010 may not necessarily work in 2011. Hence, the importance of testing and experimentation.

Let’s talk about five tips that you can test this holiday season to boost your online sales:

1.  Mobile website/app

Clearly, one of the most important shifts recently has been in mobile space. More and more consumers are purchasing gifts using their iPhones, iPads and Droids. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, go find an agency right now that can quickly make one for you.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can also develop your own little app/game this holiday season. Your e-commerce store should be seen where most eyeballs are, and these days they are hooked on mobiles.

2.  Split test a holiday-themed website

If you usually don’t change the look and feel of your website, try making an alternative holiday-themed website (with all bells and whistles, literally). And, if you have completely switched to a holiday theme, try split testing it against your usual website. Maybe your visitors are bored of that holiday look?

The point I’m trying to make here is that without split testing different themes on your website, you will never know which one makes your customers purchase more!

3.  A/B test different offers: free shipping, discounts, special packing, etc.

There are hundreds of special offers/promotions you can run during the holidays. Of course, the big question is which one to actually run on your website? Well, why don’t you A/B test different offers? One of our customers found out that a next-day shipping offer outperformed a $5 discount offer or a free shipping offer, and ultimately increased sales by 41%.

4.  Change default call to actions

Usually your button says “Add to cart” or “Buy now,” why don’t you A/B test them against “Gift Now” or even something unusual such as “Add to your Santa list.” Visitors are usually in an upbeat mood during the holidays, and a little creativity will go a long way in amusing them (and hence making them buy more).

5.  Segment and personalize

If you kept track of what a particular visitor bought last year, you can use that information to personalize and recommend new items this time. This may be little difficult if you don’t have a personalization platform already running on your website, but doing simple segmentation and targeting should be easy (using an off-the-shelf tool or in-house coding).

Try showing different items on the homepage depending on whether the visitor uses MacOS or Windows, visits during work or in the evening, arrives from Facebook or a search engine. Other numerous variables can help you do first level of personalization quite easily, thereby increasing your conversions and sales.

This holiday season, I hope you try these ideas on your website and pleasantly see your sales break all previous records.

BrandXads, Inc: providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.
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The usage of online coupons by US consumers is increasing, according to [pdf] a survey from Forrester Research. Results from “The Impact of Online Coupons and Promotion Codes” indicate 66% of consumers will use online coupons for at least 25% of their purchases in the next 12 months, a 20% increase from 55% who used online coupons for at least 25% of their purchases in the last 12 months.

This includes a 19% jump in consumers who will use online coupons for 25-50% of their purchases in the next 12 months (26% to 31%) and a 21% increase in consumers who will use online coupons for 50% or more of their purchases in the next 12 months (29% to 35%).
Among respondents with children, there is particularly strong 43%growth in plans to use online coupons for 50% or more of purchases in the next 12 months (28% to 40%). This increase drives a 30% overall increase in plans to use online coupons for 25% or more purchases in the next 12 months (56% to 73%).

 BrandXads, Inc: providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.
For more insight from BrandXads, FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook , or go to www.brandxads.com.

by Ben Parr

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo shared some interesting stats about Twitter’s growth, including that it has more than 100 million active users and that signups via iOS device have tripled since the launch of iOS 5

BrandXads, Inc: providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.
For more insight from BrandXads, FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook , or go to www.brandxads.com.

by Tom Huxtable

Whilst some naysayers still argue over whether marketing to consumers in the social media space can only be detrimental to a brand; the smart marketers are already forging ahead. The switched-on brands are embracing the opportunity that social media presents whilst the left-behind brands are still trying to make up their minds as to whether they should even be in this space. Given the 1bn+ people globally who are active in social media, it’s not difficult to figure out which brands are losing out.

The irony of the position the ‘left-behind’ brands are putting themselves in is that social media marketing is rapidly maturing. No longer the relative baby of the marketing mix, it is growing in maturity, learning to walk and soon to run. It may well still have some vestiges of an awkward teenager, a little bit gawky, and sometimes a bit temperamental but given that a few years ago, it was a newborn: social media marketing is growing up fast.

Curiously, for a media that is supposedly all about ‘brand’ the emerging driver behind this growth is more scientific. Data, and the abundance of it is the key driver behind social media marketing growing up.  Social media marketing learnt to crawl the day ‘likes’ were set as a KPI, walk when we learnt to track fan behaviour and run when we learnt to evaluate how fans were helping campaigns reach their friends. It finally grew up when we learnt how to use this data to deliver business objectives through social media marketing in a world where marketing and commerce is increasingly becoming democratized. The best marketers have learnt how to harness consumer power and friend-to-friend influence to drive campaign success. The conversation has moved on from pure ‘brand engagement’ to monetizing a brands’ investment. Converting fans to customers.

BrandXads, Inc: providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.
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Play.com gets a 5x lift in Facebook referred revenue

‘Share A Coke’ Social Media Campaign Calls to Friends by First Name (Video)

By Rick Mathieson

What better way to spread happiness than to ‘Share a Coke” with Kate, Brian, George, Matty and so on.

Coca-Cola Australia is amping up a campaign that finds 150 common names featured on Coke cans so you can share a drink with your friends by name. It’s the first time the name on a Coke can has ever been changed.

This summer (yes, Australia is just kicking off its summer season), you can share a virtual Coke on Facebook for the chance to win $50,000 to share with friends. You can share your photos for possible use in new TV commercials. And soon, you can create your own friend-oriented Coke commercials via YouTube.

“We are using the power of the first name in a playful and social way to remind people of those in their lives they may have lost touch with or have yet to connect with,” says Coca-Cola South Pacific marketing director Lucie Austin, as reported by The Australian, via BrandChannel. “It is all about connecting people, mainly in the real world, but also digitally as well.”

Overall, this seems like an exceptionally strong social media-driven campaign.

BrandXads, Inc: providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.
For more insight from BrandXads, FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook , or go to www.brandxads.com.

Facebook ‘Likers’ Expect Access, Discounts

More than six in 10 (63%) Facebook users who “like” a brand or product on Facebook expect something in return,  according to a September 2011 study from ExactTarget. Results from “The Meaning of Like” indicate that a leading 58% of Facebook likers expect both access to exclusive content, events or sales, and discounts or promotions through Facebook.

BrandXads, Inc: providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.
For more insight from BrandXads, FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook , or go to www.brandxads.com.