Did you know that 66% of consumers plan to increase their online purchases during the 2020 holiday season?

In Part 1, we went over a variety of in-person promotions you can do for the holidays. Below, we’re going to cover virtual sales ideas for you to consider. This year, your online presence is more important than ever.

If you haven’t yet, you need to start planning fast — ready or not, the holiday season is coming soon. Is your digital game plan in place? What kinds of things can you do to promote your products and services to people who aren’t quite ready for in-person interactions?

The Virtual Shop That Does Virtually Everything

Virtual does not have to mean bare-bones. If all — or even a significant portion — of your business is likely to happen online this season, make sure you create a one-stop shop with everything your clients are going to need.

What does that mean?

Provide Options

Offer drop-shipping, curbside pickup, and virtual appointments to help clients select the perfect gift for friends and family. (We continue to offer drop-shipping to our professionals as an easy way to deliver gifts for families celebrating across the miles—no long lines at the post office!) If possible, set up a shopping cart so that people can make purchases through the site without having to go through you.

Focus on Organization

Make their gifting easy by organizing your products and services in a clear, logical way and by suggesting ideas for essential workers, teachers, and the men in their lives. Other ideas for organizing gift ideas include by holiday/month, grouping discounted offerings together, and so on.

You can even set up automatic recommendations when clients look at or select specific products. For example, when clients choose the Balancing Essentials kit, recommend stocking stuffers like the ORMEDIC balancing gel polisher and lip complex.

Make Yourself Available

Provide multiple ways for clients to contact you. At minimum this means an email address and phone number, but it’s always wise to let them know they can connect via your social accounts, and  you may even want to look into whether it’s worth your while to set up a chat to answer questions in real-time. If not, a FAQs page is generally useful.

Deck Your Digital Halls

Appearance matters even more when you’re trying to sell clients on products digitally. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered — use our library of digital and social tools to help you deck your digital halls! You can log on to IMAGE Relay to access everything you need to create engaging content — including our beautiful hero photography.

Ideally, you want your virtual storefront to be able to do everything your in-person one can.

“Virtual” Doesn’t Mean No Get-Togethers

Part of the fun of holiday events is that they’re, you know, events. You get to see people. You get to enjoy the ambience. And maybe some snacks.

Unfortunately, virtual can’t recreate all of that. But there are some things that it can actually do better and easier when it comes to events. And it’s certainly way more convenient.

What can you do?

Host live Zoom pre-sale events where you can demo the at-home protocols or show people how to perform specific treatments at home. Let’s use the Hydrating Essentials set as an example. With our at-home protocol, you can walk attendees through a hydrating home treatment. Encourage clients to drop-ship a Hydrating Set and recommend adding the VITAL C hydrating overnight masque to boost moisture for recipients with dry skin.

Reach out to bigger name guest speakers who might not have been able to do an in-person event, but can swing a virtual one. Encourage attendees to interact and ask questions. Offer unique specials to those who attend.

Another great idea is to offer free virtual consultations as a bonus for friends and family who receive holiday sets or gift cards. And you can encourage clients to host their own Zoom facial nights starring products in the holiday collection.

Don’t Forget about Email and Social

How are you going to drive people to your site and remind them about all of the holiday events you’re hosting? By posting about it on your social accounts and — wait for it — emailing them.

Really? Email?

That’s right. It’s not sexy, but email campaigns have a ridiculously high ROI.

So use your email list wisely. Advertise about events, sure, but also consider offering coupons and discounts. Have special weekly (or even daily) giveaways that direct people to your site. Promote gift ideas directed at specific groups.

This year is definitely going to be a bit different than those that have come before, but we truly have all the tools you need to make this holiday season the best one yet for your clients shopping online.