There is a holiday coming around the corner! You may want to get started making those holiday discounts and start boosting sales. It is best to create the discounts and test before promoting on social channels and email marketing campaigns.
Example scenario: Dave and Jan are at a coffee shop when Jan and Dave are talking about a store they want to shop at for the upcoming holiday season. Jan tells Dave she just saw a promotion to type in a coupon code to get a discount.
Both Jan and Dave add items to their cart and use the coupon code as advised on the marketing campaign. Before adding the image to tell people the code, the store owner didn't check in advance to make sure it worked.
The discount method was set up incorrectly and now Jan and Dave are unable to receive their discount.
This happens daily and even more so during the holidays. To keep repeat customers and boost your sales, it is important to test various aspects of your store.
1. Discount Methods and Sales - Assure that they are working correctly by using the following articles.
a. Spark Pay online stores Discount Method System
b. More On Discounts and Sales
You can use a product details widget to display your special sale items.
Find More On Sales Widgets here.
Also test them adding the specific items to the cart. This is to make sure everything is working as you expect as an end-user.
So example - you have a discount method to take off a percentage on an item if a specific manufacturer is in the cart. Add the items instructed in the discount rules, and create a test order.
2. Shipping and Custom Shipping Methods
Before it is important to also test shipping methods to assure your customers can check out properly, as shipping costs and functionality issues are the leading cause in losing customers.
See our articles on setting up shipping here.
3. Email Templates
You can see any email template by testing it with a test order and then select the email template in the Order Edit view page.
To create a test order, follow this article for directions on using test cards.
Once the test order has created with the order status associated to the email template, you can test the email template by opening the test order. Next, send a copy of the email template associated with your order confirmations.
Orders > Order # > View/Edit Order > More Actions > Send Email Template To Alert Email > Your choice of template.
3. Payment Gateways
Troubleshooting Payment Processors is also important. Make sure that the customer can checkout without any issues.
Check out our article on Troubleshooting Payment Processors
Tracking Your Sales With SEO
To analyze online sales effectiveness, you'll need to track Ecommerce. Ecommerce tracking is Javascript code on your shopping cart or site. it collects information about each transaction as it occurs.
How To Install Google Analytics Tracking
Find more on Conversion Tracking with Google
Other areas to check on your store:
Sales Widgets, Daily Deal Carousel Widget
Wholesale Prices and Customers
Sales Reports
Affiliate Program Overview
Also check out our Spark Pay online stores Holiday Sales Infographic here.
