5 Changes for Design in Time for the Holiday Shopping Season

Believe it or not, the holidays are right around the corner. It may be just the beginning of fall, but before you know it, the holiday shopping season will be upon us and the usual hustle and bustle of November and December will be taking place.

For many people, this doesn’t mean hitting the local shopping mall or driving from store to store to get those special gifts for loved ones, but turning on the computer or using a mobile device to make the purchases for gifts. With so many eCommerce stores getting traffic for Cyber Monday deals and throughout the holiday shopping season, more people choose this method to avoid the noise and the crowds and just shop from the comfort of their own homes.

As an eCommerce owner, you should be thinking of the ways you can stand out this holiday season. It may be the start of fall, but you should already be giving thought to your plans for the holiday season, your marketing, your website design and the changes you can make ahead of the busy holiday season.

Today, we will look at five design changes you can make in time for the holiday season that can make a big difference with your eCommerce website.

Menus

Navigation of a website is an important element because people want to get to and from pages and to different categories that interest them quickly. An organized menu should be a priority.

As the holiday season approaches, one of the best changes you can make is to get your navigation menus in order so that it is easy for customers to read, easy to access and easy to understand. A website that is difficult to navigate and confusing will turn off a lot of potential customers. You don’t want to lose people over poor organization and navigation.

A new menu can take on many forms. You can have an icon that displays a drop-down effect with all of your categories listed, have the menu enter the screen from the side or have it drop in from the top. This allows your customers to access and view the menu only as they need it and opens up more space on the website to see more of your products and selection so they can make the best purchases and browse more products with speed and efficiency.

Category Page Banners

A category page banner displays prominently across the top of a page when you choose one of the categories from navigation, showing exactly what selection of products you are browsing and providing a brief description of what you can expect to find in that section of the website.

This can be a great place to update before the holidays. You may have some new products that you want to include in the description or a new image you want to use for the banner so you get update the look and make it fresh.

Category page banners are a design element that can often be overlooked. You set them up and then forget them and proceed to focus on the finer details of the website. Don’t forget the foundation of your category pages, where many of your potential customers will land when they come from search engine results pages.

Sales Prompts

If you have been to a website that is hosting a holiday sale of any kind, you may have been greeted with a popup providing a special code or a prompt to purchase a specific item or to activate a discount. These can be great additions to your website in time for the holiday season.

First, come up with an offer you want to make or a message you want to promote. It could be a free shipping offer during the holiday shopping season or a special discount code that takes $10 off your total purchase of $50 or more. Give the popup the branding it needs, add some special touches to show it is for the holidays and make it the first thing that is seen when your website loads and you will have people staying around trying to take advantage of the offer.

Color Themes and Holiday Elements

When you think of the holidays, you think of the red and green of Christmas lights or blue and white lights for Hanukkah or the white and multi-colored lights that appear on the outside of many homes during the season. You also think of many, many decorations that can be used to get into the holiday spirit.

One of the design changes you can make to your website is really no different than what you do to your home. You decorate your home to get into the holiday spirit and celebrate the season. Do the same with your website. 

Use festive colors, including lights and other decorations as part of your graphics, change up your logo’s color scheme or add to the design with some holiday elements. These things don’t have a direct influence on a customer’s purchase like a coupon code or sales prompt does, but it does help to change the customer’s frame of mind. It can create a more relaxing frame of mind for the customer, who feels a little more welcomed and at home when seeing these elements.

Special Landing Pages

Your landing pages are important for people who come from search engine results pages and find certain parts of your website that fit the search terms they have been looking for. You certainly want those pages to remain relevant, but you can also take advantage of the holiday shopping season with some special landing pages that promote holiday sales or just show some holiday festivity around your products.

Turn your landing pages into special holiday pages that show what your business is doing to celebrate the holiday shopping season or how you are preparing for the holiday rush with a special sale. Creating these pages helps to catch the eye and keep the attention of potential customers so they follow through with purchases.

Are you looking for a few design tweaks or maybe even a complete re-design in time for the holiday rush? Let 1Digital Agency and our team of expert designers and developers help you make it a reality just in time for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the holiday shopping season. We are proud partners with the top eCommerce platforms including BigCommerce and Shopify and can help customize any element of your website to make it unique and your own.

Contact us today to learn more about our design services and to see what we can do for your website this holiday season. Give us a call at 215-809-1567 or send an email to info@1digitalagency.com and we can help you get started on your new design.