10 tips for closing last-minute sales

The Christmas campaign is about to end, but there’s still time to close some sales. It’s time for last-minute shoppers. So pay attention and take note of these tips to close last minute sales. This way, you’ll sell everything this year!

Actually, all the phases of the purchasing process are rewarding. Discovering, comparing and projecting the use you’ll give to that product...  All this help make the customer happy, and it is quite fun.

But the most delicate time, the time to think calmly comes when making the final decision, that moment generates a certain stress in the buyer, and a “suffering” that the seller should be able to minimize (and exploit).

 How can we help close last-minute sales from the other side of the eCommerce?

Few things can scare away a buyer faster than seeming untrustworthy. There’s a really common concept that’s usually summarized in the acronym FUDS (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt).

First of all, we need to address fear and uncertainty. We know users may be afraid of buying a counterfeit product, not receiving the product on time, or the worst case scenario: buying the product and not receiving it.

For this reason, we need to pull the entire arsenal of trust generators: brand logos, online trust seals, financial institutions logos, reviews in specialized media, images of the shop and workers, a bit of storytelling...

And, of course, a webpage that’s usable and technically solid. A page with errors is a bad deal for any eCommerce.

Even if the user trusts you and your website, he can still have doubts. It’s fundamental that you clear those doubts quickly and efficiently.

Here, you can be proactive or reactive at various levels. FAQs are always a safe option, so start with the most frequently asked questions and provide an answer for each of them.

 A live chat can be very useful to answer questions in real time and it’s a great alternative to the email that lacks urgency. 

 If you really want to be proactive, you can use one of these chats that allow the use of triggers and automation to only run when the user meets a certain condition, such as visiting a specific page or spending more than a certain amount of time in it (picture, for example, that the user gets lost in the checkout). 

Not everyone asks even if they have doubts.

No matter what’s the nature of your eCommerce, a B2B or a B2C, most products require a co-purchase-decision when a payment is involved.

Obviously, a company that wants to renew all its furniture needs more than a couple looking for a new TV, but in both cases the mechanisms are similar. 

Offer them supporting documentation they can present and, most importantly, arguments. Here you have to think about those co-decision-makers and provide alternatives both in terms of copy and image.

Seeking opinions is something inherent to buying something online. It favors and enhances the use of this feature.

At the product level, ratings and comments are still working very well.  Encourage these publications through Loyalty points, gamification or simply by sending an email to the user to ask for it politely.

Don’t annoy the user with endless lists of technical specifications. Users usually don’t need to know what kind of material is used to make the packaging. What they actually want to know is whether your product will help them solve a specific problem or not.

It seems obvious, but if the user can’t reach a product, he won’t be able to buy it.  The clearest example I can think of is a website whose checkout doesn’t work on mobile devices. 

If your audience uses mobile devices to buy online (And I’m telling you they do), they simply won’t be able to.  And the worst part is that he’ll find out at the last minute.

Sometimes, the web is technically right but not accessible.  The same previous example: the checkout works but the buttons are too small, there’s not enough contrast between fonts and backgrounds... That sort of thing makes you lose sales.

Have you ever thought that maybe your process is just not clear? There’s an intention, a clear motivation but...  lack of ability.  Explain the processes and, if possible, guide the users through them.

Some things go without saying. If you ask the user to sing up to your website, and he has to fill a really long form, in addition to providing once again the information he has written several times before... He won’t come back.

Do you already have the user’s shipping info? Ask him if it’s the same information as the billing data, if it is, take the address from the user account, don’t make the user work twice.