But don’t worry, I am here to help you avoid those mistakes!

In this blog post, I will share some sure-fire eCommerce seasonality marketing mistakes that can hurt your holiday sales. By avoiding these mistakes, you can set your business up for a successful holiday season.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

Most common eCommerce seasonality marketing mistakes

Don’t forget about your existing customers

Your existing customers are the ones who have already bought from you, so don’t forget about them when planning your eCommerce seasonality marketing. Make sure you include them in your holiday plans and give them some love.

You can show your appreciation by offering exclusive deals and discounts, early access to new products, or even something as simple as a handwritten note. Whatever you do, make sure your existing customers feel valued this holiday season.

A gift you can give to your existing customers is by customizing the gifts.

Check out how Coke has done it:

Don’t neglect your marketing channels

It’s easy to get so focused on driving holiday sales that you neglect your other marketing channels. This is a huge mistake! Your other seasonality marketing channels are still important, and can actually help drive holiday sales.

Make sure you’re still investing in your SEO during the holidays. This is the time of year when people are searching for gifts online, so you want to make sure your site is ranking high in the search results. You can also use paid search to drive holiday traffic to your site.

Social media is another important channel to keep up with during the holidays. Use social media to promote your holiday deals and drive traffic to your website. You can also use social media to build relationships with potential customers and create a connection with your brand.

Don’t wait until the last minute to plan your marketing strategy.

It’s never too early to start thinking about your holiday marketing strategy. In fact, the earlier you start planning, the better. Waiting until the last minute to plan your marketing strategy can lead to a number of problems, including:

• You may not have enough time to execute your plans properly.
• You may not be able to take advantage of early bird specials or other discounts.
• You may miss out on important opportunities to promote your products or services.

So don’t wait until the last minute to start planning your holiday marketing strategy. The sooner you start, the better off you’ll be.

No proper discount campaigns

One of the biggest mistakes that eCommerce businesses make during the holiday season is not having proper discount campaigns in place. Discounts are a great way to attract customers and boost sales. However, if not done properly, they can also hurt your business.

If you offer too deep of discounts, you will erode your margins and end up losing money. On the other hand, if your discounts are too shallow, customers will not be incentivized to buy from you. It is important to find the right balance when offering discounts.

Check out how well Amazon has been introducing its discounts on its website:

Smart Coupons has everything you need when it comes to discounts, coupons, credits, gift cards, product giveaways, offers, and promotions.

Try Smart Coupons now!

Not promoting properly

Another mistake that businesses make is not properly promoting their holiday sales. Customers need to be made aware of your sales in order for them to take advantage of them. Make sure to use all of your marketing channels, such as email, social media, and paid advertising, to promote your holiday sales.

Check out how Lego has started promoting their holiday offers quite early on their social media channels:

Deals not displayed well

Many eCommerce store owners make the mistake of not properly displaying deals, banners, action bars, plugin banners, and inline widgets during the holiday season. This can hurt their holiday sales because potential customers may not be able to find the special offers.

Our go-to plugin Icegram Engage can always help you display banners, action bars, and popups easily. Learn how to create a sidebar message in Icegram Engage.

Not promoting the right product

Another common mistake is not promoting the right products. eCommerce store owners should take the time to figure out which products are most popular during the holiday season and make sure those products are prominently featured on their websites. Giving discounts only on the non-selling products will not be enough.

Missing countdown

One of the most common eCommerce seasonality marketing mistakes is missing a countdown timer on your website. This can hurt your holiday sales because it makes it appear as though you are not prepared for the holiday rush.

Countdown timers are a great way to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to buy your products before they run out. They also help to give customers a sense of how much time they have to make a purchase. If your website is lacking a countdown timer, then you may want to consider adding one.

This easy guide will help you set up a countdown timer, click here to know how to add a countdown timer into the Icegram Engage campaign.

Try Icegram Engage’s free version!

Missing email marketing campaigns

One of the biggest mistakes that eCommerce businesses make during the holiday season is missing email marketing black Friday campaigns. Email is one of the most effective marketing channels, especially during the holidays. Consumers are bombarded with holiday advertising from all directions, so your email needs to stand out. Make sure your email campaigns are well-planned and executed in order to maximize your holiday sales.

“The earlier you get Icegram Express, the sooner you’ll see better results” says one of our happy customers, so why don’t you give Icegram Express a chance to grow?

Try Icegram Express now!

Increase traffic ready

Another mistake that eCommerce businesses make is not being prepared for increased traffic and orders. The holiday season is a busy time for businesses, and you need to be prepared for the influx of traffic and orders. Make sure your website can handle the increased traffic, and that you have enough people on hand to fulfill different requirements in a timely manner.

Not tracking eCommerce sales

Not tracking your eCommerce sales can also lead to other problems. For example, you may miss out on opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products to customers. You also may not be able to take advantage of special promotions or discounts that could boost your sales. So make sure you track your sales data carefully this holiday season!

Maintaining a record of ups and downs can help everything run smoothly. Our amazing in-house plugin Putler is a powerful business analytics tool on sales, products, subscriptions, customers and visitors.

There are 17 integrations, including payment gateways, e-commerce, analytics, email marketing, API, intelligent merging and corrections, automatic currency exchange and timezone conversion, standardizing emails and addresses, customer analytics, profile enrichment and history and much more…

Give Putler a try!

Missing referral/affiliate program

These programs can help you reach new customers and boost your holiday sales.
If you don’t have a referral or affiliate program, you may be missing out on potential customers. Make sure to research these programs and see if they’re right for your business. They can be a great way to reach new customers and boost your holiday sales.

The easy-to-use plugin Affiliate for WooCommerce can help you run your own successful affiliate program. Track referrals, sales, commissions, and payouts. Create commission plans and seasonality marketing black friday campaigns. Includes self-care dashboard for affiliates. The easiest way to increase your brand value, get customers and grow revenue.

Would you like to try Affiliate for WooCommerce for your eCommerce store?

Lack of plan

If you don’t have a plan for your eCommerce business during the holiday season, you’re likely to make some costly mistakes. Without a plan, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype and spend too much money on seasonality marketing or stock up on inventory that doesn’t sell.

It’s also important to remember that not every customer is looking for the same thing during the holidays. Some may be interested in buying gifts, while others are looking for the best deals. Make sure you segment your customers and create different marketing messages for each group.

Don’t rely too heavily on discounts and promotions

It can be tempting to rely heavily on discounts and promotions to drive holiday sales, but this can backfire in a number of ways. First, if you discount your products too deeply, you can erode your brand value and damage your margins.

Second, over-reliance on promotions can create a sense of entitlement among shoppers who come to expect deep discounts and will only buy when they can get a good deal. Finally, constantly running promotions can make it difficult to return to regular pricing after the holidays are over.

So what’s the alternative? To start with, focus on creating compelling content and offers that will attract shoppers even without a discount. If you do need to offer discounts, make sure they are targeted and strategic, rather than across-the-board price cuts. And finally, don’t forget the power of seasonal messaging and imagery to create a sense of urgency and excitement around your products.

Landing pages with inaccurate content

When visitors come to your site, they’re looking for information about your products or services. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll quickly leave. This can lead to lost sales and frustrated customers.

To avoid this, be sure to regularly check your landing pages and update the content as needed. Don’t wait until the last minute to make changes – by then it will be too late. Keep your landing pages accurate and up-to-date all season long, and you’ll be sure to boost your holiday sales.

Not reaching out very much before the deals begin

Many retailers wait until the last minute to start promoting their holiday sales, which can leave potential customers in the dark about what’s going on. Customers may not be aware of your holiday sale if you don’t promote it ahead of time. You could miss out on potential sales if you don’t let customers know about your deals early enough

To avoid this mistake, start promoting your holiday sale a few weeks in advance. Use email marketing, social media, and other channels to reach out to potential customers and let them know what deals you’ll be offering during the holidays. By starting your promotional efforts early, you’ll ensure that more people are aware of your sale and are more likely to take advantage of it.

Having a bad checkout experience

This can be a major turnoff for customers, and can lead to lost sales. There are a few things that you can do to avoid this:

First, make sure that your checkout process is simple and easy to use. There should be no confusing steps or extra required fields that are not absolutely necessary.

Second, offer multiple payment options. Customers should be able to choose from a variety of methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and even more.

Third, provide excellent customer service. If there are any problems with the checkout process, be sure to address them quickly and efficiently.

You can now optimize your checkout process by adding, removing or editing fields to suit your needs.

Try out Checkout Field Editor!

The lack of live chat and support

This can be a major issue during the holidays when shoppers are looking for quick answers to their questions. If you don’t have someone available to chat with them in real-time, they may become frustrated and go to another site that does.

To avoid this, make sure you have a live chat option available on your site, and that someone is available to answer questions during peak times. You may also want to consider hiring additional customer support staff during the holidays to help meet the demand.

Paying no attention to paid advertising

Paid advertising is a great way to reach new audiences and boost your holiday sales, but many businesses don’t take advantage of it.

There are a number of different paid advertising platforms you can use, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, so you’ll need to experiment to see which one works best for your business.

Investing in paid advertising is a great way to reach new customers and boost your holiday sales. However, it’s important to remember that paid advertising is just one piece of the puzzle. You also need to make sure you have a strong organic presence on social media and search engines.

Be ready to learn through the process

The holiday season is a great time to try new things and experiment with your marketing. Don’t be afraid to try something new and see what works best for your business. The goal is to increase sales and reach as many customers as possible.

Make sure you have a solid plan in place before the holiday rush begins. Know what you want to achieve and have a clear idea of how you’re going to get there. And most importantly, be ready to learn through the process. There will always be new challenges and opportunities during the holidays, so being open to learning is key to success.

Therefore, to have a successful holiday sale, avoid these common mistakes and plan ahead. By being prepared and promoting wisely, you can ensure a successful holiday season for your eCommerce business.

Conclusion

The holiday season can be both exciting and overwhelming for eCommerce businesses. With so much competition and customer demand, even small mistakes can cost you valuable sales opportunities.

The key is to plan ahead, stay organized, and focus on creating a smooth and engaging shopping experience for your customers.
Remember, the holiday rush isn’t just about discounts or ads. It’s about building trust, rewarding loyalty, and making every interaction count. Use this time to strengthen your brand relationships, test what works, and refine your marketing strategy for the year ahead.

By avoiding these common mistakes and staying proactive, you can turn the holiday season from a stressful scramble into a powerful growth opportunity, one that keeps customers coming back long after the holidays are over.

If you are still looking for a tool that does it all, check out Icegram to tick all the overwhelming tasks off your list!

FAQ

How early should I start planning my holiday eCommerce marketing strategy?
Ideally, start planning your holiday marketing strategy 2–3 months in advance. This gives you enough time to finalize discounts, create email and social campaigns, optimize your site for traffic, and ensure product stock readiness.

Why is it important to engage existing customers during the holiday season?
Existing customers already trust your brand, making them more likely to buy again. Reward them with exclusive deals, early access, or personalized messages to increase repeat sales and customer loyalty during the holidays.

How can I avoid website crashes during the holiday rush?
Ensure your site is optimized for high traffic by upgrading hosting, testing page load speed, and setting up caching. You can also use tools like Putler to monitor traffic and performance during peak shopping times.

How can I make my holiday deals more visible on my website?
Use banners, pop-ups, action bars, and countdown timers to highlight offers. Tools like Icegram Engage help you display promotions and create urgency with countdowns and widgets that catch customer attention.

What happens if I don’t prepare my eCommerce store for increased traffic?
If your site isn’t optimized for high traffic, it may load slowly or crash, leading to lost sales and poor customer experience. Plan for scalability and ensure your fulfillment and customer service teams are ready for order surges.

How can I optimize checkout to reduce cart abandonment during the holidays?
Keep checkout simple, remove unnecessary fields, offer multiple payment options, and provide instant support. Tools like Checkout Field Editor can help you customize and streamline your checkout experience.

Why is live chat support essential during the holiday season?
During holidays, customers expect quick answers. Live chat ensures instant help, builds trust, and prevents lost sales. Having extra support staff or chatbots ready can help handle increased inquiries efficiently.

How can I track sales performance during the holiday season?
Use analytics tools like Putler to track sales, product performance, customer data, and trends. Tracking helps identify what’s working and where to adjust your marketing strategy in real-time.

What role does paid advertising play in holiday eCommerce success?
Paid advertising boosts reach and visibility during competitive seasons. Use Google Ads, Meta Ads, or Instagram Ads to target ready-to-buy audiences while continuing to strengthen your organic marketing channels.

How can I prevent errors in discount campaigns?
Test your discount codes and coupon settings before launch. Ensure that discounts are balanced — deep enough to attract buyers but not so deep that they hurt profit margins. Tools like Smart Coupons simplify this process.

In the moment of a problem like that, you need a plugin that is easy to use and reliable and Backuply shines at that.

Backuply is an easy-to-use and reliable backup plugin that gives you enough control to save the backup data in the location you trust. So is it the easiest and best WordPress backup plugin for your website?

Our experience using this plugin has been blissful. For backup plugins, restores are the true test of reliability and restoring with Backuply is smooth and just a one-click process as advertised. Let’s analyze the plugin.

What is Backuply?

Backuply is a WordPress Backup plugin installed by 200000+ users worldwide for its reliable one-click restore. Its unique selling point is its easy and intuitive User Interface (UI). This makes it easy to create and restore backups, without the technical skills.

With Backuply, you can create backups in just a few clicks, or you can use auto backups and schedule the backups. And if you ever need to restore a backup it is as easy as a click. All you need to do is select the backup you want to restore and click on restore.

There is also a Cloud service offered by Backuply for a zero-configuration and automated backup system.

Backuply features: A brief overview

We list six features that will help you analyze how the plugin helps protect your website.

Backups

Creating a backup with the WordPress backup plugin is quick and straightforward.

1. Select what you want to backup – the database, the directories, or both.
2. Choose where you want to save the backup, locally or in remote storage.
3. Finally, click on the Create Backup button and wait for the backup to complete.

This helps improve productivity as the learning curve to use it is close to none. You install it and you are already ready to create your backup.

Restore

Restore is a one-click process, all you need to do is select the backup you want to restore and then click on Restore and wait for restore to complete.

The backups created using Backuply follow a single file structure, which means everything is backed up in a single archive file. And it uses tar as the archiving format which makes it universally accessible. This means backups created using Backuply can be restored manually too on any system.

Backup to remote locations

Backuply supports around 13 remote backup locations from proprietary cloud storage options like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive to Cloud storage locations like AWS, and AWS S3 compatible locations like DigitalOcean Spaces, Cloudflare R2 storage and more.

Backuply has its own remote backup storage option which is Backuply Cloud and you get 10GB of Backuply Cloud storage with the Pro version.

Auto backups, backup rotation

Manually creating backups can be cumbersome. Therefore, Backuply has the option to automatically create backups or schedule them.

And to prevent auto backups from consuming all your storage you can use Backup Rotation, which will limit the number of backups Backuply retains in your backup location by deleting the oldest backup whenever a new auto backup is created.

Cloning and Migration

Backuply supports cloning and migration and it’s quite similar to how restore is done. It works more efficiently if the Backup is created in some remote location as syncing backup is easier that way.

Backuply Cloud

There is also a cloud offering by the Backuply team in which you can simply buy backup space from them and all backups are stored in the cloud. The cloud option is the simplest to use and gives absolute peace of mind when it comes to backups.

Backuply Pro pricing

Backuply is an affordable WordPress backup plugin compared with other backup plugins.

The Pro version includes features like Auto Backups, Backup Rotation, Backup storage like OneDrive, Dropbox, AWS, AWS compatible storage, and more.

It also comes with 10GB of Backuply cloud storage for the base plan of Backuply which costs $39.

Backuply offers a variety of plans to fit your needs:

1. Personal Plan $39/year with 10GB Backuply cloud storage.
2. Professional Plan $69/year with 25GB Backuply cloud storage.
3. Business plan $249/year with 50GB Backuply cloud storage.

To learn more about the plans, visit Backuply pricing page.

If you don’t need automatic backups, you can use the free version available on WordPress.

Backuply Cloud pricing

Backuply cloud is included with every pro plan. For example, 10 GB is included in the Personal Plan which is priced at $39/year.

However, there is a Backuply cloud plan only for $18/year which includes 10 GB of space. You can purchase additional space as well from their client center as per your requirements. In our opinion, the Backuply Cloud is the best solution for backups and the pricing is very cheap.

Conclusion

Backups are important irrespective of how big or small your website is. As WordPress is not immune to errors, hacks, and crashes, having your WordPress site data backed up will give you peace of mind.

With Backuply at your side, it’s easier to back up and manage them. It is a great way to protect your WordPress website from data loss.

It’s easy to use, reliable, and affordable WordPress backup plugin.