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The holiday season can be a great opportunity for ecommerce stores. Many stores generate record sales during Christmas.
Did you improve your sales this season? Good. I feel your joy. But there’s no time to rest. Ecommerce never sleeps so you’ve got to be prepared for the year ahead.
In this article, we’ve got a few Q1 marketing ideas to help you jumpstart your ecommerce efforts in the first quarter of 2025.
Let’s get started!
How to supercharge your marketing efforts
Boosting your marketing game in Q1 can skyrocket your sales and leads. Let’s dive into how.
1. Increase your conversion rates
Most visitors won’t buy on their first visit – that’s just how it is.
Statistics show that the average conversion rate is around 3% on ecommerce sites. So what are you doing with the other 97% of visitors to your site? You shouldn’t let them leave without a chance to engage with them.
Popups are one of the best ways to capture these visitors. It helps you convert these potentially lost visitors into sales and leads.
With OptiMonk, you can display exclusive offers or discounts, and personalized content as visitors are browsing your store.
Here are a few OptiMonk users who have increased their conversion rates using popups. Check out these examples and learn how they achieved these results:
- Lammle’s boosted online sales by 23.5% without discounting
- Vegetology boosted its email signups and ecommerce conversions through personalization
- Obvi boosted their Black Friday conversion rates by 25%
2. Build your email list
Did you know that email notifications about abandoned carts have a 40.5% open rate? It’s clear that email marketing is a principle for all ecommerce stores.
Popups are a great way to build a healthy email list – containing people who actually showed interest in your website.
You can use popups to highlight your newsletter subscription. You can also offer VIP memberships and “email-only” deals using well-timed popups. Another effective way to build your email list is to provide a direct discount or coupon for signing up.
Digital Marketer followed these best practices and they increased their total number of leads by 2,689 in only two weeks! Wow! They created 5 different exit-intent campaigns to maximize their results.
3. Reduce cart abandonment
Another way to supercharge your marketing efforts is to focus on reducing cart abandonment and making a direct impact on your sales.
Cart abandonment is when a visitor adds items to their shopping cart but leaves your website without completing their purchase. The percentage of buyers who leave an item in their cart – your cart abandonment rate – is an important indicator of website performance.
The average ecommerce cart abandonment rate is nearly 70%. In other words, 7 out of 10 visitors who add an item to their cart will leave a store without completing their purchase.
A large percentage of cart abandonment has nothing to do with your site or prices.
A study revealed that 58.6% of US online shoppers abandoned their cart within the last 3 months simply because they were “just browsing / not ready to buy”.
Creating an exit-intent popup that appears when a visitor is about to leave your site is a great way to grab the attention of these visitors.
Here’s a great example from BootCuffsSocks.com. Their popup provides a 10% discount. To raise the sense of urgency, they use a countdown timer to highlight that the offer is only available for the next 15 minutes.
If you want to learn more about reducing cart abandonment, take a look at our guide on protecting your ecommerce site from losing 68.63% of online sales.
4. Increase your cart value
Your average cart value is another important metric of success for your online store.
And one of the best ways to increase cart value is upselling or cross-selling.
Northern Tool + Equipment is a great example. After a customer adds an item to their cart, an offer for an extended warranty appears. They also go a step further and recommend another product as a way of upselling.
When you’re cross-selling products, the additional items you recommend to your customers must enhance the overall value they get from their purchase.
Read this article for more about how to use upselling and cross-selling to increase your sales.
Q1 ecommerce marketing ideas
Alright, now that we’ve got the lowdown on why Q1 is prime time for ecommerce and have seen some ways to supercharge your marketing efforts, let’s dive into some actionable marketing ideas.
These tips are geared to rev up your sales engines and kickstart your success in the New Year.
Ready to supercharge your efforts? Let’s get into it.
1. January marketing ideas
Every online store should have an after-Christmas marketing strategy.
A post-holiday sale can help you close out products you didn’t sell through the holidays.
For sellers that offer gift cards, a post-holiday sale can also encourage people to use the gift cards they got for Christmas.
You can convert these post-holiday shoppers into brand loyalists by promoting special offers to them in a popup.
You can also send a special deal to any of your customers from the holidays and encourage them to return and make a purchase in the New Year.
2. Super Bowl marketing ideas
The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world each year. In 2024, Super Bowl LVIII became the most-watched NFL championship in history, bringing in about 123 million viewers.
Sports fanatic or not, most Americans will watch the Super Bowl.
Consider offering discounts on products that people might buy for a Super Bowl party or you can offer promotions related to the game.
Many people host parties and get together to watch the Super Bowl with friends and family.
You can take advantage of it and use a popup to offer an ultimate guide for how to throw the best Super Bowl party in exchange for your visitor’s email address.
3. Valentine’s Day marketing ideas
Valentine’s Day is a big day for people to share their love around the world, and many do so by making a purchase of some kind.
According to statistics, 61.8% of consumers celebrate Valentine’s Day and the average annual Valentine’s Day spending is $13,290,000,000.
Wow! To take advantage of this fact, create a sales campaign with a special offer to boost engagement.
First and foremost, consider suggesting gift ideas for your visitors.
Set up a popup that will highlight your products that would be great gifts for Valentine’s Day. You can get creative here too! Even though your product line may not be an exact fit for the festivities on February 14th, you can highlight your best deals in a fun and “loving” way.
Another great option is to combine an exit-intent popup with a landing page that promotes your Valentine’s Day offers. This is great for stores that already have Valentine’s promotions planned. With popups, you can be sure to get the most out of your efforts.
Your popup can simply say: “Are you sure you don’t need a Valentine’s Day gift? You can get 10% off, just enter this code at checkout: LOVE10! Ps – This code expires tonight!”
4. Presidents’ Day and Washington’s Birthday marketing ideas
Presidents’ Day is a popular day for retailers in the United States.
Would you believe that it is actually a rival for Black Friday? Statistics show that Presidents’ Day – known officially as Washington’s Birthday – has better deals.
Major retailers are aware of this, and you can benefit from it too by displaying a discount offer on a popup before February 19th.
Here are a few President’s Day examples from previous years:
- Nordstrom: Save 40% off Presidents’ Day clearance through Feb. 22.
- Cabela’s: Save up to $500 on furniture during the store’s President’s Day sale.
- Sears: The Sears Presidents’ Day mattress sale offers savings up to 60%, plus free shipping.
- Best Buy: Get up to 25% off major appliances through Feb. 28 at Best Buy. If you’re looking for Presidents’ Day TV sales, you can get up to 25% off HDTVs, including brands like Samsung, Insignia, Sharp, and more.
5. St. Patrick’s Day marketing ideas
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many parts of the world, especially by Irish communities.
In case you’re wondering whether it has an impact on ecommerce, check out this example from Amazon: they launched a series of St. Patrick’s Day-inspired deals on books, music, toys, movies, and clothing – and they set up a special page for it.
You don’t have to launch specific products for this day. Like Valentine’s Day, get creative!
Here’s a quick idea: provide a discount a few days before March 17th on any products that you sell that are green.
Or, you can use popups to help your customers find something for their St. Patrick’s Day celebration!
FAQ
What is Q1 marketing, and why is it important?
Q1 marketing refers to the marketing tactics implemented during the first quarter of the year, typically spanning January through March. It’s crucial because it sets the tone for the year ahead and can significantly impact sales performance. A great Q1 ensures a strong start, builds momentum, and establishes a solid foundation for achieving annual revenue targets.
What are some common challenges businesses face during Q1?
Several challenges can arise during the first quarter, including a post-holiday sales slump, reduced consumer spending after the holiday season, weather-related disruptions, and increased competition as companies ramp up their marketing plan. Additionally, economic uncertainties or market fluctuations may further complicate matters.
How can businesses overcome Q1 marketing challenges?
To overcome Q1 marketing challenges, you can adopt various strategies, such as trying a new marketing channel, offering promotions or discounts to stimulate sales, leveraging seasonal trends, focusing on customer retention, and starting a customer loyalty program.
What are some effective Q1 digital marketing ideas to boost sales?
Five effective Q1 marketing strategies to boost sales include:
- New Year promotions: Launch special promotions or discounts to capitalize on New Year’s resolutions and encourage customers to purchase your products or services.
- Winter-themed campaigns: Create winter-themed marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience and align with seasonal trends.
- Content marketing: Develop high-quality and relevant content, such as blog posts, videos, or infographics, that educates, entertains, and engages your audience while subtly promoting your products or services.
- Email marketing: Utilize email marketing campaigns to nurture leads, communicate promotions, and re-engage past customers, leveraging segmented lists and personalized messaging for maximum impact.
- Social media advertising: Invest in social media marketing to reach potential customers, increase brand visibility, and drive conversions through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Conclusion
While the holidays have an important impact on ecommerce sales, you shouldn’t limit your efforts to only the holiday season.
You can create great deals throughout the year and use popups to increase your sales and leads by highlighting your best offers.
Convert your holiday shoppers and any gift card holders into brand loyalists with a post-holiday sale and promote your products with special offers on these dates during the first quarter:
- February 9th – Super Bowl
- February 14th – Valentine’s Day
- February 19th – Presidents Day and Washington’s Birthday
- March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day
For more marketing ideas, check out this article containing 15 seasonal campaign ideas to crush your competition this year.
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Written by
Nikolett Lorincz
Nikolett is the Head of Content at OptiMonk. She is obsessed with content marketing and loves creating educational content for ecommerce store owners. She truly believes in the importance of quality over quantity.
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