How to prepare your business app for the festive period 

It’s that time of year again; pumpkins have appeared in stores, the mornings and evenings have a definite chill to them and many of us are already thinking about getting started on the seasonal shopping.

As a small business owner, this period is vitally important and you’ll want to do all you can to ensure that your app is primed and ready to make the most of every opportunity for a conversion that comes your way.

1. Double check your user experience

Now is a great time to assure yourself that you are offering your app users as seamless a user experience as possible. If it’s been a while since you really dug around and put yourself in the hands of a new user, now is the time to do just that.

Is your navigation easy to use? Does your user client onboarding still do the job or is it time for an update? Can users wanting to book a service or buy a product do so quickly and easily?

2. Test your payment and booking processing

The ultimate aim of this period is to maximise your revenue, as this time of the year will usually represent a significant chunk of your overall sales. For that reason, you want to be confident that there are no snags, errors or frustrations associated with paying for a product or booking a service. Do as many trial runs as you can across your product or service offering to ensure the entire process works flawlessly.

3. Re-double your efforts to build positive reviews

Positive reviews are a powerful tool and can seriously improve not just your store listings but your user base too. If you’ve taken your foot off the gas when it comes to actively soliciting reviews, get your strategy back up and running. Many consumers like to see fresh reviews and will discount reviews that are older than a month or so. This means you’ll need to make this a regular part of your process.

4. Add a festive twist

Help your app users get into the festive spirit by adding a festive twist to your app. This could be something as simple as adding a Santa hat to your logo until the holidays are over.

5. Check your offers and promos are ready for the holiday season

We all love a bargain and getting a great deal is even more important at this time of the year. Sit down and check that you have enough suitable offers and incentives – an increasing number of retailers do time-sensitive promotions such as the 12 Days of Christmas so you’ll want to double check that your promotional copy is ready, any discount codes are active and error free and that you have sufficient stock in place to honour those orders.