So, here goes. Here are 7 tips for your export business to capitalise and turn Christmas good cheer into double-digit sales increases<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gift cards allow the gift recipient to choose their own present and save the gift giver from the plight of indecisiveness \u2013 so everyone wins. Almost all our customers say gift cards prove most popular over Christmas.<\/strong> The gift card industry is expected to be worth $160Bn by next year, to put that into context[i]<\/a>. That\u2019s quite a goldmine.<\/p>\n Plus 65% of gift card holders spend over a third more than their card value when shopping with <\/strong>you, if you needed more persuading. Gift cards are an advance payment from profitable new customers: what\u2019s not to love?<\/p>\n Gift cards are also fantastic for exporters because it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re only physically located in the UK. Digital \u2013 online or mobile-only gift cards are growing massively in popularity, and you can offer them easily using international apps like PayPal, so there\u2019s not a huge set-up cost involved. Simple.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Search terms for phrases like \u201cgift ideas for husband\u201d; \u201cgift ideas for mother in law\u201d increase massively towards Christmas. Capitalise on that for your export business by grouping your products into gift categories that reflect what people are looking for.<\/strong> Try adding sections into your website, \u201cgifts for him\u201d; \u201cgifts for her\u201d, etc.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to <\/strong>optimise for your target language though<\/strong>, to ensure you\u2019re getting the right phrases. Spaniards, Germans, Italians and Brits won\u2019t search the same things \u2013 or even give the same sorts of gifts.<\/p>\n Ideally exporters should have a translated and localised version of their website to cater to these international differences.<\/strong> A professional translator will help you develop an international SEO strategy that capitalises on those Christmas search trends \u2013 and search trends all year \u2013 so you can maximise online awareness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read more<\/strong>: 6 Steps to Ace Website Translation for Export Businesses<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n The point is to become a resource, not just pitch your products<\/strong>. From what we\u2019ve seen, our export customers who enjoy most success over Christmas give advice to their customers, to help them explore present ideas and find something they genuinely love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We always hear how competitive Christmas is, especially for small businesses. One thing we\u2019ve seen to helps your business stand out is Christmas offers or deals. Buy-one-get-one-free always seems popular \u2013 and encourages customers to buy multiple gifts, which is always good news. Or you could offer a referral discount, to help build momentum in your Christmas traffic.<\/p>\n Free Christmas shipping always proves popular amongst the export businesses we know, helping keep products competitive abroad<\/strong>. Free shipping might prove the difference between buying your export product and buying a similar product from a domestic store.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Turning visitors into customers is only one part of the equation – you want to keep them coming back too. Statistically, most customers who shop with you over Christmas will only buy from you once<\/strong>. If you could turn that around, you\u2019d be able to capitalise on the Christmas sales boost all year around. That\u2019s the ideal, anyway!<\/p>\n One fantastic way we\u2019ve seen our customers do that is by offering post-Christmas deals to your Christmas customers.<\/strong> You reward them for their custom and encourage their repeat custom at the same time: ideal.<\/p>\n Customer loyalty is an especially important metric for most exporters because you\u2019re aiming to build an entirely new market abroad. Network and loyalty are two of the most important ingredients for export success.<\/p>\n (Also, we don\u2019t want to harp on about the benefits of translation but building rapport is a vital ingredient in building loyalty. It\u2019s very difficult to build rapport unless you speak in your customers’ native language<\/strong>!)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you frustrate a first-time customer, you\u2019ll never see them back<\/strong> \u2013 and delivery mishaps are the surest way to ensure frustration. And anger. And disappointment. And very realistic damage to your brand reputation too, as they spread the word. We\u2019ve heard some awful horror stories from our customers!<\/p>\n This is especially true over Christmas, when customers are buying for a specific date. And especially true for export businesses with complex delivery, sometimes in countries without the same rigorous delivery systems.<\/p>\n From the customer perspective, no excuse is good enough for getting this wrong. So build in plenty<\/em> of cushion time, make back-up plan arrangements, and publicize your shipping details clearly on your site. Even if you don\u2019t translate your whole site <\/strong>(which you really should, but we know that\u2019s not always a priority), you definitely need vital information like shipping translated clearly into your target language.<\/strong> Misunderstandings here will hamstring sales.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n However amazing your products, we all know you\u2019re going to get returns. We hear all the time what a headache the returns period is for our customers. Especially over the Christmas period, as hapless souls who didn\u2019t choose the gift card route return unwanted or unsuitable gifts.<\/p>\n It might be a headache for you, but it absolutely cannot be for your customers or you\u2019ll lose business. As with shipping, you have to translate this information into your target language on your site. Customers are much less likely to buy from an exporter who doesn\u2019t have a clear, simple returns policy. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Then you have to deliver on that promise with simple, hassle-free returns once Christmas is over. One of our customers mentioned a strategy they use which sounds fantastic: offering a small discount code to customers to send returns, thanking them for their time and incentivising repeat purchase.<\/strong> That could be a brilliant way to build rapport and ensure you\u2019re remembered.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n An effective marketing strategy in the run-up to Christmas can build awareness, drive traffic and create demand for your products. We do loads of marketing in loads of languages, and in every case: it\u2019s the lynchpin of a successful sales period.<\/strong><\/p>\n Momentum is critical, to build, grow and then hopefully capitalise on a sense of excitement. Aim to \u2018fade up\u2019 before Christmas then \u2018fade out\u2019 after Christmas, like sliding the volume rather than an abrupt start\/stop.<\/p>\n Whether content marketing, email marketing or social media, the most important principle is to add value.<\/em><\/p>\n Over the festive season, customers are bombarded by aggressive, festive messaging near-begging them to part with their hard-earned. Be different by offering value-add content like informative articles, gift ideas and unique discounts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s really important to market in your customers\u2019 native language.<\/strong> One-size-fits-all marketing in English can appear inconsiderate, and makes you very<\/em> easy to ignore amongst the Christmas noise.<\/p>\n Imagine you got a Christmas sales email into your inbox now, written in Spanish. Statistically you\u2019re less likely to speak Spanish than Spaniards are to speak English. but even if your audience do<\/em> speak English it\u2019s unlikely as strong as their Spanish. Marketing has powerful potential, but not if your audience can\u2019t fully understand what you\u2019re saying!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read more<\/strong>: 3 Make-or-Break Tips to Succeed at Content Marketing Abroad<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Remember, you\u2019re not only competing with other English export businesses. You also competing with domestic businesses for your target market, who\u2019ll definitely be marketing in the native language.<\/strong> If you want to compete and be persuasive, translating your Christmas marketing efforts is a must.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n British export is booming – but no season is merrier than Christmas. Our translators are working away like busy little elves right now to help all our customers translate their marketing campaigns, add shipping and delivery information to their websites and create smart Christmas-centric international SEO strategies.<\/p>\n Is your export business fully prepared for Christmas?<\/strong> If not, put HelloTranslator on your Christmas list and get simple fuss-free translation support over the festive period.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n HelloTranslator is library of professional translators with extensive experience handling all types of language translation including website translation, marketing translation, business translation and academic translation. Our speciality is Spanish translation but our library also includes specialist Russian, French, German and Italian translators. <\/em><\/p>\n Check out our <\/em>library of professional translators HERE<\/em><\/a> for simple, fuss-free support translating your Christmas export efforts!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [i]<\/a> https:\/\/www.giftcardgranny.com\/statistics\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" British export businesses have plenty to be thankful for over Christmas, with export sales booming every festive season. Here at HelloTranslator, we work with too many British exporters to count so we\u2019ve heard plenty of tips on boosting your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":4374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[367,223,226,253,216,245,218,219],"class_list":{"0":"post-4373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-translation","8":"tag-brand-image","9":"tag-content-creation-into-spanish","10":"tag-content-marketing-in-spanish","11":"tag-content-translation","12":"tag-export-to-spain","13":"tag-internationalization","14":"tag-marketing-in-spain","15":"tag-marketing-in-spanish","16":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4373"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4381,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373\/revisions\/4381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1 – Offer Christmas gift cards<\/strong><\/h3>\n
2 – Group products into gift categories<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Make](\"http:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Christmas-export-2.png\")
<\/p>\n3 – Create Christmas deals <\/strong><\/h3>\n
4 – Create post-Christmas deals <\/strong><\/h3>\n
5 – Perfect your delivery schedule <\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Leave](\"http:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Christmas-export-3.png\")
<\/p>\n6 \u2013 Don\u2019t ignore returns <\/strong><\/h3>\n
7 \u2013 Build a festive marketing strategy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Build](\"http:\/\/www.hellotranslator.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Christmas-export-4.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
Professional Translation Helps UK Export Sales Grow this Christmas<\/strong><\/h3>\n