BBQs, county fairs and firework shows — Independence Day is less than a month away! Americans will soon be busy planning what new recipes they want to try on the grill, browsing for beachwear, and deciding where to meet up and watch countless fireworks blast off. July 4th is a prime time for retailers to get customers pumped and boost their sales.
But how can you make this summer sale season yours and win over customers who have countless options to choose from? Don’t worry, we can help you make the most of it with personalization features that match the holiday fun: gamification! Let’s explore all the unique ways you can gamify your webshop to engage your visitors and spike conversions.
Embrace the holiday with fireworks
Here’s something you’ve heard a hundred times: To stand out from your competitors, you need to, well, stand out. It’s time to decorate! Fortunately, e-commerce retailers can embellish their homepages just like brick-and-mortar stores pep up their storefronts. We recommend setting off fireworks to greet your site visitors with a simple animation feature. It’ll be a nice little surprise that brings attention to your promotion, gets visitors in the right mood to shop and offers a strong starting point for a playful, interactive customer journey. Excuse us for using such a cliché phrase, but it’s true — you can really start your July 4th sale with a bang.
Bring attention to key CTAs with a bald eagle
Sometimes you need more than just to make an excellent first impression. If you want visitors to gravitate towards a particular part of your website, you can get them there with an animation feature designed precisely for that purpose. A bunny for Easter, spooky bats for Halloween, or your shop’s mascot for any season — an animated little creature sitting, hanging or flying over your sale section or special edition products will make visitors much more likely to notice and click on what you’d like them to see. For July 4th, you can follow the patriotic theme by featuring a bald eagle perched where visitors will immediately notice it.
These little attention-seekers are a great way to nudge your customers in the right direction because they’re fun — and fun extras make the shopping experience more pleasant because they don’t feel intrusive or pushy the way other strategies might. The goal is for your visitors to feel welcomed, entertained, and well-guided through their shopping experience.
Make promotions fun with scratch cards
Want to keep your shop visitors entertained and get them engaged with your sale all at the same time? Turn your promotion into a game with a scratch card feature! Everyone likes a sale, but isn’t it more fun when there’s an element of luck?
Adding an interactive element like scratch cards to your summer sale event gives customers an extra incentive to participate and, as a bonus, gives you complete control over the kinds of rewards and discounts they’ll be excited to win. Scratch cards can also be designed to fit the occasion, so decorate yours to match the summery Independence Day vibes.
Turn the wheel of fortune for big sales
July 4th brings the summer fun, and a lot of it can be found at a county fair. Have you ever gone to a fair as a kid and taken a spin on the wheel of fortune? You can recreate that experience with a wheel of your own in your online shop!
Like a scratch card feature, a wheel of fortune turns your Independence Day weekend promotion into a game of chance that excites and engages visitors. It has even more options to win than a scratch card too, so you can get really creative with the kinds of prizes your customers win. If this is one of the most important events of your summer retail season, we say go all out.
Hunt for the perfect BBQ & keep visitors engaged
The most popular and effective gamification element our customers use during Easter is our scavenger hunt feature, encouraging site visitors to search through their online shops for Easter eggs or bunnies. We say, why not turn this useful tool into a game that fits the July 4th theme?
We’ve already mentioned it, but you can’t talk about Independence Day without talking about BBQ parties. Get out the grill, slap on some burgers and hot dogs, and you’re all set! You can get your visitors into the spirit of the summer cookout season with a BBQ scavenger hunt on your webshop. As they search for the grill, cheeseburger, hot dog and spatula hiding on different web pages, they’ll get more familiar with your product range and stay engaged with them longer. Once they’ve collected all the items they need for the perfect BBQ, they can win a discount code, enter a raffle, or take advantage of any other cool promotions you have planned. Let’s get cooking!
Make it fun and they will come
Retailers that make the shopping experience more fun for their customers are bound to get more out of them. While you prepare for your July 4th weekend promotion, think about how you can make a game out of what you’re doing. The more you stand out and entertain your webshop visitors, the more likely you are to win their business. Let the fireworks begin!