August is here, and the weather is great. It's the best time to start shopping for back-to-school supplies! In this article, we will outline the basic strategies for promoting sales in this busy period.

Back to school is important for e-commerce

The last days of August mark the beginning of a frantic hunt for books, pencils, and stationery. According to Deloitte's report, it's the second busiest and most costly period in many households - beaten only by the Holidays. Parents shop for:

• school supplies and stationery

• electronics - anything from calculators to new laptops

• clothing and footwear - not only for kids. It's also the time when brands are heavily promoting their fall-winter attire

• textbooks and educational materials

The list doesn't stop there. College and university students are slowly beginning to pour back into their dormitories and flats. This means replacing or replenishing their household items. Language schools, learning platforms, and other institutions offering extracurricular classes and activities are also promoting their offers for the coming semesters.

According to the statistics, back-to-school spending may reach a record $31.1 billion in 2024 (compared to $31.9 billion in 2023) in the USA alone. However, with economics still being a cause for concern, households will cut back on unnecessary spending. This year, they may be looking for savings in the electronics department. In another publication, Deloitte notices that the main focus will remain on buying the necessary school supplies. Customers will look for the cheapest offers. They're also more likely to shop with retailers offering free shipping and returns. 

What are some other factors you should take into account while preparing your back-to-school offer? 

• Customer loyalties are less important than value offers - and the value of an offer includes free shipping and easy returns

• The sooner you start, the better - customers begin looking for the best deals as soon as the end of July

• Overall, customers become more savvy, putting more thought into their spending, and surveying the products across a wider range of platforms and websites.

Writing about preparing a competitive offer and taking care of stocks is preaching to the choir. Let's focus on the thing we know the most about. How can you promote your back-to-school offer with push notifications? 

Push subscribers are happy customers

You can't discuss a successful push strategy without first creating a subscriber base. This is the first thing to take care of before sending your campaigns. Keep in mind that both web and mobile push are opt-in solutions. It means the only way to reach a user is to ask for their permission first.

PushPushGo offers a variety of options to set up and adjust subscription forms for push. The easiest one is a one-step form. In this situation, only the browser form will appear and a single click is enough to allow notifications.

You can also use a more elaborate two-step form. In this case, an additional popup with an invitation will be displayed. This way you can encourage users to subscribe describing in broad strokes what they can expect from push communication with you. 

Instead of a popup, you can also use a toggle switch. Unlike the pop-up window, the switch doesn't vanish when a user dismisses it. It's not intrusive. Users can go back to it and subscribe after they familiarize themselves with the contents of a page.

There are other options designed to improve user experience, thus elevating subscription rates. You can choose to display the form on all your pages or only selected ones. There's also an option to delay the prompt, so visitors can have time to make informed decisions based on a page's content.

Since you're probably using more than one channel to advertise your offer and create good communication with your customers, you can boost the promotion. Mention push subscriptions in your newsletters and social media posts. And the other way around - you can link your social media profiles in push notifications. This synergy makes your cross-channel strategy more viable. As long as you do it responsibly and avoid spamming.

Pushing your message forward

It's good to start collecting subscribers sometime before the back-to-school period. At this time, it's best to follow our general rule of sending push campaigns:

• send up to four mass campaigns per month

• add targetted campaigns with additional information tailored to specific segments of subscribers

• include automation scenarios to bolster your communication

While you're getting ready to launch back-to-school promotions, make sure you take care of the push communication essentials.

Set up and test your automation scenarios

Automation can facilitate building communication with subscribers, reaching them at specific moments of the buying process. Make sure you have the abandoned cart and opening promo set up. The last-seen product is also beneficial, especially if your customers browse multiple sites for the best deal.

If you've been using automation scenarios before, you may want to check if they work correctly. It's crucial if any changes on your site may have disrupted their flow.

Prepare text and graphics for your push campaigns

Test the language and choose the most enticing graphics. You can use A/B testing tools to test them beforehand. Make sure that your promotional copy is attractive, understandable, and fits your brand language.

Plan the sending strategy and calendar

Remember, in those frantic shopping periods, time is money. Consider starting a little sooner, enabling your customers to do their shopping before and enjoy the rest of the summer in relative peace.

As for the sending hours, we've recently updated our article on the best times to launch push campaigns. You can find it here. But remember, nothing is set in stone. Track the traffic on your website and get to know your subscribers' behavior. Prepare your campaign for times of day when people are most likely to visit.

Read the case study

Get, set, go

Before September starts, you'll have prepared and launched a successful push campaign promoting your back-to-school offers. if you want to boost it even further and maybe try out some less conventional options, contact our team at [email protected].

The experiences you gather in this period - and the subscribers you invite - will be there when you start preparing for Black Week and the Holiday season. This means less legwork in the coming autumn months.

Just don't tell your kids. Let them enjoy this time without thinking about the upcoming school year.