Top Five Reasons to Sell Your Yearbook Online

Selling your yearbook and ads online is more important than ever. In fact, it is imperative!

More and more yearbook staffs have already jumped online, and you should too. They are reaping the benefits of more sales and more time to work on creating their yearbook. If that last sentence wasn’t reason enough for you to start up your online store, check out these other top five reasons why you should.

1. Simplify your life

Among the benefits, online sales enable your staff to sell the yearbook where parents and students are already going – online. Parents, grandparents, faculty and anyone else who wants to purchase a yearbook, yearbook options or an ad can go online anytime to order and pay. Buyers can pay online by credit card, which will open sales to an audience the staff may not have reached before.

With online sales, parents and others are able to purchase senior or personal ads, and business owners can buy business ads. You set the design options, sales start and end dates, pricing and sizes for the ads.

You also have the freedom to choose how parents and businesses submit ad information. You can allow them to design their ad online, let them submit a finished ad or have them upload copy and photos. If you allow them to upload copy and photos, you can choose whether the staff or Walsworth will create the ads. Best of all, all yearbook ads are organized conveniently in one place.

2. Increase your sales

While you may have a loyal base of yearbook purchasers already, it can be hard to acquire new buyers and keep them coming back year after year. Taking your yearbook sales online can help tackle this issue. Providing your school community the convenience to order online gives them more reason to buy from you.

Selling online lets your school community buy everything they need with just a few clicks. This takes the pain out of buying the yearbook, yearbook options, personal ads and business ads. Yearbookforever.com will walk them through the entire process. Many people shop straight from their smartphones since our site is also set up for an easy mobile shopping experience. You can rapidly increase your sales and customer retention all at the same time.

You are also making it easier to sell yearbooks and ads without physical contact, which is important for individuals who may not be able to physically come to the school during the day. Parents and businesses will appreciate that you have eliminated a barrier and offer this convenient service.

What makes selling online even better? Your school community can upload photos to your Yearbook Snap page right from the same place! More sales AND more content for the book? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

3. Market your yearbook better

While putting your yearbook sales online is a no-brainer, knowing where to purchase online is not. Yearbook staffs still need to advertise that their yearbook sales are online so that parents know where they can purchase. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to tell your parents and students all the unique stories you will be covering this year and encourage them to submit their photos via Yearbook Snap!

There are several ways to marketing your online sales, including placing a sales banner on the school’s website, sending emails and all-calls, posting on social media, and sharing flyers, posters, guerilla marketing tactics and more in school. Walsworth’s research shows that once parents know they can make their yearbook and ad purchases online, they are more likely to do so. Watch the webinar, Selling Your Yearbook in a Digital World, to hear more tips on marketing your yearbook online. You can also check out our Marketing Help page to sign up for PEP (our Parent Email Program) and for more ways to market your yearbook.

4. Increase Customer Retention

While getting more parents and students to purchase the yearbook is always a good strategy, creating loyal customers who buy year after year works even better.

Selling your yearbook online can help boost customer retention in various ways. For one, getting people interested in your yearbook and the memories it holds lead to them making bigger purchases. Perhaps they only buy a yearbook one year, but because of what a great product it is and how easy it is to purchase, the next year they decide to also get a personal ad or add on yearbook options. If they have multiple children and have a positive buying experience with the older child, they will probably continue the tradition with younger children when they come to your school.

Offer them a glimpse into what the yearbook holds on your social media pages with a link to yearbookforever.com, and they’ll be even more interested. Plus, they now have the convenience of buying from your school store from the comfort of their own home. No more forking over cash at sales tables or accidentally forgetting their checkbook at home!

You could even boost your retention further by giving school community a reason to come back. Have your community upload photos to your Yearbook Snap page. They are more likely to buy a yearbook if they know they will be in it. You could even host a contest for the best crowdsourced photo. Hosting online contests with your customers can inspire them to return to purchase a yearbook year after year.

5. Get Accurate Reporting Easily

Online sales simplify your job and make sales reporting easier. The hassle of handling money in school is eliminated, and sales tracking reports simplify record keeping and yearbook distribution. Options purchased online are bundled together by purchaser for easy distribution with the yearbook. All in one place, you can see who purchased, what they purchased and who hasn’t purchased. You can then target your marketing efforts towards those who have not purchased, which will save you time and headaches.

Setting up your Online Sales Page

Think you are ready to set up your online sales page at yearbookforever.com? Simply log in to your Yearbook 360 account and click the Sales tab. This page will walk you through the process.

Remember to consider price increases throughout the school year to encourage purchases sooner, and you can set up coupon codes as well to incent purchases at key times.

If you have questions about setting up your online sales page, contact your local yearbook rep.