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What's in this playbook
Why you should stop sending people to a product page this festive season
The festive calendar, August to November
Plays by category
Always-on plays
Why this matters, by the numbers
Before you send
1. Why you should stop sending people to a product page this festive season
Every festive sale campaign you send lands the customer on a product page. Then it asks them to pick a variant, add to cart, open the cart, and only then pay. That is a lot of steps for someone who has already decided to buy.
The moment a customer is most excited is the second they see your festive offer. That is also the moment they are furthest from your checkout.
A checkout link closes that gap. One link with the products and offer already set, sent to your whole list, and every customer lands straight in a ready-to-pay checkout. The same link works for everyone you send it to, whether that is a hundred people or a hundred thousand. This playbook is how to use it across the season.
2. The festive calendar, August to November
Set each link up in advance and send it on the day. The time-boxed ones need one extra step. For Navratri nights, Dhanteras and BFCM, switch the link off by hand afterwards, because there is no auto-expiry yet.
Occasion | Date | The link to send | Note |
Independence Day sale | Sat 15 Aug | Price-band links (under ₹999 / ₹1,999 / ₹4,999) | A low-stakes first run |
Onam | Wed 26 Aug | The regional festive set | Malayalam copy, Kerala pincodes |
Raksha Bandhan | Fri 28 Aug | A ready sibling gift set | Last-minute buyers, so put the delivery date in |
Janmashtami | Fri 4 Sep | Kids' dress-up by age band | Hard school-event deadline |
Ganesh Chaturthi | Mon 14 Sep | The decoration basket | Marathi copy, bought 3 days before |
Marketplace sales open | Late Sep | 4 curated bundles as 4 links | Out-curate, don't out-catalogue |
Navratri | 11 to 20 Oct | One link each morning for the night's colour | Toggle off after the night |
Dussehra | Tue 20 Oct | The big-ticket or auspicious-start item | Electronics, auto, jewellery |
Karva Chauth | Thu 29 Oct | The complete look, delivery cut-off in the message | There is no late Karva Chauth |
Dhanteras | Fri 6 Nov | Gold, silver or a brass-and-steel set, at 8am | Intent expires by evening |
Diwali | Sun 8 Nov | Gift hampers by price tier, or the occasion look | Peak of the year |
3. Plays by category
Apparel
Before. It is Navratri. You post "tonight's colour is green, shop the look" with a link to your store. The customer lands on a category page, hunts for a green set, picks a size, adds to cart, opens the cart. It is 6pm, they are getting ready, and most drop off before they pay.
After. You send one checkout link with tonight's green set already in it. They tap once and they are in checkout, ready to pay. Nine nights, nine links, each set up in the morning and switched off at night.
Other apparel plays: a Raksha Bandhan brother-and-sister kurta pair as one link. A limited-edition launch you have teased on WhatsApp, sent as a link that is already loaded so fans buy before stock runs out. One link holds one size, so send the sizes together or let your WhatsApp flow hand back the right one.
Health & Wellness
Before. After a week of mithai and late nights, customers feel run down. But nobody searches "liver support", so a store link waits for a visit that never comes.
After. On 10 November you broadcast a gut-and-liver reset pack as one link. You create demand the product page never sees, and they buy in one tap.
Other plays: a day-25 reorder link holding a customer's exact pack. A winter-immunity pack when the cold sets in.
Beauty & Cosmetics
Before. Karva Chauth is a 72-hour deadline. A store link means she scrolls four products, second-guesses, and runs out of time.
After. You send the complete look as one link with a delivery cut-off in the message. "Order by Sunday to get it in time" does the work, and she taps to pay.
Other plays: one link per influencer to the same routine, offer pre-applied. A gift-ready trio a brother can send without knowing skincare.
Home & Kitchen
Before. Buying metal on Dhanteras morning is ritual, and intent is gone by evening. A store link asks them to browse during a two-hour auspicious window.
After. At 8am you broadcast a brass-and-steel set as one link. Demand that needs no persuasion converts before it expires.
Other plays: a six-piece Diwali deep-clean kit as one link. A Ganesh Chaturthi decoration basket in Marathi.
Food & Beverage
Before. Gift buyers decide by budget first. A store link makes them build a hamper themselves and hope it lands in time.
After. You send three ready hampers as three links. They pick a tier, tap, done. It ships gift-wrapped.
Other plays: an Onam sadya kit in one link, in Malayalam to Kerala pincodes. A nine-day Navratri vrat kit sent before the fast.
Jewellery
Before. This is the purest case. Demand needs no persuasion and is gone by evening, but a store link asks them to search first.
After. You broadcast the gold coin or silver puja set at 8am. One tap and it is theirs, in the window that matters.
Other plays: a Karva Chauth husband-gift set at three price points. A full bridal set as one link per look for wedding season.
Gifting, Luxury, Toys, Baby and Stationery
Before. A company wants 300 Diwali gifts. The old way is a spreadsheet of 300 names, sizes and addresses, one bulk shipment, and then you redistribute.
After. You send HR one link at the agreed rate. Each employee opens it, adds their own address, and checks out. One link replaces the purchase order, the spreadsheet and the reshipping.
Other plays: three ready hampers by price tier. Age-band gift links for toys and baby, so a buyer picks their age, taps, done.
General Usecase
Before. You send a WhatsApp blast, or an influencer goes live: "the sale is on". A store link makes them search and pick while the excitement fades.
After. A checkout link opens straight into checkout with the item and discount already in. The intent you paid for converts before it cools.
Other plays: a composed set as one link, priced and ready, "the set, ₹1,499, tap to buy". A reorder link holding a customer's exact last order.
4. More use case
These work at any time of year. The festive season amplifies them, it does not create them.
Influencer and partner links. One link per influencer, contents identical, tracked in the UTM field. You learn which partner actually sold, and the customer never types a code.
Corporate and bulk gifting. One link at an agreed rate, circulated inside a company. Every employee checks out with their own address.
QR on outbound boxes. Print one link on every parcel for the obvious follow-on purchase. Set up once, runs for as long as you ship.
Reorder broadcast. On day 25, send everyone due a refill one link holding their exact last order.
Live selling. Pin a link per product in the stream, swap it as the host moves on, and toggle it off at the end.
Moment marketing. An IPL win, a viral reel, a weather event. Build a link in minutes and sell while the moment is live.
5. Why this matters, by the numbers
Around 9 in 10 shoppers never add to cart. Most of the traffic your festive campaign pays for never reaches a cart, let alone a checkout. A link skips both steps.
In India, 60 to 80% of carts are abandoned. Every step between the offer and the payment screen is where that happens.
One link serves your whole list. Build it once and send it to a hundred people or a hundred thousand. There is no limit on how many customers can buy through the same link.
The offer arrives already composed. On a gift set or a festive kit, the customer never has to work out which products go together, because you already decided.
6. Before you send
Time-boxed links have no auto-expiry. Switch Navratri-night, Dhanteras and BFCM links to Inactive by hand, or a "tonight only" price stays live for a week.
There is no usage cap. A corporate link sized for 300 people can be over-redeemed. Keep an eye on it.
Regional sends are simple. Build a pincode or state segment, such as Onam to Kerala, Ganesh Chaturthi to Maharashtra, Durga Puja to West Bengal, and send the link only there.
Know what came from where. Use the UTM field to separate influencer, region and channel.
One link holds one variant. For apparel and footwear, send the sizes together or let your remarketing flow hand back the right link. Customer-side variant editing in checkout is coming next.
→ Open Checkout Links and set up your first festive link.
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