With Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) approaching, shoppers are building their wish lists to grab the best deals. For ecommerce store owners, this Black Friday surge is the perfect time to increase sales and make an impact during probably the most competitive shopping weekends of the year.
BFCM isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon anymore. In recent years, this holiday shopping weekend also started to grow across other countries. If you’re selling internationally, you, too, can take advantage of the massive opportunity to boost your sales. But you need to be thoroughly prepared. The main challenge during this shopping weekend is handling the ecommerce traffic spike, all while delivering top-notch customer service that turns deal-hunters into loyal customers.
If you want to get the most out of this year’s BFCM weekend, you need to bulletproof your store. You need to prepare, execute the right strategies, and use the proper tools to handle the Black Friday shopping frenzy. Let’s explore how to maximize sales and customer retention during this busy weekend.
1. Give your store a head start
The worst thing you can do during the Black Friday surge is make last-minute preparations. You should start planning for the BFCM weekend at least two months before. Make sure you launch your BFCM marketing campaigns early. Remember that shoppers start browsing for deals in advance. You need to get a headstart and ensure that your products are part of your customers’ wish list before the big weekend.
Use countdown pop-ups to inform visitors about upcoming discounts on popular products. Take advantage of your customer data to retarget visitors with personalized ads about specific products they’ve checked that are part of your BFCM deals. This will increase the likelihood they’ll come back during the shopping weekend and proceed to purchase them.
Set up BFCM email campaigns targeting abandoned carts. Chances are you can recover lost sales by adding special discounts on the products in their cart. Even if they check out later on, it’s still a good idea to have your brand in their mind when the shopping weekend occurs.
Start building anticipation with your customers with your blog and social media campaigns. Schedule and time your reminders for the upcoming sale. Keep it short but simple. The key here is to start building momentum before the BFCM surge starts.
Top Tip: Think of BFCM as a seasonal event instead of a single weekend sale. You can build anticipation by sending out ‘Thank You’ emails with early-access discounts. This will allow them to purchase early so the order volume and fulfillment are spread out.
2. Outline marketing campaigns in advance
Giving your store a headstart means getting ahead on your marketing campaigns. Staying organized is the key to success during the Black Friday surge. Here’s how you can ensure your promotions are well-planned and impactful:
- Plan Ahead: Prepare your Black Friday campaign at least a month in advance.
- Schedule Content: Organize blog posts and social media with an editorial calendar.
- Automate: Use tools like Hootsuite and Mailchimp to automate email and social media promotions.
- Personalize Offers: Segment your customers and send them tailored VIP discount codes or free shipping offers.
- Emphasize Free Shipping: Clearly promote free shipping to help reduce abandoned carts.
Effective early preparation and automation allow you to focus on delivering a smooth experience during the Black Friday rush.
3. Supercharge your shipping strategy
Just like any holiday season, the BFCM sale will bring in a surge in order volume. The key here is ensuring all aspects of your logistics can handle the surge as smoothly as possible. You can avoid getting overwhelmed with proper preparation.
Start by ensuring you’re well-stocked with the essentials. This includes the usual inventory, packing materials, labels, printer ink, and more. To help you avoid delay, stock up on your shipping labels in advance, especially if you’re using services such as Easypost. Save time during the rush by instructing your virtual assistant to purchase labels directly through platforms like Shopify.
Be smart about your preparation and think of your fulfillment process as an assembly line. Doing so allows you to work faster and more efficiently. Organize your workplace in advance and place everything in order of use. Create a checklist to streamline each order from start to finish. Here’s an example:
- Print labels
- Assemble box
- Place product
- Add filler
- Include coupons or samples
- Seal the box
- Attach label
- Place in delivery basket
- Drop off at post office
- Track shipment
- Send Thank You email
By organizing your materials and timing your process, you’ll stay on track and avoid falling behind. This simple but effective strategy can help you deliver on time and exceed customer expectations.
4. A/B Test before the rush
Getting the best out of the BFCM weekend means ensuring your customers will get to check out and receive their items as smoothly as possible. To achieve this, A/B tests your checkout process, images, ads, content, colors, and other aspects that will bring you the best results.
We can’t stress enough how important it is to do this in advance, ideally 1-2 months before Black Friday. Remember that the ecommerce industry is in overdrive. You don’t want to get skewed or unrealistic A/B test results.
Once you have relevant data, apply it to all aspects of your business right before BFCM. This way, when the Black Friday surge kicks in, your focus is directed towards what matters to your customers – customer service and order fulfillment. After all, that’s where you’ll win repeat customers during the holiday rush.
Top Tip: Finalize all testing at least two weeks before Black Friday to ensure your store is ready for the surge.
5. Take steps to boost your retention rate
According to a study from Qualtrics, 80% of customers have switched brands due to poor customer experience.
More often than not, brands use the Black Friday surge as a one-off event and focus their attention on one-off deal hunters. If you really want to win during the BFCM weekend, think differently. Use the exposure you’ll get from this season to turn buyers into loyal and repeat customers.
Take a step further and hire some extra hands to help with customer service and handle returns and exchanges. Do not forget including a nice in-package marketing, order-update emails, surveys, and of course, Thank You notes. This will make your customers feel that they’re special and will help increase your retention rate organically.
You can use services like SurveyMonkey for surveys or apps like Product Review Addon to automatically request reviews after a purchase.
In fact, the BFCM surge is the perfect time for you to invest and put in extra effort to stand out. Include coupons and samples in your packages, and invite delighted customers to share their purchases on social media. Use this time to enroll new customers in your loyalty programs if you have one. Keep them engaged and entertained to boost your chances that they come back.
6. Enhance the package-opening moment
When your customers open their package, you have their full attention — use it wisely. A good way to build a good impression is by including a heartfelt and personalized thank-you note. If possible, you can add a handwritten note directly from you. Some services provide this. If budget is an issue, you can have a handwritten note for customers who bought a certain amount.
Aside from thank-you notes, you can also use this time to upsell your other products by adding samples or product suggestions to make your customers feel more special. In fact, you can even use this time to encourage them to snap a photo of their ‘unboxing’ and share it on social media with a certain hashtag. This is instant valuable user-generated content (UGC) for your brand that builds trust with future customers.
Lastly, plan your unboxing strategy early. Ensure you have all your supplies ready before the Black Friday rush hits, so you’re fully prepared to wow customers.
Top Tip: Include an exclusive discount code in your package to encourage a repeat purchase post-BFCM.
7. Boost site navigation and optimize for mobile
One of the most annoying things for customers during Black Friday is being unable to check out fast. So, Black Friday is the perfect time for you to update your site’s infrastructure and navigation. Make sure to focus on seamless transactions for your potential buyers. Consider including better images, a shorter checkout process, and have your onsite chatbots ready.
Don’t forget to implement and test this in advance, at least two weeks before Black Friday. This will allow you to test your new navigation with regular volumes of customers. Your user experience will also greatly benefit from clean-cut images with white backgrounds that give your store a uniform look.
Top Tip: Use the Pixc: Image Editing app to quickly enhance your product images, giving your store a professional, polished appearance just in time for Black Friday.
Don’t underestimate your mobile visitors, too. Don’t forget that mobile users are at least half of your traffic. And because they’re using their mobile devices, they expect an even more straightforward, fast-loading, and responsive website. Optimize your image sizes for mobile speed, and keep your platform guidelines in mind.
These steps can reduce vital seconds from the consumer experience and positively impact your conversion rate.
8. Employ geo-targeted advertising
Take advantage of geo-targeting for your PPC campaigns. It will help you target consumers who are already in the ‘shopping mood’. Many people actually create wishlists before Black Friday. So, targeting them so you’re added to their wishlist is the best way to go.
Geo-targeting is available through all major PPC ad providers, including AdWords and Facebook Ads.
Top Tip: Make a list of all the Target or Macy’s stores, for example, and use their zip codes to geo-target your PPC ads in a 10-mile radius of each store. You can go a step further and include the time you want your ads to run, say after 5 pm when people get off work.
9. Get your apps ready
Employ apps to improve your BFCM conversion rate and your customer’s lifetime value.
1. ReferralCandy – Referral
Consumers are willing to tell their peers about their purchase but often need a little nurturing to do so. Use the BFCM traffic to supercharge your marketing by offering points, coupons, discounts and incentives to give the word of mouth a little push.
2. FOMO – Social proof
This app helps you use social proof to show what others are buying on your site and what they are saying about your products. Consumers trust other shoppers more than brands, and FOMO leverages that fact and boosts your conversion.
3. JustUno – Everything pop-ups
Get all your exits covered with a timely pop-up that offers more info, a coupon, or a discount. Reduce your cart abandonment rate with pop-ups that invite customers back, offering them free shipping or other incentives.
Quick List of Other Useful Apps
- Free Shipping Bar – Let your customers know when you’re offering free shipping.
- Privy – Free email capture pop-ups to grow your email list.
- PushOwl – Sends push notifications to remind customers about sales or abandoned carts.
- Klaviyo – A powerful app for automating email marketing with segmentation and personalized campaigns.
- Yotpo – Helps collect and display product reviews to build trust and drive sales.
- Loox – A photo review app that allows customers to submit reviews with pictures, adding authenticity to your product pages.
- Bold Upsell – Encourages customers to add more items to their cart with smart upsell and cross-sell suggestions.
- ReConvert – A post-purchase upsell app that helps you increase sales after the checkout process.
These apps are designed to help you streamline customer engagement, boost conversions, and ultimately grow your business on Shopify.
Conclusion
As the Black Friday surge approaches, thorough preparation is key if you want to maximizae sales, customer satisfaction, and repeat customers. Remember, Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM), extends beyond mere one-off purchases. It’s the perfect time to deliver a seamless and memorable shopping experience that will not only help you increase your sales but will also encourage return buyers. After all, BFCM is just the beginning of the holiday season. There’s still Christmas and New Year in the following month.
To manage the Black Friday surge effectively, take steps to streamline your operations, ensuring that every aspect of your business runs smoothly. Strategically planning your marketing campaigns in advance will also help you attract and retain attention amidst the competition.
By emphasizing operational efficiency and exceptional customer care, you can transform once-a-year holiday shoppers into loyal patrons. This commitment not only enhances the immediate customer experience but also lays the groundwork for sustained growth and success in the future.
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