The Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales period requires meticulous planning and preparation to not only deliver the best experience for your customers but also to maximise the fantastic opportunity to acquire new customers and generate increased revenue. BFCM can be of great anticipation for it's users up to the holiday season. We've prepared our ultimate guide to help Shopify brands prepare their websites for the biggest sales period in the ecommerce calendar to give you all the tips, tricks and tactics we know. We'll also explore trends and behaviour that ecommerce brands can expexct to see over the Let's dive into all things ecommerce and BFCM!
What is Black Friday Cyber Monday?
Back in the 1950s in the United States, factory managers would call the Friday after Thanksgiving 'Black Friday' because so many workers would call in sick. This soon became a period when holiday shopping began ahead of Christmas, and now, it is the busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers use Black Friday as a day to cut prices, incentivise customers and maximise sales. In 2023,
UK consumers spent an estimated £13.3 billion during the Black Friday period, a 7.3% increase year-on-year. Similarly, Cyber Monday was then created to encourage online shopping following Black Friday itself as it's a day tailored for online purchases rather than just shopping in-store.
Why do you need to prepare for BFCM?
Black Friday & Cyber Monday are typically the peak periods of trading for many ecommerce brands around the globe therefore it's vital to be prepared with your online store, marketing strategy and logistically plan to ensure you maximise the benefits the shopping period has to offer. BFCM is a great time to capture new customers, tempt previous customers back and maximise sales. From preparing your homepage, to your full marketing strategy this guide has you covered with lots of marketing ideas, tips on customer service, product recommendations to maximise ecommerce sales.
How long does Black Friday Cyber Monday last?
Traditionally Black Friday lasts 4 full days, starting on the final Friday of November (Black Friday) and ending on the following Monday (Cyber Monday). However, given the success of the period for maximising sales and incentivising customers the period is starting earlier and earlier every year. Some brands now begin pre-BFCM sales as early as the beginning of November and consumers have been seen to convert lower in September and October - likely as they are waiting for BFCM sales.
Set goals, objectives and a strategy for Black Friday
It can be really easy to get lost in the hype and excitement of Black Friday and Cyber Monday however it's vital to be on top of your numbers, set clear goals that you wish to achieve and a specific strategy to achieve them. Whilst it can be tempting to offer the highest possible discounts, deals and incentives to win customers - you should have a clear and strict understanding of how you'll ensure profitability. A sale is only worth a sale if your business will make a profit on that sale or retain the customer to profit on them in the not-so-distant future.
Firstly, get to grips with your profit margin - so you can understand what you have to play with. Don't forget the overhead costs of your business and the potential costs of faulty products, itmes and returns. Secondly, it's vital then understand the cost of acquiring your customers within your marketing strategy - only then can you make decisions on how much you can discount. Once you understand how much traffic you are likely to receive you can look at previous data to understand what percentage of them will convert and lastly on average how much they'll spend. Shape your strategy around these core metrics - conversion rate, average order value, customer acquisition costs and more. Once you have built a thorough foundational understanding of your business can you dive into your strategy.
Top Black Friday promotions, deals & discount examples
You'll likely be inundated with Black Friday sales, offers and discounts trying to tempt you to part with your hard-earned cash. It's no secret that your competitors will very likely be doing the same to compete with your target audience. So it's important to consider the types of deals that you can offer your customers that are likely to incentivise them but also allow you to sell your products profitably. We do not advise adopting a "sale at all cost" model. Here are some of our top Black Friday deals and discount ideas:
Early Access
Creating a sense of urgency or exclusivity can be a great way to capture the eyes of your target customers and ask them to start considering your offering. You don't have to wait until the Black Friday Cyber Monday sales period begins, so why not consider giving your customers early access in exchange for their email address? BFCM Early Access campaigns can be a great way to engage savvy shoppers who want your products but always want the deals and discounts that BFCM brings. You can display this in a pop-up on your website. September and October can often be slower trading months due to customers holding out for BFCM so this can be a great way to boost sales ahead of the big weekend.
Simple Discounts
Okay, this isn't particularly groundbreaking, however, it's important not to overcomplicate the deals you are offering. Customers make buying decisions in a split second, so discounts and deals need to be simple and easily understood otherwise you risk losing the customer because they didn't understand the offer at hand. Using simple discount codes, money off, percentages and updated prices showing the amount saved are brilliant, and more traditional ways, to incentivise shoppers during the Black Friday Cyber Monday shopping weekend. We do recommend reviewing your discount set-up and settings within your ecommerce platform, to ensure that discounts stack in the correct way and customers can get the deals they want but also you don't accidentally allow customers to apply too many discounts on top of one another. For example, if you have reduced the price of a product and assigned a sale price then you might not want to allow customers to use a discount code too.
Targetted Discounts
Beyond giving customers a set discount, you can get intelligent with how you offer your price drops. Different types of discounts might appeal to different types of customers, using a targeted discount can be a great way to maximise engagement and of course sales. For example, first time customers may need a broader type of discount to incentivise them whereas a returning visitor may need a discount they've never had before or that is unique to a product range within your store. Lastly, don't forget about your most valuable customers, those who have spent the most. Consider offering tailored discounts to your highest historical spenders to maximise the chance of conversions but also reward those who have supported your business and built brand loyalty.
Minimum Purchase Discounts
Average order value is a key metric when selling online, converting a customer is of course the primary goal however influencing behaviour behaviour to increase the order amount can maximise revenue and boost sales. Offering a minimum purchase discount or incentive can be a great way to get customers to consider spending more. For example, you can offer 10% off when customers spend £100 or even consider offering a free gift when a customer hits a particular cart total threshold. It is important to consider how discounts like this can affect the lifetime value of a customer - as whilst they may spend more now - it can affect how quickly they come back so be creative on the thresholds and discounts you offer and don't forget how it may affect your revenue down the line.
Shipping Incentives
Shipping is often a huge motivator for customers, as they usually want their products as fast as possible and don't want to spend too much (if any) on shipping costs. Using shipping as a lever and an incentive to get customers converting and spending more. Consider using free Shipping or even free express Shipping when customers hit a specific threshold - or alternatively consider offering free shipping on all orders for the entire Black Friday period to reduce the barriers on why a customer might be put off and spending. It's important to communicate shipping time clearly, for example, if all your orders are shipped using an express courier in 1-2 days then make sure you tell the customer. Consider sharing estimated delivery dates or times or displaying a live cut-off to create a sense of urgency.
Sell Bundles
Bundling multiple associated products can be a great way to incentivise customers to buy more products than they might have done otherwise. Bundles offer a great way to not only suggest which of your products go well together but also you can offer a slightly lower price for the bundle than if the customer was to purchase the products individually. Ensure that you communicate clearly with your customers the savings they are getting. Apps such as
Shopify Bundles can be a great way to seamlessly offer this functionality within your store.
Buy X Get Y Discounts
Getting inventive with discounts can not only increase your chance of converting a customer but also allow them to experience more of your product range that they might not have originally engaged with. Buy X Get Y discounts allow customers to receive discounts on other products when they meet the purchase criteria of buying another. For example, a skincare brand may run a discount that gives customers 10% off facemasks when you buy a moisturiser for example. You can also use Buy X Get Y discounts for 'gift with purchase' style incentives by giving the secondary product completely free. Gifts can be a great way to incentivise customers during the holiday season. Every business will adopt this type of discount differently to suit their range, however, it's a great way to get customers to discover more of the range.
Deal of the hour 🔥
Shoppers are often sensitive to time, meaning if you can create a sense of urgency then you might just sway a browser to place their order. Deal-of-the-hour incentives or discounts that expire in a short period of time create a sense of urgency for customers as they fear they'll miss a great deal for the product they were likely to purchase anyway. For example, throughout the BFCM period, you can offer flash deals and incentives that only last 1 year, use all of your marketing channels to tell the world and maximise the chance of customers converting. Consider using the UI / UX of the store to communicate this urgency with product badges, countdown timers and compare prices to deliver the very best customer experience.
Marketing Strategies & Channels For Black Friday Cyber Monday
Planning and executing a marketing strategy is vital to achieve success during this shopping period. We advise merchants to take an omnichannel approach to marketing to ensure they reach as many customers as possible and maximise the chances of engaging new and existing buyers. Every business marketing strategy will be unique and bespoke to their business, however, you should consider leveraging all the marketing channels that you have access to. Let's explore the main marketing channels used in black Friday Cyber Monday marketing campaigns.
Social Media Campaigns for Black Friday
During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you should have clearly defined campaigns to run during the sales period. Create a content calendar so you can understand the types of content that will be published and ensure all your marketing channels are in sync. Specific the metrics that you'll be tracking too as you may want to tweak your campaign in real-time as you see how your audiences react.
Some social media post ideas include behind the schemes of packing orders, or the team preparing for Black Friday. You can also create a sense of urgency but publishing countdown posts too. However, it's important to not get too obsessed with telling people it's BFCM but instead focus on why they should buy your products. User-generated content can be a great authentic way to engage customers and build trust, or consider publishing gift guides to help customers understand your product range a little more. It's important to double down on content that has worked well for your brand before, as this is likely to keep working.
Organic social media posting will be vital during the peak sales period to reach your most engaged followers, and you'll likely be investing in paid social media too. The cost to acquire new customers will increase during this period as brands increase their marketing spend to reach new customers making the ad auctions even more competitive - it's important to consider this when choosing which discounts and deals to offer your customers. Lastly, be very clear with your discounts and deals - shoppers will be seeking the best price so ensure you don't make it too difficult to understand the savings.
Search, PPC & SEO for Black Friday
Search engines will likely generate a considerable percentage of sales for your business during the Black Friday Cyber Monday sales period. However, it's important to understand the growth levers you have at your disposal.
During the Black Friday shopping period, the cost of search ads will increase as more ecommerce businesses will increase their budget throughout the buzz of BFCM which in turn will raise the cost of bids and increase the pressure on your sales potential. Therefore it's advisable to understand the ceiling cost you have to acquire a customer, what this might mean for an individual bid cost and then set budgets that your business can afford. You can opt to leverage search engines own automated bidding tools such as Google's Advantage Plus however it's best to always consult an expert in the field.
The quality of your search ads is vital when competing, so ensure that your content, imagery, messaging and product schema are the best they can be to maximise the performance of your campaigns. Search Engine Optimisation is a great way to attract new customers however it is a slower strategy that takes many months if not years to achieve results therefore you'll need to engage in an SEO strategy around a year before Black Friday to yield considerable results.
Email Marketing Strategy for Black Friday
Email marketing is a great way to engage previous store visitors who have shared their email address with you. There are several considerations when formulating a strategic email marketing plan for the BFCM sales period. We advise you to consider sign-up forms, your lists, email campaigns, automated emails and lastly segments of customers. Don't forget to work hard on the content such as copy, images and goals of the campaign to maximise engagement.
Sign Up Forms
When we think about email marketing we often immediately think about the email content that you'll be sharing with your subscribers, however, don't forget that strategy needed to keep building an email list of contacts to send the emails to in the first place. On-site pop-ups are a great way to incentivise customers to sign up and get a discount, or use notify me when back in stock sign up forms to ask customers if they want to receive marketing info too, lastly, use the checkout user experience as a way to ask customers if they'd like to hear more from you after their purchase.
Your Lists & Segments
It can be tempting to want to send everyone the same content however this can impact the engagement you receive from that newsletter and also the future deliverability of your emails. Firstly, it's important to conduct regular
list cleaning to ensure you are sending emails to contact that engage with your emails. Email tools such as Gmail assess the engagement, open rate and click rate of emails to see what might be spam. Therefore sending emails to engaged audiences is vital for the future health of your email marketing strategy. Create a dynamic segment of your customers called 'engaged' contacts and similar 'unengaged' to ensure you are only ever sending to engaged email subscribers.
Now you have a clean and engaged list of contacts, it's time to start segmenting customers to target customers with content they are likely to be interested in. Some examples segments include:
Cross-sell segment - this segment targets customers who have or haven't purchased a particular product before.
Location-based segment - you may want to target different parts of the country differently or have international strategies.
Engagement tier segment - target customers who shop more or less differently.
Churn risk segment - target customers who haven't shopped with you in a long time in a bid to win them back!
Average order value (AOV) segment - target customers differently based on their unique spending habits.
Holiday shoppers segment - target customers who shopped extensively in previous holiday shopping periods.
Email Campaigns & Content
You can have the best lists & segments however if your emails are unengaging or irrelevant then you are unlikely to achieve success with your email marketing strategy. Firstly, ensure that your email content is highly targeted around a particular message - for example, you want to educate your customers about a particular product. Your subject line should be catchy and memorable and lastly use engaging content such as animated gifs or high-quality imagery to immerse customers in your range. It is also important to ensure that you include text within the email, otherwise, you have a higher chance of being marked as spam.
Automated Emails / Flows
Huge focus can often be placed on delivering the very best email campaigns with beautiful content and engaging incentives, however, it's important not to forget the importance of email automation as these will work in the background while you sleep! An automated email is an email that is sent when a customer triggers a specific action or falls into a particular segment. We recommend ensuring you have the following email automations set up ahead of BFCM:
Welcome series - a series of emails sent to a customer after they have signed up. This can be a great way to educate customers about your brand, your product range and offer an initial first time purchase incentive.
Browse abandonment - If a customer visits your website, then you can trigger an automatic flow of emails to attempt to re-engage the customer and hopefully tempt them to a purchase.
Cart abandonment - If a customer adds items to the cart however does not purchase it and has signed up for email marketing then you can send them a flow of emails to try and remind them to finish their order.
Post-purchase - retaining customers is a huge part of modern day ecommerce strategy therefore sending an automated set of emails to a customer X number of months after their last purchase can be a great way to remind them of your brand and maximise life-time-value.
Win-back - these automated emails are the last chance attempt to win customers who haven't purchased for a long time - usually 6 months or more. Typically you should offer a discount or incentive to try and win that customer back.
SMS Marketing Strategy for Black Friday
SMS marketing in the UK has often been seen as a more intrusive way to communicate with customers however more and more brands are adopting the technology to cut through the noise. SMS marketing can be a highly effective way to reach contacts with its impressive
98% open rate - it's a hard opportunity to pass on.
Through the Black Friday Cyber Monday sales period, consumers will be inundated with marketing emails, messaging and ads - SMS might just be the way you can capture their attention over the competition. You must obtain consent to comply with relevant location-specific laws.
Strategies for SMS are not too dissimilar to how you might approach an email marketing campaign - however, it is advisable to scale them back to not annoy your contacts. Leading ecommerce marketing platform, Klaviyo, recommends to send SMS messages
1-2 times per week. Example campaign ideas for one-off SMS messages include:
Important Announcements - such as product launches
Early Access - allow customers to access new product releases or sales earlier than non-SMS contacts.
Target Segments - segment VIPs, no-previous purchases, or those who have purchased a particular type of product.
Then on top of your specific and unique on-off campaigns, you can offer automated SMS messages that are sent automatically when triggers or criteria are met. Automated SMS types include:
Browse abandonment - If a customer visits your website, then you can trigger an automatic SMS message to try to tempt them into making a purchase
Cart abandonment - If a customer adds an item to the cart but does not purchase it and has signed up for SMS marketing then you can send them an SMS message to try and remind them to finish their order.
Order Updates - SMS can be a convenient way to keep customers up to date with how their order is progressing.
Review Request - Use SMS to request reviews of a past purchase to maximise the number of reviews you have and build trust with future customers.
SMS is a great way to engage with your most loyal customers, it's important to only use this channel to share valuable and authentic messaging otherwise you may upset or frustrate customers. Always allow customers to opt-out, and be very transparent during the opt-in phase.
Influencer Marketing Strategy for Black Friday
An influencer is an individual with a large niche following who creates content to engage and grow their community. Influencers will then collaborate with brands and businesses to create sponsored content to promote the products or services with the brand they are working with. Influencers tend to leverage platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Brands are leveraging the power of sponsoring influencers to promote their content on their behalf to reach more and more of their target audience. Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool to use during Black Friday & Cyber Monday.
Choosing influencers
The key to a successful
influencer marketing campaign comes down to the influencers you choose. Influencers should be niche to your industry so that your products and the content created resonate with their audience who sees it. The type of influencer needs to be carefully considered in terms of the number of followers - those with around 10K or more followers are considered micro-influencers - whilst they do have smaller audiences they typically have more engaged audiences great for when your goal is sales. If you are looking to improve brand awareness and simply be seen by more people then a macro-influencer (with over 100K) is a better choice. Most brands will typically adopt a strategy that includes a range of different influencer types to achieve both brand awareness and sales.
Influencer Campaigns & Content
Once you've chosen your influencers then it's time to begin planning the campaign itself. Many influencer campaigns will typically include exclusive deals and offers - a mixture of image and video-based posts and story content. You could ask influencers to be part of a countdown strategy to create excitement amongst new audiences. Finally, you can also use influencers' accounts to run adverts as individual accounts typically perform better with ads than a brand account.
Tracking Influencer Marketing Performance
Of course, it's vital then then evaluate the success of different campaigns to understand if your strategy worked. By understanding the performance you can inform future campaigns on decisions such as types of content and influencers. You can use several ways to track the performance of influencer marketing including affiliate links - this gives each influencer a unique link to share with their audiences allowing you to track sales that originated from that source. Alternatively, you can share a unique discount code to track similarly.
(Source: UpPromote Affiliate Marketing)
On-Site Experience For Black Friday Cyber Monday
Now it's all well and good having the very best marketing strategies to get millions of visitors landing on your site, however, if the experience is poor confusing or slow - then you'll massively impact the number of visitors who convert and make a purchase. It's vital to consider the landing page that customers arrive at from different channels, the way they can explore the site, the products they are exposed to and how easily they can make a purchase. The number of suggestions to improve the onsite experience is endless however we've picked some key needle movers that can make a big difference on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Optimised Checkout Experience
Only
around 10% of Shoppers will add anything to their and even less will go onto the reach checkout and buy. Making the buying experience as smooth and easy as possible is vital for converting customers. Firstly, you should consider the layout of your checkout, don't force customers into making accounts or going through too many steps - you'll maximise the rate that they bounce.
Shopify's One-Page Checkout allows customers to fly through the checkout experience either by logging in with Shop Pay, paying with accelerated checkout options such as Apple Pay or Android Pay or completely a small number of fields for information on the customer and their payment details. One-page checkouts allow customers to see everything they need to complete instantly and minimise the chance of their abandonment. Consider how you can get customers to add itmes to their carts in the easiest possible way and maximise sales. Reduced numbers of clicks to checkout has shown to increase conversions due to a seamless checkout process - especially during holiday sales.
The checkout design should be logical, clear and easy to follow. Consider adding up sales or extra information directly within the checkout to maximise average order value and help customers understand the experience.
(Source: Shopify One-Page Checkout)
Payment Options
It's vital to give customers familiar and trusted
payment options that suit them to maximise the chance of a conversion. Platforms like Shopify offer standard debit and credit card processing out of the box alongside accelerated payment options such as Apple Pay, Amazon Pay & Android Pay. However, third-party payment options can be a great way to give customers more flexibility over how they pay. Third-party payment gateways include PayPal and AliPay. Offering
Buy Now Pay Later payment platforms can be a great incentive for customers who wish to split the cost of the order - platforms include Klarna, Clear Pay and AfterPay.
Search & Discovery
One of the most challenging aspects of ecommerce is helping customers to find the products that are likely to be of interest. It all starts with a strong navigation setup. Your navigation menu should be logical, clearly outline the categories of the products that you sell and lead customers to products of interest.
Once customers do land within category pages then brands should consider the order of products, known as merchandising, there are several ways to order categories and it does depend on your goals. You can automatically order by popularity or price, or you leverage AI tools such as
Klevu to use sort collections to maximise sales based on customer behaviour.
(Source: Shopify One-Page Checkout)
Finally, on-site search is vital, especially for brands that have large product ranges, to help customers find specific products with easier - customers that use search are
2-3x more likelyto convert than non-searching customers. Therefore, delivering a great search experience is very important. Whichever search tooling you are using, we recommend reviewing the reports where possible to understand the search terms that customers are typing that do not deliver any results and setting up synonyms to ensure results are displayed.
Customer Support & Live Chat
During the Black Friday Cyber Monday you'll likely have much higher levels of traffic as you increase marketing budgets and shoppers flood online to find the best deals. With more traffic and customers exploring products, you'll likely see an increase in the number of customer support requests. Just because it's busy does not mean you should take your foot off the gas - this is your time to shine as a brand. We highly recommend leveraging top
customer support apps such as
Gorgias. Not only do these tools allow you to deliver the best omni-channel customer support but they also leverage AI to automate responses and minimise customers needing to wait for a representative to become available. Delivering the best custom service to your customer will maximise customer retention and minimise returns.
Design to engage
The look and feel of your store has a must influence over whether customers choose to buy. Firstly, the design can affect whether a customer feels safe in your store and builds trust. A store that looks dated, buggy or with poor design might be regarded as spam or a dangerous website to be shopping on. The design and branding of your store also can be a huge decider on whether shoppers love the brand - for example, luxury brands leverage luxury design to deliver an experience alongside their products. Lastly, test your store across mobile, desktop and other devices to minimise bugs and offer your customers the most seamless onsite experience. You may want to consider leveraging personalization in addition to offer unique content and experiences to different segments of customers.
Create Urgency
Black Friday is all about incentives, countdowns and urgency, it's a sales period that customers wait for and it only happens once a year. Therefore using urgency as a strategy within the on-site experience can be a powerful way to deliver your Black Friday campaign. Consider having countdown timers for specific discounts, use stock trackers to help customers see which products are low in stock and use the fact that the sales will end soon to your advanced to influence buying behaviour and maximise sales. Consider implementing these features across your entire ecommerce store including product cards, the cart and even in checkout. Urgency can be a power lever to use during BFCB.
Minimising Cart & Checkout Abandonment on Black Friday
Cart & Checkout abandonment are some of the most frustrating stats you'll see as an ecommerce brand - customers getting so close to buying and then dropping out at the end. Abandonment can be for several reasons including unexpected charges at checkout, failed payment methods, or sometimes customers just want to get to the checkout to see the shipping options or see the final price. When a customer does abandon the purchase flow, it's important to try and re-capture that revenue.
As we've already discussed in this article, you can leverage email and SMS marketing automation to send automatic SMS messages and emails to customers who are enrolled in your marketing services and abandon the cart. For email marketing, brands typically send 3-4 emails over 3 days to try and win back a customer whereas with SMS you should only send one reminder. Consider using incentives such as a discount or other incentives to maximise the chance of winning a customer back. You can also leverage your paid marketing channels to try and win back customers using retargeting and remarketing campaigns to target customers who have visited your store recently.
Retaining Customers Post-Black Friday Cyber Monday
Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it's important to consider a retention strategy for both the customers you didn't manage to win over this time and also those who did make a purchase. There are several ways to influence customers to come back so let's dive into our top recommendations.
Email & SMS Marketing
We've dived into Email and SMS a great deal during this guide, however just because when BFCM is over does not mean you should shop your strategy. We'd advise you to segment your customers into those who did and didn't purchase and divide specific and unique campaigns for each. For those who did buy, consider cross-selling campaigns or replenishment emails if appropriate to tempt customers with more of your range. Consider giving it some time before you start nurturing your customer's next sale and consider the average time your current customers take between each other. You can use this period to educate customers on other marketing initiatives such as events, your brand story or loyalty schemes.
Re-Engage Customers With A Loyalty Scheme
Loyalty schemes can be a great way to re-engage customer and incentivise them to spend again. Allow customers to earn points for purchases or actions such as following you on social media to maximise lifetime value. You can build tiers of engagement for your customers to work towards to reward your most loyal customers and keep them coming back. Check out our
top loyalty scheme app for Shopify guide.
Reviews
Following Black Friday Cyber Monday, you will have hopefully sold lots of products meaning you have lots of opportunities to request customer reviews. Reviews are a great way to gain feedback and also hopefully receive lots of positive reviews, UGC and recommendations for future customers to read. Check out our
top reviews app for Shopify guide.
Strategically Planning Inventory and Stock for Black Friday
Managing stock and inventory is one of the most expensive parts of running an ecommerce business, whether you are leveraging a third-party logistics company or running your warehouse altogether. Buying the right amount of stock that you are predicted to sell is vital to running a profitable ecommerce business and also being able to keep up with demand for your customers.
An
ABC analysis is an inventory categorization technique that helps merchants find their most (and least) valuable products. It gives you greater inventory control and profitability by helping you identify the products that make—and cost—your business the most money. By understanding the the most valuable product lines you can assess your stock levels and consider which products to purchase the most of. You can also consider to give away your lowest product value to free up warehousing space and maximise customer satisfaction.
Update key policies on your website before BFCM
It's vital to ensure your policies are up to date and accurate ahead of Black Friday as you are likely to see a surge in orders - you don't want to be selling to unfavourable terms or ones that you cannot commit to. Ensure you review your terms of service, returns policy, exchange policy and refund policy too. Selling online is subject to several consumer laws around the globe, so it's vital to ensure that you are compliant with consumer guarantees and the right to refunds/returns too. Shopify offers a policy generator too for privacy policies
here.
Carefully, review all of your policies to ensure they are reflective of how you run your business, how you process returns, refunds and how customers can engage with your company.
Ensure your website is ready to manage high traffic
During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you'll likely receive much higher than usual levels of traffic therefore it's vital to ensure that your website is equipped to manage large amounts of traffic. Platforms such as Shopify provide unlimited hosting bandwidth and have highly sophisticated technology to manage hosting on customers' behalf. Shopify checkouts already have a queuing system to protect the checkout and prevent it from being overloaded. Alongside your hosting, you should also consider the third-party providers that you use to power your store such as third-party apps and services to ensure that they are equipped to handle an increased amount of traffic.
Monitor Your Analytics During Black Friday & Cyber Monday
Whilst you must plan and prepare thorough strategies to succeed during the Black Friday & Cyber Monday period, it's important to monitor your business performance through the shopping event as well. You can use Shopify's analytics and live shopping report to see the performance of your store in real time. We'd always advise you to review what is working and what is not and be prepared to tweak and change your strategies, for example, you may want to re-distribute budgets to your highest-performing ads during the weekend or push harder on deals and incentives that are performing best. Consider using more advanced reporting tools such as
TripleWhale to understand how you've acquired customers and which of your strategies are working best.
Conclusion: The Ultimate Black Friday Ecommerce Guide
So that's a wrap, we hope you've enjoyed reading our ultimate black friday ecommerce guide. We've explored all the key areas to consider to prepare your ecommerce business for the major shopping event, the different marketing channels you can use the strategies to consider and also how to optimise your store's on-site experience to maximise sales.
If you need support for this BFCB - get in touch with our dedicated team of Shopify experts - designers, developers and strategies who are on hand for your business.
Get In Touch
Nic Dunn |
CEO - Charle Agency
Bespoke Shopify Plus Websites