The last minute action plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

BFCM came faster than expected? In this article, we provide some tips for marketing campaigns that you can implement even last minute!

Soon the strongest shopping days of the year will take place: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If this promotional weekend is surprisingly fast approaching for you, in this post we have some tips for last-minute measures you can still implement now to boost your sales on these days.

For most retailers and merchants, it's the happiest time of the year, both in the retail business and in e-commerce: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With Black Friday on 29.11. and Cyber Monday on 02.12. we can expect, as every year, a weekend that finally heralds the Christmas business. If this sales weekend came surprisingly fast for you, in this post we'll give you a last-minute contingency plan to boost your online store traffic and sales in the last weeks with some promotions and actions. Here we go.

BCFM Definition: What are Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the most famous and biggest shopping promotion days in the world. They originated in the US, but spread to many other countries due to their popularity.

Both days have now become a global tradition, and customers worldwide expect discounts and deals on these days. Many retailers use the occasion to empty their warehouses, boost sales and attract consumer attention. While Black Friday and Cyber Monday were initially limited to retail, they have expanded to other industries, including travel, technology and services. These promotional days offer consumers the opportunity to find bargains, and for retailers, they are an important phase in the annual calendar for sales and revenue growth.

Tip No. 1: Special discounts for social media users

Admittedly, this is not the most creative measure, but you can still implement it very quickly and easily in your Shopify store. If you address your target group on different social media channels (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest), you should store a separate coupon code for each platform in the Shopify backend and share it in the respective channel. This will not only make it easier for you to determine which medium generated the most sales in the later evaluation, but you will also give your target groups on the respective platform the feeling that they have received an exclusive coupon. For this, you should use discount codes that convey this exclusivity, e.g. INSTA20 or FACEBOOKFREE. You should also regularly feed your channels with visuals during this busy sales period and pre-schedule posts to resurface regularly in the sea of BFCM offers.

Tip No. 2: Increase traffic with sales magnets

Another tip to significantly strengthen your sales or at least the traffic in the online store for the BFCM weekend is to highlight strong sales magnets and thus attract customers to the store. To do this, look for a few products from your inventory - these can also be actual slow sellers - and discount them very heavily and as much as you can. With these products, profit is not necessarily the goal - of course, you should not sell at a loss either. The mission behind such heavy discounting is that you generate traffic and record leads. You can retarget these contacts at a later date through social media ads or newsletters. It's always easier to get already warm leads to make repeat purchases than to acquire completely new customers. If you additionally make sure that your Shopify product pages also display other products from your store, this can strengthen the upselling effect and you sell products with higher margins in addition to the sales magnet.

Tip No. 3: Address shopping cart abandoners again

Have you already set the Facebook Pixel on your Shopify online store? If not, you should definitely make up for it, because it's the only way to retarget people who have visited your site or even bought products through social ads. During the BFCM sale, you should run a retargeting campaign for Facebook and/or Instagram that targets all those who added products to their cart but didn't buy them. Customers know there are special deals at this time of year, and they're on the hunt for the best discounts, so cart abandonment tends to happen faster here. You can re-engage these potential customers by showing them dynamic ads via Facebook or Instagram Ads, from the products they had in their cart. Remind them of your BFCM promotions or maybe even offer a special coupon in retargeting and draw their attention to the urgency of this limited offer.

Tip No. 4: Submit offers to coupon websites

Instead of visiting each website individually to find out about deals, many users flock to where many discounts from various websites are grouped together at a glance. You can try submitting your discount promotions to these websites to generate a higher reach. Here are some of the top deal websites that you should take a closer look at: Schnäppchenfuchs, mydealz, gutschein.focus.de, Sparwelt.

Tip No. 5: Polish product pages with customer reviews

Genuine reviews are immensely important in gaining the trust of your potential customers. Since not everyone takes the time to browse through many pages of reviews, you can support this by integrating two to three customer reviews into the product descriptions of your most popular products. However, you should be sure to obtain the consent of the review providers beforehand in order to be on the safe side legally.

Tip No. 6: Stand out from the discount jungle

BFCM is a real discount battle and online shoppers know that very well. So you need to manage to stand out with your offer. You could do that by offering free shipping on these days - regardless of other discounts - selling exciting product bundles, adding surprise giveaways to every order, or integrating various discounts using a wheel of fortune on your home page. For the latter, you can find suitable apps in the Shopify App Store, such as Spin-a-Sale or Spin Wheel - CrazyRocket.

Tip No. 7: Category Christmas gifts

Many online shoppers take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts to store for Christmas gifts. Make it easy for your potential customers! With the category "Christmas gifts" or even more special "Christmas gifts for men", "Christmas gifts for children" etc. you can advertise products that you want to sell and offer your store visitors an important assistance, which will be gratefully accepted by many and can lead to more sales.

Tip No. 8: Offer gift certificates for purchase

Have you ever thought about selling coupon cards in your Shopify store? If so, now might be just the right time to do so. Although adding a new feature might be a big step in this short period of time, setting up gift cards doesn't come with any problems because it's easy to implement. Gift certificate sales can be a great way to increase BFCM sales. Best of all, since the start of the Corona crisis, Shopify has opened up gift certificate sales to all Shopify plans!

Tip No. 9: Black Friday marketing - send out newsletters

Even though their reputation is often worse than they deserve, newsletters are still one of the best ways to ensure good sales. So you should also make an effort with your email distribution lists and set up a BFCM newsletter to draw attention about your promotions. Again, you can work with an exclusive discount code to later track how many sales came through the newsletter.

The days until Black Friday and Cyber Monday are numbered and you have little preparation time left to set up a sales promotion, so you should start planning right away! Remember to test your online store and especially the checkout process extensively - both on the laptop and mobile, to fix any problems before the (hopefully) big traffic rush and to be able to respond to any questions that may arise. We wish you much success and good sales!

Tip No. 10: Customer service

To ensure that customers can get timely help in case of queries, you should increase the availability of your customer service. Setting up a live chat on your website is extremely helpful in this regard. Customers can communicate directly with a support representative in real time to resolve their queries. Make sure that the live chat is easy to find and use. Support times can also make a difference here.

Effective and responsive customer support during Black Friday and Cyber Monday can help boost customer confidence and ultimately increase the success of your e-commerce business during this important sales period.

Tip no. 11: Offer express shipping options

Entice last-minute shoppers by offering special express shipping options that are especially attractive when time is of the essence. Communicate clearly on your website and in marketing materials by what date and time customers need to order to ensure their goods arrive in time for holidays or special events. Use prominent notices or countdown timers to emphasise the last time to order.

In addition, you could offer free or discounted express delivery as an incentive for particularly impatient customers. This not only increases the conversion rate, but also helps to attract customers who postpone their purchase until the last moment. Also, make sure that these options are clearly described in the shipping conditions and FAQ pages to avoid misunderstandings.

Tip no. 12: Use countdown timers

Use countdown timers on your product pages or throughout your shop to increase the sense of urgency and effectively utilise the so-called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). These timers show how long certain offers are still available or by when the customer has to order in order to receive a discount or fast delivery, for example. The visual countdown creates psychological pressure and motivates customers to buy faster before the offer expires.

By using countdown timers, you not only increase the willingness to buy, but also reduce the likelihood of customers postponing or even cancelling their decision. In addition, such timers can be used flexibly - be it for limited discount campaigns, flash sales or even for the last opportunity to buy before a holiday or event. This type of visualisation of time pressure has a proven sales-promoting effect, as it conveys the feeling that the customer must act quickly to avoid missing out.

Tip no. 13: Pop-up windows for special offers

Use pop-ups to show visitors attractive discounts or exclusive offers directly on your website. These visually appealing windows can appear on different pages during the visit and are a great way to grab users' attention immediately. For example, you can highlight special discounts for first-time buyers, limited-time offers or information on upcoming sales promotions.

Pop-ups can help speed up the customer's decision-making process and motivate them to complete a purchase before the offer expires. By targeting new visitors, you increase the chance that they will browse your shop and ultimately make a purchase. To further increase the effectiveness of pop-ups, you can design them to respond to specific user actions, such as leaving the page or lingering on a particular product.