Our recommendations to prepare your store for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday and Black Friday are the days when online shops perform best. To make the best impression on your customers during the holidays and avoid unforeseen problems (shipping delays, website problems, long loading times, etc.), you should start preparing early. Cyber week, Cyber Monday and Black Friday are the most profitable times in online retail for shop owners.
1. The most important days in Q4
Black Friday & Cyber Monday
- 11/25/2022 Black Friday
- 11/28/2022 Cyber Monday
2. Plan your offers
- Fixed or percentage discount
- Buy 2 get 1 free (2 + 1)
- Free-shipping
- Quantity discounts (Buy X pieces and Save Y)
- Flash sale (limited duration, highlighted by countdown)
- Giveaway or competition (Spin to Win)
- Regular customer discount (newsletter for regular customers)
3. Rule of 100
- Products up to 100€ = % discount
- Products above 100€ = discount in €
4. Select your products
Think about which products you want to promote. Do you want to promote the bestsellers or maybe products that your customers don't know yet? Make sure you have enough in stock for them.
5. Floor indicator
For your sale products, you can display the number of items still available (incl. buffer) in order to persuade the customer to make a purchase decision more quickly. If you don't want to show stock, you can also simply use a light system, eg:
(green) Available
(yellow) Only a few left
(red) Almost sold out
6. Are the important measures set in your store?
Shopping cart recovery emails (note the GDPR regulations). Retargeting pixels (Facebook, Google etc.) Pop-ups when leaving the page (exit intent) Customer loyalty programs (loyalty apps) Voucher codes / vouchers in the shopping basket
7. Is your online shop user-friendly?
The best offers are of no use if your shop is confusing and difficult to use. A lot of that sits in the theme itself - which is what our Shopify development work solves. Check the following points:
- Loading time optimization
- Navigation/menu (important menu items first)
- Shopping cart (information about shipping time, costs, discount)
- User-friendly mobile view
- Conversion optimization measures
Do you want to improve your sales and increase your conversion rate? We check your store and give you best practices with our eCommerce Audit.
8. Email Marketing
Email marketing is a very effective tool to generate more sales. With your emails you can strengthen the bond with your customers and build a better customer relationship. Here are a few suggestions for different topics:
- Announcement and reminder of order deadlines
- Special offers
- Product/Offer of the week
- Pre sale for regular customers
- Announcement and free shipping reminder
- Gift suggestions
The best email delivery times:
(Of course, this can vary depending on the customers and products you sell. We always recommend testing in advance at which times your open rates are best).
- Monday to Friday - from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m
- Saturday - from 5 to 7 p.m
- Sunday - from 9 to 11 am and from 5 to 7 pm
9. Mobile view
Only 31% of sales are made via desktop. It is important that your mobile view is on point and easy to use - that is exactly where our UX/UI design work starts. Loading time also plays a big role here, many customers use the mobile network, which is still very slow in many parts of Germany. Therefore, make sure that your site loads quickly, especially on mobile devices.
What consistent conversion work delivers beyond a single peak season is shown in the Maniko Nails case study.
Do you want to improve your sales and increase your conversion rate? We check your store and give you best practices with our eCommerce Audit.
10. Social Media
Create social media posts for your offers and promote them. This way you can refer your customers to your shop and generate traffic.
Best times for social media posts:
(Of course, this can vary depending on the customers and products you sell. We always recommend testing in advance)
- Facebook: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday between 12 and 3 pm
- Twitter: Monday to Friday at 3 pm
- Instagram: Monday to Friday between 12 and 1 pm
11. Communicate your offers in the store header
Communicate your offers in your header banner so that customers see directly that there are new offers. Use strong banners or countdowns to indicate your promotions.
12. Retargeting
Target visitors who have already visited your shop. Retargeting allows you to target your potential customers. You can track and retarget your customers via the Facebook or Google Pixel.
13. Reward loyal customers
Send exclusive offers to your existing customers by email.
14. Communicate order deadlines
Communicate order deadlines so that your customers receive their gifts on time.
15. Urgency and discount promotions
Set up countdowns so your customers can see when a discount promotion starts and ends. This creates urgency and anticipation. You can also create an extra landing page for your discount promotion.
Do you want to improve your sales and increase your conversion rate? We check your store and give you best practices with our eCommerce Audit.
16. Contact with customers
Be prepared to spend more time and resources answering questions. Plan more time in advance so that your customers are satisfied with your service and contact.
17. Retain your visitors long-term
It is important that you keep your visitors long term and therefore it is worth collecting email addresses. For example, you can offer a discount if your visitor signs up for the newsletter. This way you can stay in contact with your visitors even after Q4 and win them over in the long run.
