Get your Business Ready for Black Friday Cyber Monday BFCM
Cyber Monday is the second-biggest trading day in the world after black Friday. The event, held on the Monday after Black Friday and the US Thanksgiving weekend, is the best day to find the biggest and sweetest deals online. Unlike Black Friday, which combines in-store and online shopping experiences, Cyber Monday promotions, and purchases are restricted to website-only deals. This article will help you understand how to prepare your business for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
What business owners should expect during BFCM in terms of revenue increase
Did you know that sales from Cyber Monday deals in 2020 topped $10.8 billion despite the coronavirus and lockdown? This figure represented an increase of over 15% in 2019 and made it the biggest online shopping day ever in the US, even bigger than Black Friday, which was $9 billion. If anything, this year, businesses can expect more sales than usual come November 28.
What business owners must do to get ready for Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday is a day to get stretched to breaking points for a business owner. In a few days, you will experience the most unpredictable sales marathon. Although it is a lot to handle, it is also the best opportunity to beat brick-and-mortar retailers. Follow these tips to optimise your Cyber Monday deals.
Create hype before Cyber Monday
Shoppers begin the hunt for Cyber Monday deals before the day. As a business owner, you must get the word about your deals out early in the season. This way, customers can position themselves better and take advantage of promotions. Besides creating hype, you must implement measures that satisfy customers' queries. For example, display prominent deals beforehand, so customers don’t hunt for discounts, use banners and pop-up boxes, use a countdown timer, etc.
Optimise your website
Website optimisation is crucial to Cyber Monday deals. To reach your sales goals, ensure your website is equipped to handle a sudden spike in traffic. Put differently, your site must equal your projected demand, and the customer service department must be scalable to address potential questions and problems. Website optimisation includes a simplified interface, CTAs, and a responsive mobile view.
Optimise for the search engine
Search engine optimisation is another part of Cyber Monday preparation that you must pay close attention to. Why? Because it is a powerful tool for generating organic customers in the short and long term. Examine your landing and product pages to make it easier for search engines like Google to send customers to your website for Cyber Monday deals. Instead of revamping your entire website, you only need to make a few changes to some pages and how it interacts with customers.
Improve your website speed
Cyber Monday shoppers are impatient because they don’t want you or your competitors to run out of their target. As a result, they will gladly switch you out if your website doesn’t load quickly. Therefore, ensure your website runs quickly and smoothly.
Set up email marketing campaigns
Email marketing campaigns effectively reach potential customers and notify them of Cyber Monday deals. Businesses can schedule the emails in waves to create a buildup to the trading day. For example, the first wave of teaser emails can hint at upcoming offers, while another wave contains exclusive offers. Instead of sending generic and ineffective emails, businesses should segment their customers and create targeted messages. Thankfully, there are email automation platforms you can use to create personalised email campaigns based on customer data from their eCommerce websites.
Focus more on loyal customers
Cyber Monday is a good day to acquire new customers for your business. But did you know businesses spend 25 times more to bag a new customer? Marketing to loyal customers is less expensive than luring new and potential customers since they are more likely to buy or recommend to their friends. Therefore, concentrate your efforts on strengthening loyalty.
Create a smooth checkout process
After successfully hunting a good deal, some customers encounter problems with the checkout. The common ones include a lagging website, unresponsive pages, too many fields to fill out, etc. Cases like this lead to cart abandonment and increased turnover for competitors. Your duty is to ensure that none of these happens to your customers. Create an intuitive and uncluttered checkout page and ensure the buttons are easy to find and visible. Not only this, but only include vital form fields and display shipping and associated fields. At the end of the order, follow up with the customer with a thank you email. You can also set up an automated abandoned cart email to follow up on indecisive customers.
Improve your website security
Hackers and cyber attackers are trying to strike during Cyber Monday sales. So, invest in safety measures and encrypted security for your website. Shoppers will feel comfortable giving out their credit card information. We also recommend you expand your payment options to ensure seamless transactions.
Take advantage of every marketing channel you can
You must embrace and use social media to get the best result. Cast a wide net to get as many customers as possible using organic posts and paid ads. Use Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and more to engage customers, and notify them of your product lineup, discounts, photos, and deals. Intentional posts on the right channels will attract the right customers.
Plan your shipping and alternatives
Shipping is vital to Cyber Monday deals. But since many other businesses are trying to do the same thing, shipping companies are busier than usual. Therefore, create contingency plans. Also, offer free shipping and returns to increase conversion for certain products or programs. You must also increase customer support across all channels to stay on top of situations.
Conclusion
Black Friday and Cyber Monday present the perfect opportunities to generate huge profits. Use all the tips above to prepare for Cyber Monday and enjoy increased sales and revenue.
Always bringing you value to your eCommerce journey,
Awesome Pack Team