How much have you generated in sales on Black Friday 2017? According to Adobe Systems Inc. Sales, last year retailers earned nearly $7,9 billion across Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To be more specific, 2017’s this surged past expectations to register roughly 18 percent more sales than in 2016.
Now attention: 40 percent of 2017 purchases were done from mobile phones, which rose 29 percent over the last year. Criteo reports that 40 percent of the total Black Friday eCommerce purchases 2017 took place on smartphones.
As stated in the National Retail Federation forecast, an average shopper expects to spend $1,007.24 in 2018. Around $637.67 will be spent on gifts, $154.53 on seasonal deals and promotions, and another $215.04 on food, decorations, flowers and greeting cards.
So, is your online store ready to take part in this retail discount never-ending race and maximize its holiday sales? If not, get ready to miss out on a huge selling opportunity.
All-in-all, Black Friday/Cyber Monday proves that we’re never too tired to shop.
Table of Contents
1. When is Black Friday and Cyber Monday?Â
2. Is your Online Store Ready to Increase Your Customer Acquisition on Black Friday?
3. Top 10 ‘To Do’ Tips to Prepare Your Online Store
5. Prepare for Demand
When is Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
If we go down the memory line, the first term ‘Black Friday’ was applied to a financial crisis that collapsed at the US gold market, 1869. In 1980s the term Black Friday turned into a positive experience meaning the day when America’s stores finally turned a profit.
Since then, million Americans spend billions of dollars on presents on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The competition becomes fiercer, online stores are innovating new ways to get customer’s dollar. Considering that online and mobile shopping grows in popularity each year, more and more retailers are trying to prepare their eCommerce sites to make it easier for customers to get access to the goods online.
With Black Friday, 23 November and Cyber Monday, 26 November, you have only a couple of days to ensure your online business takes the full advantage of this year discount race. According to a survey, more than half of customers begin their holiday shopping or research for Black Friday/Cyber Monday as early as October.
Is your Online Store Ready to Increase Your Customer Acquisition on Black Friday?
So, if you own an online business, the time between Thanksgiving and Black Friday could shape up to be the most wonderful. Indeed, if your ecommerce shop is prepared. Consumers are in the shopping mood and ready to spend their money. So, it’s in your interest to grab their attention.
Would you like to increase your customer acquisition on Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year? Read on how to prepare your ecommerce store for Black Friday/Cyber Monday with the top 10 ‘to do’ tips below. Follow them carefully to ensure you don’t leave money on the holiday table. It’s time to think about grabbing sales while they last.
Top 10 ‘To Do’ Tips to Prepare Your Online Store for Black Friday/Cyber Monday
Table of Contents
Tip #1: Impress Your Buyers with an Amazing Design of Your Ecommerce Shop
It’s likely you’ll have a lot of new customers throughout Black Friday/Cyber Monday, so make sure you can impress them with the amazing design of your online store. Make a good impression on them and they will stay with you longer. Do your best to help your customers get in a buying mood.
The homepage of your e-store should have details about your holiday sale promotions. Moreover, every page should include reminders about the discounts that you’re offering.
Besides, you can create Black Friday specific landing page with links to your top-selling product, services or specials. All-in-all, it doesn’t hurt to try to drive email signups in advance of the holiday.
Tip #2: Create Email Marketing Campaigns
Focus your company’s direct mail efforts and you can give your potential customers or subscribers a chance to shop Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales earlier. Include a note about the sale in all emails to customers. Whet your customers’ appetite in order to offer a special discount for their loyalty. The better you pique their interest, the bigger the chance to succeed on this big day.
Just FYI: over 25 percent of Black Friday sales begin with email marketing, Custora reports.
Considering that Shopify includes abandoned cart recovery emails feature, you may send a follow-up email if your visitor failed to make a purchase. The more personalized campaign you create, the better the chance to make them purchase that products hassle-free.
Tip #3: Add Animated Banners/Countdown Timer
To get your potential customers more inclined to buy from your ecommerce store, duplicate your efforts. Add eye-catching banners or countdown timers to increase urgency and give shoppers incentive to buy now. Thus, you can let them know that you did extra efforts in creating something special for them.
Tip #4: Spice up Your Ecommerce Shop with Eye-Catching Bundles
Pop-up reminders can help instill urgency and remind people they only have a limited time to buy with a huge bargain.
Take time to write interesting headlines that can catch the reader’s attention for sure. Get creative as you come up with eye-catching headlines and pop-ups for your Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
Tip #5: Streamline Your Online Store’s Mobile User Experience
Chances are slim if you expect to maximize your sales with a not mobile-friendly website. Don’t disappoint.
Don’t miss out on sales as more and more shoppers use their mobile devices to make purchases. Mobile spending alone totals over $1 billion in sales on Black Friday. Remember that hundreds of both beautiful and professional Shopify mobile themes are ready to help you get closer to your business goals.
Tip #6: Make Sure Your Product Gallery Draws Attention
First impressions count as to the precious milliseconds you have to capture the attention of your website’s visitor. If you don’t prepare with your product gallery, you will lose the chances of leveraging the benefits of the most thriving days.
Once you make sure your products are well-organized, you will save yourself from negative user experiences that might end in dwindling brand engagement among your customers. Showcase your products in a flattering light. With high-quality photos of your products, it’s much easier to lull your visitors into a powerful desire to make a purchase.
Tip #7: Bring Awareness through Social Media
Indeed, social media is a great boon for your ecommerce business. As Black Friday/Cyber Monday approach, keep reminding your potential customers and social media followers about the upcoming sale. Moreover, you can combine social media, email marketing and paid ads for the ultimate impact.
Post your offers, discounts on the social media channels, reply actively on the comments or questions asked by the audience on your social media posts. Free shipping can be another encouraging way to make a purchase on your ecommerce website.
Tip #8: Check Your Online Store Speed and Checkout Process
With over 46 percent of shoppers disappointed with a slow website, indeed, you don’t want to turn your potential customers off. Ensure carefully the checkout process. Learn how to best increase the speed of your ecommerce store to be as good and professional as it can be.
Think only, with thousands of e-stores to choose from and a limited amount of time, no customer will wait till your website loads or checkout runs. Thus, 69 percent of shoppers abandon their shopping carts because of the slow checkout process.
Plus, don’t forget about adding extra payment options such as PayPal or Bitcoin to stay ahead of the game this holiday season.
It’s a good idea to test your website whether your host can handle a big spike in traffic on this holiday shopping game. Remember, the lack of speed kills your chances at a sale.
Tip #9: Imply the Best SEO Strategies
It’s important to keep an eye out for the best SEO strategies and keyword, in case you haven’t done that before. Thank carefully on the relevant and highly targeted keywords in your heading, tide up your URLs, delete duplicated content. Make sure your keywords are focused on so that traffic can be generated towards your site. do your best to up your SEO potential a notch.
Use other both free and premium Magento extensions to optimize your ecommerce website to ensure it’s functioning as expected.
Tip #10: Boost Your Ecommerce Store with Apps/ Plugins
Last but not the least tip to prepare your ecommerce store for Black Friday/Cyber Monday is to take care of the third-party services. To leave enough time to fulfill all those ‘to do’ tips above, take advantage of different apps and plugins that can up your customer experience a notch.
In order to save time to seek what’s better for your business, pay heed to these 57+ free Magento 2 Extensions.
Besides, offering live chat or help of chatbots on your ecommerce website can help you stay ahead of the game. The quicker you can handle customer questions; the more shoppers you can turn into loyal buyers.
Prepare for Demand
Well, Black Friday only comes once a year, so it doesn’t hurt to treat it as a rocker launch of sorts. It can be the most profitable time of the year for your business. If things go as prepared, you’re going to have to step up your game.
Once the holidays are over, you can collect all the data and continue to make optimizations to maximize your holiday sales for the next big shopping day. Set your calendar:Â Black Friday 2019 is on Friday, November 29, 2019.
