15 Winning Black Friday & Cyber Monday Strategies

Black Friday Cyber Monday has arrived and with it the high season, this is when businesses record their biggest sales figures and offer some of the biggest discounts of the year. Every year we see businesses partaking from all over the world because of the huge wave of demand. For eCommerce merchants there is no other holiday like this one. Are you prepared for BFCM?

The key to succeeding in such a critical time in the year is preparation. In fact, being prepared at least a week in advance is very important because this is when customers are most active. Even the simple anticipation of major discounts is more than enough to jump start customers. Many shoppers think it's an ideal time to get all your shopping done for the rest of the year, often shopping for Christmas and New Years early.

Whatever the customers may be thinking it doesn't change our respective strategies for this seasonal event. The objective is still to optimize our strategy for all levels of the marketing funnel and to take advantage of the high season in its full length.

In this article we will be discussing strategies for optimizing your store for Black Friday & Cyber Monday.

15 Tips for BFCM Success

1. Incentive

At a time of high demand and high shopper willingness, discounts and rewards are king. There is no more opportunistic time than during seasonal holidays to take advantage of pricing and discounts. Shoppers are revving to go and fully committed, when both the item they want and the price makes sense, there is no hesitation. Incentive is our first piece of advice because this is ultimately what the shopper is seeking, most notably for BFCM when everything is about big discounts.

2. Hero Banner

A hero banner typically belongs to the first block of your home page, and represents your principal message or imagery. When you are going through an unusual or special event, communicating changes is important. First, make sure that the customer clearly understands the message. Using imagery and creative messaging is a great way to relay an idea. Also, having a really stunning hero section is a great way of creating a lasting impression. Generally, a clever hero section can create a narrative and set the theme for your business. In the case of BFCM, it can be used to clearly inform customers that you are putting on a holiday event with major discounts.

3. Retention

Retention of your shoppers credentials should be made a priority this BFCM, or else you run the risk of making your potential life time customers only one time shoppers. The objective is to make each and every one of your customers last the mile, by deriving the most value from each shopper. Imagine what you could do if you could communicate new offers to your customers all year! Acquiring those email addresses is actually the tricky part, you may find one of the options below a decent way of capturing a few loyal customers.

4. Rewards & Points

Rewards & Points are part of any strong strategy because they are great at creating purchase intention. They work by offering in-store credit to be collected and redeemed for a variety of rewards. An awesome program like Growave can bolster your conversion rates while also increasing your average order value. What makes rewards points so unique and rewarding is their ability to motivate reviews and unconventional actions outside your store like social media likes and follows. With Growave in particular you can keep track of each shopper's complete purchase history. This makes reward points a great way to exercise your marketing strategy making your plans a reality.

5. Building Loyalty

One of the best ways to keep a customer coming back for more is through loyalty tiers, that progressively improve the longer a shopper stays loyal to your brand. This can help you build your brand's reputation and establish a relationship with your customers. This strategy can work wonders for your business by increasing the lifetime value of each shopper. This will turn your business into the number one option for customers looking for something specific.

6. Email Campaigns

Communication is an eCommerce powerhouse but also a real challenge. What we want is to tell our customers about new products and fresh discounts whenever they are available. Email is the most popular way to do that and the best option for pulling customers back. The idea is to use email messages to sell your products to interested customers but also initiate them into your loyalty program. A combination of progressive loyalty rewards and email campaigns makes it worthwhile for shoppers to continue buying from you. This will easily make your brand a topic pick.

7. Start your Campaign Early

Make sure to get an early start to your BFCM campaign. Customers love to get their shopping done before the holiday. This makes it a great idea to start the holiday shopping earlier for and for them to remember your great deals. If you make a lasting impression, that leaves them plenty of time to shop at your store as the timer ticks down. An early start, if communicated properly with great discounts, can make customers revisit your store multiple times.

8. Build Reliability with Free Shipping and Returns

Trust and reliability are important for a snap decision. A practical way to build reliability is a clear return policy and free shipping. This will ensure that when customers buy something that they won't get stuck in a muck of emails. Although trust is difficult to build, making sure that you have great reviews is a great way to start building a reputation. Having no surprises how we improve our brand.

9. Use this opportunity to develop your Social Media

Especially if you use social media as part of your selling strategy, now is a great opportunity to flow traffic to your social media. Use this high season as a means of improving your social media and collecting followers, comments and likes. This can be a quick way to develop your social media, which develops in value over time.

10. Roll-out a Fresh Catalog

Refresh your catalog and let your customers know across your social media and email lists. A fresh catalog is a great way of kick starting a campaign with new items to shop for and inspiration for shoppers. There is no better time than now to release a new catalog.

11. Focus on your Best Marketing Channels

You should have an idea of which marketing channels are your best performing. Now is a perfect time to focus on your best performing marketing channels to drive traffic. Especially around the holidays when consumer demand is the strongest and decisions are made more easily.

12. Check your SEO Vitals

The worst case scenario is having customers arrive at your store after having invested in ads and promotions, only to have your load times too high or your site laced with issues. Make careful considerations on your websites page navigation and seo vitals. Having a smooth experience is expected by all shoppers and a poor website performance is a big red flag.

13. Mobile Shopping Apps are Winning

If you haven’t heard, then now you have, regular shoppers love mobile apps. This could be a major gold mine for you if you can manage to roll one out by the holiday season. Your niche and branding can make this a winning formula, but time is ticking down.

14. Referrals, Gift Cards and Social Sharing

Word of mouth always comes from a reliable person and there is no better way than telling your grandma about the great deals running at your store. The holidays are all about giving gifts and you can encourage referrals and sharing with great rewards. This can be a great source of additional traffic, and a referral can manifest into your best customer.

15. Use Growave!

Growave is a complete solution to all your marketing needs. With the holiday season just around the corner, you need the right tools to get back on track. Growave enables you to implement your goals with a complete suite of apps: Loyalty, Rewards, Boost Campaigns, Referrals, Giftcards, Social Sharing, Automated Emails and More!

Conclusion

This Holiday Season is a critical moment. We cannot and should not allow for this moment to pass with out trying to make the most out of it. This BFCM is an opportunity to transform your business and outlook for the next year. Working on your marketing strategy, step by step, is the mot you can do. These 15 winning strategies for BFCM can unlock your true potential, with 15 different options there must be a few that can help you upgrade your business for the high season. Check out our article on why eCommerce is so important for business. Growave is putting on a great deal for Black Friday & Cyber Monday very soon, make sure to check it out here.