Top BFCM Strategies to Boost Your Shopify Store Revenue

As the holiday season is approaching, it means big holiday sales such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday for many e-commerce websites and their customers. It may be a busy time for your business, but hopefully very fruitful. Therefore, it’s crucial to be prepared way ahead and have your BFCM strategies up and running. 

According to Shopify, last year on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Shopify merchants generated $2.9 billion in sales. It is most likely that this number will grow in 2020, with this being an ample opportunity for Shopify merchants. 

In this article, we will talk about seven BFCM strategies that will increase your revenue this holiday season. Let's dive in!

Optimize your home page

When your customers arrive at your website, they should see your offers for this BFCM. You can change the whole theme of your homepage to a black color and highlight your discounted items. The main goal is to make your homepage appealing for your customers to make them stay on your website. 

Additionally, optimize your website speed and make sure that all your pages and products load fast. According to Neil Patel, 40% of users will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Therefore, your website speed is essential before BFCM.

Optimize your website for mobile

Your business needs to optimize your website for purchasing via mobile. According to WebSiteBuilder, 81% of Shopify users shop on their smartphones. Additionally, mobile shopping has become one of the main trends in e-commerce. Therefore, it is essential to prepare to make your website mobile-friendly before BFCM. 

According to Shopify 2018 report, 66% of Shopify merchants' sales were on mobile, compared to only 34% on desktop. Not surprising if these numbers will change even more in 2020. The key is to optimize your website speed for mobile and choose a mobile-friendly theme, like Roxxe Responsive Multipurpose Shopify Theme.

Launch an email marketing campaign

Email marketing is essential during BFCM to stand out from other websites. Create a unique look for your email marketing campaign. According to a Shopify report, email marketing campaigns had a 4.38% conversion rate compared to a 2% conversion rate from social. 

To launch a successful email campaign, split it into several campaigns:

1. The pre-BFCM campaign, where you would notify your customers about upcoming sales and create awareness. Additionally, you could send emails with a countdown to BFCM.
2. During BFCM, send a special offer to a customer who previously purchased on their website. Also, launch abandoned cart reminders to encourage your customers to complete their purchase. You can use scarcity or timer countdowns to urge sales.

If you think there is room for improvement, we've found a great email marketing course for you, make sure to check it out!

Launch a Referral Program

A Referral Program is a great word-of-mouth tool that is cost-effective and effective for acquiring new customers for your business. The referral program is not only useful in bringing new customers to your store but also for building retention and loyalty with your customers. Therefore, launching a referral campaign for BFCM would be extra useful during BFCM. 

For BFCM, you could run a limited-time referral campaign where both the referrer and the referent get rewards. You can promote this program on your social media or send email campaigns. Growave’s Loyalty and Rewards program includes a referral program, where you additionally can create a separate page for referrals. Your customers will receive a unique referral link. The program is customizable to suit your business goals. 

Offer exclusive discounts and gift cards

During BFCM, it is essential to give special discounts or gifts with an order to your loyal customers. As loyal customers, they deserve to feel a little bit special to ensure their return to your website in the future. You could do so by introducing the loyalty program before the BFCM. Remember, acquiring a new customer is can cost five times more rather than retaining an old one.

But we've got you covered on this as well, check out post-BFCM retaining strategies.

Introducing gift card can be essential for shoppers who are short on time to purchase gifts. You could design gift cards matching Black Friday or Cyber Monday theme. Additionally, electronic gift cards are gaining popularity, and it would be more convenient for those who shop online. 

Use scarcity

Generally, customers prefer to compare prices with your competitors during BFCM and checking for discounts on other e-commerce platforms. Reminding your customers that Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will not last long will urge your customers to purchase. You can implement countdown timers on your homepage, email campaigns, and product pages. Offering the best price and having a timer on display will make your customers understand that this offer might not be available at any other time of the day. Additionally, you can mention that there is limited stock for specific products to increase customers' impulse and urge to buy products.

Rescue abandoned carts

There is no better time for retargeting ads and notifications as BFCM. Advertising costs grow significantly during this time; therefore, it is essential to invest in your retargeting campaigns. You can use various options for this, such as SMS notifications, emails, pop-ups, web push notifications, and others. 

There are many different apps that you could use for it, such as FirePush or PushOwl. FirePush sends web push notifications to your customers to boost conversion rates and sales. On the other hand, PushOwl is a web push notification app popular among many Shopify stores for their push notification marketing and easy setup.

Wrapping Up

Indeed, there are many other different strategies that you can utilize during this holiday season, for instance, Printful has prepared 100 Cyber Monday deals from worldwide brands you might consider checking.

However, always remember that starting early preparations is the key and ensuring that your BFCM strategy is up and running before the holidays. You can also refer to the BFCM checklist we prepared, especially for this occasion.

We hope that some of the mentioned strategies will help your business increase revenue and gain loyal customers. Use this year as an opportunity to scale up your sales!