Fall: The season of pumpkin spice lattes, flannel, and one of the biggest weekends of the year for retailers.
Whether you have a brick and mortar store or an online shop, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend is an important one for your business. Customers are ready to splurge on their wishlists of products and double down on their holiday shopping.
In preparation for this influx of shoppers, we’ve compiled these 10 tips:
1. Plan ahead
Look at your sales data from the previous Cyber Monday and the months leading up to up to the weekend. You can use this data to gain insight into your best-selling products, the number of sales, average transaction value, and most effective promos. Use this information to plan which promotions you want to run, and order inventory according to your projected sales. For instance, if your best-selling Cyber Monday items are cashmere accessories, make sure you have enough in stock so your customers can receive them ASAP. Alternatively, if your average transaction amount is $70, try tiered promotions, which give customers larger discounts if they spend over $100, $200, $300 etc. This incentivizes your customers to make larger purchases.
2. Post on social media
Be active on social media, and regularly promote your Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales in the weeks leading up to your weekend sale. It’s important to start posting early so that your customers can learn about your promotions and start building their wishlists. If you’re saving all of your social media promotional posts for the weekend or day of, you might want to reconsider. With so many other businesses posting on the same day, there’s a big possibility your posts will get lost in the clutter before potential customers see them.
3. Share shoppable posts
If you haven’t been using shoppable posts on your business’ Instagram page, you might want to start. Since implementing shoppable posts, some businesses have seen a 25% increase in website traffic and an 8% increase in revenue. A shoppable post is a social media post that allows customers to tap the image to find out the price of a product and be directed to a product page where they can check out in seconds. This creates a quick and seamless shopping experience with fewer purchase barriers for customers.
4. Make use of all those email addresses
Remember all those customer email addresses that you’ve been collecting? Make sure that you send your customers messages to let them know that you’ve got sales that they’re going to love. If you know which items have been sitting in their shopping carts, this could be the perfect time to remind them of that amazing rustic wicker chair that’s going to be 40% off.
5. Create an exclusive promo for new email subscribers
If you want to grow your list of email subscribers, try creating exclusive promos for new email sign-ups. For example, send new subscribers a promo code for an extra 10% off their purchase. Growing your subscribers means you’ll have the opportunity to show up in their email inboxes on a regular basis and advertise your products to them for free. It’ll keep you on their radar throughout the year and incentivize them to come back when you have new launches or seasonal sales.
6. Offer free shipping
If you’re not offering free shipping for Cyber Monday, you could be missing out on some sales. Have you ever found a great deal online, prepared to check out, then found out shipping costs more than the product itself? Customers have come to expect free shipping (and fast shipping) from retailers. Research has even shown that free shipping is often a deciding factor for customers. In fact, online shoppers are 96% more likely to buy from an e-commerce shop that offers free shipping.
7. Have a countdown timer
Display a countdown timer on your website. A countdown creates a sense of urgency and emphasizes that the deals on your website won’t last. If your customers are hunting for a bargain, they won’t want to wait to proceed to checkout!
8. Be mobile-friendly
With the majority of transactions being made on a mobile device, you’ll definitely want to make sure your website is mobile-friendly with a responsive design. Ensure it’s easy to navigate, images are mobile-optimized, and buttons are the right size to create a smooth user experience.
9. Check your website
In addition to being mobile-friendly, you’ll want to check your website for any broken links, improper displays, glitches, and slow loading times. Find ways to make sure that your site is optimized to support heavier traffic during your weekend sale. You’ll also want to check that your online payment gateway functions properly so your customers will be able to complete their transactions without a hitch.
10. Share your customer’s testimonials
Finally, leverage your customers’ content on your website product pages. Show photos or links to videos of your customers’ user-generated content. This could include review and unboxing videos or #ootd social posts featuring your brand’s clothing. Sharing testimonial content on your product pages has been shown to increase your checkout conversions. In fact, one company found that featuring this type of content increased their checkouts by 24%.
Looking for more tips to boost your retail sales?
Find out how your POS can increase your sales and our tips to get your business ready for Black Friday.
Ready to discover new ways to accept payments?
We can help you grow your business with seamless payment, loyalty, and gift card solutions.
