The Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekends are once again fast approaching. With more than $5.1 billion sold through Shopify stores during the 2020 Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend (up from $1.5 billion in 2018), it's time to get ready if you're in ecommerce.
As an online store, you should prepare for this weekend accordingly to get the maximum possible sales out of it.
When is Black Friday in 2022?
Black Friday in the United States is always the day after Thanksgiving Day, which falls on the fourth Thursday in November. In 2022, Black Friday is November 25, 2022, marking the beginning of the holiday shopping season. If you're wondering when you should start preparing, the answer is right now.
How should you prepare for Black Friday?
Check out our top tips to make your Shopify store a big seller.
1. make sure that inventory, handling and support are ready.
Before you even think about your online store, make sure your back-office processes are up to snuff. When sales are through the roof thanks to a successful sales and marketing strategy, you need to make sure you have the infrastructure in place to deliver. Make sure your inventory, order fulfillment, customer service and returns processes are robust enough to handle the influx of orders.
If you expect to run out of some products, use this as an opportunity! Use an app in your store to notify when a product is out of stock, such as Back In Stock - Restock Alerts - this allows customers to leave their details when the product they want is no longer available. They are then automatically notified by email or SMS when their item is back in stock, and they can click directly back to the product to complete the purchase.
2. plan sufficient advertising budget for prospecting & remarketing
For most online stores, the Christmas season represents the most important time of the year. Therefore, you should make sure that your online marketing works stably during this time. Nothing is more annoying than a credit card blocking or reaching a daily limit in the most important phase of the year. So ideally, talk to your bank now to prevent such problems and - if you haven't already done so - set up a second advertising account on Facebook, for example, to be able to react flexibly.
Typically, Black Friday itself generates about 40-50% of sales that weekend and only about 20-30% each Saturday or Sunday. So it's best to plan the majority of your budget for Friday.
Since the majority of people are waiting for Black Friday to make purchases, you may find that significantly fewer people become paying customers through your ads in the days leading up to it. Don't let this put you off and continue to place your ads constantly in the days before. In this way, you ensure that your remarketing lists are well filled and that you can address these people again on Black Friday and turn them into paying customers.
Take advantage of the increased browsing activity of bargain-hunting customers by using retargeting. This way, you can "track" people who have added products to their cart, viewed a particular item, or made a purchase. This basically just means that you can remind them about something they've recently viewed on your website or other forums like Facebook, giving them the opportunity to come back and complete the purchase or buy something else.
3. prepare landing pages, images and other creative elements to boost your sales
Once you have planned your processes and budgets, you need to prepare your creative ideas. Which offers, do you want to promote through which channels? What are the
During the holidays, customers are usually more receptive to advertising, which is good, but there's also a lot more competition for their attention, so make sure you stand out from the crowd.
If necessary, you can also increase the visibility of your online store on Google before the holidays. As a Shopify SEO agency, we are the right contact for this.
We have a team of Shopify designers, web developers and marketers ready to improve your store in time for the selling season. Need a conversion-focused landing page to attract customers? Eye-catching images to make your brand stand out from the crowd? An eye-catching banner to promote your sale? Contact us and we can help.
4. conversion rate optimization
Some of the tips in this blog fall into the category of conversion rate optimization (or CRO). That's why we've put together a free Conversion Rate Optimization Checklist, full of advice and guidance on how to improve your store's conversion rate and sales. Download it now and get a head start for the holiday season.
5. plan your sale and discounts
Plan your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales throughout the weekend - will the deals change over the course of the weekend? Can you maximize sales by promoting certain products at certain times? Do you have a great offer to start the sale with to grab customers' attention and captivate them?
Don't forget the power of upsell and cross-sell. Try installing an app like Cart Convert that suggests additional products to your customers based on what they're interested in. They bought a hat? Maybe they want matching gloves to go with it? Or could they be tempted to spend a few pounds more and reach the threshold for free shipping? This way, you can easily increase your average order value. Give it a try!
6. use emails to promote your upcoming Black Friday sale.
Encourage your customers to sign up for your newsletter in advance by offering them incentives in the form of previews of upcoming sales or exclusive discounts. This way, they'll be associated with your brand and easier to reach when your sales kick in.
Create some anticipation among your email recipients. Let your subscribers and past customers know about an upcoming sale with a series of teaser emails; maybe give them a taste of what's on offer, or let them know when your sale starts so they don't miss it. Sharing exclusive discounts with your best customers can be a great way to increase sales.
If you don't already have an abandoned cart email series, now is a good time to set one up. Here you can send a potential customer a series of emails to entice them back and make it easy for them to return to the cart and complete the purchase. However, please be aware of appropriate privacy policies.
These emails can include incentives like discount codes or free shipping to increase the likelihood of a purchase. With an average abandonment rate of 69.8%, Black Friday is a good time to send these emails and secure those lost sales.
7. build urgency and (artificial) scarcity.
Create a sense of urgency around your sale in your ad copy and on your website. Limited stock or an imminent end to the sale: these factors contribute to your visitors clicking the "Add to Cart" button. Try including a countdown timer on your product page that shows how many minutes they have left to qualify for next-day delivery. Remember that Black Friday purchases are often impulse purchases, and a little persuasion will help get those items into the cart and to checkout. If you need help installing apps or making improvements and changes to your website, reach out to us.
8. build customer trust
Even though Black Friday shopping tends to be impulsive, people need to trust their vendor. Adding customer reviews to your website helps reassure potential customers that you're a reputable brand, while including trusted payment methods like PayPal and major credit cards reinforces that sense of reassurance. A well-written "About Us" page also helps create a sense of trust and familiarity.
9. make it easy for people to buy
You should make it as easy as possible for your customers to buy from you. Services like Klarna allow your customers to stretch out their payments, which makes them more likely to buy. You receive the money upfront; Klarna collects the money from the customer over the agreed period. That's a win-win situation!
10. tracking, tracking, tracking
If you've followed our advice in this article and our conversion checklist, you should be well on your way to a great Black Friday weekend. However, it's important to track your metrics through Google Analytics and your store's analytics, as well as through your email provider and any other channels you use, like Facebook.
When the sales weekend is over and the dust has settled, you need to understand what went well and what could have been implemented differently so you can make your next sale even more successful!
If you need help preparing your online store for Black Friday, don't hesitate to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with us. We will be happy to help you maximize your sales in 2022.
Christian Waske
Managing Director & CRO expert
Christian is Managing Director of Golden Web Age GmbH and an expert in search engine optimization. With his knowledge, he has already been able to place many well-known companies on page 1 of Google.
