5 Tips to prepare your eCommerce business for BFCM
It's colder, discounts are bigger, and stores are stocking up faster than ever. There's excitement in the air, as people ready their credit cards and flex clicking fingers. You guessed it. It's bittersweet Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) season! And it's the best time to rack up major revenue for your e-commerce store with an outstanding email strategy.
Well, unless you aren’t prepared. You might be wondering why you need a great BFCM email strategy? We'll let the numbers speak first.
A survey found that consumers who purchase products through emails are likely to spend 138% more than people who don’t receive any email offers. If those numbers don't excite you, then I don't know what will.
Email is an effective way to connect with your customers and potential customers on a personal level, to nurture your relationship with them, and finally nudge them towards splurging on your BFCM deals.
As a small brand, you’re constantly competing with the big dogs for your customer’s attention. In fact, studies show that nearly half of online shoppers head directly to large ecommerce stores—no stopovers. A great email campaign strategy gives you a fighting chance, and creates loyal customers beyond the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush.
Feeling the heat yet? You should. But don't fret, there's still time to prepare and perfect your BFCM email strategy. And here's my list of carefully curated tips to help you along
If you're still beating yourself over your email strategy? Please don't. There's no time like the present to make your BFCM email campaign plans. Like the legendary "Bad Boys" actor says.
So, here are the 5 best ways to prepare for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Assess everything: BFCM means increased sales, order surges, and enough problems to drive you to your wit’s end. Instead of troubleshooting on D-Day (s), you should start planning today. Make sure your brand is ready, test your site's speed to prepare for the inevitable surge in web traffic, and optimize it for various devices. Double-check with your shipping company and sort out the products you wish to discount or put on sale. You can use the whole of September and October to plan. Be prepared for everything.
Start your email game early: Plan and schedule your email campaign strategy ASAP by having offers, copy, creative, and emails prepped. Give yourself plenty of time to review everything prior to launching! This gives you enough time to woo back your straggler customers and persuade your loyal ones.
Build your mailing list by embedding newsletter pop-ups and prompts on your website. Entice visitors with promises of exclusive promos and deals when they sign up for your store's newsletter.
An early start means you can collect enough data to send personalized emails and increase your open rates when it’s time to execute your plan.
Tease your discounts early: Your email campaign should include discount teasers and promo sneak peeks. Keep your audience engaged with irresistible offers, quizzes, prizes, and gamified deals.
Shopify advises you to give an unbelievable discount on a trending product or product bundle, so people can pick up more products on their way out.
Pre Promote. You can start a countdown to build excitement and warm up your shopper’s inbox. Or you can drop your awesome BFCM deal earlier than usual—keep those bigger brands on their toes for a change. After all, more than half of consumers begin their holiday shopping well before Black Friday, forty-five percent before the first day of November.
Remember your email automation: Prepare your customized automations such as welcome, browse, and those abandoned cart emails to compel customers who may bail out in checkout. You might need to edit your strategy to be more specific to BFCM. Test subject lines, content, and creative design to optimize for the biggest eCommerce quarter of the year!
Email frequently: Keep your brand top of mind. Send emails frequently. They don't always have to be about deals. You can share how-to guides, customer testimonials, and insights on what products pair with others. Keep to best email practice though, so you don't get sent to the spam folder.
To help you out with your BFCM strategy, here is a list of important Cyber Event dates.
Thanksgiving: This is the day before Black Friday (BF). It's slightly peaceful because of everyone's home with family. And since everyone's home, more people will see your emails. Let your tone be light and thankful.
Black Friday: Put on the charm today. Send your emails early in the morning before people hit the stores and later in the afternoon as a reminder.
Small Business Saturday: Encourage your customers to support your small business. Be sure to add a small business logo to your website, email, and social, so visitors know you are a small business.
Cyber Monday: Although it's a bit smaller than BF, it's just as important. Use this opportunity to drop an exclusive Cyber Monday deal—you should tease this in advance, so customers lookout for it. Make the deal time-sensitive. This triggers your consumer's FOMO. You can send 2 emails if the deal only lasts for that day. However, if you wish to extend the deal, then one email is enough.
Giving Tuesday: This is the time for charity. Your email should talk about a charity you've worked with or are donating to. You can create deals that require your brand to give a portion of its sales to a charity of your customer's choosing. Charity marketing is a very effective tactic, especially during the holiday season.
Free Shipping Day: This day coincides with the "last day to buy/ship" promo. Send a " Get it before Christmas" email to your mailing list. Since shipping and supply chain issues abound, be sure to cross-check dates with your shipping/delivery service. They might end Christmas deliveries earlier than you expect. BE READY!
Boxing Day: It's past Christmas, so the shopping frenzy is down. But people are still scouting for better, compensatory gifts—Santa can't always be right the first time. This is your chance to push your gift cards & promote a sale of products that need to leave your inventory ASAP.
New Year’s Day (1/1): New beginnings, people! No deals or discounts today. Just thanks. Thank your customers for supporting you in the last year, and appreciate them. They made your business a reality!
Remember, be consistent, show up in the inbox, and don’t be afraid to send those campaigns and optimize your email automation!
This will help you get started on your BFCM strategy. I know it's a lot to take in, but you got this!
Need help putting a Black Friday/Cyber Monday strategy together? I can help you brainstorm a customized BFCM email strategy for your brand; entirely original and entirely yours! You don't have to approach Black Friday with dread and confusion.