It’s time to flag off this year’s holiday shopping season officially. With Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM), also called Cyber Week, around the corner, it is time for brands to get their ducks in a row, as this period can bring in almost 20%-30% of the total annual sales. This year, sales are expected to reach 10.8% billion, a 9.9% jump compared to last year.

With stiff competition from competitor brands and evolving consumer needs, e-commerce stores should start BFCM preparations as early as possible. So, if you are an e-commerce brand looking for some of the best BFCM tips and strategies to boost your sales this year, this blog is for you.

Here we talk about the 3 main trends that might shape this year’s BFCM, a 7-step checklist for e-commerce brands to prepare for BFCM and 8 Shopify and email marketing strategies to make the best of your BFCM sale.

3 Trend Predictions for BFCM 2024

Trend 1: Brands will kick off Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales earlier than last year.

The ‘holiday creep,’ the commencement of sales before the official beginning of the holiday season, is the need of the hour in 2024. With only 27 days between Black Friday(Nov 29th) and Christmas (Dec 25th) compared to last year’s 32-day gap, brands have a smaller selling window this year. This means most brands will start BFCM sales as early as October to make the best of the season.

Trend 2: Intentional shopping and budget buying are the watchwords of BFCM shoppers in 2024.

While most buyers don’t have plans to tighten their budget for BFCM, they aim to practice intentional buying and get good deals. According to the BFCM Consumer Trends Report 2024 by Tapcart, shoppers are against last-minute shopping, and 44% of them like to plan at least a week in advance. Another step they take to be intentional and stay within their budget is not buying items with discount ranges of less than 20-35%.

Trend 3: Mobile apps will become the go-to shopping channel for BFCM 2024.

4 out of 5 shoppers prefer buying from e-commerce mobile apps to brick-and-mortar stores during BFCM sales in 2024. Personalized recommendations, app exclusive rewards and seamless checkouts are some of the key driving forces behind this. Another reason why shoppers prefer apps over e-commerce websites is because they can skip typing in website URLs and logging in each time.

7-step BFCM checklist for e-commerce brands (including Shopify & Klaviyo)

Because of the increased user traffic and consumer interest, the Black Friday Cyber Monday period is a goldmine for getting results from quick improvements. Your success recipe involves getting prepared, engaging your customers well, and keeping an eye on how things are going. Here’s a simple 7-step guide for your online store for BFCM.

1. Start with inventory planning and online store optimization

• Stock up to ensure you have enough goods to meet the demand. However, to prevent overstocking, enable pre-ordering, and gauge the demand,

• A fast, mobile-friendly website and app is vital, as 73% of Shopify sales come from mobile phones during BFCM. Also, simplify checkouts and offer multiple payment options to reduce buying friction.

2. Invest in eye-catching visuals, themes and product copy to stand out

• Use professional quality visuals, including images, videos and angular shots, to catch your shoppers’ eye. But keep the tone casual and add UGC for social proof.

• Show buyers you are BFCM-ready by theming up your website and app. For example, by embedding UGC from previous BFCM sales as a social media feed on the website , you can build anticipation and nudge buyers to buy.

• Create persuasive copy and product descriptions to highlight the features and benefits of products and get customers to buy.

3. Create BFCM offers your buyers can’t resist

• Analyze the previous year’s data to find the best products you can offer at discounted rates for this BFCM.

• Roll out discount offers that begin from 20% and upwards as 10-15% won’t make shoppers budge anymore. Use a mix of different offers like Buy One Get One, volume discounts and tiered discounts to keep buyers hooked.

4. Spread the word through multiple channels

• Start early with paid ads, as they tend to get expensive as Black Friday approaches.

• Send out teaser emails to create anticipation and last-chance emails with a countdown to build urgency.

• Announce the start of your BFCM sale through multiple channels like emails, SMS, and social media channels. Add shoppable feeds to Instagram, Facebook and your websites to let buyers directly from the feed.

5. Prompt customer support to manage queries

• Incorporate AI chatbots to manage common queries on order status, return policies, delivery times and shipping charges.

• Offer resources to promote self-serve but be ready to serve customers who need instant help through live chats.

6. Analyze performance to make timely improvements

• Shopify offers many in-built analytics features like ‘Live View’ to track how customers interact with your store at a given point. This helps you identify and resolve frictions in their product page to checkout journeys.

• Also, keep a tab on the number of daily visits and sales per channel and compare it with the previous year’s data to gauge performance.

7. Nurture your customers post BFCM to build loyalty

• Send them thank you notes and exclusive offers to sustain their loyalty using tools like SmartrMail.

• Request for reviews and incentivize them in return. Post them on your website and social media channels to show them they are valued.

7 BFCM strategies to boost your sales in 2024

Here are 7 best BFCM strategies for Shopify and email marketing you can use in 2024:

Pre-BFCM strategies

There are some things you ought to do before officially kicking off your BFCM sale to get maximum conversions. These include:

1. Run hashtag and UGC contests to build brand awareness

Kick off your BFCM 2024 preparations by running UGC and hashtag contests to increase your social following. You can also use it to build your email list by including ‘subscribing to your email’, a compulsory step to participate in these contests.

These contests give you a pool of UGC content that you can use to create brand buzz during the BFCM sale. You can also pick the best ones and embed them as a social feed on your website and BFCM-themed pages using Flockler to gain shoppers’ trust.

Sohome, an online furniture store, adds user-generated posts from Instagram on how they’ve styled Sohome products to their website to encourage customers to let their guard down and purchase.

2. Analyze previous year’s data to prepare better

Look into previous year’s metrics to get an idea of the best products, strategies and campaigns you can reuse. Double down on them to replicate similar results but be ready to re-strategize on the fly based on competitor moves and consumer trends.

Some of the information you get through historical data analysis includes:

• Best sellers and worse sellers
•  Most effective and least effective sales channels
• Average spend per order
• Best-performing campaigns
• Prime shopping days

3. Get them excited through teaser emails

Prep your audience and ensure they get excited about the BFCM sale through teaser emails. Include elements that create a fear of missing out in both first-time shoppers and repeat buyers.

An effective way to do this by offering a discount for adding items to carts early. You can also embed Instagram walls with UGC content to convince first-time buyers who are on the fence.

Another thing to note is to offer the best discounts through these promotional emails and not during the actual sale. For example, if your best offer is a 30% discount, offer it to early bird customers who make an effort to take action based on your teaser email instead of BFCM sale day shoppers. This helps you build customer loyalty and nudges buyers who missed this chance to take action next time.

Here’s an example from Little Beast, a brand that sells clothes for pets. The brand offers a site-wide discount of 25% to shoppers who add items to their cart in advance.

Source: Klaviyo

During the sale week, you should focus on reducing buying friction and making undecided buyers take action. Here are some BFCM strategies to achieve this.

4. Add the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ feature

If you haven’t set up the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) feature yet, you will miss out on sales this Black Friday. It is the new alternative to credit cards and is widely preferred by millennial and GenZ shoppers for its convenience. This feature also increases the Average Order Value (AOV) per customer by 40% as they feel more comfortable spending more with flexible payment plans.

If you have a Shopify website, you can make use of Shopify’s native BNPL feature called Shop Pay Installments. Other popular BNPL companies you can use include Klarna, Afterpay and Zip. These offer buyers many flexible and interest-free payment plans and reduce cart abandonment by 28%.

Here’s a glimpse of Shop Pay’s payment plans.

5. Get the most out of FOMO

To get it or not get it? That’s the only question that runs through your buyers’ minds during the BFCM sale. And the best way to win over these buyers in two minds is by leveraging their itch to not miss out. You can do this and make them jump on the bandwagon in the following ways:

• Use SalesPop and FOMO by Relay to display details like real-time website visitors, purchases, and cart activity. This creates FOMO in potential buyers and nudges them to take action immediately.

For instance, a popup on how other customers are eyeing an item that’s on a shopper’s wish list – especially when only 4 are left in stock– will nudge them to buy it now.

• You can also use these tools to offer a special discount for those shoppers still browsing during the final hours of your BFCM sale.

6. Time your abandoned cart emails

In 2024, high shipping charges and high cart value are the two major reasons why shoppers abandon their carts. This means your abandoned cart emails should target to ease this friction to get the best results.

The best way is to throw a discount or offer free shipping for a limited time to make them checkout quickly. For example, you can give free shipping for those who checkout within 5 hours of the email.

But here’s a fact: the timing of these emails determines if shoppers open them or not. A study by Rejoice confirms that the optimal timing for sending abandoned cart emails is 1 hour after abandonment. Also, emails sent immediately after or within a day are found to be the least effective.

Source: Rejoiner

Also, create a 3-step abandoned cart email cadence and space them out for the best results. Send the first one in 1 hour, the second in a day and the third after 3 days. This way, you have a greater chance of converting cart abandoners to shoppers.

7. Send thank-you emails

Don’t be those brands that interact with their audience only during peak shopping seasons. Leverage the rapport you build with them during the BFCM sale to foster a genuine and long-term connection with them. Here are some post-BFCM strategies you can implement to do this.

A personalized email expressing your gratitude towards customers can go a long way. Add some digital freebies or discounts to make it more special and memorable. You can also use these emails to ask for customer reviews, user-generated content like unboxing videos and product reviews. Clearly specify the rewards or incentives in these emails to persuade them to take action.

Once they submit it, give it the right spotlight by showcasing it on all social channels. You can also curate a review or UGC wall with the best of the lot. This brings your brand closer to your customers and promotes customer loyalty.

GoPro collects and highlights the best UGC from their customers on their website using Flockler.

Bonus Point: Launch a loyalty program

Launch a loyalty program right after your BFCM sale to turn occasional and first-time shoppers into repeat buyers! The value of this cannot be overstated. This is because post-BFCM, your brand is already fresh in their minds, and hence, there is a greater chance of them joining the loyalty program.

You can start with a point-based loyalty program and enroll customers with an average order value (AOV) above a certain amount to the list. Assign them points and email them how they can use them. For instance, if you offer 10 points for every $50 spent. This can accrue and they can cash it out on successive purchases. In the email, also include ways to increase points, like following you on socials, leaving a review or visual testimonial, etc.

Closing Thoughts

The end of every Black Friday sale marks the beginning of the next one. Use the intel you gain from this year’s sale to plan your way forward. For instance, if there’s an unhealthy imbalance between the number of new buyers and old ones, it is a sign for you to perfect retention strategies.

Another point to keep in mind is to engage with your audience year-round. Invest in social listening tools, respond to queries, consider audience suggestions and run UGC or hashtag contests to make them feel heard and valued.

Here’s an example from Lululemon of how they made their signature ‘Align Pants’ at a different length in response to customer requests.

Source: ReallyGoodEmails

This way, you can bask in your customers’ love all year, whether it is Black Friday or not!

FAQs

1. How to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

You can prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday by following this 7-step checklist:

• Start with inventory planning and online store optimization
• Invest in eye-catching visuals, themes and product copy to stand out
• Create BFCM offers your buyers can’t resist
• Spread the word through multiple channels
• Prompt customer support to manage queries
• Analyze performance to make timely improvements
• Nurture your customers post BFCM to build loyalty