Black Friday and Cyber Monday are upon us! We hope you already decided to prepare for Black Friday / Cyber Monday weeks ago, but if you haven’t, what can you do about it?
While you’re probably too late to make any major preparations, there’s still time to make impactful adjustments to maximize sales and customer satisfaction. Here’s a quick guide for website and business owners to optimize their efforts at the last minute.
1. Optimize Your Website
Your website is the frontline of your sales – and both frontend and backend performance are critical. Make sure it’s ready for the influx of traffic:
- Test Site Performance: Ensure your website loads quickly and can handle high traffic. Use tools like GTMetrix to test speed and make fixes immediately.
- Update Product Pages: Double-check that descriptions, images, and pricing are accurate. Clear, appealing visuals and concise details can seal the deal.
- Compress and Optimize Product Images: Images are a huge drag on loading time. Compress them with a tool like TinyPNG.
- Disable WooCommerce Cart Fragments on Non-Product Pages: Turn off cart fragments on non-essential pages to free up server resources. Focus AJAX updates only where they are needed, such as product and cart pages. Test your site after disabling fragments to ensure everything functions properly.
2. Push a Last-Minute Marketing Campaign
Even at the eleventh hour, marketing can drive significant traffic:
- Email Blasts: Send out engaging reminder emails highlighting top deals, creating urgency with countdowns or phrases like “Last chance!”
- Social Media Updates: Post flash sales or limited-time offers to your audience, and use Stories or Reels for added visibility.
- Retargeting Ads: Re-engage potential customers who visited your site but didn’t complete their purchase.
Convesio’s new tool, Convert, is an example of a tool you can use to send marketing emails.
3. Simplify Checkout and Customer Support
Make it as easy as possible for customers to complete their purchases. If you’re using WooCommerce, you’ll definitely want to give our guide to optimizing the WooCommerce checkout process. Other things to keep in mind:
- Streamline the Checkout Process: Reduce steps, enable guest checkout, and prominently display free shipping options.
- Provide Multiple Payment Methods: Offer popular options like PayPal, credit cards, and digital wallets.
- Prepare Your Support Team: Ensure your team is ready to handle inquiries quickly, especially via live chat, email, or social media.
- Automate Shipping and Discounts: Apply free shipping or discounts automatically at checkout to encourage purchases. This eliminates potential frustrations around entering promo codes and speeds up the checkout process.
4. Review Inventory and Fulfillment
Avoid the nightmare of overselling or delayed shipping:
- Sync Inventory: Make sure your stock levels are accurate to prevent customer dissatisfaction.
- Communicate Shipping Deadlines: Display the cutoff date for guaranteed delivery prominently on your site.
- Offer Local Pickup: If possible, provide local customers with the option to pick up their orders. This can save you countless hours on busy sales days.
5. Implement Urgent Deal Strategies
Drive conversions by capitalizing on urgency and value:
- Add Flash Sales: Feature limited-time deals throughout the day to create FOMO (fear of missing out).
- Promote Limited Stock: Use banners or badges like “Only X left!” to encourage faster purchases.
- Upsell and Cross-Sell: Suggest complementary products at checkout to increase cart value.
6. Perfect the Mobile Shopping Exerience
Drive conversions by capitalizing on urgency and value:
- Add Flash Sales: Feature limited-time deals throughout the day to create FOMO (fear of missing out).
- Promote Limited Stock: Use banners or badges like “Only X left!” to encourage faster purchases.
- Upsell and Cross-Sell: Suggest complementary products at checkout to increase cart value.
- Use Lazy Loading for Images and Videos: Enable lazy loading to delay media files until they’re visible on the screen. Improve initial page load times for long product or blog pages.
7. Think Beyond Black Friday
Your efforts shouldn’t stop once the clock strikes midnight:
- Prepare for Cyber Monday: Extend popular deals or introduce new ones to maintain momentum.
- Collect Customer Data: Encourage customers to sign up for newsletters or loyalty programs to build long-term engagement.
- Ask for Reviews: Prompt satisfied customers to leave positive reviews, boosting your credibility for future sales.
Final Thoughts
Even with limited time, small adjustments can lead to significant returns during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Focus on a seamless customer experience, create urgency, and ensure your site and team are prepared to handle the holiday rush. These quick fixes can help you make the most of the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
