As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, e-commerce site owners must ensure their websites are ready for the surge in traffic. Slow loading times, poor user experience, and server crashes can result in lost sales during this peak shopping season. Here are 20 actionable tips to prepare your site and ensure smooth operation during the holiday rush, including 7 pulled from our previous “7 Ways to Make WooCommerce Faster Before Black Friday” guide.
Also check out our related live webinar: How to Prepare Your Site for Black Friday / Cyber Monday:
1. Measure Your Site Performance with GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed
Before making any changes, get a clear idea of where your website stands. Tools like GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights will provide you with a report card of your site’s speed and performance. Use this as a benchmark to track your improvements and target problem areas like image sizes, scripts, and plugins.
Enter your domain name in the box to receive a free performance report for your site. The report will provide a letter or number grade, offering valuable insights into why your pages or WooCommerce might be slow to load. This score serves as your baseline and is useful for identifying images, scripts, styles, and other elements that contribute to longer load times.
Make sure to note down these scores, along with their load times and page sizes, for future comparison.
2. Optimize Product Images
Every online store manager knows that you can’t upload images directly from your phone or DSLR camera to your website. The files are simply too large. For WooCommerce stores, images are often one of the biggest culprits when it comes to slowing down page load times.
WooCommerce preview images are typically square, with a size of 1200×1200 pixels being sufficient for most stores. Images straight from your phone, however, are often three times larger than necessary. This doesn’t enhance the customer experience; it only makes your site slower. Mobile users, in particular, will waste data loading images that are 3-4MB when they could easily be under 1MB. This not only frustrates customers but also increases costs for both you and them – especially when they’re browsing from a mobile device that may have slower internet speeds.
A simple solution is to use an image optimization service like ShortPixel. While it’s not free, the cost is minimal—$10 is often enough to optimize all your store’s images.
Additionally, ShortPixel can optimize every image in your WordPress media library, not just your product photos. By enabling the “make .webp” option (pronounced “weppy”), all your JPGs will be converted to the .webp format. As of 2020, all major browsers support .webp files. These files offer the same visual quality as JPGs but at a smaller size, and a single setting in ShortPixel can automatically convert almost all your images.
Another great tool is TinyPNG.com, which lets you manually upload and compress images (not just PNGs, as the name might suggest.) They also have a WordPress plugin.
3. Implement a Caching Plugin
Your website host may already offer built-in caching—Convesio does, and this can lead to performance improvements of 2-3x faster. However, you can further enhance speed by using a local caching plugin like W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, WP Rocket. While these plugins do sometimes have extra costs, they are unquestionably a valuable investment.
4. Upgrade Your Hosting Provider
If your site is still relying on shared hosting, upgrading to a specialized e-commerce hosting provider can significantly improve your website’s performance and reliability. Shared hosting often struggles to handle the demands of growing online stores, leading to slow load times, downtime, and poor user experiences during traffic surges. On the other hand, modern platforms like Convesio are designed with scalability and e-commerce in mind, offering advanced features that ensure your site runs smoothly, even under heavy traffic.
One of the key benefits of moving to a specialized host like Convesio is the use of live managed scaling. This feature allows your site to automatically scale resources up or down in real-time, based on current demand. If your store experiences a traffic spike, such as during a sale or promotion, the platform will allocate additional resources instantly, ensuring that your site doesn’t crash or slow down during peak times.
In addition to live scaling, platforms like Convesio leverage load balancers to distribute incoming traffic evenly across multiple servers. This prevents any one server from becoming overwhelmed, further enhancing your site’s stability and uptime. Uptime is critical for e-commerce stores, as even a few minutes of downtime can result in lost sales and damage to your reputation. With Convesio’s robust infrastructure, you can expect reliable performance and minimal downtime, ensuring your site is always accessible to customers.
Overall, upgrading to a specialized e-commerce host not only improves site speed and performance but also provides the necessary infrastructure to support your business as it grows, ensuring a seamless experience for your customers regardless of traffic volume.
5. Enable a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
If you host a website for your business, you’ve probably come across the term CDN before, especially in a context that relates to scaling your website or handling large amounts of traffic. But what exactly does a CDN do? In this post, we’ll briefly explain what a CDN is, how it works, and why it’s important that you use one.
CDN stands for “Content Delivery Network.” Essentially, a CDN is a networkof servers placed in different locations around the world. These locations are chosen for strategic reasons in order to more easily deliver content to end users.
Using a CDN like Cloudflare ensures that your website content is delivered from the closest server to your users, which reduces latency and speeds up page load times globally. This is especially critical if you have an international audience.
6. Optimize the Checkout Process
Streamline the checkout process by removing unnecessary steps and distractions. Consider enabling guest checkouts and offering multiple payment gateways. Faster checkouts result in fewer cart abandonments.
Read our extensive guide to optimizing the checkout process in WooCommerce.
7. Disable WooCommerce Cart Fragments on Non-Product Pages
Cart fragments use AJAX to update the cart without refreshing the page, but they can slow down your site when active across every page. Disable them on non-WooCommerce pages to speed up performance, especially if most of your site’s traffic isn’t adding products to the cart.
Learn more about speeding up your WooCommerce backend.
8. Use Lazy Loading for Images and Videos
Lazy loading ensures that images and videos only load when they come into view. This reduces initial load times for users and improves perceived performance, especially on long product or blog pages. Implementing lazy loading is particularly useful during high-traffic events like Black Friday, where faster loading times can enhance the user experience and reduce bounce rates. Additionally, lazy loading can help minimize the consumption of server resources, which is crucial when expecting a large number of visitors.
9. Minify and Combine CSS and JavaScript
Reducing the size of CSS and JavaScript files can improve page load times. Tools like Autoptimize or the built-in features of WP Rocket can help you combine and minify these files for a lighter, faster site. By eliminating unnecessary code and combining multiple files into one, you can decrease the number of HTTP requests your site makes. This not only accelerates page load speed but also ensures your site can handle traffic spikes more efficiently during sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
10. Monitor Real-Time Traffic with Analytics Tools
Keep an eye on your site’s traffic during Black Friday and Cyber Monday using tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar. This helps you detect performance issues early and manage your resources proactively. Monitoring real-time traffic also gives you valuable insights into user behavior, allowing you to make quick decisions to improve the shopping experience. For instance, if you notice a particular product page is receiving more traffic, you can adjust promotions or stock levels accordingly.
If your host specializes in scaling, like Convesio, they may do this for you, or help you do it. For sales, promotions, and other high-traffic events, we offer an enhanced level of support. A dedicated Convesio scaling expert collaborates with you to assess your current setup, pinpoint and address potential risks, strategize capacity planning, and closely monitor vital resource metrics on event day, promptly resolving any arising issues.
This includes auditing the existing setup to identify bottlenecks and risks, optimizing WordPress to safeguard against rogue processes impacting performance, implementing advanced edge optimization through our integration with CloudFlare Enterprise, conducting thorough capacity planning based on anticipated traffic volumes, performing extensive load testing to ensure adequate resource allocation and scalability, configuring monitoring tools, and maintaining dedicated resources on standby throughout the event for immediate assistance.
11. Update Your PHP Version to 8.1
Updating your PHP version to 8.1 is an essential step in preparing your site for Black Friday. PHP 8.1 offers significant performance improvements, including faster processing speeds and better resource management, which are crucial when handling the high traffic influx typical of Black Friday. By upgrading to PHP 8.1, you can reduce server load and speed up page rendering, providing a smoother experience for users and potentially boosting conversions. Additionally, PHP 8.1 includes enhanced security features, which help protect your site from vulnerabilities that could be exploited during busy periods. Before upgrading, ensure your theme, plugins, and extensions are compatible with the new version to avoid any disruptions.
12. Use A/B Testing to Optimize Conversions
Run A/B tests on elements like call-to-action buttons, product descriptions, and even pricing strategies. Use tools like Google Optimize to understand which changes drive better results, then implement them before the big sale. With precise testing, you can refine the user journey, optimizing the most important touchpoints that influence conversions. The insights gained from A/B testing can also help you make quick adjustments if you notice certain elements underperforming in real-time during the sale.
13. Set Up Emergency Customer Support Channels
Prepare for any customer service surge by setting up multiple support channels. This can include live chat, email, or even social media support. Ensure staff are on hand to answer queries quickly, preventing cart abandonment due to confusion or issues. Additionally, having a well-prepared FAQ section can help customers resolve common problems on their own, reducing the load on your support team and enhancing the overall customer experience during high-demand shopping periods.
Here at Convesio, we essentially do this ourselves for our own customers, as our support system is primarily Slack-based. They means we can get in touch with clients easily during high-traffic events like BFCM.
14. Clear WooCommerce Transients and Customer Sessions
Expired customer sessions and WooCommerce transients take up valuable server resources. Head to your WooCommerce settings and clear out these sessions, especially just before Black Friday, to ensure your server is not bogged down by outdated data. This routine cleanup helps maintain your site’s speed and performance, ensuring customers don’t experience lags or timeouts. In conjunction with other performance improvements, clearing transients is a simple yet effective way to keep your site running smoothly under the pressure of increased traffic.
15. Optimize Your Mobile Experience
Over 50% of shopping now happens on mobile devices, so ensure your site is mobile-responsive. Test the layout, buttons, and checkout process on mobile to guarantee it works smoothly, especially under high traffic. A seamless mobile experience is crucial for maximizing conversions, as any friction in navigation or checkout can lead to lost sales. With the growing importance of mobile shopping, ensuring quick load times and an intuitive interface can set your site apart during key sales events.
16. Remove Third-Party Scripts and Widgets
Third-party scripts like ad trackers, social media plugins, and heavy analytics tools can significantly slow down your site. If they aren’t absolutely necessary, remove or replace them with faster alternatives. For example, use lightweight image-based widgets to link to social profiles instead of full-featured widgets. Minimizing these scripts can help improve site speed, which is crucial when handling high traffic during sales events like Black Friday. Additionally, reducing these external dependencies minimizes the risk of slowdowns or errors caused by third-party services, ensuring a smoother and more reliable shopping experience for your customers.
17. Apply Free Shipping or Special Discounts Automatically
Make your promotions irresistible by offering perks like free shipping or exclusive discounts for Black Friday/Cyber Monday shoppers. Highlight these offers on your homepage and product pages to drive conversions, and then apply them automatically for every order. This prevents the issue of customers spending too much time on the checkout page, as well as dealing with any complaints about not having a discount code.
Automatically applying these perks at checkout can also prevent cart abandonment, as customers won’t have to manually enter discount codes. This streamlined experience enhances customer satisfaction and encourages impulse purchases, increasing your overall sales during the promotional period.
18. Implement Email Marketing Campaigns Ahead of Time
Leverage email marketing to inform your audience of Black Friday deals ahead of time. Ensure your emails are optimized for mobile and include clear CTAs that link back to your site’s promotions. Segment your email list based on customer behavior and preferences to send targeted messages that resonate with each group. By planning your campaigns in advance, you can create excitement and anticipation around your offers, driving more traffic to your site when the sale goes live.
19. Test Your Site’s Load Capacity
Use load-testing tools like K6 or Loader.io. to simulate high-traffic conditions. This helps ensure your site can handle the expected influx of visitors without crashing during the sale period. Identifying potential bottlenecks ahead of time allows you to address them before Black Friday, ensuring your site remains stable during peak traffic. Regular load testing also helps optimize your server and hosting resources, enabling you to provide a seamless shopping experience even under heavy demand.
20. Create a Backup Plan
Finally, ensure that your site is backed up regularly before the holiday rush. In case of a crash or cyberattack, having a reliable backup solution means you can quickly restore your site and minimize downtime.
By taking these 20 steps, you’ll ensure that your site is ready for the intense traffic and high expectations of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers. Prepare early to avoid last-minute scrambles, and you’ll be set for a successful holiday sales season!