Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year. For brands with online stores, this means 24 hours of super sales. In fact, last Cyber Monday, online transactions reached a record of $10.8 billion in revenue, with retailers promoting their deals as early as October.
We won’t sugarcoat it for you: Preparing for Cyber Monday sales can be overwhelming. But we have a sweet treat for you. Follow these Cyber Monday tips, and making record sales will be a piece of cake!
Bringing Consumers to Your Site
Boosting your brand’s Cyber Monday sales starts by attracting consumers to your site early on. You can use several strategies and platforms to make your customers aware of your special offers and 24-hour super sales. For example, email marketing, ad campaigns, social media, and featuring exclusive products are just a few. Doing so will not only generate excitement amongst shoppers about your brand, but this will also draw them to your site come Cyber Monday.
Email Campaigns
Email is a great way to advertise your Cyber Monday deals to customers and entice them to shop your brand’s sales. These email campaigns can function as a reminder (24-48 hours before Cyber Monday) featuring your sales and special offers. Email advertising allows you to reel in past shoppers (or any potential customer who has opted-in to your mailing list) back to your site and boost your sales.
Ad Campaigns
Ad campaigns, like email, are another useful advertising tool to spread the word about your brand’s sales and draw consumers to your site. However, the great part about ad campaigns is that they reach a wider audience (not just repeat shoppers). If you’re planning to launch a social ad campaign, it’s important to feature your sale details to grab the attention of new shoppers and bring more business to your site on Cyber Monday. You can do this through attention-grabbing graphics, catchy headlines, or naming your consumer directly (Ex: “Hey [name],”) if they are a repeat shopper.
Social Media
The easiest way to spread the word about your Cyber Monday deals and attract shoppers to your site is by getting the word out through your social media platforms. Generating excitement amongst your followers about the upcoming exclusive deals will encourage them to anticipate shopping your sales. Posting a daily countdown via Instagram stories, tweeting out special offers, or featuring a sweepstakes raffle on Facebook are all fun and exciting ways to encourage traffic to your site.
Exclusive Product(s)
A unique way to drive traffic to your site is to offer exclusive (or brand new) products. Releasing new arrivals on Cyber Monday or a “limited-edition” item that is only available to purchase during those 24 hours is a sweet way to get consumers interested in your brand.
New and limited-time offers generate a sense of urgency amongst customers, which increases their desire to and likelihood of purchasing. When it comes to retail, the less available something is, the more consumers will want it.
With regard to offering exclusive or limited-time products, sometimes you don’t even need to offer a Cyber Monday discount if you can generate enough excitement about the drop.
So What Happens Once Shoppers Enter Your Site?
While driving consumers to your site is an essential first step, making sure your site is optimized for Cyber Monday is the icing on the cake! When it comes to making changes to your site for Cyber Monday sales, some things to keep in mind are improving user experience, incorporating attention-grabbing offers, and increasing readability.
Clickability and Navigation
It’s a good idea to assess your site's clickability and navigation before Cyber Monday. To optimize user experience and make it easier for customers to make purchases, your site must be easy to navigate, readable, and function optimally.
Site Speed
Slow site speed can really hurt your Cyber Monday sales, as shoppers are looking to make quick purchases from all different devices. Because these sales are time-sensitive and products will sell fast, shoppers need to be able to sift through your site quickly. To help your customers make timely purchases – and increase your brand’s likelihood of making sales – be sure your site’s speed isn’t lagging.
Site Design
While re-designing your site for a 24-hour sale may seem like overkill, making some minor changes can have a big impact on your brand’s sales this holiday season.
The look and feel of a site can also contribute to a brand’s sales on Cyber Monday. Re-designing your landing page to be more eye-catching or Cyber-Monday themed is a great way to grab the attention of anyone that comes across your page. For example, a new landing page banner highlighting the time-sensitivity of your sale and the brand’s unique special offer is another way to get shoppers to interact with your site.
Adding a countdown to your landing page is another re-design tactic that creates a sense of urgency amongst shoppers. Counting down to the end of Cyber Monday sales encourages site users to make quick impulse purchases while they still can.
Another tip from a design perspective is to cycle new offers and deals hourly on your site’s landing page. Offering a new free gift with every purchase or showcasing different products every hour keeps things fresh and engaging for shoppers.
Special Collections & Targeted Lists
Offering special collections or targeted lists is a great way to get shoppers engaged in your site during Cyber Monday sales. Including anything like “gifts under $10” or “gifts for him/her under $20” allows customers to shop easily by categorized offers.
Added-Value Promotions
Featuring added-value promotions within your site is another useful tool to engage shoppers and encourage them to purchase. Free gifts with purchase, gift cards, store credits (10% off next order), complimentary gift wrapping, or shipping are all ways to entice shoppers browsing your site. Bundling is another creative way to encourage shoppers to purchase. This strategy offers customers additional savings when buying two or more items of the same category or collection.
The Checkout Process
The pièce de résistance: simplifying your checkout process. Believe it or not, a complex checkout process can stand between you and your business making a sale. During these time-sensitive Cyber Monday sales, shoppers looking to make quick purchases will become easily frustrated by a complicated checkout process.
Asking for too much or unnecessary information, incorporating too many steps, and/or requiring customers to sign up before checkout can turn away business. This is why your checkout process must be as transparent and straightforward as possible.
Simplifying your checkout process (the last step in making a sale) enhances user experience and allows your customers to make effortless purchases without the time-consuming hassle of unnecessary steps.
The Secret Ingredient: CakeCommerce
We know that was a lot to bake in, but there’s still just one thing missing. So, what’s the secret ingredient to boosting your sales this Cyber Monday? CakeCommerce!
Our expert team is experienced in eCommerce strategies to drive website traffic and increase sales this holiday season. Contact CAKE today!
