So, the strangest year in recent memory has rumbled on into the final three months of the year and Black Friday/Cyber Monday is starting to loom large.
For some businesses, 2020 has been a year to forget. For others, eCommerce sales hit Christmas levels by Spring. In the UK, whilst Black Friday doesn’t quite cause the frenzy it does ‘across the pond’, it’s still a key catalyst for people to spend. And this year it’s an opportunity to either redress the balance from a tough spring/summer or really use it to push on and make the year memorable for more positive reasons.
Experts are predicting that whilst there is still uncertainty, BFCM (Black Friday- Cyber Monday) will still be a predictably busy period with perhaps the notable expectation that shoppers will be really organised this year. In a nutshell, that means planning as early as possible.
So, in anticipation of that, we thought we’d share some observations based on experience that we hope will help you maximise BFCM this year:
Communicate Early
Not just savvy shoppers but pretty much everyone is aware of Black Friday now. And this year, it’s well worth communicating early about your intentions to be involved in the melee. So, whichever channels you plan to communicate on, begin to build up some anticipation early this year and keep your brand relevant in the customers’ mind in the run-up.
Organised Strategy
A well-planned strategy is always important but this year even more so. What to include in that strategy? Well it’s a huge topic, but just couple of ideas to get the grey matter whirring:
- Introduce a ‘loss leader’ product bringing customers to store, creating upsell opportunities.
- Create daily deals to keep visitors returning and interest high.
- Promote a deal countdown to capitalise of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Magento has some excellent functionality around content staging to make your co-ordinated promotions seamless (get in touch if you’d like to discuss further)
But, whatever your promotion plans are, planning early with a well-co-ordinated strategy is a must this year.
Pandemic Related Products
Turning a negative into a positive is fairly generic, sound advice obviously. But this pandemic has clearly emphasised some product categories more than others. So a question to ask is whether there is part of the product range that has become naturally more appealing this year? What about lower-value thoughtful gifts within your range? They could well be hot property this year as some customers are more careful with their budget.
Payments Options.
And if customers are somewhat budget-conscious, then for higher-priced items, why not make the purchase decision easier by integrating with a provider who can solve the dilemma? Klarna is a great option for deferred and split payments without the customer having to enter long term financing plans with heavy APR rates.
And of course, it goes without saying that using the quickest and easiest payment methods on mobile checkouts like Paypal, Apple Pay and Android Pay will make for a smoother buying process.
Social
During lockdown, people were even more glued to their devices than ever before. And with local restrictions and the rule of 6, social gatherings are limited, so naturally, social media is relied upon even more heavily this year. So for many brands, clever use of social media has been a great way to stay connected with their customer. For instance, using retargeting can be a great way to reignite a purchase opportunity when your customers are using social media. Which leads us nicely on…
Mobile First
Mobile has seen a steady rise in traffic, orders and revenue year on year. So if there are areas of improvement in your mobile UX, now is the time to address them as the volumes of visitors from mobile devices will be high. There’s some time to test, but it’s running short now.
Returns Policy
Depending on the industry, returns can occur in more than 30% of orders. So this is obviously going to be in your customers thinking when they are considering their purchase. Is your returns policy easy to understand? Prominent? How about fair? Are there opportunities for short term returns policy incentives?
Delivery
Once a customer has committed to purchase, then how quickly they can receive their item/s can be make-or-break in who they purchase from. It also can dictate what customer actually buys, as some people will choose a product arriving quicker over a product that may take a little longer. So now’s the time to review your competition and see how you stack up. Can you offer anything better?
So, there are a few things to consider. We’re always happy to chat about all things eCommerce, especially harnessing Magento for maximum returns, so feel free to give us a nudge…
