Now that Labor Day is behind us, internet shoppers will be changing the way they shop online. With the holidays not far off, customers are gearing up for their holiday purchases. A lot of customers are holding off until Black Friday and Cyber Monday though, the big shopping days where discounts are offered. So what can you do to grab your share of the shopping profits?
Pulling the Customers In
Make sure you offer a little of something for everyone. Your objective is to increase sales for Black Friday through the weekend to Cyber Monday. You can spread your sales profits through the whole weekend by having some sales on Black Friday with the culmination of the biggest sales on Cyber Monday. You also need to figure out what the average size of an order needs to be for you to offer free shipping. Also you can offer free shipping on Cyber Monday only which may be the thing that your customers need to order that day. If you have overstock in your inventory, think of creative ways to move the merchandise. You could put this merchandise all on one page of an ad and call it The Black Friday Blowout or Cyber Monday Great Buys. You can also put some products together in grab bags or mystery boxes as limited time offers. Customers love surprises at low prices and since this can move products in your warehouses that you need to sell at lower prices to move, you win too.
Keeping Your Customer’s Attention
The customers on your website are browsing, so how do you keep them there buying? You can use limited coupons with a different one daily and stretch your sales out accordingly. Give customers free shipping on one day, a percentage off another day and perhaps a free gift with their purchases on the last day. This will keep customers logging on to your website throughout the entire four days of the crucial sales period. Offer coupons to varied segments of your customer segment. Code some coupons for senior citizens, some for college students, small businesses and new customers. Code them for different days for different percentages off. Just make sure you have in the fine print something like “one per customer" with an expiration date.
Offer Free Shipping
Shipping fees are the thing that customers hate most. This is the number-one reason customers abandon their carts in an online store. They have an amount in their mind that they want to spend and shipping fees can make or break this price. You can put a minimum purchase on your free shipping, which is effective, but choose your free shipping threshold carefully. Free starting at $99 or below seems to work best psychologically because it doesn’t break the three digit barrier. If you offer free shipping in advance of Black Friday Weekend, it also may encourage shoppers to purchase earlier.
Another thing to consider is when a customer abandons a cart online; sometimes a gentle nudge will reactivate the motivation to purchase. Remind the customer with a pop-up that they still have items in the cart. This kind of a reminder can get the customer to go back in your online store and reconsider their purchasing decision.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just weeks away, make a plan and stick with it. Profits are there to be made.
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.com
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