Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As the holiday shopping season approaches, usually lasting from November 1 to December 31, the question arises: how can you make the most of this period? Its peak will hit during the so-called Cyber Five, or Cyber Week, which may generate 16.9% of all holiday season revenue.
Let’s look at strategies that will help you get through this busy time and maintain a steady stream of conversions in the future.
Related: Boost Your Ecommerce Sales — 8 Proven Strategies for the Holiday Season
1. Keep healthy margins while customers save
Instead of offering blanket discounts, a tiered discount system that increases based on cart value encourages bigger purchases. Offering various discount levels motivates customers to spend more to maximize their savings, which boosts the average order value (AOV).
For instance, offer 10% off a $50 order, 20% off $100, etc. By layering upsell opportunities on top, the sale of high-margin products reduces the effect on overall profits. For example, show clients complementary items to raise the total order value, like adding a phone case to a smartphone to reach $500 and unlock a 15% discount. This spreads the discount across products, balancing costs while customers enjoy the savings.
Another approach is to sell high-margin bundles with small discounts. Offer complementary or related items to the main product so that the customer reaches a specified order value to receive a discount. Customers perceive they are getting a deal, but higher-margin products help balance the cost. Last but not least, use your shoppers’ behavioral data to offer real-time incentives. For example, you can set up a personalized pop-up that appears after a user views several products, suggesting orders over $100 to receive a 20% off coupon for their next purchase. This keeps current margins reasonable while encouraging repeat purchases.
2. Incentivize with exclusive offers beyond early access
Offering early access to BFCM can drive sign-ups, grow your subscriber list and lower customer acquisition costs. Greater value from early access motivates a prospect to convert into a customer when the sale starts and maintains customer loyalty. You’ve got a win-win situation:
- Customers are more likely to get the items they want without encountering ‘sold out.’
- You will spread the traffic on your website.
- Your brand benefits from increased engagement, which can transform into loyalty.
Early access is a strong draw on its own, but you can further incentivize sign-ups with extra benefits. The average cart abandonment rate is 82%, with 62% of consumers citing high shipping costs as the main reason for this. The higher the order value, the less willing people are to pay for delivery: 19% won’t pay for a €15 order, 27% for €50, and 35% for €150. A strategically timed pop-up offering free shipping on orders over a specific threshold, shown when a shopper is about to exit, can be both cost-effective and highly enticing for customers.
Besides, offering early Black Friday access to your most active customers or loyalty members strengthens relationships with your highest lifetime value audience. The sense of exclusivity and urgency will encourage your consumers to take advantage of a ‘not for everyone’ offer as soon as possible. An example of this approach is the LEGO or Sephora Insiders programs.
Related: How to Attract Higher-Quality Customers
3. Gamified shopping: excite visitors and drive more conversions
Gamification adds interactivity and a sense of reward to the buying process, increasing engagement and encouraging visitors to spend more time on your site. Winning discounts, gathering loyalty program points, or participating in challenges enhance conversion rates, raise AOV and reduce cart abandonment.
Gamification is about adding game-like elements to the traditional buying process. A common example of ecommerce gamification is a pop-up wheel of fortune. Claspo data shows that the Spin the Wheel pop-up has a 41% higher conversion rate than countdown timer pop-ups. You can assign various incentives to the wheel sectors, such as discounts, free shipping, gifts or festive packaging. With an advanced reward management system, you can set winning probabilities for each incentive — for instance, 55% for a 10% discount, 30% for a gift, and 15% for free shipping — allowing you to manage your prize pool effectively within your budget.
This interactive element keeps shoppers engaged, while the uncertainty of the reward increases the excitement of their inner achievers. As an advanced tactic, behavioral data can be used to trigger pop-ups only when needed, when users are about to exit or leave the cart, motivating them to complete the purchase with a special discount.
Related: 7 Ways to Boost Customer Retention Through Email Gamification
4. Flash deals and countdown thrills: create FOMO
Black Friday is already a time-limited event, but you can trigger FOMO with flash sales. The highly limited time of such promotions creates a sense of urgency and scarcity among consumers, pushing them to make immediate purchasing decisions. This approach is effective for generating excitement around high-demand products and clearing seasonal inventory.
Flash sales trigger FOMO, which is a strong psychological motivator, and push browsers to make immediate purchase decisions. Timed promotions or hourly flash sales encourage consumers to check your site throughout the day to catch the latest deals. Also, you can introduce a mystery quick sale by keeping the assortment secret, which is particularly powerful during BF when shoppers expect limited-time or exclusive deals.
Before the sale, encourage visitors to leave their email to get notified first, and during the event, display a pop-up with a timer to notify them about the ongoing promotion and countdown to its end. Our clients have found that pop-ups with timers and appealing offers can increase conversion by 112%. As an advanced tactic, A/B testing can be used to identify the most effective times for flash sales based on customer engagement data.
5. Put user experience first
With 48% of consumers thoroughly researching products before purchasing and 62% of consumers saying they are more likely to buy a product after seeing them, accessibility of information is key. Enhance product pages with user-generated content like customer images or videos from reviews and social media. Notably, this type of content is often missing on many sites, so there is potential for growth and conversions.
Another way to enhance user experience is by using informing pop-ups, especially for new visitors. For instance, if your Black Friday deals are limited only to specific products, a pop-up or a sticky bar to inform users about the promotion ensures shoppers don’t miss out. One of our clients found that pop-ups promoting sale items increased cart additions by 15% and boosted sales by 19%.
Essential last-minute tactics
Small actions taken early can drive big results, and the impact will carry throughout the holiday season. Ideally, Black Friday preparations would have started in the summer, but there is still some time to get things moving. Data by Google shows that by December, shoppers complete less than half of their planned holiday purchases, meaning there are still opportunities to capture additional sales, even after BFCM. Capture first-time buyers with early bird access, retarget shoppers who showed interest but didn’t convert with gamification, and engage returning visitors with exclusive deals.
