Cyber Monday is just 57 hours away. For those who don’t know what it is it’s the single largest day of online shopping of the year. It’s the Monday following Black Friday every year.
If you don’t have a plan out together yet not to fret, you’ll just have to out in some weekend hours.
I’ve been involved in a lot of Cyber Monday sales and I wanted to give you the keys to a successful Cyber Monday Sale.
Get The Word Out
For late bloomers it’s too late to send out any traditional advertisers but you can certainly notify people via your social networks and email newsletters.
Make sure the sale is widely advertised on your site all day as well. The key is to capture as many conversions as possible so make sure every visitor that lands on your site has a chance to see what the sale is.
Variety in Your Sale
You should offer a wide variety if ways for people to save during your sale. Some people choose to discount different items differently or even offer some “door buster” deals on some bigger items but only to a few.
One thing that I’ve seen work quite well is having a different sale for a certain block of time.
When I was at eRetailing one of the cooler ideas we tried was a different discounted item each hour. Not only did this offer a great variety but it kept bringing traffic back to our site each hour to see what the next sale item would be.
If you take this method though make sure not to make it “top heavy” with all of your most popular items being discounted at one time. Sprinkle in some smaller things to keep it interesting and keep the momentum going.
Free Shipping
Almost every Cyber Monday sale offers free shipping in one form or another. Especially if you’re an online only business it’ll be important to follow this trend.
Obviously it has to make money sense for you though. If you’re a drop shipper you’re going to get creative with your sales so that you don’t kill your margin. Everyone likes to sell products. But don’t kill your bottom line.
Offer Extended Holiday Returns
This is pretty standard as well. But you’d be surprised at how badly your conversion rates will be if you don’t specify for your holiday traffic.
Give them at least a week after Christmas to make the return.
Plan for more support staff
Especially of you have a more complex product that you sell. Make sure you’ve got enough customer service reps to handle the higher volume.
Summary
Make it fun and easy to buy from you on Cyber Monday. And do actually do something for it. You’ll miss out on sales if you choose not to.
These are ideas that I’ve seen work in the past but there is always the “keep it simple stupid” mentality as well.
Whichever you decide just make sure you’re servers are ready to handle the additional traffic and sales volume.
Happy Holidays and have some fun!