BFCM Bootcamp: Lessons from 2019 And The 3 Offer Types You Need To Know

If you haven’t started prepping for Black Friday/Cyber Monday yet, you’re not alone. But with less than 3 weeks left, it’s time to buckle down.

That’s why every day on the podcast this week, Ben is sharing tips to help whip you into shape for the biggest sales weekend of the year.

Today, he kicked things off with some lessons from last year and a few different offer ideas to get your wheels turning.

Tune in below or keep reading to get your BFCM primer.

Lessons from BFCM 2019

Last BFCM was BIG for ecommerce brands. And this year is expected to be even bigger.

Here are a few of the lessons we learned from the last holiday season that you should consider as you prepare for this year.

Traffic doubled last November

It’s important to remember that traffic does not always = sales. Just because you’re expecting a higher number of visitors to come to your site, doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to drive more sales.

Which brings me to the next point.

Cart abandonment rates jumped to 85%

Typically, we see cart abandonment hover around 70%. Which means for every 100 people that add your products to their cart, 70 of them are going to bounce before making the purchase.

But last year, during BFCM, we saw it jump to around 85%. Which means you need to have a cart abandonment strategy in place.

Between cart savers and abandonment emails, you have what you need to combat this.

Mobile made up 82% of total traffic

Typically, we see about 75% of traffic coming from mobile, but last BFCM it increased to around 82%. Which shouldn’t be surprising. It just means you need to be mobile-optimized.

That starts by going through your site on mobile just to be sure everything works the way you expect it to. You’d be surprised how many people miss things on mobile because they treat it as a set it and forget initiative.

But the truth is, it’s super important to make this part of your ongoing strategy. When you make any changes on your site, make sure they work correctly on mobile. Especially this time of year.

The 3 types of BFCM offers you need to know

The secret to a successful BFCM campaign comes down to one thing. Your offer.

It fuels everything – from your ad creative, to emails, to the images on your homepage, everything you do needs to be anchored to a single, consistent offer.

Which is why this is step 1. So before you dive into anything else, decide on your offer. I promise it’s going to make the rest of your planning SO much easier.

Here are 3 types of offers you should consider.

BFCM offer #1: Exclusive product launch

This is exactly what you think it is. A product you don’t usually offer that’s exclusively available during BFCM.

It could be a product you already have in a new color, flavor, etc. to make it feel extra special, or a brand new product altogether that you know your audience will go nuts for.

Of all the offers you can launch for BFCM, this is probably the most time-intensive. And because we’re getting down to the wire, you might want to consider the next two options.

BFCM offer #2: Bundle

Nik Sharma predicts high AOV bundles with high discounts are going to be king this year.

Which honestly is great news for you. Because you already have everything you need to make this a reality.

Create bundles of products that are frequently bought together and incentivize a purchase with a discount. It’s a win-win because you’re driving purchases that are hopefully higher than your average order value and your customers are getting a discount on products they’re excited about.

BFCM offer #3: Sitewide discount

30% is safe for the holiday season. But of course you have to make sure it works for your margins.

What works really well here is creating urgency by drawing a hard line. For the next 24 hours, get 30% off your entire purchase. You can’t let it linger too long, though, or people might change their minds without following through.

This is another option that’s great if you’re short on time.

And you can even do tiered discounting (for example, 20% off orders of $50+, 25% off orders of $100+, 30% off $150+) to incentivize larger purchases with higher discounts at every tier.

Key takeaways from BFCM 2019 and offers for a killer 2020

• Make sure you have cart savers and abandoned cart emails in place. The number of people who leave your site without making a purchase is higher than ever this time of year.
• Triple check to make sure your site (images, popups, everything) is working correctly on mobile.
• Your offer is going to determine your success this BFCM. Make sure it’s going to resonate with your audience.
• Choose between 3 types of offers before you do anything else.

And don’t worry, every day this week, we’ll keep sharing Ben’s BFCM secrets to success. So be sure to tune in on Ecommerce Marketing School or keep coming back to the blog to see what’s new.

Topics:
Ecommerce Marketing