The year-end shopping spree is around the corner! Is your online store ready for the upcoming traffic during this Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM)? This year, Black Friday is taking place on November 29, followed by Cyber Monday on December 2.
In this article, we chatted with @BSSCommerce and are exploring how to optimize your website for a fruitful BFCM season!
Table of Contents
- What is BFCM?
- Why website optimization matters for BFCM
- Increasing traffic and potential for websites
- Standing out among competition
- Maximizing Conversion CRO
- Improving brand reputation
- Make sure your store load fast
- Create compelling product pages
- Enhance user experience (UX)
- Strengthen security and trust
- Make checkout quick and easy
- When should I start optimizing my website for BFCM?
- How do I prepare my store for incoming high traffic during BFCM 2024?
- How do I streamline order and fulfillment workflows for BFCM sales?
- How do I know what works and what doesn’t after BFCM?
1. What is BFCM?
BFCM, short for Black Friday Cyber Monday, is a global marketing promotion that originated in the United States after the Thanksgiving celebrations. Black Friday is known for its in-store deals, while Cyber Monday focuses on online discounts.
BFCM can bring opportunities to pave a way to long-term growth:
- Customer acquisition: The high volume of traffic can be leveraged to acquire new customers through effective marketing strategies.
- Customer retention: Delivering a good customer experience and customer engagements during BFCM will increase loyalty and bodes well for return business.
- Data collection: Examining the behavioral patterns and preferences of customers during the BFCM sale period could be very useful for marketing purposes in subsequent periods.
2. Why website optimization matters for BFCM?
BFCM 2024 presents a significant opportunity for online retailers. To differentiate yourself and maximize sales, you need to enhance the performance of your website:
Increasing traffic and potential for websites
BFCM 2024 is a busy time for online retailers. To stand out and make the most sales, you need to optimize your website. One of the biggest benefits of website optimization during BFCM is the ability to drive more traffic and attract more customers.
- Better SEO: Optimized websites will rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and get more organic traffic.
- Better user experience: An optimized website is faster, easier to navigate and more visually appealing, so visitors will stay longer and explore more.
- Social sharing: Optimized content will get shared on social media, increasing visibility and driving traffic to your website. This is especially effective during BFCM when people are sharing deals and recommendations online.
Stand out among competition
To remain above the market trends and also reach prospective customers, there is a need for your website to be improved. Website optimization is useful in the following ways:
- Differentiation: Owing to the user-centric optimization approach of a website this makes it easy for such websites to compete with their peers through better views, unique content, features among others. For example – you can develop your website unique from others by providing tailored offers or suggesting otherwise and so on.
- Reduced abandonment: The customers might be turned off from using a website if it is too slow. To put it in simple words, optimization reduces load times and increases user satisfaction and conversion. To estimate page speed loading for websites, online store owners can use some tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix. These tools provide some critical metrics, such as performance scores, SEO scores, and more.
Maximizing conversion (CRO)
There are various tools available for conducting CRO audits, including free options like Google Analytics and various CRO applications found in the Shopify App Store. If you feel like learning more about tools and strategies, check out the blog: What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)? Strategies and Tools.
Improving brand reputation
A well optimized website can make a big impact on your brand during Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) and beyond. Here’s how:
- Positive user experience: A well-optimized website provides a positive user experience, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. When customers have a positive experience on your website they are more likely to recommend your brand to others and come back to buy from you again.
- Credibility: A fast, responsive and looking website can increase your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness. Customers are more likely to trust a brand with a professional looking website.
- Trust signals: Optimization can add trust signals like security badges and customer testimonials to build confidence in your brand. These signals can create a killer order-tracking experience and reassure customers their personal information is safe, and your business is legit.
3. How To Optimize Your Website For BFCM Traffic
Below are some useful incitements that will not just pull visitors during this shopping period but also convert them to your customers.
Make sure your store load fast
Website speed is key during BFCM, even a 1-second delay can put your customers off. Your website needs to perform under heavy traffic to not lose sales:
- Optimize Images and Media: Big, high resolution images can slow down your website. Use image compression and modern formats like WebP to keep quality and speed.
- Reduce and Compress Files: Shrink your HTML, CSS and JavaScript files. This will make your website load faster especially during high traffic periods.
- Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): CDNs distribute your content across multiple servers globally, so users can access your website fast no matter where they are. To understand how CDNs work for your business, take a look at this blog: What Is a CDN and How Do CDNs Work?
Create compelling product pages
High-Quality Images and Videos
- Use images that are of professional quality: Present the product attractively that draws the attention of viewers.
- Provide different views: Help the customers with clear images showing all the different aspects of the products.
- Think about the use of videos: Video provides a more in-depth understanding of the products to the customers that the static images do not.
Clear and Compelling Product Descriptions
- Concentrate on benefits and features: Specify the value of the products to potential clients in detail.
- Use persuasive language: Use language that stimulates action from the targeted audience.
- Use relevant keywords: Enrich the product descriptions with the right keywords for better search engine indexing.
Enhance User Experience (UX)
A smooth user experience is key to keeping customers engaged and moving through the buying process. Any hindrances may result in cart abandonment or lost revenue:
- Improve Site Structure: Categorize products clearly and create simple, intuitive navigation menus so customers can find what they’re looking for easily.
- Clear call-to-actions (CTAs) Button: Create big and noticeable CTAs that tell visitors what to do next, whether it’s add to cart, subscribe for a discount or buy now. Make sure the shopping cart and checkout buttons are easy to find.
- Mobile Optimization: Most BFCM shoppers will be shopping and buying on mobile. Make sure your site is mobile friendly, with clickable buttons, mobile optimized layouts and fast loading times.
If you want to find out how your users feel about your online store, read this blog: Ecommerce UX Audit: Make Your Website User-Friendly in 2024.
Strengthen security and trust
Next up for optimizing your website for BFCM is to boost security and trust. This is key to converting new visitors, especially during peak shopping times like BFCM. Customers need to feel safe and secure when transacting on your website:
- Website security: Make sure your website is secure by getting SSL certificates, encrypting sensitive info and keeping up to date with the latest security patches. This protects your business and your customers.
- Show trust badges and secure payment methods: Displaying security badges like secure payment options or certifications from reputable organizations like McAfee or Norton helps build trust with your visitors. Make sure these are visible on your checkout pages.
- Clarify return and refund policy: A clear and concise return policy gives customers confidence, so they can shop without worry. Make this policy easily accessible, so customers know what to do if something goes wrong.
Make checkout quick and easy
You will want to make your checkout easy like a breeze to handle the extra traffic and conversions. Here are some must-do’s to drive your customers to that express lane of checking out the items in their cart:
- Simplify the Checkout. A one-page or one-click checkout reduces cart abandonment. Go for single page checkout or minimal number of steps. You can find out how to add it to your store in What Is One-Click Checkout? How To Add It to Your Store (2024).
- Offer Multiple Payment. Offer multiple payment methods to cater to different customer preferences. Include credit/debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services.
- Guest Checkout. Allow customers to check out without creating an account. This reduces friction and speeds up the process.
- Mobile Optimized. Make sure your checkout is mobile friendly. Many customers will be using their mobile during BFCM, so a responsive design is a must. Use big, easy to tap buttons and autofill options for forms to improve mobile checkout.
- Show Clear Progress Indicators. Show customers where they are in the checkout process with progress indicators. This will help manage expectations and reduce anxiety. Use a progress bar at the top of the checkout page with steps like “Shipping Information”, “Payment Details” and “Review Order”.
- Test and Optimize. A/B test different elements of your checkout to see what works. Test form fields, button colors and page layouts. Here’s an example: Test a green “Complete Purchase” button versus a blue one to see which one converts better.
FAQs – How to Optimize Your Website for BFCM
1. When should I start optimizing my website for BFCM?
It is recommended to begin the website optimization process for Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) as early as possible: Starting in November.
Week 1:
- Determine your overall campaign goals, target audience, and promotional offers.
- Optimize product pages
- Review your website’s mobile experience
Week 2:
- Set up email marketing campaigns
- Test your checkout process
Week 3: Launch your BFCM marketing campaign
Week 4: Offer last-minute deals & Prepare for post-BFCM activities
2. How do I prepare my store for incoming high traffic during BFCM 2024?
- Optimize website performance: Ensure your website loads quickly, even under heavy traffic. Consider using a content delivery network (CDN) and optimizing images.
- Test your store: Conduct thorough load testing to identify potential bottlenecks and address them before BFCM.
- Anticipate payment gateway issues: Work with your payment gateway to ensure they can handle increased transaction volume.
- Plan for inventory management: Accurately forecast demand and ensure sufficient inventory levels. Consider pre-allocating inventory to popular products.
- Prepare customer support: Hire additional staff or outsource support to handle increased inquiries and potential issues.
- Implement a clear returns policy: Have a well-defined returns policy in place to manage potential returns and exchanges efficiently.
3. How do I optimize order and fulfillment workflows for BFCM sales?
- Automate processes: Use automation tools to streamline order processing, shipping, and inventory management.
- Prioritize order fulfillment: Implement a system to prioritize orders based on factors like customer loyalty or order value.
- Optimize shipping: Negotiate shipping rates with carriers and consider offering free shipping to encourage purchases.
- Consider drop-shipping: If applicable, leverage drop-shipping to reduce fulfillment costs and time.
- Have a backup plan: Be prepared for unexpected delays or issues with your fulfillment process.
4. How do I know what works and what doesn’t after BFCM?
- Track key metrics: Monitor metrics such as sales, conversion rate, average order value, customer acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value.
- Analyze customer behavior: Study customer data to understand purchasing patterns, preferences, and feedback.
- Conduct surveys: Gather customer feedback through surveys or reviews to identify areas for improvement.
- Compare to previous years: Compare your BFCM performance to previous years to identify trends and areas of growth.
Wrapping up
Thank you for reading. We hope you’re feeling empowered to fine-tune your eCommerce site and ready it up for the upcoming BFCM! Share your questions or thoughts in the comments below. We’re all for learning from each other!
Enjoy our content? Subscribe to our Blog board to get notified about new topics. If you’d like a chat with @BSS-Commerce and explore a bit more about optimizing your store, feel free to reach out here!
