Cyber Monday wasn't even a twinkle in the eye of the retail PR team that would establish it at the turn of the century, and the guy often credited with coining the word was still in college. Today, Cyber Monday is the most significant online shopping holiday in the United States. Every year, on the Monday following Thanksgiving, tens of millions of bargain-hunting holiday consumers go to retail websites large and small to take advantage of time- and quantity-limited bargains. It may be too early to think about the holidays, but if your small business hasn't already begun planning for Cyber Monday, now is the time.
In this blog post, we'll go over some ideas to assist you to prepare for Cyber Monday. We've also included a few Cyber Monday preparation tips from companies that have previously been successful with their Cyber Monday preparations.
What is Cyber Monday and Why is it so Significant?
Cyber Monday is an internet shopping holiday that occurs on the Monday following Thanksgiving. Many companies will begin presenting specials and offer on their websites as early as midnight to urge buyers to finalize their holiday shopping list before the big day!
Cyber Monday spent $10.8 billion in 2020, up 15.1 percent from 2019, setting a record for the greatest U.S. online shopping day. At this point, most shoppers have Cyber Monday circled on their calendars as the only day they will undertake holiday shopping.
When is Cyber Monday 2021?
Cyber Monday 2021 is on Monday, November 29th. The date varies from year to year because it is determined by Thanksgiving (which lands on the fourth Thursday in November). Black Friday is always followed by Cyber Monday. This year, Black Friday begins on Friday, November 26th.
However, it is impossible to say when the event begins and finishes because shops frequently use Black Friday/Cyber Monday branding in the weeks leading up to the holiday and even in the days after it. In any case, make a note of it on your calendar.
How Can You Prepare for Cyber Monday?
Prepare your website, employees, and storefront for an influx of new internet visitors to deliver the best offers and leave a lasting impression. These tips can help you for preparing your online store for Cyber Monday.
1. Try Out Your Technology
Throughout the year, the performance of your website is critical to the client experience. A spike in traffic, on the other hand, can impose a burden on your site. To check your shopping channels, follow these steps:
- Determine your available bandwidth by contacting your tech team or hosting service.
- Run performance tests on your website's pages, including new Cyber Monday pages.
- Test your website's product and promotion pages on a variety of devices to guarantee mobile-friendliness.
- Make a backup of your website and Cyber Monday pages to avoid downtime if you experience technical difficulties.
- Keep an IT professional or team member on call to deal with any issues that emerge.
2. Display Your Shipping Policy and Options
Image is taken from Strikingly
According to Convey, a delivery experience management company, 89 percent of buyers this year "are prepared to give shops extra time to deliver products." Consumers, on the other hand, want free shipping and complete transparency.
Furthermore, in-store buyers may be concerned about extended shipment times or ask more questions than average internet shoppers.
- Update your shipment information to reflect current timelines to alleviate their anxieties
- On shopping carts, displaying the anticipated delivery date (EDD);
- providing order status and order tracking capabilities;
- answering shipping inquiries using a chatbot;
- providing choices for in-store or curbside pickup.
3. Go Over the Checkout Procedure
You are well aware of the significance of a simple checkout process. However, take the journey for yourself and ensure that orders can be easily edited on all devices and that customers can buy your products as a guest. During Cyber Week, consider accepting alternate payment options such as PayPal and utilizing a live chat service.
4. Make Your Cyber Monday Website Search Intent-friendly
Search engines are used by shoppers to identify merchant specials or product-specific bargains. Consumers may search for terms such as "gaming computer Cyber Monday," "Cyber Monday deals 2020," or "Apple watches Cyber Monday." Increase your reach by implementing SEO methods on your website, product listings, and Cyber Monday landing pages.
Use Google's suggestions to improve your site:
- Create your page early: Create your Cyber Monday web pages ahead of time so that search engines can scan and index your site.
- Incorporate internal links: To boost visibility, connect your important websites, such as your homepage, to your Cyber Monday assets.
- Use the same web page every year: Because older pages have more SEO juice, Google advises against mentioning the year in your URL.
- Request that your page be crawled again: After you've modified your web pages, request that Google re-crawl your site to boost visibility before the big day.
- Optimize metadata: Include your Cyber Monday keywords in the alternative text, image titles, and file names.
- Respond to inquiries: Examine the People also ask (PAA) queries on the Google search page and address these in your material before Cyber Monday.
5. Create a Strategy for Social Media Customer Care
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website
With so much traffic predicted, issues may arise. Although you will do all possible to avoid problems, it is best to be prepared for anything. And the easiest way to accomplish this is to allocate an extra team member to monitor social media. Use social listening platforms such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social to monitor for mentions or postings about your company so that your teams may intervene and reply. Prepare to respond to any queries via Facebook Messenger or other social messaging systems. People may try to send orders through Messenger, so plan ahead of time to make the procedure as seamless as possible.
6. Invest in Local Marketing Initiatives
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website
As the pandemic worsens, many individuals attempt to shop locally, even if that means shopping online and having it delivered to their door. Drive local shoppers to your online marketplace by doing the following:
- creating area-specific landing pages
- optimizing channels for local SEO
- collaborating with local influencers and media sources
- participating in community campaigns
- utilizing location tags on Instagram or Facebook
7. Increase Your Content Marketing Efforts
People may want more assistance than in previous years as more people browse for things online that they previously purchased in a brick-and-mortar store. Furthermore, customers are decision tired, and to be honest, they are simply exhausted. Give customers everything they need to feel at ease when making online transactions while demonstrating value and transparency.
Increase enthusiasm for Cyber Monday by including content such as:
- Smart buying guide: Highlight new or distinctive products with clear photographs, links to video demos, and enough technical specifications to make a decision.
- Comparison blueprint: People are looking for the best prices this year and every year, so provide a comparison demonstrating why your products are the best value.
- Curated gift ideas: Create material that assists individuals in purchasing gifts for certain demographics, such as the top ten gifts for dog lovers or the top five gifts for remote workers.
- Videos: Raise your video game by offering 360-degree views of your goods in videos tailored to multiple platforms. Add them to your product pages.
- Images: Look through your reviews and social feeds for user-generated material (UGC) and ask for permission to use it in the run-up to and during your Cyber Monday sale.
8. Create a Cyber Monday Sale Funnel
Your gift guide is an excellent approach to entice new customers into your Cyber Monday sale funnel while simultaneously appealing to existing clients. Warm-up your audience by constructing a conversion funnel that will generate interest early on, give a feeling of urgency and encourage repeat purchases.
To highlight low inventory items or limited-time bargains, use e-commerce marketing methods such as going live on Facebook or Instagram with your Cyber Monday promos.
9. On Cyber Monday, Provide a VIP Experience
People want to be treated as individuals and to have their experiences tailored to their specific needs. Reach out to current consumers with tailored offers based on previous purchases. Make the following offers through your loyalty program, email marketing, and text messaging campaigns:
- express checkout
- early access to special discounts
- expedited shipping
- sneak looks at Cyber Monday advertisements
10. Provide Shopping Experiences across Several Channels
Selling online is more than just having a website. Use Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest shopping tools to make it easy for social media users to buy directly from the app.
How to Display Sale Prices on a Strikingly Site
Using site builders like Strikingly, you can display prices at the desired discount on your e-commerce site. If you've decided to have a Cyber Monday sale, you'll need to understand how to update your product settings on your e-commerce site. Strikingly provides a clean and simple approach to display discounted pricing. Strikingly is the most seamless site builder out there, especially for small businesses, with many options for building your online store and many designs to exhibit your products online.
If you already have an online store on Strikingly, you can alter your prices to reflect this.
- Go to your store's menu. Make changes to the product section. From the drop-down list, click on "Add Sale Price."
Image is taken from Strikingly
- There is an option to display your Cyber Monday sale price alongside the original price, represented by a crossed-out figure. Customers will be charged for the sale price.
- Following that, you must enter your crossed-out price or the original price before you provide a reduction.
Image is taken from Strikingly
- Save your modifications after inputting the crossed-out price. The item display now includes the price of the item for sale.
Image is taken from Strikingly
Last Thoughts
The weekend that ran from Black Friday through Cyber Monday is, without a doubt, one of the most profitable weeks of the year. Because of the enormous potential of this time, retailers must begin their marketing preparations as soon as possible to achieve the most productive results. To properly maximize this epic internet shopping day, a lot of planning and strategy is required ahead of time. Use these Cyber Monday preparation ideas to get your small business ready to create holiday income and Q4 profits on the greatest shopping day of the year.
