Did you know that 65% of a company’s revenue comes from the repeat business of existing customers? With the increase in customer interest, it's better to prepare your Shopify store to meet their demands. Customers want the right products, trust in the store they're buying from, and special deals. In 2023, Shopify merchants reached a record $9.3 billion in sales over BFCM. This means that competition is fierce. Shopify store owners need to ensure that their store is ready to make the most out of BFCM! With that in mind, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get your Shopify store ready for the busiest weekend in the e-commerce calendar. 

Before BFCM: 

Forecast Your Demand 

Effective inventory planning and management are essential to avoid revenue loss during the holiday season. We recommend you start as early as possible to prevent stock shortages or overstock situations. To do this, you can examine your sales data from previous Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) events to identify trends and patterns. But don’t forget to note which products were the most popular and had the highest sales volume! Tools like syncX: Stock Sync can aid in tracking past orders, managing real-time inventory levels, automating updates, reducing manual work, and overselling risks. 


Another way is to monitor your industry. Different industries have different patterns and numbers. When you’re well informed about the latest industry trends, you can easily identify high-demand products. Most importantly, when you observe your competitors and see which products they are promoting, you can have a grasp of which products will sell well.

Reminder: Always take into consideration external factors. Sometimes, you have to look at the current economic situation in your country or globally. Different economic conditions can significantly affect customer spending habits. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer behavior shifted - they were less likely to spend more.

To maximize your sales forecast, you can also learn and track your sales performance from time to time by using Ako’s CRM dashboard. This tool can help you to make better predictions based on accurate data, ensuring that you’re prepared to meet customer demand without the risk of overselling or stock shortages.

Create Gift Bundles

Let's be clear — it’s the opportunity to create connections with customers and earn their trust that makes a holiday campaign impactful. Special pricing, discounts, and savings help to create these opportunities and prompt customers to buy. Creating a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) and exclusivity encourages customers to buy more, potentially boosting your average order value (AOV). Here are some examples to try:

  • Upselling Deals
    •

    Just like its name suggests, upselling means that you’re selling an advanced version of a product. Without realizing it, upselling often happens everywhere in our daily lives. A simple example is when checking out a product, you might be offered a premium version with additional features or a larger size for a small additional cost. With the BFCM season coming, it’s a good chance for merchants to start upselling. We recommend you offer exclusive deals on premium products during BFCM, such as "Exclusive BFCM deal: Get our premium blender for $50 off!" Here is also a good example taken from Cross Sell and Upsell by SSC: 

    One of the best ways to have a successful upsell strategy is by getting creative with your offers, this will increase your Average Order Value and at the same time will make customers feel they can’t miss this deal. Adding apps like Upsell and Cross-Sell to your strategy can significantly help. 

    Assigning Cross-Sells, Upsells, and Frequently Bought Together bundles boosts sales and enhances the customer experience.

  • Cross-Selling Deals
    •

    Unlike upselling, where you want to suggest your customers buy higher-end products, cross-selling encourages your customers to buy complementary products. For example, if you want to buy a Big Mac, then your complementary product would be a Coke and french fries. When done correctly, cross-selling can increase your store’s AOV. To get started, you can identify products that naturally go well together. For example, if you’re a skincare brand, the best way to cross-sell is by bundling a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer along with a discount. For example, "Save 20% when you buy this skincare bundle!". Here’s a good example taken from Cross Sell and Upsell by SSC: 

    Pro tip: We want to let customers know that they are saving more when buying a bundle. So, merchants would want to communicate the benefits of purchasing the bundle versus buying the items individually. For example, "This bundle offers a complete skincare routine for 20% less than buying each item separately."

  • Gift Bundles
    •

    Highlight popular product combinations that are frequently bought together. Bundles can offer a discount on the combined purchase for example if you are selling swimsuits you can bundle it with a matching hat or pair of sunglasses this will incentivize your customers to buy more items at once. If you’d like to attract more customers, you can include a Buy X Get Y Offer. During winter seasons, skincare brands can create a "Winter Skincare Bundle" including a cleanser, toner, moisturizer, and a free face mask. You can also create themed bundles. This means that you can create a bundle according to a theme or a specific customer need. Another example taken from BOGOS is to do a customizable bundle like Nintendo, where they allow customers to customize their bundle at a lower price: 

    Thanks to this strategy, Nintendo increased their video games sales by over 100,000 units. To achieve this, you can try using apps like BOGOS to help you boost your AOV with a Buy X Get Y bundle! 

    Send Email Campaigns

    What's better than having lots of customers? Having customers who are excited and engaged! They are customers that are paying attention to what you have to offer. To keep your customers in the loop, announce your BFCM sales on social media. Features like Ako Instagram DM Automation can help you reach more people and boost engagement. When customers comment with a keyword like “BCFM special code,” you can automatically send them discount codes!


    Just like social media, email marketing can help keep your customers excited about your BFCM deals. It’s recommended to start your campaign before November! Additionally, you can offer your loyal email and follower subscribers early access to your deals with a special code. Personalize your emails by addressing customers by name and recommending products based on their past purchases. Apps like Klaviyo can help you to deliver a more personalized email to your customers. 



    Here are some of our best tips for creating a successful BFCM email campaign: 

    • Start with a catchy subject line: "Get Ready for Our Biggest Black Friday Deals!" or "Exclusive BFCM Offers Just for You!"
    • Highlight the deals: "We have amazing deals on your favorite products." "Enjoy exclusive discounts just for our loyal customers."
    • Create urgency: "Hurry, these deals won't last long!" "Limited-time offers, shop now!"
    • Add personal touches: "Thank you for being a valued customer." "We appreciate your loyalty and support.”

    Below is a good BFCM email done by Onsen through Klaviyo. Not only do they offer free shipping, but they provide a special BFCM discount code: 

    Highlight Customer Reviews

    You’ve run your marketing campaign and a potential customer visits your store. Now, how do you give them that final push to complete their purchase? One way is by making your customers feel safe and confident by having a trustworthy website. 

    Customer reviews are essential components of a successful BFCM campaign. This is because customers are more inclined to trust reviews that come from real humans. Naturally, your customers are more likely to trust feedback from real people who have already purchased from your store. However, as much as we’re emphasizing customer reviews, we also want to keep in mind that high-quality reviews are important. Here’s how you can make the most out of your customer reviews: 

    • Verified Purchases: Make sure that reviews are from verified purchases or users. This adds an extra layer of credibility, as potential customers know that the feedback is from authentic buyers.
    • Pin Top Reviews: You can pin the most detailed and helpful reviews at the top to ensure that your potential customers see the best feedback first.
    • Offer Incentives: Provide small incentives, like discount codes or loyalty points, for customers who leave comprehensive reviews

    With Judge.me integrated with Ako Loyalty Retargeting CRM, you can display customer reviews on your websites and reward customers with points or discount codes whenever they write reviews.


    Create a Loyalty Program 

    Keeping your customers in the loop regarding this year's holiday season will make a big difference in your loyalty program’s success. Whether you just started your loyalty program or it's been around the block, it’s important to give them a heads up and remind them about your brand. You can do this by doing email marketing, as mentioned earlier in our blog. However, before starting, you need to make sure that you know which type of loyalty program you want to use: a point-based system, tiered rewards, referral program, or a combination of different systems.

    • Points-Based System: This type is best to incentivize repeat purchases for all kinds of customers, either it’s new or existing ones. It’s ideal for stores where customers make frequent, smaller purchases, such as a coffee shop. During BFCM, you can make a special promo where customers earn double points for every purchase. For example, "Earn 2 points for every $1 spent during BFCM  and get your favorite coffee for free even faster!" 
    • Tiered Rewards: This kind of program is suitable for customers who spend more and are likely to make larger purchases. It will help you drive your AOV by incentivizing larger purchases and rewarding high spenders. For example, a luxury fashion store can offer exclusive discounts or rewards to customers who make larger purchases. During BFCM, you can create this kind of deal: “Spend $500 this BFCM and become a Silver Member, earning a 5% discount on your next purchase”
    • Referral Program: If you’d like to acquire new customers through word-of-mouth, then you can use the referral program. Not only does it save you money, but it ensures organic growth and increases your reach! For example, “Earn 100 points for each friend who purchases BFCM using your referral link” 

    Apps like Ako Marketing: Loyalty & Retargeting can help you create a successful BFCM loyalty program by encouraging repeat purchases, customer retention, and acquiring new customers. Additionally, their one-click social login feature makes it easy for customers to sign in, reducing friction and enhancing the overall shopping experience. This seamless process not only boosts customer satisfaction but also increases the likelihood of repeat visits. 

    Optimize Your SEO

    During BFCM, we can expect more search volumes in Google. With that in mind, we want your website to be on the first page of the search engine. Here are some things you have to pay attention to to better position your web ranking: 

    • Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords for your product description to better target your audience. It’s better to focus on long-tail keywords for better targeting.
    • Meta Tags: Optimize your title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags with your primary keywords. 
    • Page Speed: Make sure that your website’s loading speed works well. Fast-loading pages rank higher and provide a better user experience. 

    Platforms like SEOAnt in Shopify can help you to achieve higher traffic! Integrating this app can help you fix technical issues, get a higher page ranking, and optimize your page speed. 

    Upgrade Your Shopify Theme 

    It’s great that BFCM typically brings a significant surge in online traffic. However, this means that your site needs to be prepared for this increase without crashing. Fact: During BFCM, Walmart lost $9 million because their site was down for just 150 minutes. You don't want this to happen to you, right? Having a Shopify theme not only helps you to optimize your store speed, but it can also enhance your customer’s shopping experience due to a clean Shopify theme that aligns with your brand identity. So, how can a good Shopify theme help your store during BFCM? 

    • Attractive design: Of course, a visually appealing website attracts and retains customers. 
    • Easy customization: Having a one-click smart editor makes it easy for adjustments without needing coding skills. This means that you can tailor your site for BFCM promotions and seasonal themes to attract more customers.
    • Mobile responsiveness: Many shoppers use mobile devices during BFCM. A mobile-friendly site ensures you capture these customers, boosting overall sales.

    When done correctly, the benefits of a good Shopify theme can help you to prepare for all the increased traffic and competition of BFCM. As a result, your store is ready for BFCM success. Don't let your store get left behind this BFCM!  Consider using apps like FoxEcom or PageFly to further enhance your store's performance.

    Simplify the Checkout Process 

    Finally, your customer is in the final phase: completing the purchase. But what do customers expect during the checkout process? A simplified, easy, and quick checkout process with minimal steps that should take 4 minutes or less. Especially during the high-traffic period of BFCM, customers are often in a hurry.  So, we want to give them a simplified checkout that can handle high traffic efficiently. With fewer steps and less data to process, your website is less likely to crash or slow down during peak shopping times. 

    To do this, we recommend you use Shopify apps like Qikify, which is a one-page checkout solution. This app will help you to reduce the time and effort required by customers to complete their purchase leading to higher conversion rates.



    Get Your Customer Service Ready 

    During the busy hours of BFCM, customers might have some questions regarding the product they purchase. However, when the responses are slow, chances are that your customers could deter your customer from completing their purchase since they are unsatisfied. Of course, slow and poor customer service is the last problem any Shopify stores would want to have. That’s why it’s important to have fast and reliable customer support! Customers who engage with live chat are 2.8 times more likely to convert. Interestingly, websites with live chat support can also experience a 48% increase in sales compared to those without customer support. To make your customer experience exceptional and different, consider these 3 tips: 

    • Personalize your customer’s experience: Address customers by their names and reference their previous interactions or purchases.
    • Train your bots to do upselling: Live chat isn't just about answering questions.  Merchants can train their customer support agents to implement up-selling during conversations. 
    • Follow up with your customers: After a purchase, send a thank you email and ask for feedback. 

    Apps like MooseDesk, offer an intuitive live chat feature to empower your team to deliver exceptional service and drive sales. 

    MooseDesk's live chat feature ensures you never miss a message and enables swift resolutions across multiple channels. Whether your customers reach out via live chat, email, or social media, MooseDesk unifies these interactions into one dashboard for seamless management.

    During BFCM: 

    Recover Abandoned Carts 

    Assume that your shoppers found a very interesting product in your online store. However, they are unsure about its pricing and decide to compare it with other websites. As a result, they leave your site without making a purchase, leaving you to wonder why they left!

    This scenario is common, with 69% of carts being abandoned every day. Cart abandonment can cause significant losses to your online store. So, how can you prevent your users from leaving? Will they just go away and never come back?

    Common Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment:

    • Browsing products without intent to buy
    • Getting distracted by something else
    • Disappointment with higher shipping costs or long shipping times
    • A lengthy checkout process
    • Lack of suitable discounts
    • Coupon codes not working

    And more.

    Retargeting abandoned cart users involves reminding shoppers of their abandoned carts and encouraging them to complete their purchases. This strategy helps reduce the cart abandonment rate and increase conversion rates.

    If you’re wondering where to find customer data to retarget them, there are two basic ways to gather audience data to ensure the right prospects see the correct ads:

    1. Retargeting Pixels: Small pieces of code on your website that track visitors and their behaviors.
    2. Customer Accounts: Collect data from users who create accounts on your website.

    If you’re not familiar with these technical setups, there’s always an option to resolve it. The Ako Retargeting app is one of the most popular Meta and Google Retargeting apps on the Shopify App Store. It helps you manage your budget wisely and show the right content to the right person with no coding needed.

    To avoid ad fatigue for your potential customers, you can segment your prospects into groups and retarget them with different ad creatives and formats.

    Additionally, you can reach followers who’ve interacted with your Instagram posts, bringing them to your Shopify online store through Engager Retargeting campaigns.

    With Website Visitor Retargeting campaigns, you can remind people who’ve visited your store, read your blogs, or explored product pages. For those visitors who abandoned shopping carts, the best way to recover them is through the Dynamic Product Retargeting campaign.

    By following these best practices, you can further understand your audience through insights from the app’s dashboard. From there, you can plan a clear advertising strategy. As part of a successful marketing strategy, leverage retargeting ads on Instagram to win back your potential customers!

    Use Push Notifications 

    Aside from the surge of customer questions, merchants should also be expecting a surge in shoppers, especially when it comes to your popular products. It’s more likely that your popular products will sell out quickly. But running out of stock doesn’t have to mean losing customers. When you use apps that have back-in-stock alerts, like Notify Me, you can keep customers engaged by reminding them to return to your store. Whenever your items are all sold out, it’s recommended to immediately restock them! Now once an item is restocked, Notify Me will automatically send an email alert to all interested customers. When done correctly, these back-in-store alerts can help merchants recover their lost sales.


    Pro tip: Merchants can motivate their customers to make a direct purchase by creating a sense of urgency in their back-in-stock alerts. Some popular phrases include "Limited stock available" or "Get it before it's gone again!" 

    Aside from sold-out products, you can also remind your customers that your BFCM deal is coming! Something like, "Flash Sale Alert! 50% off all items for the next 2 hours. Shop Now!" will keep your customers alert of your BFCM deal and keep them coming back to your store. And if let’s say, they forgot to check out their products, you can send automated push notifications to your customers. Consider using apps like PushOwl to automate these notifications. In this way, you can make sure that no potential sale is lost, especially during the BFCM season! 


    Create FOMO 

    One simple way to push a customer to complete an action is by making them feel FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Often if customers feel that they are going to miss out on a special deal, they are more likely to complete their purchase ASAP! This can be achieved by displaying a countdown timer on your site for BFCM deals. Remember, make sure to display the best deal and value for your customer as clearly as possible in the countdown timer! Your deal can include a free shipping code, discount codes, or gifts. Here is an example from Forever 21: 


    Apps like Essential Countdown Timer Bar can help you increase your sales with a countdown timer. When customers see a countdown timer that is prominently displayed on your Shopify store, you’re nudging them to complete their purchase. 

    After BFCM: 

    Send a Thank You Email 

    Ideally, 2 days after BFCM, merchants would want to send a follow-up email to thank their customers. As what we’ve mentioned earlier in the blog, you can personalize your email by using their name and recent purchase. Again, this can be done by using Klaviyo integrated in the Ako Marketing: Loyalty & Retargeting app. Here are some of our favorite tips on crafting a thank you email: 

    • Highlight special moments: You can mention any moment that stands out during BFCM to create a sense of community. For example, “We loved seeing your excitement for our limited-edition holiday bundles” 
    • Offer an incentive: To encourage repeat purchases, we would recommend merchants to provide a special deal for their customers. One way is by offering customers a discount on their next purchase. For example,  “As a token of our appreciation, enjoy a special 10% code on your next purchase” 
    • Invite feedback: Since what we want is to make our customers feel valued, we can invite our customers for a quick survey. This makes our customers feel valued and heard!

    Here’s a good followup email example taken from All Things Golden. To learn more about crafting a good post-purchase emails, you can read this blog from Klaviyo:


    Final Thoughts 

    Planning for your BFCM does take a lot of work. So, it’s better to plan and do lots of research. What’s important is giving your customers a remarkable experience when shopping at your website. In this way, customers are more likely to return to your store. But before planning, we want to remind you to know your market well. This includes your customers, store, and competitors. Then, we can move ahead with your social media and email marketing. In order to drive more customers to your store, it is suggested to have an SEO-optimized website, followed by a verified customer review and a simplified checkout process.