As shopping is the official national hobby of the United States (and many other countries), it's important that we not leave the internet off the list of places we can go wild finding deals during the Holiday Season. It's become tradition for the biggest day of online shopping to fall on the Monday after Thanksgiving, giving us all something better to do than check Facebook every five minutes while we pretend to fill out spreadsheets.
Customers spent over 3.45 billion dollars online during Cyber Monday last year. A strong showing on Cyber Monday can be the difference in a bringing a very happy New Year to any online business, and that means you.
How can you run a Cyber Monday campaign that works?
How can you run a Cyber Monday campaign that works?
Provide Deals
No campaign can begin until you've determined the sort of promotions you plan to provide. These should be big enough so customers feel like they're getting significant savings, but small enough to ensure you won't go broke bringing sweet deals to the public. After all, you aren't Santa Claus.
Weebly provides enormous flexibility when running sales. If you want to provide 20% off orders over $50 with free shipping for orders over $125, you just need to spend a few minutes building a coupon for 20% off and adding a shipping rate for $0 for orders over $125.
It's a good idea to do this sort of progressive deal, where customers get one discount for hitting a certain target ($50) and another for hitting a second ($125), since it encourages them to spend more to reach those targets.
Weebly provides enormous flexibility when running sales. If you want to provide 20% off orders over $50 with free shipping for orders over $125, you just need to spend a few minutes building a coupon for 20% off and adding a shipping rate for $0 for orders over $125.
It's a good idea to do this sort of progressive deal, where customers get one discount for hitting a certain target ($50) and another for hitting a second ($125), since it encourages them to spend more to reach those targets.
Add Gift Cards to the Mix
The average person spends $153 on gift cards during the Holidays, yet few small businesses sell gift cards online. And since 65 percent of gift card holders spend an extra 38 percent beyond the value of the card, small businesses that don't sell gift cards are missing out on more than just that initial sale.
Plus, when someone buys a gift card as a Christmas present for their aunt, they are also potentially turning their aunt into a returning customer of your store. A gift card is a profitable way to generate word-of-mouth marketing, and it's easy to do with Weebly. Learn more with our short guide to creating gift cards.
Plus, when someone buys a gift card as a Christmas present for their aunt, they are also potentially turning their aunt into a returning customer of your store. A gift card is a profitable way to generate word-of-mouth marketing, and it's easy to do with Weebly. Learn more with our short guide to creating gift cards.
Get the Word Out
Via Email
According to the Direct Marketing Association, an average of $38 is generated from every $1 spent on email marketing. If you're not already sending emails to your customers, right now is the time to start. Otherwise, how will any of them know you're even running Cyber Monday specials?
To be effective, emails about a Cyber Monday sale (or any sale really) should be part of a campaign since no customer is going to open every single email you send them.
You might also consider including a special code just for people who read the emails. Maybe they get 25% off instead of just 20%. This encourages them to open the email and to continue opening future emails since you're providing access to exclusive deals.
If you're worried it's too late to get started, it isn't. If you create a Weebly Promote account, we'll sync all of your customer contact info to Weebly Promote so you can start emailing immediately. We'll even automatically generate holiday emails that are appropriate to your brand style (based on your website) and that fit the promotion you're running (like Cyber Monday).
Via Social
Social Media has an immediacy that email does not, so there's no need to start discussing Cyber Monday on social way in advance. Instead you can use social channels to keep people engaged throughout the day. Launch micro sales, like 30% off all the products in a certain category from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Be creative with it. The more value you provide to your followers (even if it's just friends and acquaintances on Facebook), the more likely they'll be to pay attention to what you say.
Additionally, all emails created through Promote can be easily shared via any Social Media service enabling you to amplify email campaigns beyond your customers and subscribers.
On Your Site
Make sure you mention any coupon codes and sales right on the home page of your site. One way to do this through the use of a bold Header Type that announces the sale and leads people directly to it right from the top of your home page.
Another way to handle this is through the use of pop-ups. Promote provides a Dynamic Sign Up Form that can be used to prompt visitors to join your mailing list. How does it prompt them? You can offer a coupon that they'll receive via email immediately after they sign up.
There's also the Better Coupon Box on the Weebly App Center. This functions in much the way as the Promote form — it allows you to entice people to join your mailing list by offering them a coupon if they sign up. In either case, this coupon can be the exact same one you previously sent out to customers and subscribers in your email campaign.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, an average of $38 is generated from every $1 spent on email marketing. If you're not already sending emails to your customers, right now is the time to start. Otherwise, how will any of them know you're even running Cyber Monday specials?
To be effective, emails about a Cyber Monday sale (or any sale really) should be part of a campaign since no customer is going to open every single email you send them.
- Promote the Sale - Two to three weeks before Cyber Monday, send an email announcing you're having a Cyber Monday sale and include the coupon code.
- Send a Reminder - Five to seven days beforehand, remind people this magical sales event is happening.
- Announce It's Starting - Send an email the moment the sale starts.
- Note That It's Almost Over - With about eight hours left, send an email out stating the sale is almost over.
You might also consider including a special code just for people who read the emails. Maybe they get 25% off instead of just 20%. This encourages them to open the email and to continue opening future emails since you're providing access to exclusive deals.
If you're worried it's too late to get started, it isn't. If you create a Weebly Promote account, we'll sync all of your customer contact info to Weebly Promote so you can start emailing immediately. We'll even automatically generate holiday emails that are appropriate to your brand style (based on your website) and that fit the promotion you're running (like Cyber Monday).
Via Social
Social Media has an immediacy that email does not, so there's no need to start discussing Cyber Monday on social way in advance. Instead you can use social channels to keep people engaged throughout the day. Launch micro sales, like 30% off all the products in a certain category from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Be creative with it. The more value you provide to your followers (even if it's just friends and acquaintances on Facebook), the more likely they'll be to pay attention to what you say.
Additionally, all emails created through Promote can be easily shared via any Social Media service enabling you to amplify email campaigns beyond your customers and subscribers.
On Your Site
Make sure you mention any coupon codes and sales right on the home page of your site. One way to do this through the use of a bold Header Type that announces the sale and leads people directly to it right from the top of your home page.
Another way to handle this is through the use of pop-ups. Promote provides a Dynamic Sign Up Form that can be used to prompt visitors to join your mailing list. How does it prompt them? You can offer a coupon that they'll receive via email immediately after they sign up.
There's also the Better Coupon Box on the Weebly App Center. This functions in much the way as the Promote form — it allows you to entice people to join your mailing list by offering them a coupon if they sign up. In either case, this coupon can be the exact same one you previously sent out to customers and subscribers in your email campaign.
Begin Early and End Late
Just as Black Friday has started to bleed over into Thanksgiving (which is seeing a lot of pushback for obvious reasons), Cyber Monday is bleeding over into the weekend that precedes it. Don't feel like you need to limit yourself to just the Monday. Start on Sunday, end on Tuesday. Create your own follow-up sale like Web Wednesday or Spend Lots of Money Saturday to keep things going.
Whatever you do, don't expect customers to just come to you. Reach out to them and give them a reason to choose your business over the myriad others that are all clamoring for their attention.
Whatever you do, don't expect customers to just come to you. Reach out to them and give them a reason to choose your business over the myriad others that are all clamoring for their attention.