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Cyber Monday Marketing Ideas for 2007

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We all know the day after Thanksgiving – dubbed Black Friday, is considered one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the United States.

Well, back in 2005, Shop.org coined the phrase Cyber Monday as the first Monday following Thanksgiving.

Since that time online retailers have realized the sales potential of this busy e-commerce shopping day when many users are searching the internet looking for the best deals on merchandise to fill their holiday wish lists.

Cyber Monday marks the first major increase in online holiday spending as people go back to work after the Thanksgiving weekend and begin to think about how to get a jump on their holiday shopping. What a better place to do it than online while at their computer.

Cyber Monday Sales Forcast

During 2006, ComScore Networks reported Cyber Monday sales rose 25% versus the previous year to around $608 million. 2007 hopes to see more of the same.

Although there are other days of the holiday shopping season which see traditionally have seen more sales, this internet shopping day gets most of the attention. It provides increased buying power for consumers along with increased sales opportunity for merchants and is a time of the year that shouldn’t be overlooked.

So, with millions being spent online and the holidays quickly approaching, what can you do to help increase sales from your online store during Cyber Monday?

Here are a few Marketing Tips for Cyber Monday

  1. Give a free gift away for orders over a certain amount
    I’m not talking “free shipping” promos. Add something different to it. Something with a flare. Such as “If you buy this flashlight, get a pack of batteries free.” Make it worth their while.
  2. Create product bundle gift packages
    Develop a “gift package” bundle that includes items which complement each other. Make sure the price of the bundled package would cost them less than if they actually purchased each product separately from your store.
  3. List a promotion on CyberMonday.com.
    If you got a “to good to pass up” type deal, you might want to consider highlighting it on CyberMonday.com, a website run by Shop.org. Many people offer deals there all year long not just on Cyber Monday.

  4. Follow up with consumers both before, and after Thanksgiving
    Make sure you send out an email to your list at least a week before the scheduled “Cyber Monday” specials. Then, make sure you follow that up with another one the early morning of Cyber Monday reminding them of the deals to be found at your site. You want them to know what you have to offer and remember it when the time comes to take advantage of it.
  5. Give customers a way to spread the word
    Viral marketing is a wonderful thing. One happy customer gets a deal then tells 2 other potential customers who buy, and the circle repeats itself. Pretty soon you have sales coming in from all angles. If you market properly about Cyber Monday you’ll have an increase in traffic and you should make sure you take full advantage of that increase by asking (don’t just assume it will happen) your customers to refer others. A good place to ask for the referral is on the confirmation page after a sale has been made.
  6. Offer certain special deals ONLY on Cyber Monday but run your promotion for several days
    In order to create sales, you must sometimes create urgency. Make sure you stress that certain deals you are offering will only be made available during the 24 hour period called Cyber Monday. After that, they will no longer be found. And then stick to that principle. Once people understand that your “limited offers” are truly “limited” your sales will show it with each subsequent promotion. Offering only select deals on Cyber Monday is great, but make sure you run your entire promotional sale for other items over a multiple day period. You want to give users time to refer others to your store to get similar deals.

There you have it. A few ways you can get a piece of the “holiday shopping pie”.

Now, get working on those ideas, and prepare your store for the holiday shopping season! Cyber Monday will be here before you know it.

Holiday Promotions in Full Swing Right?

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Not a long post here, more a reminder than anything.

It’s November 1st, and if you haven’t already started promoting items for the upcoming holidays, you better start now.

Go to almost any store, and you’ll see holiday display starting to poke their heads up (I’ve already seen a number of them for the past few weeks).

Really, holiday promotion should start in October (beginning is a good time). You’ll catch the early birds looking for a deal, and you’ll be ahead when the rest of them come calling.

The point is, if you haven’t thought about promoting for the holidays yet, you need to start. You’re already a few weeks behind, but it’s not too late!

Run some “Early Bird” specials, give some “Don’t Delay” discounts, use some nice banners to really set the mood. As I always say, it doesn’t matter what you do, but do something!

Until next time.

Shipping Promotions That Drive More Sales

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As many of you already know, I constantly reinforce testing being the key to much success.

Recently, I tested out several shipping methods between a number of client sites. The objective was to find out which promotion had the best impact on sales.

The benefit of my testing it across multiple sites was that I got a better sampling and thus truer picture of what really had the biggest impact on sales.

Together, these sites combined for a great sampling with a unique monthly visitor count of well over 19,000 during the two month testing period.

So, what type of shipping promotions were tested?

  1. Flat rate shipping on anything ordered. “One Price. Unlimited Items.”
  2. Flat rate shipping combined with “Rush / Overnight Shipping”
  3. Free Shipping on orders amounts over certain amount
  4. Free Shipping on everything in stock
  5. Free Shipping combined with Rush / Overnight Shipping
  6. Real-Time Shipping quotes from various carriers

Each of these were rotated over a weeks time across the sites.

Depending on the amount of traffic your site receives, you may need to run test longer to get a proper sampling. Generally, the more traffic you get to a site, the shorter time it takes to test and gather results. Just make sure your margin of error is large enough to warrant a “winner”.

And the winner is …

After testing, the hands down winner that had the best impact on sales was offering Free Shipping for orders over a certain amount. In fact, offering Free Priority Mail shipping for all orders over a certain amount produced even better results – even when the price of the product was increased to cover that margin.

Yes, it’s true, you heard me right. Offering free shipping while at the same time increasing the price of certain products to cover that shipping cost still resulted in an increase in sales.

What is one thing all shoppers want?

No, it’s not a trick question. Ok, I’ll tell you. They want their product fast, and they want it free.

Wouldn’t you?

So, playing on that psychological thinking, the following terminology was tested when offering Free Priority Mail shipping on orders over a certain amount. When added, it too had an almost instant impact on sales.

“Get it Fast. Get it FREE!”

How can this be?

Free Shipping has a powerful psychological impact on online buyers. This can be especially true if your product can be found at a “local brick and mortar store.”

The testing revealed that in some cases, online buyers will even overlook the price of an item to get free shipping. This of course will vary between buyers and industries (more price conscience buyers in industries with “common” products can be “price sensitive” when making buying decisions) however, the overall consensus remains the same.

Free Shipping works and oftentimes is even expected as an option by online buyers. If you’re not offering it to your buyers, you should start.

The impact on sales summarized

Why Free Shipping with conditions (for orders over a certain amount?)

Well, free shipping alone is nice – and works. Free shipping for orders over a certain amount can achieve two things:

  1. Increases the number of overall sales from a store
  2. Increases the Average Order Value

Both of the above cause growth in your company while at the same time satisfying your customer wants and needs.

Generate More Sales During The Next 3 Days!

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Quick alert post here to help you generate some additional sales from your store over the next 3 days.

One way to increase sales is to take advantage of what is going on around you. If you haven’t already figured it out, this weekend, for many, is Labor Day weekend. Are you running a sale? Do you have a special offer for your visitors if they buy this weekend only?

If not you should. It’s not too late to start, but you gotta start!

Any store can do this. It doesn’t matter what you sell or how big you are. Just make the offer fit your market.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Free shipping on everything this weekend only
  • Free shipping over a certain dollar amount – this weekend only
  • Buy one get on free
  • Buy something this weekend, refer a friend who also buys, get a discount on your next order
  • Lower prices on all or select products and run the special through Monday night at midnight
  • Free Priority Mail shipping this weekend only
  • 50% off select items this weekend only

These are just some ideas. I’ll leave it up to you to create one that fits your needs.

Remember, it doesn’t matter what type of store you are, or what you sell. Just make the offer fit, and make it strong.

Then don’t forget the most important part. Promote it! Create a banner, use some very visible text, do something to draw attention to the offer and get visitors interested. If implemented properly, and if your traffic is qualified, you should see an increase in sales. :)

Have a good weekend!

Building Customer Confidence. Some Best Practices You Should Follow.

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In my article titled “Do You Answer Your Customers Questions Before They Ask Them?“, I talked about why it is important to answer your customers questions — before they ask them.

I talked about a number of best practices concepts but never when into detail on “what” exactly those best practices were.

I listed general items that build customer confidence and were called “customer points of assurance”.

In this article, I’ll go into a few of the items in more detail.

Customer Points of Assurance

What are customer points of assurance?

These are items that are strategically placed at various points during the customer buying cycle which “assure” them that the path they are on is not only correct, but is one that is safe, and will lead to a positive end experience.

Some example of customer points of assurance and suggested locations you should consider including them are as follows:

  • Store Phone Number (Call it “Customer Service Number” or “Customer Care Number”)

    Suggested location(s) – upper right corner of website in the header; on all product order pages.

  • SSL Certificate Seal

    Suggested Location(s) – On all pages, On all product pages, at all points in checkout where the customer is expected to give you “valuable or typically private” information.

  • Customer Service Links including: How To Order, Shipping Information, Payment Options, Contact Information

    Suggested location(s) – On registration page, on various spots throughout the checkout process.

  • Shop With Confidence Links including things like: Any special Offers, Any Guarantee’s, 100% Secure Ordering Links, Links to Privacy Policies

    Suggested Location(s) – On registration page, on various spots throughout the checkout process.

These list out a few of the main points you should at least cover in your store. All these items help build customer confidence and give you a better chance of helping them “complete the sale”. They are aimed at answering questions customers may have at precisely the point at which they typically ask them (remember you should answer them before they ask!)

My book “20 Ways to Increase Sales Using Zen Cart” goes into even more detail on these items. It shows actual screen shots of real life examples for better direction on where you should consider placing these items.

Until next time. Keep your customers happy, and keep the sales flowing.

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