Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the busiest shopping season of the year, and every Shopify store owner wants to make the most of it. But standing out in the sea of discounts can be challenging. That’s why we’ve created this 7-tip guide to help you drive sales, increase customer engagement, and maximize profits during BFCM.
From leveraging cognitive biases to building long-term customer relationships, these actionable tips will empower you to crush your sales goals this season—without cutting corners or sacrificing margins.
BFCM Tip #1: Give a Discount Without Cutting Prices!
Here’s our first tip to help you maximize sales: leverage the anchoring effect in your pricing strategy!
What is the Anchoring Bias?
The anchoring bias is a cognitive effect where people rely too heavily on the first piece of information they see—the "anchor"—when making decisions. In pricing, this means customers perceive a lower price as a better deal when it's compared to a higher initial price.
Using Price Anchoring
By setting a high "Compare at Price" (e.g., $200) and a lower actual price (e.g., $100), you create the perception of a significant discount. This makes customers feel they are getting a great deal, even if the sale price hasn’t changed.
Perfect for BFCM
During BFCM, customers expect discounts, but you don’t always have to cut prices. Use this feature to draw attention to products without sacrificing profitability. It’s a smart way to offer “discounts” on high-demand items while preserving your bottom line.
This makes it feel like you’re offering deals on everything, encouraging customers to add more items to their carts and boosting your overall sales—all while maintaining healthy profit margins.
BFCM Tip #2: Focus on Increasing AOV (Average Order Value)
For the next tip, let’s explore two crucial strategies for BFCM success: increasing conversion rates and boosting average order value (AOV). They may seem similar, but they have different focuses and require distinct approaches. I’ll talk about Increasing AOV Tactics in this email.
Here, we’ll focus on increasing AOV—an impactful way to boost your revenue during the busiest shopping season of the year.
What’s the Difference?
- Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who make a purchase. The higher your conversion rate, the more sales from your existing traffic.
- AOV (Average Order Value): The average amount a customer spends per order. Increasing AOV means each customer buys more or higher-value products, boosting revenue without more traffic.
How to Increase Your AOV
Here are a few tactics to get your customers spending more per order:
Bundle Discounts:
Encourage customers to buy more by offering bundle deals. Set these up through Discounty with volume discounts.
Example: “Buy 3 products, get 15% off—no code needed!”
Read this article about what bundle discount is to get more information.
Tiered Discounts:
Push higher cart values by offering bigger discounts for larger orders.
Example: “10% off orders over $100, 20% off orders over $200.”
Read this article to learn more about what tiered discounts are.
Upselling and Cross-Selling:
Suggest complementary or higher-value products during checkout to increase cart value.
Example: “Add this item to your cart for an extra 10% off!”
These tactics not only improve your sales numbers but also maximize the revenue generated from each customer.
Pro Tip: Use Discounty to Set It Up with Ease
With Discounty, creating volume discounts, bundle deals, and tiered offers is quick and simple. Add widgets to highlight these deals during checkout and ensure customers see the value of spending more.
By focusing on both AOV and conversion rates, you can double your sales potential during BFCM.
BFCM Tip #3: Boost Conversion Rates
This tip focuses on increasing your conversion rate—a crucial factor for turning visitors into customers during this BFCM season. Even small improvements can lead to big results, especially when traffic is at its peak.
How to Increase Conversion Rates
Limited-Time Offers:
Urgency drives action, and time-sensitive discounts are an excellent way to push customers to act quickly. To amplify the urgency, add a Countdown Timer for maximum impact.
Example: “48-hour flash sale – BFCM exclusive!”
Custom Sales Badges:
Stand out by customizing sales badges in your store's theme settings. Use phrases like "Only Today!" to create urgency.
First-Time Buyer Discounts:
Make a great first impression by offering discounts to new customers. Shopify’s "Customer Eligibility" setting or a pop-up app like Pop Convert can help you display this offer effectively.
Example: “Welcome! Get 10% off your first purchase!”
Free Shipping for All Orders:
Free shipping on all orders (with no threshold) can drastically reduce cart abandonment. You can use a free app like "Free Shipping Bear" to notify customers with a banner.
Example: “Free shipping on all orders, no minimum!”
The Bigger Picture
Both conversion rate and AOV are essential for maximizing your BFCM sales. Whether you focus on getting more customers to buy with simple discounts or getting them to spend more with bundles and tiered offers, you can leverage these strategies to boost revenue. Pick the tactics that work best for your business and start preparing for a successful BFCM!
BFCM Tip #4: Test Your Discount Strategies Before BFCM
Offering bigger discounts doesn’t always lead to higher profits. While deep discounts might boost sales volumes, they can also eat into your margins, leaving you with less-than-ideal returns. The key is finding the sweet spot between attracting customers and maintaining healthy profitability.
Why Test Your Discounts Ahead of Time?
Testing your discount strategies before BFCM is essential for maximizing sales success. This early testing phase allows you to:
- Experiment with different discount levels, messaging, and promotions.
- Identify what resonates most with your audience.
- Gather valuable data to fine-tune your approach before the BFCM rush.
By doing this, you can avoid over-discounting, which erodes your margins, or under-discounting, which risks losing potential revenue.
How to Find Your Optimal Discount
We’ve created a simple Google Sheet to help you manually test your discount strategies. Over a five-day period (e.g., October 25 to October 29), follow these steps to uncover the best-performing discount for your store:
- Select One Product to Test: Choose a product that represents your catalog or has high potential.
- Enter Product Data: Record the product’s price and cost in the yellow cells on the “Data & Analysis” tab.
- Set a Baseline: Fill in the "Normal" column with the product’s sales data without any discount to establish a benchmark.
- Apply Daily Discounts: Enter a different discount percentage for each day and track conversion rates and sales results.
- Analyze the Results: The sheet will calculate the impact on revenue, sales, and profit, giving you a clear picture of which discount delivers the best balance of volume and profitability. By the end of this testing period, you’ll have the insights you need to confidently choose the optimal discount percentage for BFCM. Keep in mind that this method works best for straightforward products with consistent costs and revenue patterns. For more complex offerings, a more detailed analysis might be necessary.
Pro Tip: Use tools like Discounty to set up and monitor your campaigns. Its analytics features can help simplify the testing process and ensure you’re BFCM-ready!
BFCM Tip #5: Plan Ahead with Data-Driven Promotions
In 2023, Shopify stores hit a record-breaking $7.5 billion in sales during BFCM—proof of the immense potential this shopping season holds. To ensure your store is primed for success, here are five proven strategies you can start implementing today:
1. Extend Sales Period: Engage Early and Late
Did you know that over 56% of U.S. shoppers begin their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving? This trend is only growing. Start your BFCM promotions early to capture these eager shoppers, and don’t stop when BFCM ends—post-sale deals can keep momentum going well into December.
Brands like Glossier have achieved massive success with early VIP deals and loyalty discounts that make customers feel special and valued.
2. Data-Driven Promotions: Focus on What Sells
Take advantage of Shopify’s analytics to uncover your top-performing products or excess inventory. By promoting these items strategically, you can maximize sales.
Here’s an idea: Create tiered discounts to encourage larger purchases, such as:
- 10% off orders over $50
- 20% off orders over $100
- 30% off orders over $200
Did you know? Up to 30% of BFCM shoppers end up buying more than they initially planned—so these tiered deals can significantly boost your average order value.
3. Retarget Abandoned Carts
BFCM is the perfect time to win back hesitant shoppers. Many customers add items to their carts but leave without purchasing, only to return later for another look. Studies show personalized cart reminders or exclusive cart discounts can bring these customers back and boost conversion rates.
4. Leverage Multichannel Marketing
Your BFCM campaigns shouldn’t be confined to your Shopify store. Use platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest to reach a broader audience. Multichannel marketing ensures you’re visible wherever your customers are shopping, increasing your traffic and chances of making a sale.
Pro Tip: Use targeted ads during BFCM to amplify your reach—brands that do this often see a significant uptick in both traffic and sales.
5. Prepare for Shipping Challenges
Shipping delays are a common pain point during BFCM. To avoid disappointing your customers, communicate shipping timelines clearly. Additionally, consider offering options like Buy Online, Pick-Up In Store (BOPIS) or curbside pickup, which have proven highly effective for managing high order volumes.
BFCM Tip #6: Focus on Retargeting and Retention
While many BFCM strategies focus on driving immediate sales, the after-sales period is just as crucial. This is where retargeting and retention marketing step in, helping you maximize each customer’s lifetime value and ensuring the benefits of BFCM extend well beyond the shopping rush.
Retargeting: Re-Engage and Convert Potential Customers
Not every shopper completes their purchase on the first visit—especially during BFCM, when choices are overwhelming. Retargeting is a powerful way to bring back those who browsed your store but didn’t buy, nudging them to complete their purchase.
Tools to Get Started:
- Google Analytics: Monitor user interactions and create ads tailored to their interests.
- Facebook Pixel: Reconnect with customers who engaged with your Facebook content.
- TikTok and Pinterest Pixels: Retarget users on platforms where your brand already caught their attention.
Why Retargeting Matters
Retargeted ads can boost conversion rates by up to 400%! They remind cart abandoners of what they left behind and pair well with time-sensitive incentives, like exclusive BFCM discounts, to encourage purchases.
Retention Marketing: Build Lasting Relationships
Retention marketing focuses on keeping customers engaged and coming back after BFCM ends, reducing your reliance on constant discounts.
What to Focus On
- Collect Emails and Contact Info: Use BFCM as an opportunity to build your mailing list. With accurate contact details, you can continue reaching out to customers with offers, updates, and personalized campaigns.
- Analyze Purchase Behavior: Dive into the data to identify patterns and create offers that resonate with your customers. Personalized recommendations based on previous purchases can go a long way in building loyalty.
Why Retention Matters
Keeping existing customers is far more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. It’s estimated to cost 5-7 times less to retain a customer. Even better, increasing retention by just 5% can lead to profit increases of up to 95%. That’s a massive return on investment!
Why Retargeting and Retention Work Hand-in-Hand
By combining retargeting and retention strategies, you’re building both immediate and long-term value. Retargeting helps convert hesitant shoppers during BFCM, while retention marketing encourages repeat purchases long after the event. Together, these approaches ensure your efforts don’t stop at one-time sales, extending the impact of your BFCM campaigns.
BFCM Tip #7: Leverage Urgency with Countdown Timers
Which one will sell more: a product with a “limited-time offer” ticking away or one with no deadline? It’s a no-brainer, right? For the final tip, let’s explore how using an “Ends In” countdown timer on your product pages can supercharge your conversions during the busiest shopping period of the year.
Why a Countdown Timer Works: The Power of Urgency
Adding a countdown timer creates urgency and scarcity—two psychological triggers that push customers to make faster decisions. When shoppers see a ticking clock, it activates the fear of missing out (FOMO), which studies show can increase conversion rates by up to 30-40%!
How to Use the Countdown Timer Effectively
- Display on Key Products: Use countdown timers on high-priority products or deals you want to emphasize during BFCM.
- Set to End Soon: Keep the timeframe short—24 to 48 hours works best—to maximize urgency and encourage immediate action.
- Combine with Discounts: Pair the countdown timer with time-limited discounts to make your offers even more irresistible. For example, “Ends in 12 hours: 20% off all jackets!”
This tactic is particularly effective during BFCM, when customers are actively seeking deals but don’t want to miss out on the best ones. A well-placed countdown timer can turn hesitant browsers into confident buyers.
New for BFCM 2024: Countdown Timer Feature
We’re excited to announce that Discounty now offers a Countdown Timer feature, designed to help you create urgency effortlessly! Simply set an end time for your campaigns, and let the timer do the rest. For best results, consider setting daily campaigns with fresh timers to maintain a constant sense of urgency throughout BFCM.
Conclusion: Crush Your BFCM Sales Goals
BFCM is your chance to turn your Shopify store into a sales powerhouse. By applying these 7 tips, you can attract more customers, boost average order value, and build long-term loyalty—all without compromising your profit margins.
Let’s recap the best BFCM pricing strategies:
- Use the anchoring effect to offer perceived discounts without cutting prices.
- Focus on increasing AOV with bundle deals and tiered discounts.
- Boost conversion rates with tactics like custom sales badges and free shipping.
- Test your discounts ahead of BFCM to find the perfect balance of sales and profitability.
- Plan data-driven promotions to capitalize on early and late shoppers.
- Use retargeting and retention marketing to maximize customer lifetime value.
- Leverage countdown timers to create urgency and close more sales.
With Discounty by your side, implementing these strategies is simpler than ever. From setting up tiered discounts to adding countdown timers, this tool empowers you to run impactful campaigns with ease.
Ready to make this BFCM your most successful one yet? Start your free trial with Discounty today and take the first step toward higher sales and happier customers.
