The last minute action plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

BFCM came around faster than expected? In this article, we'll give you some tips for marketing campaigns that you can implement even at the last minute!

The biggest shopping days of the year are just around the corner: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If this promotional weekend has caught you by surprise, this article offers some tips for last-minute measures you can implement to boost your sales on these days.

For most retailers, both in brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the happiest days of the year. With Black Friday on November 28 and Cyber Monday on December 1, we can look forward to a weekend that, as every year, heralds the start of the Christmas shopping season. In 2024 alone, Black Friday and Cyber Monday generated sales of 5.9 billion Euro in Germany. This means that, despite the weak economic situation, sales remained stable compared to the previous year.

If this sales weekend has come around surprisingly quickly for you, this article will give you a last-minute emergency plan to increase traffic and sales in your online shop in the final weeks with a few promotions and measures. Let's get started.

BCFM Definition: What are Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the most famous and biggest shopping promotion days in the world. They originated in the US, but spread to many other countries due to their popularity.

Both days have now become a global tradition, and customers worldwide expect discounts and deals on these days. Many retailers use the occasion to empty their warehouses, boost sales and attract consumer attention. While Black Friday and Cyber Monday were initially limited to retail, they have expanded to other industries, including travel, technology and services. These promotional days offer consumers the opportunity to find bargains, and for retailers, they are an important phase in the annual calendar for sales and revenue growth.

Tip No. 1: Special discounts for social media users & influencer marketing

You can use your social media and influencer activities in a targeted manner in the short term to significantly increase traffic and sales in your Shopify store during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Create your own exclusive coupon codes for each platform and share them specifically on channels such as Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest. Collaborating with influencers and affiliate partners can also increase awareness of your offers in the short term. This allows you to accurately track the most successful channels and convey a sense of exclusivity to your target groups. In addition, you should regularly provide your social media channels with appealing images and posts, ideally planning these in advance so that your promotions remain visible amid the flood of BFCM offers and potential customers become aware of your deals.

Tip No. 2: Increase traffic with sales magnets

Another tip to significantly strengthen your sales or at least the traffic in the online store for the BFCM weekend is to highlight strong sales magnets and thus attract customers to the store. To do this, look for a few products from your inventory - these can also be actual slow sellers - and discount them very heavily and as much as you can. With these products, profit is not necessarily the goal - of course, you should not sell at a loss either. The mission behind such heavy discounting is that you generate traffic and record leads. You can retarget these contacts at a later date through social media ads or newsletters. It's always easier to get already warm leads to make repeat purchases than to acquire completely new customers. If you additionally make sure that your Shopify product pages also display other products from your store, this can strengthen the upselling effect and you sell products with higher margins in addition to the sales magnet.

Tip No. 3: Use AI-powered product recommendations

Use modern AI solutions to display personalized product recommendations to your customers in real time on your website or in your Shopify store. The algorithms analyze your visitors' behavior—such as products viewed, previous purchases, search queries, or interactions—and compare this data with the behavior of other customers with similar interests. Based on this, products that are particularly relevant to the respective customer can be specifically recommended.

This personalized approach has several advantages: First, it increases the likelihood that visitors will discover and purchase additional products that they might otherwise have overlooked. Second, it increases the average order value, as customers are more likely to purchase matching additions or upsells. In addition, the shopping experience for your customers becomes much more personalized and convenient, which in turn increases customer satisfaction and the likelihood of repeat purchases.

Tip 4: Re-engage shopping cart abandoners

Have you already set up Facebook Pixel on your Shopify online store? If not, you should definitely do so, because this is the only way you can re-engage people who have visited your site or even purchased products through social ads. During the BFCM sales campaign, you should run a retargeting campaign for Facebook and/or Instagram that targets all those who have added products to their shopping cart but have not purchased them. Customers know that there are special offers at this time of year and are on the hunt for the best discounts, which is why shopping cart abandonment tends to happen more quickly here. You can win back these potential customers by showing them dynamic ads on Facebook or Instagram for the products they had in their shopping cart. Remind them of your BFCM promotions or even offer a special coupon in your retargeting and draw attention to the urgency of this limited offer.

Tip No. 5: Polish product pages with customer reviews

Genuine reviews are immensely important in gaining the trust of your potential customers. Since not everyone takes the time to browse through many pages of reviews, you can support this by integrating two to three customer reviews into the product descriptions of your most popular products. However, you should be sure to obtain the consent of the review providers beforehand in order to be on the safe side legally.

Tip No. 6: Stand out from the discount jungle

BFCM is a real discount battle and online shoppers know that very well. So you need to manage to stand out with your offer. You could do that by offering free shipping on these days - regardless of other discounts - selling exciting product bundles, adding surprise giveaways to every order, or integrating various discounts using a wheel of fortune on your home page. For the latter, you can find suitable apps in the Shopify App Store, such as Spin-a-Sale or Spin Wheel - CrazyRocket.

Tip No. 7: Category Christmas gifts

Many online shoppers take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts to store for Christmas gifts. Make it easy for your potential customers! With the category "Christmas gifts" or even more special "Christmas gifts for men", "Christmas gifts for children" etc. you can advertise products that you want to sell and offer your store visitors an important assistance, which will be gratefully accepted by many and can lead to more sales.

Tip No. 8: Offer gift certificates for purchase

Have you ever thought about selling coupon cards in your Shopify store? If so, now might be just the right time to do so. Although adding a new feature might be a big step in this short period of time, setting up gift cards doesn't come with any problems because it's easy to implement. Gift certificate sales can be a great way to increase BFCM sales. Best of all, since the start of the Corona crisis, Shopify has opened up gift certificate sales to all Shopify plans!

Tip No. 9: Black Friday marketing - send out newsletters

Even though their reputation is often worse than they deserve, newsletters are still one of the best ways to ensure good sales. So you should also make an effort with your email distribution lists and set up a BFCM newsletter to draw attention about your promotions. Again, you can work with an exclusive discount code to later track how many sales came through the newsletter.

The days until Black Friday and Cyber Monday are numbered and you have little preparation time left to set up a sales promotion, so you should start planning right away! Remember to test your online store and especially the checkout process extensively - both on the laptop and mobile, to fix any problems before the (hopefully) big traffic rush and to be able to respond to any questions that may arise. We wish you much success and good sales!

Tip No. 10: Customer service

To ensure that customers can get timely help in case of queries, you should increase the availability of your customer service. Setting up a live chat on your website is extremely helpful in this regard. Customers can communicate directly with a support representative in real time to resolve their queries. Make sure that the live chat is easy to find and use. Support times can also make a difference here.

Effective and responsive customer support during Black Friday and Cyber Monday can help boost customer confidence and ultimately increase the success of your e-commerce business during this important sales period.

Tip no. 11: Offer express shipping options

Entice last-minute shoppers by offering special express shipping options that are especially attractive when time is of the essence. Communicate clearly on your website and in marketing materials by what date and time customers need to order to ensure their goods arrive in time for holidays or special events. Use prominent notices or countdown timers to emphasise the last time to order.

In addition, you could offer free or discounted express delivery as an incentive for particularly impatient customers. This not only increases the conversion rate, but also helps to attract customers who postpone their purchase until the last moment. Also, make sure that these options are clearly described in the shipping conditions and FAQ pages to avoid misunderstandings.

Tip No. 12: Integrate countdown timers and live inventory levels

Use countdown timers on your product pages or throughout your store to create urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out). They show how long offers are still available or when customers need to order to secure discounts or fast delivery. This visual representation of time pressure increases the willingness to buy, reduces decision procrastination, and can be used flexibly for discount campaigns, flash sales, or last-chance purchases.

In addition, you can display inventory in real time (“Only 3 items left”). Such elements create a sense of urgency and motivate customers to make their purchase decision immediately. This psychological reinforcement of purchasing is particularly effective during BFCM week. With apps such as Hey!Scarcity Low Stock Counter or Essential Countdown Timer Bar, you can easily and inexpensively integrate these features into your shop.

Tip no. 13: Pop-up windows for special offers

Use pop-ups to show visitors attractive discounts or exclusive offers directly on your website. These visually appealing windows can appear on different pages during the visit and are a great way to grab users' attention immediately. For example, you can highlight special discounts for first-time buyers, limited-time offers or information on upcoming sales promotions.

Pop-ups can help speed up the customer's decision-making process and motivate them to complete a purchase before the offer expires. By targeting new visitors, you increase the chance that they will browse your shop and ultimately make a purchase. To further increase the effectiveness of pop-ups, you can design them to respond to specific user actions, such as leaving the page or lingering on a particular product.

Tip 14: Flash sales with limited duration

Set up short-term, heavily discounted flash sales that are only available for a few hours. Clearly communicate the time limit on all channels, for example through banners on your website or social media posts. Flash sales create a sense of exclusivity and urgency, prompting hesitant customers to buy more quickly.