Black Friday weekend is just around the corner! You've spent the last month preparing your products, getting the right photography, plotting your discount codes, testing your website...
But if you're now wondering what last minute checks and tasks you can do to guarantee a successful Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend then read on.
Double Check All Your Discount Codes & Offers
The biggest headache that can happen on Black Friday weekend is realizing too late that some of your discount codes or basket offers aren’t working as they should. Take this time before the weekend kicks off to double and triple check that all your discount codes and site-wide offers are functioning properly. This is especially true if you're have some special Shopify Scripts set up on your Shopify Plus store - test these thoroughly!
Prepare Your Customer Support Strategy
If you're planning on it being a busy weekend, you better make sure that your customers are well taken care of. Whether that's a discount code not working properly, or a question about shipping, you want to make sure you don't lose any valuable sales. Prepare some sample support responses for your most frequently asked questions for yourself and your staff so that you can troubleshoot any issues that might arise, and assign specific team members to time slots on social media so that there's always someone ready to answer.
Focus Your Ad Spend on Remarketing
You've been focusing your efforts on targeting new customers on social media, but now is the time to recapture those shoppers who have been casually browsing your store waiting for Black Friday to hit. Funnel more of your available advertising spend into remarketing - show people the items they've been loving on for the last couple of weeks!
Add Extra Content to Upcoming Email Campaigns
You want to make sure that your emails are absolutely perfect before they head out into the world. Take another glance over at any automations and campaigns you've got scheduled in your email marketing platform, and look for ways you could improve. Could you add in some extra recommendations? Or perhaps an extra automated "Thank You" email? Take an extra peek at your abandoned cart series, as well. You can customize it for the big sales weekend to ensure customers understand these prices won't last long.
Get Ready for Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are huge - now double the size of Snapchat. Because it's prioritized by time and not the standard algorithm, it's a great opportunity for you to showcase popular products, limited time offers, and the hottest deals on your store during Black Friday. Make sure you have some content lined up, and create new Stories as the day goes on based on what's selling out and what's popular.
If you've not got graphic design skills already on your team, check out Easil - they have a ton of modern, stylish Instagram Story templates ready to use.
Make Sure You’re Ready to Ship Orders
If your site is ready, your social media is scheduled, and your email marketing is ready to go, then take the time to go over your plan for how you’ll deal with the extra influx of orders that will be rushing in. This is everything from how you’ll be printing shipping labels, to how each item is packaged, to ensuring you have enough material for packing, to how you’ll update each order’s shipping status. Going over this now will give you a clear picture of what you’ll be doing each day and avoid confusion amidst the craziness of the weekend.