Black Friday and Cyber Monday Throw-back: Lessons you can Learn from 2016

The Black Friday sales touched remarkable heights last year. With a record-breaking $ 3.34 sales, the eCommerce industry saw a boost of around 21%. But beyond the statistics, it is the lesson that the e-retailers should focus on. The incredible achievements of the year 2016 has for sure shaped a lot of trend to follow this year as well.

The blog has outlined some of the essential takeaways of the sales season of last year. Amp yourself up with these facts and get ready for the busiest season of the year.

It is not a one-day affair

One of the biggest aspect that requires the consideration of the e-marketers is that this is not a one-day affair. This implies that the expectation of the customers won’t end on same day. In fact, there is a huge customer base who actually waits for the post-sale offers. There were a lot of sites last year that extended their deals from Black Friday to Black November. What was earlier a single day sale has now turned into a week-long sale. The eCommerce giants like Amazon extended there sales from Black Friday to Thanksgiving. And this is what your customers will be expecting this year as well. While the bargain hunters must have already started hitting the internet to strike the right deal, it is important to provide them with what they are looking for.

Suggestion: With few more days to go, it is high time that you gear up for the extended sales season. This behavior might continue the entire holiday season. Thus, you need to gear up for the holidays accordingly. Do not expect close the deal and achieve the target on the same day. There are many more opportunities ahead and you need to be prepared for the same.

Mobile domination is the key

It is interesting to note that 75% of the total net searches online was done using mobile phones. Moreover, 55% of the online purchases was done using hand-held devices. The mobile domination is bound to increase this season as well. Moreover, if we take a close insight into the consumer behavior, we’ll see that the online shoppers expects to get everything then and there. This is what makes it even important to bring the store at an arms distance of the customers. In addition to this, another exciting figure shows that the mobile apps touched a peak of 1.2 million installs on Black Friday.

Suggestion: The very first consideration is to make the website mobile-responsive which you must have already done. However, the last minutes preparation for the busiest week must include the final testing as well. Make sure that the site is ready to handle the unexpected traffic coming from the mobile devices. The additional holiday functionalities such as exit pop-ups must be working on the mobile phones as well as. Besides, this is the best time upgrade your site to a mobile platform. Knowband’s mobile app builder can help you go mobile even in the eleventh hour. Whether you have a eCommerce store on Prestashop, Magento, OpenCart or any other platform, you can convert it into a complete mobile store. Provide lucrative offers in return of the downloads and motivate your loyal customers to install your application.

Greater traffic, but lesser revenue

This was one of the observations last year. The website traffic was more than the expectation while the revenue earned was less. This is proven fact that the customers are spending less than expectation. The reason might be the presence of so many choices or the intention of the customers to hit a better deal. This may hit you hard if you are still not prepared to counter the same. The e-merchants should focus on the aiding the purchase intention of the visitors. Provide compelling reasons to customers to avoid procrastination and place the order instantly. Another way to curb these exits is to showcase deadline offers to the customers. Provides the customers with the offers that they just can’t resist. One day delivery option with a countdown timer can do the magic. Something like Prestashop shipping timer is one such way to create the sense urgency in the minds of the shoppers.

Suggestion: Get your landing pages ready for unexpected traffic. Along with this, be ready to get less conversions that expected. This is when the role of the re-marketing and re-targeting comes into play. The holiday season are more prone to cart abandonment. Use this as an opportunity for future conversions. The Black Friday is getting longer every year and this trend may continue in the future as well. The opportunities would not end after this day. The e-marketers need to stay at their toes in order to bring these customers back to the store.

Let them hit the bargain

The whole idea of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales is to get an edgy deal. With so many options to choose from, even the expectation of the online shoppers has gone up. Thus, the flat discounts may not intrigue them. You need to lure them to checkout page, but in a subtle way. Even though it is the perfect time for aggressive marketing, it might not be fruitful at times. In addition, the bargain seeker love to shop early. According to report, more than half a million visit on the eCommerce store happened at 1 AM in the morning.

Suggestion: With the above-mentioned aspect in mind, the e-marketers need to find out innovative ways of giveaways to attract the visitors. Instead of going with the conventional means, provide them an opportunity to hit a bargain. The interactive gamified pop-ups such as spin and win can be of some help. The process of spinning the wheel in order to get offers makes the customers feel as if they have won something hit a bargain. Even a small discount may be well-appreciated. Moreover, offering mid-night offers may boost up the sales to new heights.

Wrap up

The expectation of the customers is high. While any strategic changes in this hour may be hazardous, this is the perfect time to make some back-up plans. As well as, it important that you plan out the post-holiday sales strategies. Use the takeaways from the last year and tap the opportunities effectively.

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6 Ways to Optimize the Consumer Decision Making Process

The idea to persuade the consumer to make a purchase is quite challenging. The problem starts from the minute one as the customer enters the web store. The first thing that a store owner needs to be sure of is the customer’s intention of making a purchase. Once the intention is clear, then, compelling them to complete the transaction becomes easier. Gaining customer’s trust is biggest factor that contributes to conversion. The web stores can start to make better sales and at the same time the customer will also not hesitate to return to the site once the trust is created. A customer wouldn’t walk directly into web store and seek for their help. They must be provided with hint, shown a path and then led by the website.

The interface and the design of the website plays a crucial role in controlling the customer’s actions inside the web store. The web store can also use various approaches in order to persuade or temp the customer to make a purchase. This can be done by following some of the features as listed below-:

Show them the importance

One of the important factor which helps in deciding the consumer behavior of decision making would go directly by showing them the importance of product. The consumer may not have a clear thought on making purchase on any object. In that case, the web store can use this fact as for their advantage. The suggestion showing the consumer with the products that might help them with their daily routine. The contents and blogs of the site should be structured in such a way that it provides the solution of the problems being faced by the online shoppers. For instance the web store can suggest a customer with the choice for a water purifier, if their recent search shows refrigerator. Thus, the customer can easily relate the two of them and will not hesitate to make a purchase on water cooler when he is already sending a larger sum on refrigerator.

Urgency of the situation

How about making your customers realize about the immediate action needed to take in order to fulfill an action. The web store can use the timer facility such as provided by Prestashop Shipping timer, where the customer can receive the product on the particular day, if ordered within the given time period. It helps the customer to clear their thoughts on making a purchase on the products as they were about to take it and ordering it sooner will result in early delivery of the product. Thus, the customer who was confused about making a purchase on the product is trying to make a purchase as soon as possible. The same can be used by the web store in different forms.

Bribe your customers

One of the most effective way to control the customer would be by bribing them. In this context the web store can provide various offers and discounts on the products that they want to sell to the customers. The customers will be more eager to make a purchase on any product if it is available to them on lower price than the actual price. The web store can always use this technique to encourage the customers to make a purchase on the products which the web store wants to sell them. One of the better approach to this method would be provide some other kind of offers such as combo products at lower price or a better idea would be chance to make it large by availing free coupons or scratch cards which can later be used to get some other freebies. It is one of the most effective way in which the seller gets to control the behavior of the customers. Providing giveaways in an enticing way such by using Prestashop scratch coupons or Prestashop Spin and Win can help you bring your customers to the checkout page. Similar extensions are available for Magento such as Magento Spin and Win and scratch coupon as well as for other eCommerce platforms. You can optimize your site accordingly.

Assist them during the purchase

Everyone appreciates help. The web store can always make extra efforts in helping the customer make a purchase. By doing so the web store gets the chance to reach closer to the customer and at certain point the web store could start to persuade the customer by showing them suggestion or offering them with products that may fit to their cause. The customer has a feeling of trust towards the web store as they got assistance the whole time, so the customer might want to give a good look at the suggested items made by the web store and if the conditions are right then the chances of customer making a purchase on the products are quite good.

Descriptive and expressive

The web store can also use the words and contents in order to fill up the customers with ideas to make a purchase. According to a survey,” Almost 42% of the people like to make a purchase on the product after they are provided with the product video”. Thus, the web store can initiate these kinds of steps in order to make sure that the cueCommercestomers is right on the spot where the web store wants them to. The inclusion of the public reviews and feedbacks is another major target that a customer sees before making a purchase. As, the product with positive feedback is twice as likely to make a sale on the product with n feedback. Therefore, the web store can highlight the products with positive reviews so that the customer may go on to make purchase on them without any second thoughts.

Conclusion

The process of understanding the consumer behavior in order to aid their purchase decision may help the web store in multiple ways. Provide compelling reasons to the customers to make purchase and boost the rate of conversion right on the track.

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