In the cult classic film 'The Princess Bride', Inigo Montoya has spent 20 years hunting for his father’s killer: the Six-Fingered Man. Inigo has had a lot of time to devise the perfect plan for when he finally finds his enemy. He’ll look him in the eyes and say, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Well, spoiler alert—at the end of the movie, Inigo finally faces the Six-Fingered Man and avenges his father. Afterward, he remarks, “I have been in the revenge business so long. Now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life.”
You might experience a similar feeling now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have ended. You’ve spent months preparing: reading articles filled with helpful tips, making sure your technology is ready, optimizing your site, and planning discounts.
Now, like Inigo, you might be feeling a mix of elation and doubt. Fortunately, though, the peak season fun isn’t over yet! Read on to learn what to do now.
Analyze Your Store’s Performance
Once the dust has settled, it's time for a post-mortem analysis. Take a look at your sales data and customer feedback, identifying what worked well and what could be improved. Ask yourself the following questions to get better insight into your Black Friday and Cyber Monday performance:
- Which products are most in demand? These are your bestsellers.
- Which products brought in the most revenue? These aren’t necessarily your bestsellers, since both the quantity of units sold and the price factor into revenue.
- What promotions did you run, and what were the results? Were your sales and discounts as successful as you hoped? How did they affect the popularity of specific products?
- Did any product pages get lots of traffic but few sales? If so, you may need to optimize those pages for conversion.
- Did you get any reviews? Reviews can help you understand where your customer experience needs improvement.
In addition to looking at sales data and customer feedback, take a deep dive into the results of your marketing campaigns. Which referral channels drove most of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales? How much revenue did each source generate? When you know which marketing channels work best for your target customers, you can focus more on these channels next time.
Engage Customers With Post-Purchase Messages
You don’t just want to reach one-time customers during peak season—you want people to purchase from your store again and again. How can you turn Black Friday or Cyber Monday buyers into loyal customers? It all starts with staying in touch. Try one (or more) of these ideas to keep customers engaged throughout the rest of peak season and all year round.
- Express gratitude. Send a simple thank you email after someone makes a purchase.
- Offer a discount. To go the extra mile with your thank you message—and incentivize customers to buy from you again—consider sending them a discount code.
- Suggest related products. Offer customized suggestions of products the customer might like. For example, if someone buys a sweatshirt, try sending an email with a link to the matching sweatpants.
Post-purchase emails have open rates almost 17% higher than the average email automation, so make sure to take advantage of consumers’ post-purchase excitement while it lasts.
Send Abandoned Cart Messages
When sending out emails and texts, don’t just focus on people who completed purchases. Odds are, lots of people filled up their carts on Black Friday or Cyber Monday but never actually checked out. To encourage them to complete their transactions, send cart abandonment messages giving them a gentle nudge.
In addition to welcome messages (2.9%), cart abandonment messages (2.3%) tend to generate the highest conversion rates of all non-transactional automated emails.
Ask for Reviews
Hopefully, Black Friday and Cyber Monday brought a surge of new customers to your store. While some of these people probably bought products as gifts, others bought for themselves—and this provides a perfect opportunity to collect some solid online reviews.
Once you’re sure a customer has received their purchase and had time to use it, send an email or text requesting a review. Briefly thank them for their purchase, explain how leaving a review or rating will help your business, and include a link to leave a review.
The positive reviews you collect will help drive sales for the rest of the year. Ninety-seven percent of consumers read product ratings and reviews before making a purchase, and conversion rates increase by 120.3% when shoppers interact with ratings and reviews on product pages.
Keep the Momentum Going by Offering Deals Throughout the Holiday Season
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are major days for ecommerce, they’re not the only time people make online purchases. People will continue to shop more than usual up until the end of December, and you can win their business by offering great deals. The finish line is in sight—you’ve got this!
Continue To Improve Your Customer Experience
As you navigate peak season challenges, be on the lookout for ways to improve your customer experience. As you tweak things that aren’t working and double down on things that are, you’ll see more engagement with your brand.
We recommend getting started with a shopping guarantee. Norton Shopping Guarantee with Package Protection by EasyPost, available to Shopify merchants, gives consumers peace of mind by confirming that they’re shopping on an independently verified site. And with the option to add package insurance at checkout, customers can rest assured that their holiday gifts will be safe from theft or damage.
Learn how it works here.
