The life of an artist: While everyone else is doing their holiday shopping, you're streamlining your own online shop to maximize sales on Black Friday (11/24), Cyber Monday (11/27) and beyond. It’s time well spent; at the peak of the weekend last year, shoppers spent 3.3 billion on Black Friday alone! Ready for a piece of that pie? Here are 10 pro tips to knock your BFCM sales out of the park this November.
Artwork by Old Try in our Certificate Frame in Antique Silver.
1. Surprises are better saved for under the tree. There's no harm in letting people know you'll be having a sale...like, pronto. Research shows that shrewd consumers start prepping for the event well in advance. Can't bear to spill all the beans? Tease on social media and in your shop that something exciting is on the way to build up shoppers’ suspense.
2. Plan ahead...because scrambling last minute is so not fun. Decide early which items you'll discount, and by how much. Will you offer a site-wide percentage off or just promote one "doorbuster" product on super sale? Make sure you have the inventory to support the increased demand that could result from such a special deal, and let us know if you expect a large surge in orders over the weekend so we can prepare to turn things around as quickly and efficiently as possible.
3. Promote for your audience. How do you best reach your customers? Loyal IG following? Email list that can't get enough? Think a banner on your homepage will do the trick? All of the above? Choose your most successful channels to post about your sale when it hits. And if you don't yet have data to inform this decision, be sure to set up Google Analytics this time around!
4. Create a sense of scarcity, exclusivity and urgency. Whether it's putting a super tight timeline on your sale, adding a real-time countdown to your site or emphasizing just how very special it is for your artwork to be discounted, let customers know that a deal like this is a rare opportunity. And of course, we'd love to talk about partnering to offer a special limited-edition framed piece for the retail holiday—in a Neon Max Plexibox perhaps?
5. Consider alternative channels. Reach out to bloggers, editors and friends now to see if they’re interested in spreading the word about your sale. Us included! Just send us the deets of your promo and we will share with the Simply Framed audience over the weekend to help them find the best BFCM deals from our pro partners!
6. Add in some ads. Studies show that customers click-through ads more frequently during the holiday season—so now's the time to invest. Not sure where to begin? If you use Shopify, the platform offers tons of tools to help you get started with Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. After you’re all set up, be sure to place a remarketing tag on your website to retarget your holiday sales traffic.
7. Get our Shopify app! Any time saved over the busy holiday season is a sure win. If you run your shop with Shopify, consider integrating our proprietary app. Instead of having to manually enter order details one at a time or upload bulk orders, you'll receive a daily email from our app asking to confirm orders received from your store and select a payment method for the framing. We’ll handle the rest.
8. Make it mobile. Last year, mobile sales on Cyber Monday totaled $1.07 billion—up 34 percent from 2015. Luckily, if you're using Shopify and taking advantage of our handy frame templates, your site is already optimized for mobile! Either way, you should definitely double-check that everything will be just as smooth for the customer who plans to shop 'til they drop via smartphone.
9. Keep it going all season. Come Tuesday morning, there’s still work to be done. Hopefully your BFCM sales helped you capture new customers' emails and gain followers on social media that you can continue to market to throughout the holidays. Don't underestimate the power of an abandoned cart email or retargeting your previous customers with ads. And as always, be sure to keep our holiday deadlines in mind when marketing throughout the season, calendars available to download on our Vendor Portal.
10. Learn from your mistakes. If something doesn't go quite right this year—well, there's always next season. Make notes about successes and failures while they are fresh in your mind, and you can review them when you begin your planning next year.
Let’s spread the joy of art like never before this holiday season! And if you’re looking for more seasonal suggestions, don’t miss our Pro Holiday Checklist.
