Alternative Ideas to make Black Friday and Cyber Monday Great

Purists name this special day as “Black Friday” and the cool kids are even tagging it the “Cyber Week” – it starts from Friday, and runs the full week.

And for us entrepreneurs? We’re calling it a “Revenue-Rich Period”.

Whatever name you’d like to call it by, there’s no doubt that this shopping holiday, which signifies the start of Christmas shopping season, is something that you and your business should prepare for.

Newsflash: it’s a very big deal. And before we dive into this week’s video, brace yourselves. I’m not here to talk about overly generic advice like “draft your emails”, or “stock up on inventory”.

Nope, we’re here to talk about alternative ways that can make your Cyber Week the best week ever. I’m talking out-of-the-box, beat-your-common-sense, stand-out-from-the-crowd tips that can hopefully help you grow your revenue during this period.

Watch today’s video, play your cards right, and you may just see an increasing trend in your company’s annual revenue report this year.

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1. Deactivate your “discount pop-up” lead magnet.

Most online businesses use a pop-up that offers discount codes to first-time website visitors in exchange for their subscription to their email newsletters, right?

During Cyber Week, switch this off. Or better yet, use another incentive as a lead magnet. You can offer a free downloadable such as a short ebook instead.

You don’t want the discount code to compete with the Cyber Week promotion that you’re running. If you let them choose between the two discount choices, they may get overwhelmed, choose none and not buy from you.

Or worse, they may use both discount codes and you may make a sale… but not actually make money. Ouch.

2. Disable your discount codes and offer buy-one-get-one (BOGO) instead.

Zero is the magic number. Just ask academic and behavioral scientist Dan Ariely who found out that customers “perceive the benefits associated with free products as higher” than their absolute value.

Yes, this is true, even if you gave away a $5 product vs a $10 discount!

Here’s how you can use this to your advantage:

Aside from the win you get by running the numbers, offering a BOGO deal to your customers makes them perceive your product as more valuable.

It’s not “Oh, I’m getting a product for a cheaper price”.

It’s more on “I’m getting more of this awesome product!”

TL;DR: customers value free products > discounted products.

3. Deal with your customer’s sense of urgency by offering a “Limited Edition” product for a limited amount of time.

Ben and Jerry’s released “Scotchy Scotch Scotch” flavoured ice cream. Volkswagen made only 250 Volkswagen XL1 cars. And Starbucks carries limited edition tumblers sold exclusively at their corresponding locations.

So why don’t you sell certain products on this specific period of time? After all, using scarcity marketing is an effective way to boost sales since limited product supply can make the customers believe that scarce items are more popular, more desirable and more valuable.

You can also sell limited products using a BOGO deal and offer this for a limited period of time. You can hit two birds with one stone! Twice the profit and twice the increase in positive product perception can make you and your customers twice as happy, so it’s a win-win!

4. Drive customer loyalty by giving out more rewards points for products purchased during Cyber Week.

If you normally give 1 reward point for every dollar spent, pump out the volume and give more rewards point for every dollar spent during Cyber Week – it can be 3 points, 5 points, 10 points – it depends on you and your customers’ purchase information.

Yes, reward points can be claimed as discounts down the line, but consider the value proposition here. You’re not giving discounts directly. Instead, you’re driving customer loyalty and rewarding them for their patronage. This way, you’re not lessening your product’s worth: you’re actually strengthening your relationship with your customers over the long run.

Bonus:

Having trouble getting your customers’ attention and your message across? These two things can help you stand out from the crowd even more:

a. Make your social proof omnipresent
Don’t just put the reviews and ratings on your website. Include it in your social media platforms, postings and even email subjects.

b. Modify your “About” page
Make it more authentic and credible. When your customers read it, they should feel like your brand is trustworthy enough to do business with. Pro-tip #1: add nice pictures! Pro-tip #2: check out more tips to make the most out of your About page in my video here.

I hope this video helps you boost your sales during this Cyber Week. Any thoughts about the tips I mentioned? Let’s talk in the comments section below. Cheers.

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