Five tips to run events during the holidays without destroying your bottom line
Yes, small businesses can be part of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and not lose money. Learn how to run promotional events during the holidays without affecting the profits of your business.
What is the first image that comes to your mind when you hear the phrase "Black Friday"?
If you're anything like me, there are long lines starting on the day of Thanksgiving, large crowds fighting over heavily discounted televisions, and exhausted retail workers trying to keep pace (and keep the peace).
But Black Friday -- and its counterpart on the internet, Cyber Monday -- has evolved over the past couple of years. A growing number of people are searching for bargains in the comfort of their couch, and "doorbusters" are becoming more symbolic rather than actual.
Small-sized business owners and entrepreneurs, however, offering discounts like the usual Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts can seem unreal. If you cut your costs too low, and you risk not even making it to the point of breaking even.
That doesn't mean the sales aren't available for small-scale businesses. Just a extra creativity rather than depending on the steepest of discounts to increase sales.
In this post, we'll cover five tips for making the most out of Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday specials without ruining your profits.
Do creators have a right to take part in Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
In short, yes.
For 2020 Black Friday sales totaled $9 billion . Cyber Monday sales were even higher with $10.8 billion, which made the day the most popular online shopping day to date in U.S. history.
That's a lot of spending power over just a few days.
Sales from holiday e-commerce is expected to reach a record 207 billion dollars in the U.S. between November and 2021. That's a 10% increase over 2020 sales. And Cyber Weekend which runs from November through Cyber Monday -- will be the most important event.
Shopping online has grown to be more and more a part of the Cyber Weekend pie in recent years. In 2019, 93.2 million buyers made purchases online for Black Friday, and 83.3 million did the same for Cyber Monday.
And since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people shopping online is higher more than they ever have. The 2020 spending on e-commerce was $791.70 billion, which is up 32.4% from 2019.
The public is always looking to find bargains on the internet.
Making the most out Black Friday 2021 Take advantage the most Black Friday with these dedicated guides, tips and tricks for making this the best year of sales ever.
Creators of digital goods such as online courses, digital products as well as memberships enjoy an edge over those that sell physical items.
The reason is that you're selling an intangible product, meaning you don't have to fret about having adequate inventory or dealing with last-minute delay in supply chain.
You can also offer customers an immediate option to their order without having to stand in long lines or sit in line waiting for their purchase to be delivered.
You may not have discounts of 75% off or buy-one-get-one-free promos as big-box retailers, but it is possible for entrepreneurs as well as small-sized businesses to take part with Cyber Weekend without breaking the financial budget. Read on for 5 tips for achieving this.
5 suggestions for Christmas promotions that won't kill your profits
#1: Offer discounts sparingly
The deep discounts are the biggest reason to shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Who would not want to save money?
Coupons are research-based and have been proven to keep people happy. A research conducted by Dr. Paul J. Zak who is a professor of economics and neurology and neuroeconomics, showed that those who received a $10 voucher saw a rise of 38% in oxytocin levels and were 11percent happier than shoppers who did not receive coupon.
Small businesses can offer coupons and promo codes during sale times during the holidays. To avoid hurting your profits, you must be careful to use it in a controlled manner and with care.
A way to accomplish this is to limit coupons to celebrate special occasions or to a certain group of individuals.
The constant discounting of your product can hurt your reputation and its worth . If you offer discounts year-round and people don't buy at the full priceand they'll wait until your next sales.
When you only offer promos every few months such as Reuven customers, they will be more likely to make use of these offers.
And if you make those promotions available to a limited group of customers or subscribers, you can leverage the scarcity concept by leveraging FOMO (the fear of missing out).
FOMO is an powerful tool
60 percent of customers buy products due to FOMO.
89% of Americans think that an exclusive offer would increase their likelihood of shopping using a particular name.
48% believe the exclusive deal will help them buy more quickly.
In the example above from Reuven He warns his customers that "Hurry, the sale only lasts through 'Cyber' Monday." Shoppers only have a few days to use the 40% discount coupon percent discount coupon, which makes them more likely to redeem it.
You don't have to provide 40% off.
If your profit margins aren't great, consider less expensive discounts. says Mike Moloney , founder of FilterGrade :
"If you have limited margins I highly suggest using smaller discounts in the range of 10%-20 percent. These are still incredibly efficient in converting customers to new ones."
The Rule of 100 says that for items that are less than $100, customers typically prefer to view discounts as percentages. If the item is more than $100, consumers prefer to see the amount actually saved.
Overall discounts and coupons could serve as a fantastic way to boost sales during the large holiday sales -- but they're far from your only option. Our next tip focuses on increasing value without lowering price.
#2: Create product bundles
The person who said "less can be more" was not talking about how valuable your Cyber Weekend deals.
If you aren't able to or do not want to offer discounts, product bundles offer a wonderful option to increase perceived value and boost the average value of your order (AOV) without offering discounts.
Patrick Campbell, Founder and the CEO ProfitWell, explains: ProfitWell , explains:
"Price Bundling" is that allows businesses to combine multiple items or services into a bundle at one price. They are generally sold at a lower price than if they were purchased individually.
Although each item inside the bundle can be technically available at a reduced price it is a strategy that could increase your average revenue per customer (ARPU) as well as user engagement."
When it comes to digital goods, it makes less sense to do traditional sales like buy-one-get-one since you're typically selling access to something -such as an ebook or a membershipwhich your customers only need to purchase once.
Justin employed's Bundling of products feature to sell all of his most popular courses and content to digital marketers for significantly less cost than it would cost to purchase each product separately.
The strategy did not just increase sales but also it also helped Justin gain new customers :
Explore's bundling capabilities -- and a whole of other. Register here . (No credit card needed!)
Overall, bundles are an excellent pricing method to promote holiday sales, but what if you only sell one or two products? This is what we've got for you as well as your customers' holiday shopping lists -for this following advice.
#3: Aid shoppers with the purchase of gifts
Cyber Weekend is the season's busiest period to buy gifts for the holidays. The year 2000 saw shoppers spend the an average $311.75 on holiday purchases.
It's a good thing for creators (and your clients) online courses can make great gift ideas. The tech and shopping experts at Mashable ranked an annual membership to MasterClass as one of this year's top online gift options:
Gift guides are another way to assist people in crossing all of their Christmas checklists. If you have a blog, create a niche-specific gift guide like this entrepreneur gift guide of the business experts at Wandering Aimfully:
If you are listing your own products in the gift guide, make sure you include additional recommendations. Otherwise, it's just an advertising post to promote your business.
And, of course, there's always the classic gift-giving fallback -- gift cards. If you're selling on the internet your website, you could make gift certificates for sale through your website, such as those examples from Soul Food Talks :
But the gift-giving doesn't have to stop here -- Cyber Weekend is a great chance to offer gifts to your customers, too.
#4: Make it sweeter with a free gift
Promotions are likely to influence 82% of holiday consumers , and price discounts as well as free shipping and giveaways are thought to be some of the most attractive promotional deals.
Printables like worksheets and checklists provide great content for bonus items since they allow your clients to make the most of the purchase.
Marketing Showrunners accomplished exactly what they promised by giving the following free gifts to students who signed up early for their Showrunners Sessions class :
By offering a PDF ebook by the co-founder Jay Acunzo, Marketing Showrunners gave value in exchange to encourage early enrollment.
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No matter if your Black Friday promotion is a free gift, a discount, or a product bundle nobody will be aware about it until you inform them. This brings us to our final tip -spread the word about the holiday sales you are offering.
#5: Spread the word about your promotions
The most successful holiday sales in the world won't do you any good if people don't know about it. If you are planning your Christmas sales, make sure to spread the word and let your clients be aware of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
A drip campaign -- the sending of a string of emailsthat are sent out prior the Cyber Weekend can help build excitement. Be wary of sending numerous emails and sending out spam to your customers, however.
Like you've experienced in the past that people receive a lot of emails from brands in the lead-up to Black Friday. Online marketers launched more marketing campaigns on Black Friday than on any other day in the year 2018.
Constant Contact suggests sending out three emails beginning a week before the sale starts: "One that teases your sales, one that outlines an offer, and finally another that concludes with a reminder to make it last minute."
As for what to include in your emails Here are two guidelines:
Make sure to highlight your offer within your message. Emails with percent-off discount offers in their subject lines had an mean conversion of 18.1 percent in comparison to 3.8 percentage for subjects that don't have specific offers.
Give users a sense pressure. An experiment carried out by ConversionXL observed that the use of the countdown timer like the one used by DataCamp below -- was a catalyst for an increase of 147% in conversions.
In addition to the email channel, social media is an additional great way to spread information out regarding your special deals for the holidays, especially when you're targeting a younger audience. 59% from Gen Z and 55% of young people are able to find your products via social media.
Like the email drip campaign above, use a series of social posts to create excitement around your holiday deals. For example, travel blogger Nele of The Navigatio built excitement for an upcoming product and Black Friday sale with this tweet :
Just a couple of days after, Nele declared that the much-anticipated ebook was available:
Another perk of social media is user-generated material (UGC). All across industries, buyers who are interested in UGC convert with a 161% higher rate . Send testimonials of students, members and satisfied customers to market the Cyber Weekend deals.
If everything else fails, you can make use of Black Friday as an excuse to share a very beautiful photo .
Bottom line: If a Black Friday sale happens and nobody is aware of it, then it didn't really occur. Don't just focus on offering the best offer - ensure that the right people see it too.
Make the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
This year more than ever, Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer an exciting opportunity for individuals, entrepreneurs and smaller businesses who sell their products online. And even with low margins for profit, you can take part in the shopping season of this year.
To recap, here's how:
Offer discounts sparingly and strategically. More customers believe that discounts are available, the less likely they'll pay full price.
Create bundles of product by listing similar products together, like a series of eBooks or an online course, and similar guides.
Let customers help with their holiday shopping by promoting your merchandise as gifts or gift certificates or creating the gift guide.
Entice shoppers with free gifts -- like printables, templates, and ebooks that will make them more of the purchase.
Promote your holiday deals. Facebook and email are two tried-and-true marketing methods for spreading awareness of sales and promos.
I hope this article has filled your arsenal with strategies that you can use to provide amazing deals during the holidays without destroying your bottom line. It doesn't matter if this is your first year as a creator or your fifteenth this year, I wish you the best for Cyber Weekend and beyond.