Ultimate Black Friday Checklist: 21 September To-Dos for Shopify Merchants
Not all Black Friday checklists are created equal
That’s why we’re sharing our ultimate Black Friday checklist that we’ve created specifically for Shopify merchants looking to differentiate themselves from the competition and have the best Black Friday Cyber Monday sale ever. September is the perfect time to start taking action because as Ben Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Let’s get started!
Step 1: Identify weak points in your current ecommerce
✅Check on your key stats in Google Analytics
✅Install heat mapping & session recording software to view customer interactions
✅Compare your Google Analytics with Shopify’s backend to spot any data leaks
✅Test & optimise your site speed
Step 2: Plan your sales strategy
✅Products to feature
✅How much inventory is needed
✅Discounting strategy
✅When to start and end your sales
✅Determine what pages you need - landing pages, product pages, blog pages, collection pages
✅Segment your customers into groups and determine strategies for each
✅Set goals for orders, revenue, and conversion rates
✅Contingency planning
- What to do if your products sell out
- What happens if orders or returns exceed expectations
- What happens if your shipping provider is over capacity or loses orders
Step 3: Optimise based on data
✅Analyse browser and page performance data
✅QA test across multiple browsers and devices to identify any bugs or usability issues
✅A/B test key pages
- Test mobile, tablet, and desktop performance
- Focus on pages with highest page value
- High bounce rate and low conversion rate browsers
✅Find the least intrusive and most effective pop-up design
✅Explore extra apps needed such as upsells, cross-sells, promotional banners
Step 4: Have a dress rehearsal sale to ensure readiness
✅Run a sale to test the key parts of your BFCM strategy
✅Use Hotjar and Google Analytics to measure results
✅A/B test different pages, products, and ads
✅Collect email addresses for Black Friday marketing
Having a great Black Friday Cyber Monday sale is all about preparation!
If you’d like some support planning and executing a brilliant Black Friday Cyber Monday sale, get in touch with us here at Full Fat Commerce, and we can bring this checklist to life for you.
Want more advice? Download the FULL Black Friday Cyber Monday Checklist here.
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