Guidelines for creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns
As 2020 marks the 16th anniversary of the shopping event that is Cyber Monday, industries affected by the pandemic across the globe are looking to salvage their fiscal year with this corporate festivity. In our previous article, we looked into planning and creating Black Friday marketing campaigns. Today, we continue to follow that storyline by diving deeper into the aspect of creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns.
As a younger sibling to Black Friday, Cyber Monday comes in just behind it in terms of the revenue it generates from online sales. Although it might not be as popular as its older sibling and focuses mainly on online sales campaigns, Cyber Monday can still play a crucial role in helping start off the holiday marketing season. After all, these two events by themselves present companies across the globe with the chance to build up their online sales structure and establish a foothold in their respective markets. Choosing to ignore this unique opportunity can only reflect negatively on your ability to compete with other companies in your niche.
How to get your website ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Putting so much on the line while relying heavily on the performance of your website and its performance invites certain precautions to be taken on your end. After all, it would be a shame to invest so much time and resources in creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns only to have your website crash in the first couple of hours of processing online sales for site visitors. To avoid that from happening, you need to make sure that your website is at its full capacity once the floodgates open. And this is a task best left to professional web developers to tackle.
However, you can still do your part by knowing which functionalities of your website are critical in such situations. So, when you do start communicating with your agency or in-house team – focus on the following aspects:
Responsiveness
Statistics from 2019 show a drastic rise in the number of mobile device shoppers. More than 17% of the total sales in the US and UK on Cyber Monday were done through mobile devices (10.1 percent on tablets and 6.3 percent on smartphones). With such a high percentage of mobile device users, it is vital to ensure that your website responds well to mobile devices. Consider running a mobile compatibility test with Google. That way, you will be able to test not only the mobile-responsiveness of your website but also the page loading speed.
Page loading speed
Bear in mind that your website will be overrun by consumers during Cyber Monday. And as you already know – loading speed is a fundamental quality in the eyes of modern consumers. Site visitors will be looking to save as much time as possible on each website they place an order on – so speed will be something that they will be expecting.
Navigation
Once you establish a mobile-responsive and fast-loading performance, the next step is website navigation. Customers that land on your website need to be able to find their way through your website, find what they want, and place an order in record time. But they need your website to guide them through this process. The more time they spend trying to navigate through your web pages, the more likely they are to bounce from the website. And this is something best discussed with a team of professional web designers.
Integration
One of the common issues when setting up e-commerce platforms is integrating them with other software and plugins. And this lack of integration is one of the main causes of sites crashing when overrun by visitors. So, to avoid losing a whole lot of potential sales on Cyber Monday, make sure that all your vital components are properly integrated and operating without fault.
8 guidelines for creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns
Once again, we find ourselves advising companies that it is essential to start preparing your digital marketing strategies as soon as possible. The sooner you start developing your campaigns for promoting your Cyber Monday deals, the better off your business will be once it comes. Many of the guidelines that we’ve covered for Black Friday preparations apply here as well. However, we’ve come up with several additional ideas to help you in planning your Cyber Monday marketing strategy:
1. Create a streamlined checkout process
For companies looking to put a spotlight on a single or limited number of products – establishing a streamlined checkout is definitely an idea to consider. You can capture the attention of customers and lead them through the buying process, not allowing them to stray from the path to other products or websites. And this can play a key role as customers during Cyber Monday will tend to visit dozens of websites in search of the best deal.
So, you will want to offer audiences a checkout login through social media channels or email marketing campaigns. That way – you enable them to jump directly to the checkout page and all they need to do is fill out the payment info and place the order. This is the efficiency that modern consumers want when they are looking to finish up their shopping in record time.
2. Look beyond closing the online sale
Although the name and history of Cyber Monday put it in a digital environment, there is still power in the traditional in-store experience that a business can put to use here. And past years have shown this to be true, given that customers were more than willing to go into stores to make their purchases, especially those less tech-savvy.
Of course, given the influence of COVID-19 so far, predictions put the majority of shopping power this year online. But that doesn’t mean that businesses should completely close off the possibility of gaining revenue from in-store purchases. So, consider the use of brick-and-mortar experiences when creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns:
- Pop-ups
- Temporary holiday markets
- Department store-like markets, etc.
3. Offer discounts that will turn heads
With this year going as it is – people will be looking forward to some getting some great holiday deals to lift their spirits. The usual 20% discounts are not likely to impress them. So, businesses will need to loosen their will to lower prices on products to leave a strong impression on consumers. And don’t think that your competitors won’t be thinking the same. So, carefully consider the discounts you will be offering.
Also, rather than simply offering a typical discount message, consider your choice of words and the design carefully. Try to match the Cyber Monday deal with your brand – invest more time in the creative process. People will be exposed to countless marketing campaigns in the upcoming weeks, so you will want to offer something that will shine a light on your brand.
4. Take customer experience to the next level
When working on creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns, you need to look at it as a journey. And the role of the business is to guide customers through that journey, from one checkpoint to the next. That is why mapping out the buying process plays such an important role in securing revenue during each holiday.
It’s not enough to simply promote your Cyber Monday offer and leave it at that. Instead, take the steps to explore each part of the sales process, from showing interest and visiting your website, to becoming a lead and converting into a customer. Every step should be planned and thought out with the aim to ensure a purchase.
5. Put some thought into gift wrapping and packaging
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are gateways for most brands looking to solidify their online presence. And among the more popular strategies to build your brand online is the ability to leave a lasting impression. A business should invest in creating a memorable shopping experience through innovation. And that innovation can come in the simplest of forms such as the way you handle the wrapping and packing of products.
Special and unique packaging can grab the attention of customers. Not only that but it can also provide them with the desire to share the unwrapping with others through social media channels. And this is how brands can really prosper from holiday deals and sales.
6. Cross-promote other sales
Why limit your business to one sale when you have other products to promote? Certainly, you should focus on the Cyber Monday deal, but make sure to leave room to promote other discounts and products as well. Use the consumer juice that Cyber Monday brings to expand the range of your offer to those with their sights fixed on your brand.
7. Use price-point to guide customers through gifts
Deal hunting during the holidays is a fundamental part of the shopping experience today. Everybody wants to get the best deal possible in terms of both prices and gifts. And since most customers have a pre-determined budget to spend, you will want to make it easier for them to navigate through the offer you have based on prices. A simple segmentation of your products can give a more holistic view of what customers stand to gain from your Cyber Monday deal.
8. Take advantage of email marketing
The importance of email marketing for businesses remains strong to this day. And with holiday shopping, that relevance becomes all the more obvious. Offering email teasers and promotional series of campaigns can lead customers to your website one step at a time. That is why creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns should rely on the use of email marketing.
Make sure that your Cyber Monday is as profitable as possible
Once you fully grasp the potential that creating Cyber Monday marketing campaigns with attention to each detail can offer, you will be more than willing to start planning as soon as today. So, use this knowledge that Digital Dot offers here to push your business further with a strong start to the holiday season. Prepare your website in terms of performance to ensure that no setbacks lead to loss of profit and test everything multiple times. Finally, and most importantly, make sure that your participation in Cyber Monday is one that follows customers through from beginning to end.