Black Friday holds so much potential for small businesses. 

It’s an event that attracts such a large number of shoppers looking for deals, providing a window for smaller brands to gain visibility and increase sales. 

When it comes to running a successful Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday sale, the sooner you prepare, the better your results will be. 

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In this article, we’ll discuss 4 simple, low-cost, effective Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday ideas for small Shopify businesses. Including:

• How and why to do a Black Friday early access sale
• What bundle offers are and how you can utilise them 
• The key to running a Black Friday flash sale
• Why offering a gift with purchase is instrumental 

Let’s dive in…

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Black Friday Early Access

You don’t need to wait until Black Friday to start your promotions.

One of the best ways to generate buzz around your Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday offerings and ensure the most sales possible is to extend the shopping frenzy beyond just one day.

Early access is where you allow a select or specific group of customers to shop your promotions, deals, and discounts before the official Black Friday event.

This exclusive access is often given through invitations, unique discount codes, or memberships to reward loyal customers, creating a sense of exclusivity, and driving anticipation. 

Running an early Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday sale is a really great marketing opportunity for small businesses because it’s cost-effective, which is super useful for those who are on a tight budget. It allows small Shopify businesses to effectively reach their customers, driving both short-term sales and long-term brand engagement - for free.

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Promote your exclusive offer across your site

Those who are visiting your Shopify store are already intrigued by your products and offerings. Still, they will be even more intrigued when they discover that they can get access to an exclusive discount.

It’s important to include information about your exclusive offer across your online store, including on banners, CTAs, and your website popup. For example, you could adjust your popup to feature Black Friday influenced branding, prompting customers to sign up with their email address to receive the early access code. 

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Send out an access code via email 

Start by segmenting your email list to separate the specific customers who will receive early access to your Black Friday discount. You could choose to target loyal or VIP customers, subscribers, customers who have signed up for early access, or any other specific group you’d like to reward.

It’s important to create a compelling, attention-grabbing email that clearly shows the exclusivity of your early access offer, what products will be available, and how much money they can save.

Your customers will likely be inundated with Black Friday emails from other brands they’re subscribed to - so you need to craft something that stands out. 

Place your early access code within your email, ensuring it’s prominent and easy to locate. Also, explain how and where the code should be used, such as on your website during checkout.

If customers have to work hard to search for or decipher your code, they’ll likely abandon the offer from the offset before they even think about making a purchase. Remember, the ease of accessibility directly correlates with the success of marketing campaigns, and this is particularly true during Black Friday when people want to make quick and easy purchases. 

Another popular way to provide early access to customers through email is to include a CTA. 

This CTA can link directly to your website or product pages featuring exclusive Black Friday products with the early access code automatically applied. This keeps what customers have to do to a minimum, providing them with a seamless shopping experience. 

It would also be beneficial to include some information about the specific timeframe during which your early access code is valid. Not only does this help your customers better understand your campaign, but it can create a sense of urgency that they will miss out on the deal if they don't act soon. 

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Create Bundle Offers 

Bundle offers involve grouping your related or complementary products and selling them as a package deal at a discounted price. They typically offer customers a cost-saving advantage compared to purchasing each item individually.

By creating bundle offers, your business can increase the perceived value for shoppers, enticing them to make larger purchases. During Black Friday, these deals are particularly popular because they provide an opportunity for customers to secure a range of products they may not usually purchase together at a reduced cost. 

Bundle offers are a win-win for both businesses and consumers, as they boost sales and average order value (AOV) whilst still delivering savings. 

For example, imagine a Shopify store that sells coffee machines. A coffee machine is a big purchase in itself, meaning that all of the extra applications you could buy alongside the machine are a luxury. To increase sales, this Shopify business may create a bundle including a coffee machine and 5 applications or add-ons to enhance the coffee-making experience. 

This is a ‘buy more, save more’ tactic, persuading customers that when put together, products once viewed as great are now a powerhouse together. Shoppers will think they are saving money this way, as it’s much cheaper to buy two or more items than buying them individually at a different time.

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Run Flash Sales

If you’re looking for ways to create a higher sense of urgency for your customers this Black Friday, then flash sales will do the trick. 

A flash sale is a limited-time, highly-discounted offer on a specific product or set of products that only lasts for a few hours or less. They are often featured prominently on a brand’s website and offer significant savings, sometimes even exceeding the other discounts available during the rest of their Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday event. 

Running flash deals mean that your customers are less likely to abandon their carts. It’s the urgency of a limited-time deal that will immediately push your customers to make fast, impulse purchase decisions out of the fear of missing out on these amazing deals.

One of the biggest pain points for small Shopify businesses is abandoned carts, which is why flash sales are one of the most effective strategies this Black Friday Cyber Monday. 

On average, flash sales generate a 35% increase in transaction rate during Black Friday.

By rotating your flash deals every hour and adding countdown clocks to remind potential buyers of the limited time they have, you’ll create more excitement, inviting them to check back at your store before the offer ends. 

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The key to running a successful Black Friday flash sale 

To run a successful Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday flash sale, selecting the right products and pricing is absolutely vital. 

The products you select should be some of your most high-demand items to drive customer engagement and sales. These products will be the ones that you are receiving the most interaction with on social media or that are currently trending. 

Your pricing strategy is also vital because you need to offer a substantial discount which means your customers can see genuine value coming from the sale. However, it’s a delicate balance between offering a compelling discount and still ensuring profitability during your sale.

Discounts typically range from 20% to 70% off, but the specific amount will depend on your industry, what you’re selling, and your unique selling goals.

Aim for a price that grabs your customer’s attention and clearly communicates significant savings, while still allowing you to achieve a good amount of sales and profit. It’s also important to consider the market and stand-out pricing to ensure your discounts are attractive amongst your competitors' sales.

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Offer a 'Free Gift with Purchase'  

One of the best marketing ideas for your business this Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday is the ‘free gift’ strategy. Free gifts are guaranteed to bring joy to any shopper, because who doesn’t like free or complementary products?

Offering to add a little something extra to a buyer's order is a great way to increase their buying intent, as well as the customer experience. Not only will this mean they’re less likely to abandon their cart during the Black Friday sale, but that they’ll want to return to your store in the future.

Free gifts with purchases are usually only offered if the customer spends a certain amount because it helps to drive up the AOV (average order value). For example, your offer could be something like ‘spend £100 this Black Friday and receive a free gift’, encouraging the customer to add more items to their basket.

Some examples of free gift options small Shopify businesses could offer customers include:

• A sample of your other products. As an example, if you sell cosmetics, you may choose to include a free sample of a perfume or makeup product. If you sell food and beverages, you could include a free can of drink or a small packet of something to try. 

• Complimentary items similar to a buyer's purchase. Clothing and shoe businesses often offer a complimentary item to pair with a product, such as free socks with a shoe purchase, or a free t-shirt when you buy two hoodies. 

• Mystery gift. To increase the element of excitement when making a purchase, allow shoppers to uncover a mystery gift when their order arrives.

Overall, customers are more satisfied with brands that make a genuine effort to provide them with the best shopping and purchasing experience possible. A free gift with purchase is a great way to not only make more sales this Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday but also to acquire new customers whilst strengthening your relationship with existing ones.

It doesn’t take a huge gesture to entice shoppers during Black Friday, even a hint of receiving something valuable for free is enough to drive them to make a purchase. For small businesses who may only have the budget to offer something like a free sample or a bonus product, this strategy is instrumental in driving more sales.

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Quick fire tips for small Shopify businesses during Black Friday;

Optimise your store for mobile 

The majority of online shoppers now use mobile devices to browse and make purchases, and this trend is especially prominent during the Black Friday shopping frenzy. 

A Salesforce study revealed that in 2022, mobile devices made up a staggering 76% of Black Friday Cyber Monday ecommerce traffic. Furthermore, Shopify’s Black Friday 2023 report shows that the majority of customers shopped on mobile. 

Failing to provide a seamless and user-friendly mobile shopping experience on your Shopify store could result in lost sales and dissatisfied customers. 

However, as long as you prepare your site accordingly, you can have a mobile-optimised Shopify store that is ready for the Black Friday sales. 

• To ensure you’re providing your customers with the best mobile experience this Black Friday, start by implementing a responsive site design. This means creating pages that can adapt to various screen sizes so that your content and products will display well on all devices. You can do this on Shopify by choosing a responsive theme, or customising your existing theme to ensure that elements automatically adjust to different screen sizes. For example, on some themes, Shopify allows you to add both a mobile and desktop version of the same image for a seamless user experience. 

• Take steps to streamline your website by removing any unnecessary elements and by reducing the size of your images to improve load times. This will not only improve the speed of your site but will also stop your customers from getting distracted by non Black Friday related content. To go a step further, consider creating a dedicated mobile landing page to highlight your Black Friday deals and promotions. 

• Implement a mobile-friendly checkout process with simplified forms and one-click payment options to minimise cart abandonment. Remember, mobile devices only have small screens, so if your checkout process is full of many different form fields, customers can get frustrated and not complete their purchase. Additionally, on Black Friday, shoppers are looking to make quick purchases, if this step is unnecessarily long, they will be just as quick to abandon the cart. 

• Once you’ve implemented these mobile-friendly initiatives, be sure to test your Shopify store thoroughly to identify and fix any issues related to navigation, form submissions, or page loading. 

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The best way to optimise your Shopify store for mobile

With more and more people shopping on their mobile devices during the Black Friday sales, if you haven’t considered creating a mobile app for your Shopify Store, now is the time to do so. 

The article, Should I Get a Mobile App for My Shopify Store? covers everything you need to know about mobile apps.

• The benefits of mobile apps over mobile websites
• How to create a mobile app using a Shopify app builder
• The results you can expect to see from creating a mobile app for your Shopify store

StoreLab's no-code mobile app builder that allows you to turn your Shopify store into a professional, custom, and fully optimised mobile app to boost your sales, improve customer satisfaction, increase AOV and skyrocket conversion rates. 

Learn more about our Shopify growth plans here, or book a call with a member of our team.

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Offer free shipping

Offering free shipping can be a powerful strategy for small businesses to both attract and retain customers. It not only serves as a compelling buying incentive but also addresses one of the key concerns for online shoppers - additional costs.

By eliminating shipping fees, you can remove a common barrier that might deter potential customers from completing their purchase. This can also be seen as a gesture of goodwill, helping to build trust and loyalty among your customer base. 

Additionally, amongst all the noise of all the Black Friday deals and excitement, offering free shipping will set your business apart and make your promotions more attractive. This positive experience can also lead to repeat business long after the Black Friday rush has finished. 

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Run social media marketing campaigns

Consumers are increasingly turning to digital platforms for their purchases, with 74% of buyers using social media to make purchasing decisions. So maintaining a strong social presence around Black Friday can significantly affect the success your business will have across the weekend.

Utilising platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook for both paid and organic social enables your brand to reach a wide and engaged audience, promote your top Black Friday deals, and build anticipation.

Social media campaigns also allow for more targeted advertising, helping you to reach potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday offers. 

The interactive, fun, and shareable nature of social media will enhance brand visibility, and create buzz around your offerings, maximising the potential for increased sales on Black Friday. 

Looking to further your social media strategy this Black Friday Cyber Monday? In this article, you can discover 14 Organic Social Media Tips to Skyrocket your Shopify Sales.

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Leverage email marketing 

Similar to social media marketing, email marketing is a cost-effective and direct way to connect with both existing and potential customers.

Black Friday is a time when consumers are actively seeking the best deals, and by sending targeted emails with enticing offers and promotions, small businesses, like yours, can easily capture the attention of an audience. 

Email marketing campaigns also provide you with the opportunity to promote personalised content, making your customers feel valued. Additionally, building excitement with teaser emails in the lead-up to Black Friday can generate anticipation, boosting sales on the day itself. 

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Update your website design/banners 

Although you may want to focus more heavily on your other marketing channels during Black Friday, don’t forget about your website. 

Your website is your digital storefront, and first impressions matter. Shoppers will expect to see your Black Friday deals prominently displayed on your Shopify store. If your website remains unchanged despite this large event, you risk losing out to competitors who have adapted their website specifically for Black Friday. 

Eye-catching banners, images, and pages can effectively capture your customers’ attention and guide them to the best deals, making their shopping experience more convenient. This campaign branding will also create a sense of urgency and excitement, driving impulse purchases and increased conversions. 

During such a crowded and busy online event, every click counts, so updating the visual and design aspects of your Shopify store is a strategic move to ensure that your business remains on top and competitive.

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To find more tips for improving your Shopify Black Friday strategy for 2024, discover the article, 10 Shopify Black Friday Cyber Monday Strategies to Increase Your Sales.