Known for a US holiday shopping weekend between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, Cyber 5 2021 is forecasted to bring record sales for many retailers. Despite COVID-19’s impact on the economy, Cyber 5 2020 saw an influx of shoppers to online and brick and mortar stores, bringing in more than $34 billion — a 300% increase in sales. And with more in-store businesses opening up, it looks like 2021 will break even more records.
What was once solely an in-store shopping experience reserved for Black Friday has turned into a five-day spending spree that ends on Cyber Monday. So whether you have an online or in-person store, it is essential that you use the little time you have now to prepare. The last thing you need is to be scrambling days before this major shopping event. You need customers to be engaged and ready to buy from your brand. There is no time like the present to start preparing, so here are a few valuable insights to help you do:
Use The Data You Have
E-commerce stores have access to data that can make or break Cyber 5 for your business. Data allows you to do the following:
- Understand your customers: you can quickly access who your customers are, their yearly shopping patterns, and shop during the Cyber 5 period. By knowing this, you can cater to their needs and provide personal experiences for them.
- Create the best Cyber 5 strategy: You can elevate your Cyber 5 strategy using your site search reporting. Provide customers with what they want by getting the ‘no results found’ when searching, avoiding leaving your website.
- Monitor customer behavior: During the weeks leading up to Cyber 5, many shoppers research items they’d like to purchase. You can use this search information as a good indicator of things to highlight in campaigns leading up to Cyber 5 strategically.
Build Customer Loyalty Now
Cyber 5 is not the ideal time to build customer loyalty, as those purchasing from your business over this period are often just looking for a great deal. As a business owner, it is therefore essential that you gain customers’ trust before this shopping holiday as there is more chance of a customer returning to your store for Cyber 5 and beyond.
Create campaigns today that entice customers to return to your store on an ongoing basis. Loyalty programs are a great way to do this. Promoting customers who sign up for your loyalty program will receive further discounts on shopping holidays like Cyber 5 is an excellent way to draw in loyal customers. The last thing you want is to give once-off shoppers deep discounts for them never to return to your store.
Create Brand Consistency
Whether in-store, online or social media, today’s brands have many touchpoints to interact and engage with customers. It is essential that no matter where or how a customer chooses to shop, browse or pick up a Cyber 5 deal, they get a consistent brand experience. You need to ensure that your promotions, product displays, and messaging are displayed the same across your brand’s touchpoints. By bridging the gap between all brand touchpoints, you create familiarity and consistency that customers crave.
Site Optimization
Cyber 5 is an opportunity to get the most out of your customers. Therefore, it is essential that you have mechanisms in place to ensure that no customer leaves your site empty-handed. Shoppers have come to buy so you need to make sure that they spend their money with you. You can send customers abandon cart emails, offer your loyalty program for further discounts, and do customer service surveys using email automation.
Prepare For The Unexpected
The Cyber 5 period comes with much stress, excitement, and opportunity, so you need to be ready for anything. Here is a quick checklist of this the e-commerce stores should prepare for:
- Ensure that your website is ready for a spike in traffic.
- Ensure that an influx of website traffic won’t impact your site speed.
- Have a ‘we’re sorry’ email on standby if your website crashes or anything else goes wrong.
- Have up-to-date inventory to avoid customer disappointment or the embarrassment of sending a post-purchase email informing the customer that products are out of stock.
- Ensure that both your customer service and fulfillment departments are ready for an influx of orders and inquiries.
- Give yourself and your staff enough time to fulfill shipments – keeping in mind there might be delays.
Knowing that online shopping will have a massive role in this year’s Cyber 5, it is essential that you start preparing for this money-making event now! If you don’t, you might be caught off guard and scrambling to get customers to buy. And with the success of Cyber 5 2020, we can only hope that 2021 will be an even more successful year for online businesses.
