Easy to Implement Tests to Prepare Your Store for Black Friday Success

As we gear up for the holiday season, e-commerce stores are preparing to unleash a wave of discounts and promotions. It's that time of the year when brands are polishing their marketing strategies and fine-tuning their websites for the shopping frenzy ahead. But here's the deal: being a hit during Black Friday/Cyber Monday isn't just about slashing prices. It's about having a solid plan that keeps the momentum going beyond the big event.

So, when it comes to those Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts, a well-thought-out strategy is key. That's why we've teamed up with The Oddit to bring you a list of simple tests you can try before the holiday rush along with some design updates that pair perfectly with these tests. These strategies aren't just about the short term; they're designed to keep your success rolling even after the holiday hustle.

1. Test Offer Types

Your customers are going to be expecting a holiday deal, which is why you’re going to give them one. But, that doesn’t mean you should be blindly guessing the right discounts and give away extra profits for free. Applying a scientific approach to your offers ensures that they resonate with your customers while also benefiting your business. Should you offer a % off discount? $ off discount? What about a gift with purchase?

For instance, you could split test the effectiveness of a 15% discount, a $20 discount, and a 25% discount for your Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion. To compare these offers (which is easy with Intelligems!), look at key metrics like conversion rate, revenue per visitor, and profit per visitor. While the steepest discount may lead to the highest conversion rate, you’ll want to be sure to evaluate the impact on your profit margin to make sure it actually makes sense for your business to run that promotion.

Alternatively, maybe you want to ditch the discounts in favor of creative offer types, such as "gift with purchase" which provides strong customer incentives and often results in better overall margins than flat discounts. 

2. Test Merchandising

To maximize the impact of your promotions, it's crucial to put your best foot forward with the right on-site merchandising techniques – which means that you should be experimenting with messaging. 

Different types of call outs might resonate better depending on the promotion, product type, and customer. Experiment with pop-ups, banner bars, displaying strikethroughs on the PDP, using a promo code vs. automatically applying the discount, or employing dynamic in-cart progress bars/motivators. Some split testing tools (like Intelligems) offer a slew of built in widgets to experiment with. 

Fine tuning your promotional messaging comes down to figuring out what reduces friction and boosts your conversation rates the most. There’s no one size fits all solution, as this varies for each brand due to differences in customer profile and preferences, so this is a great thing to test!

3. Test AOV Boosting/Tiered Offers

If you’re looking for a way to incentivize your customers to spend more on their orders, experimenting with AOV boosting discount structures is critical to test before Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Finding the right volume discount strategy (meaning discounts with minimum order values or quantities) can help you boost AOV and your conversion rate.

You can leverage a volume discount to promote bulk ordering of a single SKU through quantity breaks, or promote larger cart subtotals across multiple SKUs with tiered offers. Within this type of offer, there is plenty to test, including eligible products, thresholds (cart subtotal or quantities), discount amounts, UI that automatically updates with the discount (like a progress bar/upsell buttons on the PDP). Split testing an AOV boosting offer (like one powered by Intelligems campaigns) allows you to fine-tune your approach based on customer behavior.

4. Test Offer Segmentation

Offer segmentation is a great way to fine tune your discount strategy - and you should be experimenting with this before Black Friday comes around. Because not every customer is going to have the same reaction, by running a test you can accurately determine and measure how these segments react.

For instance, A/B test offers targeted only to customers via your Klaviyo email campaigns can allow you to identify the most effective offers for this segment. Or, test tailoring your offers for returning/loyal customers (like encouraging them to stock up on a product they’ve bought before or to “complete the set” for similar products they already own) differently than for potential new customers.

This kind of personalization is a potent tool when backed with a data-driven strategy, and can be executed at scale using Intelligems.

5. Test Shipping Rates

If you’ve already tested your discount strategy, and feel confident in your approach, there are tons of other tests to run prior to BFCM to make sure you’re making the most out of the holiday season.

For example – should you be offering free shipping? If so, what should your threshold be? 

Finding the right shipping rate can be incredibly impactful, and can ultimately help you boost metrics like AOV and revenue per site visitor. One brand we worked with increased their free shipping threshold and their conversion rate went up by over 5% and revenue per site visitor by over 11%. Bottom line: don’t be giving out free shipping without measuring your results! Read more about how they found success here.

Conclusion

Ultimately, nailing that sweet spot between shipping rates, product prices, and irresistible discounts boils down to understanding what clicks with your customers. With just a few weeks left until the Black Friday extravaganza, there's still ample time to fine-tune your game plan and guarantee you're not just maximizing profits but also keeping those customers grinning throughout the holiday rush.

Get your free Oddit here.