5 tips for running events during the holidays without destroying your bottom line
Small-scale businesses may be part of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and not lose money. Find out how you can run holiday promotions without hurting your earnings.
What image comes to mind when you hear the expression "Black Friday"?
If you're me, it's lengthy lines beginning at the time of Thanksgiving, massive crowds fighting over deeply discounted televisions, and frantic retailers trying to keep pace (and ensure peace).
However, Black Friday -- and the online counterpart to it, Cyber Monday -- has evolved over the past few years. Many are looking for discounts at the convenience of their sofas as well as "doorbusters" are now more symbolic than literal.
Small-sized business owners and solopreneurs, though, offering the typical Black Friday and Cyber Monday discount can be a bit unreal. If you cut your costs too low, and you could be not even making it to the point of breaking even.
This doesn't mean that the sales aren't available to small businesses. It just requires a little extra creativity rather than depending upon the most expensive discounts to increase sales.
In this post we'll provide five suggestions to maximize the benefits out of Black Friday and Cyber Monday holidays while not destroying your profit margins.
Are creators required to participate with creators Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
The short answer: Yes.
The year 2020 was the most successful for Black Friday sales. Black Friday sales totaled $9 billion . The Cyber Monday sale was more impressive by $10.8 billion, which makes the day the most popular online shopping day ever recorded in U.S. history.
This is a significant amount of power spent in just two days.
Holiday e-commerce sales are projected to surpass a record amount of 207 billion dollars in the U.S. between November and 2021. That's a 10 percentage increase over sales in 2020. Additionally, Cyber Weekend which runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday -- is the most important event.
The online shopping experience has been more and more a part of the Cyber Weekend pie in recent time. In the year 2019, 93.2 million buyers bought something online on Black Friday, and 83.3 million did the same for Cyber Monday.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the number of people shopping online is higher than ever before. The 2020 spending on e-commerce was $791.70 billion, up 32.4 percent from the year prior.
People are on the lookout for deals online.
How to make the most out Black Friday 2021 Make the most of Black Friday with these dedicated guidelines, tricks and techniques to make the most successful year for sales ever.
And creators selling digital products, online courses, and memberships have an advantage over retailers who sell physical products.
This is because you're selling an intangible product, meaning you don't have to worry about keeping adequate inventory or dealing with last-minute supply chain issues.
Additionally, you can give your customers immediate access to their order without having to stand in long lines or sit in line waiting for their purchase to arrive.
You may not have coupons for 75% discount or buy-one-get-one-free promos as big-box stores, but there are options for creatives and small businesses to participate in Cyber Weekend without breaking the bank. Read on for 5 tips for achieving this.
Five tips for promotions during the holidays that won't kill your profits
#1: Offer discounts sparingly
Deep discounts are the main draw of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Who doesn't love a great deal?
Actually, coupons have been scientifically proven to make people content. The study led by Dr. Paul J. Zak who is a professor of economics and neurology discovered that people who had a coupon of $10 received a boost of 38% in oxytocin levels, and 11percent happier than shoppers who did not get coupon.
Smaller businesses are able to offer coupon or promo codes for the holiday season. But to keep from hurting your financial bottom line, you need take care to implement it strategically and sparingly.
A way to accomplish this is to only offer coupons during special occasions or to a limited number of people.
Discounts on your merchandise constantly will damage your image as a brand's importance . If you provide discounts throughout the year customers won't be able to pay full price -and they'll wait until your next sale.
If you offer promotions a few times per year, like Reuven, shoppers will be more likely to avail of those deals.
And if you make those promotions available to a limited segment of your customers or subscribers and subscribers, you could leverage the scarcity principle by leveraging FOMO (the fear of missing out).
FOMO is a extremely effective instrument:
60 percent of customers make purchases because of FOMO.
89 percent of Americans think that an offer of exclusivity would make them likely to shop for a specific name.
48% believe the exclusive deal will help them buy more quickly.
In the example above from Reuven the entrepreneur reminds his customers "Hurry to get this deal, and it is only available until Cyber Monday." Customers only have a couple of days to redeem the 40 percent discount that makes them more likely to redeem it.
You don't have to offer 40% off, though.
If the margins for your profits are tight, go for less expensive discounts. says Mike Moloney , founder of FilterGrade :
"If there are a few margins, I definitely recommend using lower discounts, somewhere in the range of 10% to 20%. They are extremely effective at converting new customers."
The Rule of 100 says that for items that are less than $100, customers tend to prefer seeing the discount as a percentage. When it comes to items that exceed $100, consumers prefer seeing the actual dollar amount saved.
In the end discounts and coupons could be a great way to boost sales on large holiday sales -However, they're by no means the only choice. This tip is focused on improving value, without cutting price.
#2: Make bundles of products
Anyone who believed that "less is more" wasn't talking about the worth of your Cyber Weekend deals.
If you're not able or do not want to provide discount coupons, then product bundles are a great option to increase perceived value and boost your average order value (AOV) without granting a discount.
Patrick Campbell, Founder and the CEO ProfitWell, explains: ProfitWell Patrick Campbell, ProfitWell's founder and CEO, discusses:
"Price Bundling" is which allows companies to bundle multiple products or services into one package at a single cost. These complementary products are typically offered at lower prices than when they are purchased individually.
While each product within the bundle is offered at a discounted price it is a strategy that could boost your average revenue for each user (ARPU) as well as user engagement."
When it comes to digital goods, it isn't as logical to conduct traditional sales like buy-one-get-one because you're usually selling access to somethingsuch as an ebook or membership -which your customers just need to purchase once.
Justin utilized's Bundling of products feature to offer all of his best content and courses to digital marketers for a much lower price than what it would be for each of the items individually.
This method not only increased the sales of customers, it also assisted Justin bring in new clients :
Take a look at's bundling options -- and a whole of other. Register here . (No need for a credit card!)
In the end, bundles can be a great pricing strategy for holiday promotions But what happens if you only offer a couple of items? We've got you -- and your customers' lists of holiday purchases- covered in this next advice.
#3: Aid shoppers with their gift buying
Cyber Weekend is the busiest time of year for buying holiday gifts. In the year 2020, consumers spent an average of $311.75 on holiday purchases.
For creators (and your customers) Online courses are excellent presents. That's why the tech and shopping specialists at Mashable ranked an annual membership to MasterClass as one of this year's top digital gift ideas:
Gift guides can be another method for people to cross all of their Christmas list. If you've got a website make a specific gift guide, like this entrepreneur gift guide by the business coach at Wandering Aimfully:
If you list your own products in the gift guide, make sure to include other recommendations. Otherwise, it's just another promotional piece for you.
Of course, there's always the classic alternative to gift cards. If you sell through , you can create gift certificate products that you can sell on your site. Examples include the ones examples from Soul Food Talks :
The gift-giving don't have to stop at this point -- Cyber Weekend is a great occasion to gift gifts to your customers, too.
#4: Make it sweeter by giving away a reward
Promotions are likely to influence the majority of holiday shoppers Price discounts or free shipping as well as free gifts are viewed as the most appealing promotional offers.
Printables like worksheets and checklists make great bonus content since they allow your clients to get more out of their purchase.
Marketing Showrunners achieved precisely that, offering an unrestricted gift to those who signed up early for their Showrunners Sessions class :
In offering a free PDF book from the co-founder Jay Acunzo, Marketing Showrunners offered value in exchange for early enrollment.
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Whether the Black Friday promotion is a offer for a free item, discount or product bundle No one is going to know about it until you inform your customers. That brings us to the final point -telling people about your holiday sales.
#5: Let people know about your promotion
The greatest holiday sale anywhere in the world will not do you any good if people do not know about it. When planning for your sales for the holidays, be sure you spread the word and let your clients be aware of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
A drip campaign -- the sending of a string of emailsin the lead up to Cyber Weekend can help build anticipation. Be cautious about sending out excessive emails or sending out spam to your customers, however.
You've likely experienced it firsthand that people receive a lot of emails from brands prior to Black Friday. The marketers of e-commerce sent more campaigns on Black Friday than on any other day of the year in 2018.
Constant Contact recommends sending three emails at least a week before the sale starts: "One that teases your sales, one that outlines your offer, and another that concludes with a last chance reminder."
As for what to include in your emails, Here are two guidelines:
Make sure to highlight your offer in the subject line. Emails with percent-off discounts included in subject lines had an mean conversion of 18.1 percent as compared to 3.8 percent for subjects that don't include specific offers.
Create a sense of urgency. An experiment conducted by ConversionXL observed that the use of a countdown timer -- as that from DataCamp below -- led to an increase of 147% in conversions.
Alongside emails, social media can be another excellent way to get the word out about special events for the holiday season, especially when your target audience is younger. 59 percent from Gen Z and 55% of millennials find products through social media.
Similar to the drip email campaign above, use a series of social posts to build excitement for your holiday deals. Like, for instance, travel writer Nele The Navigatio The Navigatio built excitement for the launch of a new product as well as a Black Friday sale with this tweet :
A few days later, Nele declared that the highly-anticipated eBook was available:
One benefit that social media has is user-generated material (UGC). In all industries, prospective clients who view UGC convert at an 161% higher rate . Send testimonials of members, students, and satisfied customers to promote your Cyber Weekend deals.
If all else fails, you can take advantage of Black Friday as an excuse to tweet a really adorable photo .
In the end, if a Black Friday sale happens and nobody knows about it, then it didn't necessarily occur. Don't just focus on offering the best deal -- make sure that the right people see it too.
Profit from Black Friday and Cyber Monday
More than ever before, Black Friday and Cyber Monday provide a great opportunity to creators, solopreneurs, as well as small-scale businesses that sell online. Even with a slim profit margins, you can take part in this year's shopping holidays.
To recap, here's how:
Discounts should be offered sparingly and carefully. The more customers come to anticipate discounts, the less likely they are to spend the full cost.
Create product bundles by listing similar products together, like a series of ebooks as well as an online class, and related guidebooks.
Let customers help with the holiday shopping process by advertising your items as gifts or gift certificates or even putting together an online Gift Guide.
Make it easy for shoppers to be enticed by freebies such as templates, printables and ebooks to enable them to get the most value of the purchase.
Promote your holiday deals. Facebook and email are the two most tried and tested channels for spreading the word about promos and sales.
Hopefully, this post filled your arsenal with strategies that you can use to provide great holiday deals without killing your bottom line. And whether it's your first year as creator, or the fifteenth this year, I wish you the best for Cyber Weekend and beyond.