Are you a planner?

Personally, I do best when I'm prepared heading into work or personal projects. 

One way I plan and prepare is to plot out the pitfalls to avoid. 

With the biggest sale season of the year just around the corner, I wanted to lay out the top 5 biggest mistakes to avoid when promoting your Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale this season. 

And don't worry, if you haven't started planning and have no idea what you'll be doing this year... 

...read until the end because it's not too late to create and execute a solid, high-revenue plan his month. 

Mistake #1: Overcomplicating the Sale

Ever been in a situation where you needed to think through which option was best for you? It takes time. Maybe you even started Googling some other options. Maybe you found a better solution... or got lost down a TikTok rabbit hole and never came back. 

We don't want this for our customers. 

A confused customer doesn't take action. Make the sale simple to understand and simple for your customer to execute. That means... 

- One simple offer. Ex: Take 40% off. 

- One coupon code (or none)

- One destination (don't make them hunt down additional products on your site). 

- Clearly defined parameters (don't make them question which products or collections are included). 

❌   Bad Example: Take 40% off new skincare, 20% off skin essentials, and 30% off other top collections (link to home page). 

✅   Better example: Take 40% off all skincare products (link to one landing page with all of the sale items). 

Mistake #2: Ignoring Your VIPs

You've already done the work throughout the year of cultivating relationships with pockets of customers by providing high quality products and good customer service. These customers know, like, and trust you. They're more likely to purchase with you than to go out and risk their money with another brand. 

But they only have a limited amount of money to spend during the holiday season. 

To make sure you capture as much of their "wallet share" as possible, make sure to contact them early. You want them to shop with you before their budget is all gone. 

People to consider adding to your VIP list and offering early access to your sale: 

🟢 Customers who have purchased 3+ times

🟢 Customers who have purchased in the last 365 days that have an above average order value

🟢 Subscribers who have engaged recently

🟢 Customers who are part of special initiatives... like SMS subscribers or rewards members. 

🟢 Customers who have raised their hand to let you know they want to hear about your sale first. 

Mistake #3: Rewarding Late Action Takers

There's nothing worse than taking a brand up on a sale, only to find out they had a better offer coming down the pipeline in just a couple days. 

You don't want to train your customers to "wait and see" if there is a better deal. This just leads to them never purchasing, or purchasing from your competitor. 

So instead of offering a BETTER deal on Black Friday than you did for your VIP customers, keep the sale the same (and simple). 

If you want to offer a little something extra to create urgency on the actual day of Black Friday, consider a small value add, such as a free gift for a limited number of customers. This will encourage people who haven't purchased yet to take action without risking customer relations. 

Mistake #4: Forgetting About Cyber Monday

We know that urgency pushes action. 

While you want to get as many sale days in as possible to increase the number of customers (and amount of total sales), end dates work really well as quick revenue boosters. 

Cyber Monday creates a natural excuse to end one sale (the Black Friday Sale) and begin another (the Cyber Monday sale). This gives you a big revenue spike on Sunday as it is your "final day" of the sale without sacrificing additional sale days. 

Just remember not to fall for mistake #3 when creating your CM sale offer. :) 

Pssst: If you want help creating your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale offers, my full strategy session is now available inside Weekly Cash Injections.

Mistake #5: Tiring Out Your List

Your customers are getting hit with a LOT of promos throughout the season. You'll want to contact them (very) frequently throughout your sale, but you need to do this in a way that doesn't make them feel annoyed and overwhelmed by your emails. 

Here are a few tips for striking that balance: 

- Contact engaged subscribers more than unengaged. 

- Skip sending sale reminders to your entire list. Instead, segment for people who have clicked or visited your site recently. 

- Skip sending sale reminders to those who have purchased recently (since the sale started). 

- Have a reason to contact your customers besides just a reminder (offer an FAQ, update on inventory, update on best sellers of the season, gift guides, etc.) 

- Keep your list clean leading up to BFCM. 

 There you go. Avoid those common Black Friday / Cyber Monday mistakes and you're one step closer to maximizing your sales this season. 

And if you need a little help this November...

Make sure to join Weekly Cash Injections. 

Inside, you'll find my strategic content calendar designed for e-com stores along with easy-to-use templates to make executing the entire plan a breeze. Get more info here. Just make sure to join soon. Enrollment is open for a limited time.