17 Ways My Small Business Increased Sales on Cyber Monday

I know I’m a little late getting my Cyber Monday results out, but I’ve been super busy this week looking at the results from our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday events. It’s not every day in business that you get to look at increases and positive numbers, I know that I like to analyze the numbers deeply regardless of a loss or a gain.

After Black Friday was over I quickly posted results showing an increase over Black Friday 2009, our Black Friday Blackout tanning events are always aggressive and I knew beating last years numbers by 10% would be a real challenge. However, when it came to Cyber Monday 2010 I felt confident that we would surpass last years Cyber Monday sales. We had our online store for Extreme Tan and Smoothies last year, one big difference was that we primarily carried national brand tanning products at a price that was only about 25% off of in-store competitor pricing.

Competing online when it comes to national name brand indoor tanning lotions is pointless as most tanning lotion manufacturers won’t allow you to sell online, meanwhile dilution can continue to happen in online stores not owned by salon owners. Anyway, that’s another story.

Cyber Monday Results 2010 vs 2009

This year we were able to generate a increase of 100% over last years Cyber Monday online sales. There’s probably about 50 different reasons why we were able to crush last years Cyber Monday online sales this year. Instead of going crazy with that I put together a list of how we increased sales over last year below.

17 Ways to Increase Online Sales for the Holidays

1. Upgraded OS-Commerce

Making sure your shopping cart software is up to date is a key factor in ensuring everything runs smoothly during the holiday season, or as smooth as can be expected. I couldn’t possibly feel comfortable with any of the other changes if the commerce system isn’t up to date.

2. Google Checkout

You know that Google is huge, it’s also a very convenient payment option for anyone that has a Google account. We added Google Checkout to our checkout options.

3. PayPal Payment Options

We added PayPal payment options to the checkout payment options.

4. Updated Checkout Information

I felt that it was important to have updated FAQ, Return Policy and Shipping Policies posted for customer that might be seeking that information prior to making a purchase.

5. Reduced Prices

We reduced prices on every indoor tanning lotion by 40% from our in-store prices as a way to generate more volume this year. Last year we didn’t adjust any prices.

6. Company Blog

Our planning was poor for Cyber Monday, really poor. I did manage to fire off a single blog post on the Extreme Tan and Smoothies indoor tanning blog that announced our 40% off specials.

7. We Offered a Bonus

We included free gift wrap for the first 30 customers to order online.

8. We Offered Freebies

The first 30 customer to order online receive a free gift. When it comes to doing free gifts we always include another item from our online catalog, in this case it will be one of our skin care exfoliating gels.

9. Updated Content

Having quality pictures of our new private label line of indoor tanning bed lotion was important to us, we had a photographer take professional pictures that we could use online.

10. We Acted Fast

To be completely honest we had to act fast because I did such a terrible job of planning and being ready for Cyber Monday. if we didn’t act fast we would have missed out on the moment, it’s never too late to work hard on getting sales for Christmas.

11. We Scheduled

After blowing the pre-planning for Cyber Monday and acting fast to get involved we used HootSuite and scheduled updates to various social networking accounts that we use for marketing purposes.

12. Value Bundles

Offering specials and gift bundles is important during the holiday season, we had professional photos taken of sets of products and offered them at a much greater value than if they were purchased individually.

13. We Used Social Media

Using our Twitter and Extreme Tan and Smoothies Facebook Fan Page we were able to stay connected with our customers and offer them assistance and answer any questions they might have had.

14. Email Marketing

Using double opt-in email we were able to send a last minute email to customers that subscribe to our email list.

15. Live Help

We offered LiveHelp to customer shopping the online catalog, being available to answer questions makes a big difference for those uncertain shoppers.

16. Verified Reviews

How can you sell your hottest products if there are no supporting reviews? Simple, you can’t. Make sure your enticing your existing customers to write product reviews.

17. Worked as a Team

Last but not least and probably what most of you expected, we worked as a team. A solid team makes all the difference, especially when your ill prepared for a big event that you should be capitalizing on. Many people jumped on board at the last minute to pull off a successful Cyber Monday. THANK YOU Jim, Mike, Dawn, Lisa, Michele, Stephanie and People, Places and Things photography.

Ways to Improve Cyber Monday Sales

Jumping around like a wild man is always exciting when you achieve something, but it’s just as important to look at the areas you could have improved in. Here’s a few ways I felt that I could have done better.

1. Plan Far in Advance

I should have worked Cyber Monday planning into the entire holiday planning package I do that includes marketing and advertising scheduling, etc.

2. Do My Homework

Read more marketing tips and information on current online trends and strategies for Cyber Monday.

3. Be More Aggressive

Work to schedule in more time for social networks and exposure on social networks and do it on a more consistent basis leading up to Cyber Monday.

Parting Shots

Having a successful Cyber Monday meant a lot to me, I felt that our store was in a much better position this year to generate some kind of revenue and that’s exactly what it did. Sure, it didn’t generate a fortune or some massive dollar amount that’s going to cause Google to knock on the door, but any success is still a success.

Contribute

Take a moment to share your Cyber Monday success story or share tips that you think might be helpful to other small business owners and internet entrepreneurs.

Tagged as: Cyber Monday, Cyber Monday Results

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