TL;DR
With 64% of customers expected to shop online this Black Friday, our experts share effective ways to prepare your Shopify store for BFCM season and maximize sales. Optimize UX Design, secure high server bandwidth, and streamline product categorization and checkout. Prioritize real performance improvements, check Core Web Vitals, and plan strategic social media, email, and landing pages. Ready for record sales during BFCM 2024? Read on!
BFCM: Your Opportunity
After talking with our experts, we've put together tried and tested Shopify tips for the year's prime shopping time to help you attract customers, keep them on your site and complete a purchase prompted by your Black Friday deals.
The best part? Implementing our suggested changes on your online store for BFCM will benefit your business all year long.
Just remember not to do it last minute and prepare in advance.
Let’s take a look at some numbers:
Excited about the possibilities for your ecommerce business?
Implementing our suggested changes on your online store for BFCM will benefit your business all year long.
Read on to find out what’s essential for you, a Shopify merchant, to fully unlock the potential of BFCM weekend and let's make sure your sales in 2024 are even higher than they were in 2023!
User Experience Design is Key for Successful BFCM
UX Design is fundamental to attract visitors with your exclusive BFCM deals and turn them into loyal customers.
Encouraging a user to visit your online store is the crucial first step. From there, you take charge of their entire shopping experience.
It’s critical to design it intentionally.
When it comes to UX Design, Baymard Institute is your go-to. We recommend reading this article about UX principles: https://baymard.com/learn/ux-design-principles
To help you optimize your Shopify store for Black Friday, here are some key tips from our Head of UX/UI, Piotr Oleksy:
Mobile Optimization
Ensure your store works smoothly on mobile devices, as many customers shop via their phones.
Navigation & Search
Design intuitive search and category systems to avoid dead-ends, reducing user frustration and potential drop-offs to competitors.
Keep language clear and avoid industry jargon in navigation, making it accessible to all users.
UX Design is fundamental to attract visitors with your exclusive BFCM deals and turn them into loyal customers.
Implement synonym-based search to prevent missed products when users search with different terms.
If you have banners on your front page, make sure they’re clickable! Nothing worse than seeing what you like and not being able to directly access the PDP (product detail page).
Category & Product Organization
Simplify product categorization in larger stores by sharing key attributes within categories and using filters to avoid excessive subcategories.
Checkout & Form Efficiency
Optimize checkout flow by testing different types (e.g., one-step or multi-step) based on data needs and process complexity.
Enable guest checkouts to lower purchase barriers, but offer a quick account-creation option by adding only a password field if desired.
Mention account benefits, like order tracking, order history, and faster future checkouts.
Auto-fill forms and reduce field count to streamline the checkout, especially for mobile users.
Simplifying forms to make them easy to fill can significantly increase sales on your online shop and contribute to Black Friday success, so don’t underestimate their importance.
Cart & Purchase
Notify users in their cart when they’re close to incentives, such as free shipping, to encourage additional purchases.
Add product suggestions in the cart based on the products the user has already added. For this, you can employ pop-ups or banners.
Delivery & Returns
Offer flexible delivery options (home delivery, parcel lockers, in-store pickup) and varied payment methods (bank transfer, card, or in-store).
Ensure the return policy is clear and customer-friendly, as strict policies can deter purchases.
Cross-sells & Upsells
Integrate cross-sell and upsell options to maximize purchase potential and improve the overall shopping experience.
You can do it through suggesting similar products on the Product Detail Page, encourage buying with a subscription or buy the product in a bundle.
Add product suggestions in the cart based on the products the user has already added. For this, you can employ pop-ups or banners.
Minimize Pop-Ups
If you've read other articles with Shopify tips for BFCM, you've likely seen pop-up windows recommended for highlighting your promotions.
We recommend being careful with this advice.
Too many pop-up ads can be very annoying for users, especially on mobile devices, say both Piotr Oleksy, our Head of UX/UI and Dawid Focht, our Shopify Backend Developer. It’s a good idea to minimize their amount.
DON’T: Last-Minute Design Changes
It’s a bad idea to implement last-minute changes in your site design before big shopping days, such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Users may suspect your site is fake.
If you really want to change things up, make sure to notify your users beforehand and pinpoint the adjustments you’ve made to your site.
Review the Apps installed on your Shopify store
Apps on your Shopify store can significantly impact site speed, often due to render-blocking JavaScript and CSS files, shares Piotr Sadowski, our Full-stack Shopify Developer. These files require the browser to download, parse, compile, and execute them before loading the rest of the content, causing delays in your site’s loading times and impacting user experience.
Core Web Vitals and Site Speed: Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) provide key metrics to help understand how apps and scripts impact the user experience:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This metric measures how long it takes the largest visible element to load on the screen. Apps that inject large content, like cookie banners or pop-ups, can delay this process, leading users to wait too long and potentially leave the site.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): INP evaluates the delay between a user action (such as clicking a button) and the screen’s response. Heavy analytics or pixel scripts can block actions like “Add to Cart,” increasing user frustration and reducing conversion rates.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS tracks unexpected shifts in the layout as the page loads. Incorrectly embedded app elements in headers or footers can cause content to jump around, frustrating users and detracting from a smooth browsing experience.
Improving Core Web Vitals Performance: To optimize CWV scores, start by auditing all apps and scripts within your theme. Remove any unused or unnecessary apps that may be adding weight to your site. For essential functionalities, consider replacing third-party apps with native Shopify Liquid code, which minimizes reliance on external scripts and can improve load times. Opt for apps that leverage Shopify’s content delivery network (CDN) for more stable and faster performance.
Though this approach may require an initial investment in development, it can reduce recurring subscription costs, enhance load speeds, and ultimately create a better user experience.
Beware of Fake Performance Upgrades!
Piotr Sadowski, our Full-stack Shopify Developer, warns: stay away from agencies who promise a high score for a low price!
Here is a good article to read more about it: click here.
Such agencies typically use techniques to manipulate your site’s performance scores without improving actual user experience.
Some of them are:
Detecting Testing Environments: Serving lighter content only when testing tools are detected.
Conditional Content Changes: Removing or deferring content solely during performance tests.
Superficial Optimization: Targeting improvements for testing metrics instead of real user scenarios.
Script Manipulation: Adding scripts that inflate performance scores without improving real speed or experience.
The methods above will not help you boost your sales in any way.
Just improving your score with the methods above won’t affect how users experience your site. This means no improvement in conversion rates.
Looking for a reliable agency to optimize your website?
Contact us today and let our experts handle everything!
Caching for Shopify Black Friday
Caching stores frequently accessed data in a faster storage layer, reducing the load on your servers and improving response times. This can be crucial during high-traffic periods.
Piotr Sadowski, our Full-stack Shopify Developer, recommend one of the best solutions out there, based on what one of our clients successfully implemented: https://www.nostra.ai/.
Nostra AI delivers content fast by storing it in over 300 global locations, making your site load quickly for users everywhere.
As shared by Piotr Sadowski, the Time to First Byte went down from 1380ms to 170ms for one of our clients while using Nostra AI.
It also selectively caches the most-needed content, so even on busy days, your site stays quick and stable.
As shared by Piotr Sadowski, the Time to First Byte went down from 1380ms to 170ms for one of our clients while using Nostra AI.
Moreover, the installation is simple: adding TXT to DNS and installing Webhooks.
Landing Page Design
Preparing different Landing Pages for various purposes, such as capturing leads, promoting a product, or generating sales, allows you to target the user’s intent directly.
A product-focused landing page highlights features and benefits, while a lead-capture LP may focus on a compelling offer and a simple form to encourage sign-ups.
Preparing different Landing Pages for various purposes, such as capturing leads, promoting a product, or generating sales, allows you to target the user’s intent directly.
This specificity improves engagement and conversion rates due to each page being built for a specific purpose.
If you need a new, shiny website for your project and need to choose the best CMS for that, we have an article just for you: read here.
Remember: writing and visuals are crucial here! Grabbing attention with a compelling headline and staying visually on-brand is essential.
Effective Marketing Campaigns
Social media campaigns help you target exactly the people you want to reach, and working with influencers enhances your credibility significantly.
Keep in mind: micro influencers often have more genuine connection with their audience.
You don’t need people with huge accounts for your social media marketing campaign to be successful.
The more platforms you go on, the better. Consider what will be best for showcasing your product.
You don’t need people with huge accounts for your social media marketing campaign to be successful.
Would you like to sponsor a YouTube creator long-term and give them a promo-code for the audience to use?
Is your product going to look better in a short-form video, like on TikTok or Instagram?
Another perk of working with influencers is that you can put the social media content directly on your PDP (Product Detail Page), as seen on Flaus' site:
Email marketing is highly effective due to users’ inboxes being normally a less cluttered space than social media.
While social media marketing is still high-priority and often mentioned among Shopify tips for BFCM, places like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are overflowing with a wide variety of content, and the platforms themselves encourage quick scrolling.
If somebody signs up for your mailing list, it means they’re really interested in your brand and want to be kept up-to-date.
This is why email marketing is so effective and we think you should include it in your Black Friday campaign.
Your Black Friday marketing efforts should include exclusive offers, early access to products, information about upcoming sales and some behind-the-scenes content to keep your customers engaged!
Consider automated email sequences, like welcome series and abandoned cart reminders.
Your Black Friday marketing efforts should include exclusive offers, early access to products, information about upcoming sales and some behind-the-scenes content to keep your customers engaged!
We recommend introducing countdown timers for your BFCM promotions to create a sense of urgency, encouraging quick purchases.
Even if most customers are already aware of this technique, if they like a brand, they will jump at the opportunity to get your product at a discount.
Design Your Product Detail Page for More Sales
Let's take a look at the Product Detail Page (PDP) on Rasa's site for inspiration.
High quality product images make it easy for customers to examine the product in detail and establish the brand as a reliable one, which is vital to your BFCM success.
Promotions and discounts, such as exclusive Black Friday offers, are easy to spot, grabbing attention.
The main product traits are highlighted which helps shoppers quickly understand the value of the product, impacting the amount of sales made.
A subscription option offers convenience and value, increasing the chance of attaining new loyal customers.
Product reviews are clearly visible on top of the page, establishing the brand as trustworthy.
The refund & return policy, essential information for customers, is placed right below the product images.
Concise descriptions give customers the information they need at a glance.
A clear visual hierarchy ensures easy navigation, helping shoppers find what they need without distractions.
Featuring opinions from experts effectively builds trust, encouraging a purchase.
Together, these elements create a pleasant shopping experience that helps shoppers make an informed decision and place an order with confidence.
Don't wait and optimize your Product Detail Pages for this year's BFCM.
SEO Strategies for Black Friday-Cyber Monday & Beyond
Targeted Keywords
Optimize product descriptions with high-intent keywords but keep it natural to avoid keyword stuffing.
Engaging, Event-Focused Content
Create holiday and sales-themed blog posts and guides, linking directly to product pages to drive traffic.
Start your SEO efforts months before Black Friday to see real results.
Meta Titles & Alt Tags
Include relevant keywords in meta titles, descriptions, and alt tags to capture search traffic and improve accessibility.
Add Data for Enhanced Search Results
Show product prices, reviews, and availability in search results to attract more clicks.
Mobile Shopping & Load Times
Optimize for mobile shopping and speed by leveraging responsive design, Core Web Vitals, and a CDN for faster load times.
Strategic Internal Links
Link popular content to high-converting products to help search engines understand your priority pages.
Create holiday and sales-themed blog posts and guides, linking directly to product pages to drive traffic.
Keep Content Fresh
Update titles, descriptions, and images seasonally to signal relevance to search engines.
Regular SEO Monitoring
Use tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs to track and adjust strategies as needed.
Start your SEO efforts months before Black Friday to see real results.
These refinements will ensure that, come shopping season, your store is ready to attract, engage, and convert shoppers, exceeding the expected sales!
Ready for Black Friday?
After reading all of our Shopify tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you're now perfectly equipped to elevate your store.
Each element—from a smooth UX to targeted SEO—works together to drive results on high-traffic days and beyond, making sure your Black Friday sale will be a success.
Ready to make the most of this season? Contact us at hello@frompolandwithdev.com or fill out the form below, and let our experts help you optimize every detail of your website for peak performance and record-breaking sales!
