Whether Small Business Saturday, Black Friday or Cyber Monday is the sales holiday you want to tackle, it’s a good idea to get your website in good working order so you’ll be ready.
Small Business Saturday, the buy-local answer to Black Friday, is the Little Sales Holiday That Could — it’s overshadowed by its big box cousin, but it’s still a way to post great sales for your business. Small Business Saturday doesn’t have the name recognition to draw in customers the way Black Friday or even Cyber Monday does, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a winner for your business. Small Business Saturday is what you make of it — if you want it to bring customers, you’ll need to work for it, but it can provide a sales bump if you prepare for it. As a bonus, most of the work you’ll be doing to get your site ready for Small Business Saturday will put you ahead-of-the-game for the rest of the holiday season. Want to try a Small Business Saturday promotion? Here’s how to prepare:
Get Product Descriptions and Promos Up-to-Date
Take a close look at your site to be sure your products are listed correctly, that all the products listed as available actually are available, and that the products you most want included are actually listed on the site. This seems basic, but these are details we tend to look past since we see our websites all the time — but mistakes here can cause big problems for your customers.
Using a Sales Banner? Schedule It
If you’re using a Small Business Saturday banner on your website, that’s great — but be sure you’ve scheduled an end time as well as a start time. You won’t want to confuse customers who come to your site the week after Small Business Saturday. Do you need a sales banner? Not necessarily. If you don’t have a banner function built into your site already, it might not be worth adding one just for this event; instead, spend your time on other promotions like email blasts and social media.
Create a Sales Code for Checkout
Depending on your business and strategy, making changes to your website for a one-day sale might not have the cost-benefit results you’re looking for; it might be a better use of time to create a themed coupon code (like BUYLOCAL) instead. Remember to set a beginning and end time for your code, and remember to promote the code to your customers.
Promote Small Business Saturday to Your Email List and Social Media Accounts
Now’s the time to write an email blast to your customer list and let them know exactly what sales you’ll have going on for Small Business Saturday. If you have different sales online and in-store, break that down. If they’ll need to use a coupon code, include it in the email. It’s a good idea to send one email a week or two early and another on Saturday itself. Prepare your social media promotions, too — you can wait until the week of Small Business Saturday to start pushing those, or even wait until the day itself for online sales. Include the coupon code on those social posts as well.
Promote In-Store
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, don’t forget to promote in the shop as well — use signage, and encourage your sales staff to talk to customers about the sale at checkout. Remember that lots of your regulars may be traveling on Small Business Saturday because it’s the weekend of Thanksgiving, so remind them they can still take advantage of the sales by buying through the website.
Want more ideas on getting your site ready for the holiday season? We have a free webinar just for ecommerce businesses on getting your website ready for the holidays.
