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8 Shopify Tools That Optimize Your Website for Black Friday

Black Friday is the most significant event for commerce all year. But are you ready? While it’s essential to plan […]

  • Written by Matt Holman
  • Published on October 12, 2020
  • Time to read 9 minutes

Black Friday is the most significant event for commerce all year. But are you ready?

While it’s essential to plan out your discounts and promotions, many tools make your life easier to prepare for the peak season. Here’s our top list of Shopify tools you can use to take your Black Friday sales to the next level:

  • Countdown Sales Timer by Pixel Union
  • Privy
  • Referral Candy
  • Rise
  • Klaviyo
  • Back in Stock & Restock Alerts
  • Carthook
  • Sales Pop Master

Let’s dive in.

1. Countdown Sales Timer by Pixel Union

Urgency is your best friend when it comes to driving sales during Black Friday. You need to highlight the limited-time nature of your offer so that customers have no choice but to make a purchase right away.

That’s where the countdown sales timer by Pixel Union comes in. The app makes it simple to add an action bar on your website that lets visitors know how much time is left to benefit from your offer. No coding knowledge is necessary to set up the timer on your store.

Pricing:
  • Basic plan: Free for one timer at a time
  • Premium plan: $5.99 per month for unlimited timers
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2. Privy

Privy is a tool you can use to create email pop-ups that get the visitor’s attention and invite them to sign up for your list.

Privy will come in handy when customers on Black Friday are about to abandon their carts. You can set up a pop-up offering a discount on the product if they don’t finish their purchase so they can follow through.

It has countless templates to style your pop-up, whatever you’d like. Privy also has A/B testing to experiment with what works best for your pop-up — sometimes, a simple change in color or copy is all it takes to transform your results.

Pricing:
  • Free plan: Free to install for stores with an average of 5000 monthly page views
  • Privy convert $20 per month for stores with an average of 10,000 monthly page views.
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3. Referral Candy

Referral programs are great for spreading the word about your Black Friday sales. Each time a customer refers your discount to one of their friends and family, they receive a special prize. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Referral Candy helps you set up winning referral programs that grow your list and drive new customers. You can create special Black Friday discounts that turn customers into brand advocates and share your sales with people around them.

You’ll be able to generate extra sales with not so much effort on your end.

Pricing:
  • $49 per month

4. Rise: Gift Cards & Loyalty

If you plan to use gift cards as part of your Black Friday strategy, then Rise is the tool for you. Customers can send their gift cards to their friends or relatives seamlessly with their email addresses.

You can set up as many rules as you want to boost customer loyalty and satisfaction. Rise also allows Shopify stores to issue gift card returns and run bulk discount campaigns.

Pricing:
  • Starter plan: $19.99 per month and $0.2 per order above 100
  • Small-business plan: $59.99 per month and $0.15 per order above 400
  • Pro plan: $199.99 per month and $0.1 per order above 2,000

5. Klaviyo

Email marketing is a big part of running a Black Friday campaign. With customers getting bombarded by brands left and right, however, it can be challenging to make your emails stand out from the crowd.

Klaviyo is an email platform that makes it easy to send engaging, personalized emails that convert. You can segment email campaigns for wherever the customer is at in their purchase, such as if they abandon their cart or are browsing your products.

The tool dives deep into the mind and behavior of your customers so it can structure the best emails. As a result, you’ll always be able to send the right message to the right person during Black Friday.

Pricing:
  • Free for up to 250 monthly email contacts. After that, it starts at $20 per month.

6. Back in Stock & Restock Alerts

While your goal should be to make as many sales as possible, selling out on items too quickly can make you lose potential opportunities. There are customers out there who wanted your product, and they didn’t get the chance to purchase.

Back-in-stock alerts solve this issue by allowing customers to sign up so you can notify them when your item is back in stock. That way, if you plan to restock after Black Friday, customers can get another chance to buy the product.

You can also use this to gather presale orders. Collect emails from customers who want to be notified when the product is ready for sale!

Pricing:
  • Basic plan: free for 15 emails/push notifications per month
  • Starter plan: $15 per month for 300 emails/push notifications per month
  • Pro plan: $29 per month for 10K emails/push notifications per month

7. Carthook

An excellent tactic to boost your average order value is upselling. It’s a sales technique that consists of persuading customers to buy other complementary products on top of their original order.

Carthook is a platform that allows businesses to offer three upsell offers for the customer once they make a purchase. It auto-fills the checkout page, so customers don’t have to re-enter their payment information.

You can style your Black Friday upsells however you want with trust symbols, customer testimonials, and countdown timers.

Pricing:
  • Growth plan: $500 per month
  • Scale plan: Contact Carthook to get a quote

8. Sales Pop Master

Social proof is a powerful tactic to win more sales in e-commerce. It offers trust to the customer and boosts your brand reputation.

With Sales Pop Master, you can showcase social proof in your Black Friday offers to make customers feel they might miss out on something big. By clarifying that the offer won’t last forever, you will be driving extra sales and acquiring more customers.

Pricing:
  • From $9.99 per month

 

Final Thoughts

From driving urgency to delivering a better customer experience, these tools should provide you with everything you need to spur additional website sales this Black Friday.

Aside from implementing these platforms, however, you need a strategy to promote your Black Friday sales and grow your list before the big day. Check out our last post on how to grow an epic list of hungry customers before the holiday season.

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