Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sales Tips needed!

[Former_Member]

Hi all!

I'm putting together a guide to running a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale on Etsy and wanted to grab advice from Etsy Success Team members. I will publish the top tips shared here! So here are my questions for you (feel free to answer any or just share your experience!):

Have you run this type of sale in the past?
What were the best ways to promote your sale?
Do you have a new idea or spin on this year's sale?
Will you be using coupon codes or any of these Shop Tools http://www.etsy.com/apps/shop_tools to help you with the sale?

Thanks in advance!

Danielle

[Former_Member]

Hi Danielle! Can't wait to read the guide : )
In answer to your questions:

1. This will be my first year actively doing a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale.

2. & 3. I think the first way I'm going to promote my sale is by adding the words Black Friday and Cyber Monday to my tags, perhaps titles as well.

4. I'm thinking free shipping coupon codes

Thank you for reading and for putting this together for us!

[AstoriaLane]

I wasn't open for last year. But I am thinking about running a special in my shop using a coupon code. I think the best way to market the sale will be using twitter and facebook. I think it will be interesting to see if it has any impact on a shop that is as small as mine.

I look forward to hearing from more seasoned sellers on how to run a successful sale and maybe learn from what they do.

[TwoMoxie]

Okay, you must have read my mind. I've been scouring posts for the best way to run a sale that weekend and was ready to post a thread before I caught sight of yours, Danielle. I can't wait to see what others have to say.

[TheSewingLoft]

Looking forward to the guide!

~Last year I offered a special sale to my FB fans with a promo code for Black Friday. I would like have a larger target this year.
~I would promote the sale through social media and add something to my shop banner/tags.
~Coupon codes are the way to go. Easy and painless.

Thanks Danielle!

[Former_Member]

Set aside room for a wrapping/shipping work station. Have plenty of extra tape, packaging supplies, Priority Mail boxes or envelopes, and sure you have enough ink in your printer cartridges. Have twice as much ready as you think you'll need. This way you can move your merchandise out quickly. Fast turn-around time is really important to customers this time of year!

[balanced]

Can we use a coupon code for free shipping?

In the merch report it said, "Please only apply the Free Shipping Etsy tag to listings that have already been adjusted for free shipping."

[Former_Member]

I am offering a 25% off coupon for Friday and anyone who purchases something from my shop on Friday will receive a coupon for 50% off one special order item to be redeemed after Christmas.

[Former_Member]

Great ideas!

1. This is my second year running a Free Shipping Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, I had a great response last year!

2. Best ways to promote was to include the "black friday etsy" and "cyber monday etsy" tags in each listing, include the sale details in every listing, tweet, facebook and teamwork.

3. I don't have a new spin on it, though I did sign up with a holiday free shipping site that will promote your free shipping sale.

4. I'm not using coupon codes because not everyone sees them and I want to make sure every customer gets their free shipping that weekend. It's just too much work to go back to paypal and do a refund if they forget, lots of back of forth - though it's lots of work to edit every listing for free shipping I have found it pays in the long run.

Thanks Danielle!

[Former_Member]

i ran a sale last year and had some recognizable success :)

i'm not the best at promoting... but what i did was:
1. change my banner to clearly show what the sale was (10% BlackFriday-CyberMonday)
2. wrote a note on my blog about the sale
3. tagged all my items with "Black Friday Etsy" and "Cyber Monday Etsy"


this year i'm thinking of offering free shipping and some % discount too. I'd like to etsy coupon codes, which leads me to an important question:

Can my customers use 2 different coupon codes for the same transaction?
(i.e. free shipping & %-off their purchase)

Thanks! :)

[Former_Member]

I ran a sale last year and it was quite successful.

My blog. twitter, and facebook are my favourite ways to communicate with my past and potential customers.

I'm going to offer a hearty discount , free shipping and include a printed coupon to use in the new year with each order. My busiest month is February but I'm hoping a good coupon for January will help me spread out my rush a bit. I have moo cards printed that are coupons.

I'll have Coupon codes and will be changing my shipping options to free shipping.

[Former_Member]

This will be my first time participating in Black Friday and Holiday sales in general on Etsy.

-Coupon codes will definitely draw potential buyers in.

-I'll be offering my buyers a choice of complimentary holiday gift wrapping, gift box, gift bag or organza pouch. Makes it so much easier for the buyer!

-I will be actively promoting my store on my FB page, Twitter and website. I will be running giveaways in the form of a random percentage off.

-I plan on bundling some of my jewelry into special offer sets.

-I will offer a super sale on one item once a week from Thanksgiving until the week before Christmas.

-I will be offering all sorts of shipping options.

-I plan on updating my tags to include some holiday search words.

Good luck to everyone! Hope everyone has a very prosperous selling season!

[dolangeiman]

1. Yes!

2. newsletter announcements (customer and media), facebook, twitter, blog post

3. This year we are doing a round-up of Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Small Business Saturday deals on our blog on Nov. 23.

4. Rather than using coupon codes, this year we are going to set up a sale event via Etsy on Sale/Sales Event tool for our Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale event. We will also use this tool to set up an after Christmas sale. This tool allows you to put [ON SALE] in the product description versus title which is better in relevancy searches and will also show the original and sale prices for each product. It’ll also change the prices back at the end of the sale. Convenient!

[Former_Member]

I'm new to all this so I'm so psyched for the holiday guide!

Have you run this type of sale in the past?
Nope! This is my first time.

What were the best ways to promote your sale?
I have heard that selling items with a free gift is good for holidays

Do you have a new idea or spin on this year's sale?
I'm planning on including a free gift and free gift wrapping

Will you be using coupon codes or any of these Shop Tools www.etsy.com/apps/shop_tools to help you with the sale?
I was interested in using a coupon code and plan on using the tools as well.

[Former_Member]

This will be my first holiday season participating in the black friday/cyber monday shopping madness haha.

This year I am also doing a newsletter exclusively for people who sign up to it, inside of the newsletter I will have super special codes for black friday/ cyber monday. I'm hoping this helps boost my sales :D

[Former_Member]

This is my first time doing anything like this. I can't wait to see all the responses. So far I have read a lot that I would not have thought of using. Promotion is my biggest problem. I have almost 300 followers on Facebook, but I'm wondering whats the best way to promote or cross promote with other Etsy artists?

Thanks!

[CrookedSmileCreation]

I'll be using coupon codes mostly. Still thinking thru percentage vs. free shipping.

My advertising is thru facebook and twitter mostly. I'll probably step that up a bit in addition to adding (more) holiday themed items to my shop.

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Great thoughts so far! Thank you everyone for taking the time to share :)

[yummyandcompany]

At all my upcoming craft shows, I will be putting Black Friday promos in my customers bags when they purchase something.

[yummyandcompany]

I will also have a QR code linking to a coupon code cuz I'm a nerd :o)

[ShawnaCameron]

I had some great results with the Black Friday Sale last year. I will be running one this year and tagging accordingly.

One thing I do whenever I run a sale is to change my avatar and shop banner to versions that say "sale" in them (like right now). That way whenever I comment in a forum on on a treasury, people can see I'm having a sale automatically. I also put some sale info right at the top of my shop announcement, conveniently below my banner which announces I'm having a sale.

I also lightly sprinkle some sale postings in social media such as facebook and twitter, but I try not to do it too much or I'll be seen as spammy.

[IndigoPaisleyDesigns]

I didnt do the sales last year...but this year i plan to..
1. I plan to include a small original painting as a free gift with
all purchases of an Original Painting over $100.00
2. Plan to tag all my items with black friday/cyber monday sale tags
3. Have a coupon code for my FB fans with a % discount higher than the sale, so if the sale is for 10% off, FB fans will get 15% off.
Lets see how it goes..
devika

[Former_Member]

More questions:
How often do you run a sale?
Do you make room in your pricing formula to account for discounts?

[FlyingAce]

Loving reading these tips!
I've run sales the past two years and find it a great way to bring traffic and sales to your shop since Etsy is already promoting the specific tags and featuring sale items in the Etsy finds, etc.
I always use Etsy on sale for my sales. I can set it up in advance and it will edit my tags and prices for me! Way easier than editing 100 items myself.
Good luck everyone!!!

[Former_Member]

Q. Have you run this type of sale in the past?
A. Yes - I have participated in the site-wide Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales since opening - and they are always a huge draw!

Q. What were the best ways to promote your sale?
A. I try to take a diverse approach by posting on FB, Twitter, and blogging. Also - I think it's important to share the love by creating treasuries featuring sellers with a similar aesthetic who are participating. I think utilizing your teams to get the word out helps a great deal as well.

And for every promotion I run I try to make it quirky. It's easy to forget that almost everyone on the site is going to be participating in some way - so you need to stand out!

Q. Do you have a new idea or spin on this year's sale?
I am going to run a referral program leading up to the sale utilizing Facebook and Twitter. I'll be creating a secret code word (which will double as the coupon code) that my followers can share with friends to receive 30% their purchases on Black Friday. People who refer a new customer successfully will receive 50% off their purchase on Cyber Monday.

Q. Will you be using coupon codes or any of these Shop Tools www.etsy.com/apps/shop_tools to help you with the sale?
Oh yes! I love the coupon codes because you can really tailor your sales to certain demographics within your client base. They also help with cross-promotion, as you can reach out to a blog, offering to give their customers x amount of their purchase or free shipping, and then make the coupon code a tracking device for which blogs send you new clients!