Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sales Tips needed!

[#1]

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!

I just wanted to shout a quick thank you for all of the help you have given to myself and other sellers over the years. Thank you!

Have you run this type of sale in the past?

Yes! I participated with an Etsy team with very good results. This was two years ago. Last year I was in the middle of a move and was unable to promote.

What were the best ways to promote your sale?

I came out with a super dynamic product right before the time of the long weekend, and it did most of the promoting for me. The next best source of traffic was from participating with my team. We utilized a team blog, twitter, Facebook and Promotions threads. We had great fun and a lot of success.

Do you have a new idea or spin on this year's sale?

This year my strategy is to stretch the sale over 4 days. I am speaking of my other shop when I say this, but I do not get a lot of impulse buyers. I want to offer my buyers a chance to save some money, but they may be forced into making a quick decision. I have some ideas for dealing with this, which I am still currently working out.

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 will be offering a coupon code. I did this recently and had good, quick results from posting the code in my announcement.

How often do you run a sale?

Usually have only run a sale when I have a lot of supplies on hand or when I need some cash flow.

Do you make room in your pricing formula to account for discounts?

My discount is taken from my labor. When I give a customer a discount, I am essentially giving them my time. I truly appreciate my buyers, and it gives me great pleasure to say thank you with a modest discount.

[Former_Member]

I would love to set up a way to cross-promote with other shops, for example if you place an order for a vintage item in my shop, you get a discount/coupon code in someone else's shop for holiday gift wrap. And of course, it would work the other way around, too.

I would love to do this for a Black Friday promotion and perhaps extend it throughout the holiday season.

♡ Stephanie

[Former_Member]

What a great post filled with lots of great ideas! This will be my first year doing Black Friday/Cyber Monday here on Etsy, but here are my ideas so far.

1. I am planning my major Black Friday sale to be some deep discounts on gift certificates to my shop. For example being able to buy a $25 gift certificate for $12. I plan on limiting the quantity of these buy only having x number in "quantity" and when they run out they go back to regular price.

2. For Cyber Monday I am going to offer Buy1 get 1 Free on my badge reels.

3. I am going to offer a % off coupon starting Friday - Monday

I am also about to roll out a brand new "stocking stuffer"-esque product line in my shop, so hopefully that will also draw in some new folks too.

For promoting, I am going to start talking about Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales on FB & my blog in the coming days, change my banner and avatar accordingly and change tags on items. Post in forums, team discussions... and hopefully pick up some more ideas reading more posts in this thread!

I used to run sales more often when I was first starting out, but now I only do it for "special" occasions - like the one I just started today to celebrate my birthday. It runs until Friday. I haven't had much success with running sales in the past. And yes, now I am starting to calculate "discounts" into my product pricing because this was one of my early big mistakes. My prices were so low that whenever I did offer a coupon/sale I tended to lose money on the transaction.

thanks for all the great tips everybody!

[Former_Member]

These tips have been so helpful so far!!

[Former_Member]

I plan to use a coupon code for 25% off 11/23-11/29. I also have let current customers know about my upcoming sale. A week in advance, I'll put an announcement under my baner- but if I do it too soon, then people want the discount NOW instead of waiting for the sale date.

Sales have already been picking up, so I am hopeful that we all have a good season. I was brand spanking new last year -so the holidays did not give much of a bump. BUT - half of my customers now are return customers - so they help spread the word too.

[Former_Member]

Wow - I had no idea there were so many apps! Thanks for posting that link Danielle! I'm going to check each one of them out and will definitely use a few.

I've already started changing my tags to Black Friday Etsy and Cyber Monday Etsy.

I'm going to offer Free Shipping and will set up a coupon code for 15% off.

I'll use the usual social media for promoting, I also have a sale avatar that I'll switch to.

Look forward to seeing guide!

[Former_Member]

Have you run this type of sale in the past? Yes, couple of years now.

What were the best ways to promote your sale? Using the etsy tags of course, etsy teams, facebook, email list/newsletter if you have one.

Do you have a new idea or spin on this year's sale? Our team is doing a Treasure Hunt. Over 50 shops so far involved, you find the "treasured" item in the shop you will get a special offer. Each shop has the details clearly spelled out in their shop announcement. We set up a blog just for this event to give everyone clear instructions on it.
It will get people into our shops and they have to shop around to find the treasure, which hopefully will mean some impulse buys!

Will you be using coupon codes or any of these Shop Tools www.etsy.com/apps/shop_tools to help you with the sale? Coupon Codes are set up. That seems the easiest method for my shop and the customers. No refunds or paying up front.

Very excited about this year, we think it will be a good year with our special event!

[ironboundvintage]

Hi Danielle and everyone!

This is my third time participating in the Black Friday / Cyber Monday promotions on Etsy. Every year I have found great success and have had tremendous spikes in my sales. I am happy to share some of my ideas with everyone here:

1. Promotion through all social media that I currently have accounts with is key. I stick with what I currently use (blog, FB, twitter) and do not try to reinvent the wheel at this time of year. My followers know where I can be found and so to me it doesn't make any sense to create new social media accounts just for the purpose of special promotions. Work with what you know and your buyers/followers will find you!

2- Update all available areas on Etsy that allow for special information to be posted. I change my avatar and banner first. Then I always add a memo in the shop announcements section. Make it the very first paragraph in your shop announcement and people will be able to see it even if they don't actually scroll through your announcements. Adding it to the first paragraph makes it very prominent.

3. There is strength in numbers! If you are on a team, consider working together on a TEAM SALE. Since every member on the teams works to promote the sale, the amount of people learning about the sale is magnified.

4. I offer EXEMPLARY shipping service. I work full time during the day as a teacher, but devote every evening to coming home, packing orders on the spot, and even shipping same day (MUST DO: find a post office that is open late; I am lucky to have one a few blocks away). People LOVE that they can place a last minute order and have it ship the same day or by 9am the next day. This ALONE has resulted in THOUSANDS of dollars in sales during the holidays. As well, update your shipping policy and announcements page to indicate this critical info.

5. Become one with your email! Respond to messages immediately. If you have a smart phone, obviously your messages will come to you in moments. But even if you don't, you can create "forwarding mail" options through your normal email account (hotmail, etc.). Before I had a smart phone, I had my emails sent to my phone as a text. It wasn't very easy to read (and impossible to respond), but I used it as a trigger to get myself on a computer ASAP and write back to the potential buyer ASAP. If a person is logging in for a few minutes at a time (for example, at lunch time), giving them an immediate response will allow them to be able to make a decision then and there about your item. If you wait hours to write back, they will most likely have purchased the item from someone else or have moved on to a different item.


Hope this info helps!

[LaurasLastDitch]

I think I'll just offer a special coupon code for my Facebook fans. I hope my items are unusual enough that I won't have to offer deep discounts to make sales this Christmas season.

[Former_Member]

More interesting ideas! Thanks for sharing - I'll be sure to post a link when the blog post goes up. Still would love more input for the post, so keep 'em coming.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for all the great info!

[Former_Member]

Lots of great ideas in here! Thanks for sharing!

[Former_Member]

Hi Danielle! This will be my first time participating in the Black Friday.

I am planning for the whole week:
- redesigning my banner, making it according to the occasion.
- offer a discount coupon of 40% and a discount coupon for any next purchase.
- take new photos of the products that are not seen well and listing new stuff.
- give notice on my blog and twitter what I will be offering throughout the week.

This is what I can think of for now and I hope this gets my first sale!

[LinorStoreDesigns]

I am participating in the Promo Frenzy team Treasure Hunt this year.

Am thinking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, using Etsy coupon codes for discounts in my shop. In the past, I've tied the discount to a dollar amount or section, which was not successful.

I use a pricing formula for my items, so I would just change 1 value to lower prices.

Promote using my blog, Facebook, Twitter and it would be great to promote with other team members or Etsy members (that don't sell jewelry).

Can't wait to see more ideas.

[JaciRileyJewelry]

I will definitely be running a sale or two during that weekend! I've done in the past, each year it gets increasingly more successful!

I have promoted mostly on facebook in the past, which has definitely been a great way to reach buyers, both new and repeat customers. I've recently opened an account on twitter, so I'm excited to see how well that works as a promotional tool.

I'll add tags to certain items to gain more exposure, and I'm thinking of trying out the Etsy search ads as well!

I will most likely do a percentage off deal for the entire weekend and then possibly a shipping promotion for cyber Monday, and I'm SO SO SO excited that Etsy now accepts coupon codes.

I've been preparing my studio for the coming craziness with loads of excitement. So stoked! :)

[Former_Member]

I would like to see some information on how to tag and title for the hollidays. Thanks again!

[greengrass2]

Fascinating thread! This is my first holiday season on Etsy so I am learning lots here.

As my customer base is still growing I'm already offering free shipping across my shop and have amended all listings to include this, as well as a shop announcement. I think I'll be including a discount coupon with BF&CM sales as I don't think I have sufficient buffer in my prices for a discount too. Though having said that I'd rather sell stuff for a smaller profit than miss out on the sale altogether at this early stage!

May try and see if I can add something to my banner & avatar?!

Liz

[Former_Member]

David (the Dude) check out this post!:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/seo-tips-for-the-holidays/

[Former_Member]

Love all the great info from Daniellexo and all the team members!!

I plan to try using it this year, I was too new last year and didn't near the inventory as I do this year! Thanks for the great tips and help from all of you! :D!

Have a Blessed Selling Season!

[LollysCubbyHole]

This is a great thread...I had been convoing today to get information from fellow shop owners that have done this before..so this came at the perfect time!

Thanks Danielle!

[Former_Member]

dolangeiman: "Thank You" for your tip on this tool listed below, where does one find this?

Etsy on Sale/Sales Event

[Former_Member]

Sentimentalist - you can find information about that app here:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/handmade-code-etsy-app-gallery-etsy-on-sale-and-fotofuze/

[Former_Member]

Have you run this type of sale in the past?

I've had a black friday/cyber monday sale the last 2 years. Last year I did a percentage off and the year before I went crazy and did buy one get one free!

What were the best ways to promote your sale?

Making sure to tag your items with the etsy approved tags really helped I'm sure and making sure you start to change your tags well in advance if you want to be included in treasuries/etsy emails etc.. I did this last year and was lucky enough to be featured in the etsy finds email twice over the weekend!

I've already started changing my tags, slowly and gradually, by making sure I add the tags every time I renew, relist or add something new. This is much easier than going through them all in one go!

I also used twitter/facebook and my blog to advertise the sale last year, plus I sent out an email to everyone on my mailing list.

Last year I did a lot of renewing over the weekend too, using statsy. I set up a listing to renew every hour over the whole weekend! This may seem like a lot but it really helped to drive traffic to my shop, however i probably won't do quite so much renewing this year since the search results have changed to relevancy.

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'm undecided at the moment, I used etsyonsale last year, but it was free to use then, I think they charge you to use it now. But it was really easy to mark all my pieces down, I worry if I used a coupon not everyone would see it in the same way they would if everything was already marked down and had an altered title to say so.

[Former_Member]

This will be my first BlackFriday/Cyber Monday event since I've been on Etsy.

I plan to use the Auto Renew and Sales Manager Tool
If you don't already have this tool you can use this code/link to get an extra 5 credits on top of the 5 credits you get for signing up. Thats enough to run 2 sales events for free!

http://www.etsyonsale.com/sellers?referralCode=0DR6P1EMT3

[LacyTreasures]

I have never really run a sale for that weekend but I do renew a few items over the weekend.

Thanks for the sales/sale event link, Danielle. I searched all over after someone mentioned it so your answer was perfect timing.

I am curious if there are other apps that would be useful to promote sales that weekend. Apps and Google Analytics are a whole new world for me. The Auto Renew sounds very helpful.