PowerReviews Insider

According to the eHoliday Survey, conducted for Shop.org this fall by Shopzilla, 83.7% of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 72.2% last year. With shoppers driven primarily by price this holiday season, retailers will compete head-to-head by running promotions revolving around free shipping, gifts and deep discount offers.

RIS News presents a useful list of “6 Strategies for Winning on Black Friday and Cyber Monday” to engage shoppers and help get the most out of these tough economic times. Faced with the reality of lower profit margins and declines in consumer spending this holiday season, retailers might seriously consider the following recommendations:

1) Use the web to promote Black Friday specials
2) Post coupons on your website
3) List specials so consumers can compare deals
4) Offer lower prices online
5) Relax return policies
6) Post special offers on CyberMonday.com

While these tips are excellent in getting immediate sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday rush, there is an essential 7th tip that will pay dividends shortly following the purchases resulting from the previous six tips.

7) Follow up with your customers

With more than 53% of consumers expected to go online to find promotions during this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, online retailers are in a prime position to maximize the impact of those purchases to drive additional sales just a few weeks later -just in time for the Christmas gifting period.

By asking customers to review products three weeks after their initial purchase via a post-transactional email, retailers have a justified and welcomed reason to re-engage with their customers and have the opportunity to offer coupons enticing them to come back and buy again. Based on over half a million emails where Brookstone asked customers to write reviews while simultaneously offering discount coupons – these post-transactional emails drove a 200% lift in sales as compared to their standard marketing emails.

But the benefit of the reviews collected by sending post-transactional emails does not end there; Diapers.com reported conversion increases of 14% for products with reviews. What this means is, products with reviews continue to see increased sales long after the immediate Cyber Monday rush. This cyclical process of product purchases and review generation continues to drive conversion and sales throughout the inventory life of any given product.

While it’s undoubtedly important to design and carry out traditional sales maximizing strategies this holiday season, supplemental tactics such as post-transactional email campaigns promise even greater rewards that effect both immediate and long lasting sales.

Best of luck to you all and “Happy Thanksgiving!”