November is officially here which means Cyber Monday is only a few weeks away.  Of the three-day holiday shopping event, (Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday) it saw the highest sales in 2017 topping out at $6.29-billion.

Cyber Monday saw a 17-percent increase in overall sales in 2017.  And for the first time ever, mobile surpassed desktop sales in some categories.

The numbers don’t lie — it’s clear you want your business to be a part of this event!

How to Prepare for Cyber Monday

Start building the buzz around your deals and sales for Cyber Monday today.  Customers are already scouting out deals and planning for the big event.

The holiday shopping planners will be doing their research, so give them access to details around your products now.

Use online ads and social media to catch the attention of shoppers and build some excitement!  Create images and content you can use now and during the big event.  Having your content ready ahead of time will give you an advantage and take the stress out of the day.

Give your existing customers a little something special by offering exclusives to them.  Send them emails with details on the extra special deals you’ll be offering them as loyal customers. This is also a great way to re-engage with the sleepers on your email list that you haven’t heard from in a while.

Do a diagnostic and performance review.  Now is the time to make sure everything on your website is working properly and that you have a recent backup of everything.  Test your site speed and checkout process to make sure things are humming along as they should be.  A slow site or a snag in the checkout process could cost you sales during Cyber Monday.

Another way to get your website ready for the big event is to optimize all your products. Based on your sales from 2017, you should already have a good idea of what the hot items will be, so refresh those product descriptions to make them stand out in search results and excite customers.

And finally, define your cross-selling game now!  Cyber Monday is a great time to up-sell or cross-sell.  When a customer is making a purchase, say for shoes, present them with offers of socks.  Create pairings that make sense and that will entice the consumer to spend a little bit more with you.

Now you know what to do in order to prepare for the big event, so what are you waiting for?  Get cracking!