Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The Monday after Thanksgiving has long been touted as Cyber Monday, the day when digital consumer deals are at their peak. But does the Cyber Monday frenzy apply to B2B customers?
You bet it does!
Every year, Cyber Monday continues to break the previous year’s record in sales. And every year, B2B merchants are at a loss as to how they can take their share of the revenue.
In 2017, buyers spent a record $6.59 billion on Cyber Monday alone – almost a 17% increase from the previous year. Numbers like that make it hard for B2B sellers to sit on the sidelines any longer. This guide will help you get in the Cyber Monday game and earn your piece of another record-breaking holiday season.
The Misconception of B2B and Cyber Monday
Traditionally, many B2B companies have avoided Cyber Monday because of the dominating interest in consumer spending. Most people flip an internal switch to Holiday Mode and invest in gifts for friends and family.
This is both true and false, however.
While consumer spending is highest at this time of year, one shouldn’t assume that businesses that serve other businesses grind to a complete halt. Your customers still need your services. You still need to earn revenue. This has nothing to do with the amount of capital their businesses have to invest, just because your customers are blowing their paychecks on TVs and smartphones.
In fact, if your business customers serve consumers, Cyber Monday might put them in a better financial position to buy from you! They’ll be experiencing an increase in their own revenue, and may see your Cyber Monday deal as the perfect time to take advantage of what you’re offering.
If you know how to earn their attention, of course.
5 Core Strategies to Help You Win Cyber Monday Sales
Getting in the mindset of B2B shopping on Cyber Monday is a challenge in itself. There’s a ton of competition online already, and the rock-bottom deals of consumer products can easily dwarf any half-hearted efforts to reap B2B sales. These five core strategies can help you ensure that whatever time and effort you invest in boosting Cyber Monday revenue won’t be met with disappointment:
#1 – Give a Free Gift
‘Tis the season to be gifting. This technique works well for B2C businesses, but that doesn’t mean it’s exclusive to them. . B2B companies can offer a free gift of content, an extended free trial, shared advertising promotions or another attractive offer that makes sense to your business.
Promote your Cyber Monday offer via social media networks, email marketing, and directly on your website. Start early so that your business customers can budget accordingly and be prepared to take advantage of it.
#2 – Limit Your Options
Unlike Amazon or Target, which offer pages upon pages of deals of varying discounts, your Cyber Monday prices and products shouldn’t be a “shopping” experience. Rather, stick to a limited number of deals or options that can make the buying process super simple. For example, you might consider a blanket discount that covers every item or a specific category.
This gives your buyers less to think about as they’re exploring your website on the hunt for the best prices. Let it be known immediately what you’re offering and why it’s a good deal so that deciding to buy is quick and easy.
Remember, it’s a one-day sale and your customers are likely going to take advantage of consumer deals, too. There’s only so much room for web surfing in the work day, so making the buying experience easy can work in your favor.
#3 – Tailor Your Marketing for Year-End Urgency
Most businesses have budgets to burn at the end of the year, and you can use their poor planning to your advantage. Tailor your messages to address that customers should “use it or lose it” to ensure their budget doesn’t go to waste.
This technique requires a little planning and plenty of pre-promotion, but can pay off big for businesses that want a good deal and have plenty of wiggle room in their budget.
#4 – Plan for Increased Website Traffic
While you’re spending money and resources on getting people to visit your website on Cyber Monday, it’s important you don’t neglect your website’s capacity to serve this influx of traffic.
Make sure you test your website to see how it will handle the extra traffic. If your website takes more than five seconds to load, a whopping 74% of users will jump ship. Even worse is that almost half of them won’t return to try again later.
#5 – Empower the Abandoned Cart Email
Taking a page from the B2C playbook, sending reminders about an incomplete transaction can help you boost conversions.
On average, it’s estimated that an alarming $4 trillion in merchandise is abandoned in digital shopping carts each year. However, another study shows that about 45% of abandoned cart emails are opened, half of these emails are clicked, and at least half of the users who click end up purchasing.
This breaks down to about 11.25% of your abandoned shopping carts turning into sales.
It’s a powerful yet underutilized tool that B2B companies can and should take advantage of for Cyber Monday and beyond.
Will You Conquer Cyber Monday 2018?
B2B companies may never find the same record-breaking success on Cyber Monday as consumer-driven companies, but that doesn’t mean there’s zero opportunity to improve sales. Capitalizing on a day where spending money is the norm can help you strengthen your year-end sales if you know how to make an offering worthwhile.
Take time to plan a strategy now so that you have adequate time to tweak and test your content, offers, and discounts. it’s not just about making an offer to become part of the Cyber Monday noise. Rather, your focus should be offering something irresistible that makes buying that day better than any other day.
Got questions? We’d love to help you get your website ready for Cyber Monday. Feel free to reach out for expert tips, advice, and answers to help you succeed this holiday season.