I can’t believe it’ll be November in just a few weeks! That means one of my favorite holidays is coming up… Turkey Day!

Being honest, I’m a social foodie, so the whole appeal of Thanksgiving is being able to spend time with people I love and stuff my face with delicious food.

My son and I have made a habit of attending Friendsgiving, but I’m not sure yet what we'll do this year.

One thing I DO know, though, is that I’m looking forward to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Granted, you couldn’t pay me to show up in person this year (I still haven’t recovered from the Walmart Tupperware Battle of 2010), but I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for some cool online deals.

And I’m not the only one!

Fact 1: Over 150 million people do some form of shopping during the Black Friday + Cyber Monday weekend, with the average shopper spending at least $300.

Fact 2: Last year was the biggest online sales year yet, with 14.3 BILLION dollars rolling in. This year, experts expect for that number to be closer to $17 billion!

Fact 3: Black Friday weekend is the biggest sales event for a LOT of businesses. For some, it’s the biggest sales day of the whole year!

All that to say if you’re not offering some kind of Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, you’re leaving money on the table. Potentially lots of it.

But it’s not too late to plan something!

If this is your first time being on the selling end of Black Friday + Cyber Monday, I want to help you out.

Deciding on your Black Friday + Cyber Monday Offer

Look at the data

One of the biggest decisions you’ll need to make is what to offer in your sale. It can be really tempting to make this decision based on what YOU want, but the best thing to do is look at what your people are already interested in. What are your biggest sellers? What have people asked about the most? Which product or sales pages get the most traffic? Which offers do people ask for a discount on the most? This information can help you determine which product or service people will be most excited to snag during Black Friday weekend.

Consider offering deals for new AND existing customers

Keep in mind that while Black Friday weekend is a great time to attract new customers, past customers may also be waiting to see what you have to offer them. Think about ways you can give both of them a deal they can’t turn down. Also remember that you can always run multiple promotions geared toward different audiences.

Here are some ideas to get your brainstorming juices flowing:

• Offer discounted membership to a subscription program
• Pay for X months, get X months free
• $X off annual membership
• Create a bundle of your most popular products
• Offer an add-on of one of your most popular products or services
• Offer access to a brand new product or service
• Bring back a product or service you haven’t offered in a while
• Free gift with every purchase
• Free gift with every purchase over $X
• Additional discounts for specific groups (senior citizens, military, teachers, first responders, frontline workers, etc.)
• $X off a certain product or service
• X% off a certain product or service
• $X off any product or service
• X% off any product or service
• Get $X off when you spend $X or more
• Free shipping when you spend $X or more
• Buy X, get X free
• Buy X, get X half off

Know the answer to “What’s the big deal?”

When it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, people want to know what’s the big deal about buying this thing NOW. If they don’t see any real reason to take action now, they’re going to opt to either hold on to their money or spend it on something that feels more urgent. Which means you have to answer this question in your messaging so they don’t even have to ask. Some examples of “big deal messaging” include:

• “We’ve never offered a discount on this before!”
• “This is our biggest discount ever!”
• “This is your only chance to get all of these in one bundle at this low price!”
• “We haven’t offered this product/service in years!”
• “We only have X items/packages available at this price!”
• “This is our biggest sale of the year!”
• “This is our ONLY sale of the year!”

Hopefully, this will help you brainstorm ideas for what you want to offer for Black Friday weekend.