How Can You Enhance the Customer Journey During BFCM 2024 to Make the Most of the Season?

The eCommerce customer journey is more than just a series of steps leading to a purchase – it’s the experience that shapes how customers feel about your brand and whether they’ll return for more. This journey becomes even more crucial during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when competition is fierce and customers are ready to spend. By understanding and optimizing each stage of the customer journey, especially during these high-traffic periods, businesses can stand out, increase sales, and foster long-term loyalty. In this article, we’ll explore what an ideal customer journey looks like in eCommerce, highlighting strategies to ensure that your customers have a seamless and enjoyable experience from start to finish, even during the busiest shopping days of the year.

Customer Journey

The customer journey in eCommerce is the path a potential buyer takes from first hearing about your brand all the way to making a purchase – and beyond. When designed well, this journey not only helps guide the customer smoothly through each step but also builds trust, makes their shopping experience more enjoyable, and encourages them to come back for more. So, let’s dive into what an ideal eCommerce customer journey should look like:

Awareness

The customer journey begins with awareness, the stage where a potential customer first encounters your brand. This can happen through various channels—social media, search engines, word of mouth, or advertisements. The key here is to create visibility and attract attention. It’s important to focus on brand building and increasing your presence where your target audience spends their time. Effective strategies include content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media campaigns.

What success looks like:

Your brand is getting noticed! Success here means increasing brand visibility and recognition. You’re seeing more website traffic, higher engagement on social media, and growing impressions from your ads. If people are starting to talk about your brand or you’re getting mentioned in relevant online spaces, you’re on the right track.

Consideration

Once a customer is aware of your brand, they move into the consideration phase. Here, they are actively researching and comparing products or services to meet their needs. This is where your content, reviews, and value propositions come into play. Providing detailed product information, customer testimonials, and engaging content can help guide the customer towards your offerings. Email marketing, retargeting ads, and informative blog posts can be powerful tools in this stage.

What success looks like:

Potential customers are interested and exploring what you offer. You’re seeing more time spent on your site, increased page views, and higher click-through rates on your content. Positive signals include more people signing up for your newsletter, adding products to their wish lists, or engaging with your content (e.g., likes, shares, and comments). Your audience is actively comparing your products, and they like what they see.

Decision

The decision phase is where the customer is ready to make a purchase decision. They’ve weighed their options and are now evaluating the finer details, such as pricing, shipping, and return policies. This is your opportunity to offer incentives like discounts, free shipping, or a seamless checkout experience to encourage the final conversion. Ensuring that your e-commerce platform is user-friendly and that your customer service is easily accessible can make a significant difference here.

What success looks like:

Customers are ready to buy. Success at this stage is a high conversion rate—people are moving from browsing to purchasing. You might notice fewer abandoned carts, increased sales, and more completed transactions. The key indicators are customers taking action on your offers, such as using discount codes or opting for free shipping, showing that your incentives are effective.

How can you push customers to the next step at this stage?

Bundles

Boosting your customers’ average spend is often a simpler way to increase revenue than trying to bring in new customers.

While big e-commerce companies often focus on increasing the average order value, this can sometimes feel like a daunting task or come across as too pushy.

That’s where bundle offers come in—they’re a great strategy to naturally boost your average order value.

Bundles have a lot going for them. They offer extra value to your customers, instead of just pushing them to buy more. Plus, they can help move products that might not sell as well on their own, all while raising the average spend.

Take, for example, clothing and jewelry stores. A ‘Shop-the-Look’ tool can make shopping so much easier for customers. People don’t want to spend hours on your site scrolling through collections and filters. They’re usually inspired by a social post or ad they saw, or they’re trying to piece together the perfect outfit from what you offer.

Last year's sales data showed that the 'Shop-the-Look' strategy was a top performer, both in terms of how often it was used and the purchases it drove.

And this strategy isn’t just for clothing and jewelry stores—it can work for any business with complementary products. For instance, one of our merchants paired a hotspot with a 4month subscription for unlimited wi-fi last year, which was a big hit.

So, how appealing are ‘Shop-the-Look’ bundles to customers? Let me show you an example.

Case

We had a chat with Alex, the Co-Founder of VOXY Official, the UK's go-to brand for fun, carefree, and high-performance women's fitness wear.

Alex's main goal was to attract more women to his brand. To achieve this, he not only focused on expanding the product range and entering international markets but also decided to introduce bundles – matching sets of products in the same design.

The results? Almost immediately, the average order value increased by 10%.

Comparing year-over-year, this strategy led to sales of around £50,000. That's definitely a positive outcome and a sign that the approach is paying off

App

We recommend using the MBC Bundles app for this strategy. Why? It supports 90% of all possible bundle configurations.

Beyond simple two-product bundles, MBC Bundles lets you offer mix-and-match options, giving customers the flexibility to choose what they want in their bundle. You can also create 'buy one, get one' deals, volume discounts, and more.

With customizable widgets and AI-powered recommendations, you’ll be able to launch your sales campaigns quickly and effectively.

Plus, we've partnered with the app to offer you a special discount in celebration of Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer!

How to start work with MBC Bundles:

1. Start by deciding which products you'd like to bundle together. Your customers often buy certain items together, so analyze those patterns and create ready-made bundles based on that. Alternatively, you can use tools like MBC Bundles' AI recommendations to find the best product combinations automatically. The AI works by analyzing frequently bought-together items, so you can rely on it to suggest great bundles.
2. When setting up your bundles, consider using the Mix & Match option. This bundle type allows customers to choose their preferred products within the bundle, offering them flexibility with sizes, colors, and shapes – all on one page. This not only makes the bundle more appealing but also enhances the shopping experience by keeping everything conveniently in one place.
3. Use a dedicated bundle page: Look for a bundle template that allows you to create a separate page just for the bundle. This way, the bundle appears as its own product, complete with a photo and a customized description. From our experience, this approach can boost bundle sales by up to 37%. However, not all patterns offer this feature, so be sure to check on the selection page to see which ones do.
4. Once you've picked your bundle type and arranged the products, it’s time to decide on the discount. The type of discount you choose will depend on the bundle type you’re using. Based on last year's Black Friday sales, discounts ranged from 5% to nearly 40%, depending on pricing strategies. You can apply the discount to the entire bundle or specific items within it. If your bundle includes two or more products, consider offering one item for free while charging full price for the others. This tactic works especially well for stores with a core product and add-ons. Check out our case study for more insights on this strategy.
5. You can increase your sales by using an upsell popup. This popup will appear if a customer has at least one product from an active bundle in their cart. It highlights the benefits they're missing out on by not buying the complete bundle. If they have multiple items in their cart, the popup will show them bundles that include those products.
6. Don’t miss the chance to suggest more products after a purchase is made. With AI-driven post-purchase features, you can offer customers 1-3 personalized product recommendations on the post-purchase page. These suggestions exclude items they’ve already bought and are based on popular combinations, similar to the AI bundle recommendations.

Let's keep moving forward!

Purchase

In the purchase stage, the customer completes the transaction. This moment is pivotal, as it’s where all your previous efforts culminate in a sale. It’s important to make the checkout process as smooth and simple as possible. Offer multiple payment options, ensure security, and provide clear instructions throughout the process. A well-designed checkout experience can reduce cart abandonment and increase your conversion rates.

What success looks like:

The sale is complete, and the process was smooth. Success here means minimal friction during checkout—customers aren’t abandoning their carts at the last minute. You’re seeing low bounce rates at the checkout stage and positive feedback about the ease of purchase. Secure transactions, clear communication, and a streamlined checkout process are all signs that you’ve nailed this stage.

Post-purchase

The post-purchase phase is often overlooked, but it’s just as important as the sale itself. This is where you can solidify customer satisfaction and build long-term relationships. Follow up with a thank you email, provide updates on shipping, and offer customer support to address any issues. This is also an opportunity to upsell or cross-sell related products. The goal is to ensure the customer feels valued and satisfied with their purchase, which can lead to repeat business.

What success looks like:

Your customer feels good about their purchase and is open to buying again. Success in this stage is reflected in positive post-purchase feedback, minimal return rates, and customers engaging with follow-up communications. You might see customers subscribing to your newsletter, leaving positive reviews, or purchasing related products you recommended. 

Advocacy

The final stage in the customer journey is advocacy – or as you might think of it, loyalty. A satisfied customer can become your brand’s most powerful advocate, spreading the word to friends, family, and social networks. Encourage advocacy by implementing loyalty programs, referral bonuses, and by consistently delivering excellent customer service. Engaging with customers on social media and asking for reviews or testimonials can also help amplify their positive experiences. Advocacy not only helps in retaining customers but also in acquiring new ones through word-of-mouth marketing.

What success looks like:

Your customers are so happy they’re spreading the word. Success in advocacy is when customers become ambassadors for your brand, leaving glowing reviews, referring friends, or sharing their purchases on social media. You’re seeing an increase in referral traffic, user-generated content, and a growing community of loyal customers who advocate for your brand without any extra push.

Conclusion

By guiding your customers through the stages of awareness, consideration, decision, purchase, post-purchase, and ultimately advocacy, you can create a relationship that goes beyond just a BFCM seasonal sale. The key to success lies in understanding your customers' needs at each step, offering value, and ensuring a smooth shopping experience, even in the midst of holiday rushes. When done right, the customer journey turns first-time shoppers into loyal, repeat buyers and brand advocates, long after the holiday sales are over.