6 promo ideas you can automate for BFCM and holiday sales

Make way for BFCM and gift-giving season, 2020 edition.

Forget the holiday habits of yore. According to the Bloomberg/Harris Poll,nearly 50% of Americans say they’ll purchase gifts mostly or entirely online, and younger Americans are three times more likely than their elders to view gift-giving as necessary this year.

Because ofgestures broadly, a lot of our work is being done online. Manual, repetitive tasks can build up with online work, taking away from more important things, like solving your customer's queries and giving them a virtual holiday hug.

Want to stay hot on the heels of the holiday market with great promo ideas?

Luckily, automation is easy to implement with tools like Shopify Flow + Cleverific.If you want to skip the extra manual setup and team training for your regular promotions,here are six campaign ideas that sales automation can streamlineto add to your holiday mood board this season.

1. Buy X and get a gift

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like a gift with purchase. Use this promotion idea to boost your sales during the holiday season while also maintaining customer loyalty. If you’d like toadd your gift with purchase to your customer’s cartbefore they’ve paid, check out these apps:

• Sales Motivator ‑ Free Gifts by Singleton software
• Gift Box — Free Gifts on Order by Digismoothie

If you want to surprise your customers with agift after they place their order, automate this promo using theShopify Flow + Cleverific. Whether you’re helping Santa with his one-night trip or Hanukkah’s eight crazy nights, you can customize the duration of your promotion to match your holiday needs.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Cleverific actions.

2. Place an order over $100 and get a free gift

Encourage your customers to spend more and say thank you by including a gift when they buy more. Add extra cheer to your holiday campaigns andautomate adding a freebie to larger purchases using Shopify Flow + Cleverific.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Cleverific actions.

PRO-TIP:the orders don't always have to be $100; automation can by triggered by any amount, so try testing different amounts!

3. Place an order and get free gift-wrapping

Everyone is so busy during the holiday season, and your customers will definitely appreciate this perk. You'll need to keep track of orders that need gift-wrapping, and sales automation is the best way to keep up with that extra effort.Get your gift wrapping processed more efficiently with automation using Shopify Flow + Cleverific.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Cleverific actions.

4. Holiday discount codes

There are fa-la-la-la-lots of ways toautomate how you send holiday discount codes to your customers.Use apps likeAutomizely,Shopify Flow, andMailchimpto act as your automation elves when you offer a discount. You can:

• Text a discount code after a second order with Shopify Flow
• Display codes on your store’s website with pop-ups using Automizely
• Email discount codes to your customers with Mailchimp and Shopify

5. Holiday bundles

If your elves have too many cookies on their plate this year, help themautomate bundle creationfor you with one of these apps:

• Bundle Products and Discounts by Thimatic
• Bundle Builder by Bundle Builder
• Bold Bundles ‑ Product Bundles by BOLD

And behind the scenes,Shopify Flow + Cleverific actions will automate the pain out of fulfilling multiple items under one bundle SKU.Automatically expand the bundle SKU into all bundled product SKUs for fast fulfillment!

6. Thank you gifts for your VIP customers

Tag your top-spending or VIP customers, and automatically send out thank you gifts to make their holiday season (and loyalty!) that much brighter by letting them know you care (which usually sparks arepeat purchase).Use Shopify Flow + Cleverific to tag your VIP customers and automatically send them a gift with purchase.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Cleverific actions.

Enjoy some holiday cheer

Automation is the gift of growth for your business by saving you time and money.Holiday shoppers will love the consistent experience, but unless you have the proper tools for implementing your promotions, it’s less a labor of love and instead is plain hard labor.

Here are apps we mentioned that will help with your sales automation:

• Shopify Flow: for automating your discount codes
• Cleverific + Shopify Flow: for automating your bundle fulfillment, gifts with purchase, and gift-wrapping
• Email Marketing + Sales Pop Up by AfterShip & Automizely: for automating your holiday discounts
• Mailchimp: For automating your email discount codes
• Gift Box — Free Gifts on Order by Digismoothie: for creating hard-to-turndown gift sets
• Sales Motivator ‑ Free Gifts by Singleton software: for adding a gift with purchase to your customers’ carts
• Bundle Products and Discounts by Thimatic: for helping you create great product bundles
• Bundle Builder by Bundle Builder: for helping you create great product bundles
• Bold Bundles ‑ Product Bundles by BOLD: for helping you create great product bundles

Go beyond your promo idea

Cleverific + Shopify Flow’s automation options are a great place to start! You can use its built-in actions and customizable workflows to seamlessly integrate automation into your sales strategy this holiday season. If you want to learn more about what you can do withShopify Flow, check out this page.

To get automating, install Cleverific and try it with Flow, your money back guaranteed for 30 days!

Deanna is theContent Marketing Manager at Cleverific, Inc., formerly from the Shopify Apps and Partner team. She enjoys writing about ecommerce to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. She lives in the countryside of Canada's capital with her husband, her exceptionally perfect dog Leo, and her exceptionally loud dog Cece.