Every year, eCommerce brands see the highest sales during BFCM.
Brands offer the highest discounts and best deals they can to compete with other brands.
However, that’s not the only way brands can leverage BFCM. Brands running subscription models can boost sales during the sale and for the future too. But most subscription brands don’t try to.
This blog focuses on innovative subscription strategies for BFCM for securing more sales.
Let’s get started!
Subscription strategies to boost subscription sales and engagement
You may not emphasize on subscriptions during the BFCM sale as your main focus in products and discounts. However, by implementing some carefully thought strategies, you can drive sales and interest in your Shopify subscription plans.
You can drive immediate sales of subscription plans or build long-term customer relationships that can lead to customers converting to subscribers in the future. Here are some strategies you definitely want to consider.
1. Offer exclusive discounts for subscriptions
One-time tempting offers are hard to resist for customers. Create offers and deals around subscriptions available only for the BFCM period.
Here are some ideas:
- Offer an exclusive discount deal on subscriptions specially for BFCM
- Highlight savings by clearly mentioning how much customers will save with the offer
- For existing subscribers, you could offer discount on referrals’ subscriptions
- Here’s an example: ‘Subscribe now and get 50% off your first three months—only available during BFCM.’
- Show appreciation for subscribers by sending them personalized messages and emails offering them one-time discount codes
2. Limited-time offers and scarcity tactics
Shoppers are in a frenzy during the BFCM sale. With so many great offers all over the internet, they may forget about your offers pretty soon.
But there’s a tactic to increase the probability of them making purchases on your site faster—scarcity and FOMO. These strategies for subscription during BFCM can help your regular and new customers get started with their subscription journey. Here’s what you can do:
- Create limited-time offers on your subscriptions
- Add countdown times on product pages to create a sense of urgency
- Offer a limited number of subscriptions at discounted price
- Display social proof, such as ‘50 subscriptions sold out, only 10 remaining’
- Incentivize shoppers to subscribe by offering attractive gifts to first 10 subscribers only during BFCM
- Create seasonal and festive subscription boxes that are available only for a few days during Black Friday Cyber Monday
3. Bundle subscriptions with one-time purchases
Combine your Shopify subscriptions with products and create bundles. However, ensure you focus on BFCM, exclusivity, personalization, and showing the value of these bundles. Here’s what you can do:
- Take a reverse approach—recommend products based on customers’ browsing data and combine with a subscription, offer a discount
- Encourage new, one-time customers to opt for a subscription at a discounted price as part of a bundle to turn them into repeat customers
- Offer a subscription if customers buy a specific number of products. For example, ‘Buy 5 products and get a subscription at 50% discount’.
- Create limited-period bundles for BFCM only—combine popular star products with holiday and festive season products
- Create DIY bundles with your best selling products. This gives customers a sense of flexibility to choose their subscription products
4. Provide free trials or first delivery free
Another way to boost subscription sales during the BFCM period is to offer free trials. This can help reduce customer hesitation and increase confidence. Apart from this, you could offer a few free deliveries, for example, first two subscription box deliveries free.
However, you must emphasize and highlight that the offer is BFCM-exclusive and will remain only for a few days. You could use this BFCM subscription strategy to reignite the interest of dormant subscribers or those who haven’t renewed their plans. This could lead to old subscribers rediscovering your subscription plans without you having to make a significant investment.
5. Use SMS and email marketing for personalized campaigns
There’s nothing like personalization—when all other brands are sending generic promotional messages to customers, you can stand out by creating personalized campaigns. Here’s what you can do:
- Send out personalized emails and SMS with offers crafted based on customer data
- Set up automation on your Shopify store subscriptions to target abandoned carts
- Create subscription offers combined with other products and offerings
- Incorporate dynamic content in emails, show savings with a subscription vs. one-time purchase
- Show appreciation for your subscribers by sending them personalized deals and incentives during the BFCM time
6. Leverage upsell and cross-sell tactics
BFCM is also a great time to upsell and cross-sell because there are good discounts on all products. And with subscriptions, there are many opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Let’s explore what all you can do:
- When customers buy individual products, offer a subscription upsell during checkout
- Integrate a Shopify subscriptions app such as Appstle to easily use upsell and cross-sell features
- If you have different tiered subscription plans, try to upsell a higher value plan to customers during BFCM at a discount
- Display exclusive product drops only available to subscribers to increase sign ups during BFCM
- Segment customers based on products they might like so that you can increase the potential of them subscribing to a subscription plan during BFCM
- Another strategy for subscriptions during BFCM is to promote the idea of gifting subscriptions as it is gifting season
7. Offer VIP perks for subscribers
Subscribers look at quality over quantity. To ensure a valuable subscription experience, offer perks that customers would value. Let’s look at some VIP perks you could offer during BFCM with subscriptions.
- Early access to new products and collections
- Exclusive benefits, such as discounts, points, rewards, etc.
- Make subscribers a part of a special community
- Combine social causes and charity with subscriptions to enhance customers’ experience
- Highlight perks for subscribing during the BFCM sale, for example, during checkout
- Promote subscription perks in your BFCM campaigns to differentiate subscription offerings from regular purchases
8. Use social proof and testimonials
An effective way to sign up more subscribers during the BFCM period is to show social proof to customers. Let your BFCM shoppers know what other subscribers think about your subscriptions, what they like about it and how they’re using it. Here’s what you can do:
- Show customer reviews and testimonials that talk about the benefits and positives of your subscriptions
- Display testimonials with success stories of current subscribers, emphasizing how they benefit from the service
- Show different reviews that focus on multiple aspects, such as convenience, affordability, special experiences, etc.
9. Run retargeting ads for subscription offers
You may not be able to sell subscriptions to all your BFCM shoppers during the sale period or while they’re shopping. However, that doesn’t mean you cannot entice them to subscribe. Make retargeting ads a part of your subscription strategies for BFCM. Retargeted users are 8 times cheaper to reach per click.
- Use social media channels to run retargeting campaigns
- Run retargeting ads on Google
- Mention BFCM-exclusive subscription deals in the ads
- Target shoppers who showed interest in subscriptions as warm leads are easier to convert
10. Highlight subscription flexibility
Another way to encourage customers to sign up for subscriptions is to let them know how flexible your subscription plans are. Today’s customers want convenience and flexibility. They do not want to feel like they’re stuck with something. Here’s what you can do:
- Show them how easily that can manage their subscriptions via your Shopify subscriptions app
- Let them know they can cancel their subscription plan whenever they want
- Show them they can easily move around deliveries, swap, pause, change products, etc.
- Add banners and pop-ups to emphasize on these flexibility features
11. Partner with influencers and affiliates
Another effective subscription strategy for BFCM and the holiday season is to partner with influencers and affiliates. 69% of people trust influencers for recommendations. Let’s explore what you can do:
- Leverage influencers and affiliates following by partnering with multiple influences from different industries
- Start your influencer marketing campaign much before the BFCM sale begins to get a head start
- Create custom discount codes for influencers to share with their audience. This helps boost credibility and reach
Also read: How to get your first 1000 subscribers (checklist)
Get started with your subscription strategies for BFCM 2024
With so much going on during the BFCM and holiday season sale period, you’ll definitely need to come up with strategic tactics to drive subscription sales.
Based on your products, services, industry, and target audience, try these strategies for your Shopify store during this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
To make it easy for you to launch these campaigns, manage them and automate campaigns, use an intuitive Shopify subscriptions app such as Appstle Subscriptions.
