Google's AI bets paid off in Q3. Paying attention? | Your ultimate BFCM playbook

Hello, Game-Changer!

Are you feeling the pressure yet? Ada here with another strategy-driven Q4 edition to help you to make this holiday season your best yet. Today’s edition is packed, so grab a drink and let’s delve in.

🔍Google’s AI bets are paying off

In the last few weeks, we’ve shared Google’s new AI rollouts in Shopping, Lens, and YouTube’s Shopify partnership.

It looks like Google’s investments are paying off as the company recorded 35% more earnings, thanks in part to the aggressive AI focus we’ve been witnessing.

What does this mean? For you, many paydays! As your potential customers ask more complex, specific questions and explore a wider range of sites—including product recommendations, you have more opportunities to reach them if your store is optimized for these AI-driven searches.

• Ads within AI Overviews are getting traction, helping people find the right products faster (aka your products!).

• Circle to Search is becoming a go-to, letting people shop visually—imagine shoppers using their phones to find products just like yours with a tap!

🏆 Growth Hacks: How One Marketer Hit $1.2 Million in BFCM Sales Last Year 

As we prepare for the most lucrative season in eCommerce, we found this cool breakdown of how one marketer generated $1.2 million in sales last November via 5 email campaigns, 2 SMS campaigns and “Thank you” as a secret weapon.

Week 1

Kick things off with urgency and exclusivity:

Change your marketing from friendly/informational to cut-throat and urgent. Create a simple email/SMS pop-up with an inscription like “Do you want 10%? – subscribe to our mailing list for exclusive Black Friday Deals”. Then update your automated flows, add timers to the abandoned cart emails and add a BFCM month banner to all of the emails.

Week 2

Get customers excited about receiving your products:

• Inspire Gift Ideas: Showcase your best products with a seasonal twist, like “Top 5 Gifts for [Niche] Lovers,” with photos of people using them in festive setups.

• Niche-Specific Emails: Use seasonal scenarios to build excitement (e.g., pet stores can try “How My Dog Stole the Show at Our Holiday Party”).

• Veterans Day Shoutout (if applicable): Show some gratitude and drive traffic with a timely email for your U.S. customers.

Week 3

Now is a good time to offer a free shipping promo by email. Refer to low stock. Give customers the impression that this is the last chance to buy. At this point, you should have generated 30-40% of the sales that you will generate in the month of November.

Week 4

Let customers know that Cyber Week is here and there will be no better time to buy from your site. Send 2 versions of a “Happy Thanksgiving” email. Version 1 is just a general happy Thanksgiving email that goes out to your unengaged contacts. Version 2 is Happy Thanksgiving + early access to the Black Friday Sale to your engaged contacts.

The Secret Weapon: “Thank You” Email from the CEO 💌

Once the rush is over, send a simple “Thank You” email. This single message can be your highest-revenue email of the year—last year, it drove $350k in sales. Keep it genuine, plain-text, and make them feel appreciated. They’ll remember it, and so will your revenue.

📈 Weekly Challenge: Review Your BFCM Strategy

Take 30 minutes today to look over your BFCM strategy. Add new ideas and tweak existing flows to get maximum impact. Use this guide when reviewing your communication.

🔥 Trending: Scar Tape

Scar tapes are chemical-free tapes used for treating scar tissue and speeding up recovery times. Searches for “silicone scar tape” have surged by 355% over the past two years. One Amazon brand is pulling in $130k/month from scar tapes.

Here’s how you can leverage this trend:

• Explore other scar-removal products: scar cream, gel, etc

• Explore tape for for niche body parts (e.g “scar tape for C-sections, scar tape for breast surgery, etc)

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Our friend, Kai wrote 1 blog post for an eCommerce brand that's driven nearly 300,000 clicks in the last year alone. And he shared his exact process to find this keyword gem, researching competitors, writing the blog, and building backlinks to it. Check it out here.

Are you ready to take Q4 by storm? Let’s do this! 💥