The Super Bowl of Shopify stores is Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM). It is that huge, messy, and exciting time when a year of planning (and dreaming) is expected to pay off in a big way. A great discount strategy is often the key to increasing Shopify BFCM sales, but that’s just one piece of a very complicated puzzle. In this cut-throat frenzy, customers are in a hurry, the competition is fierce, and the cost of advertising is astronomical. The tiniest, seemingly innocent error—a broken discount code, a slow-loading image, or a confusing shipping policy—can turn into a sales killer. One angry click and that customer is lost forever. In this guide, we’ll break down the most common and damaging BFCM Shopify store mistakes, helping you spot, fix, and avoid them so you can make this your most profitable Q4 yet.
The Ultimate BFCM Mistakes Shopify Stores List
We have categorized the most frequent pitfalls into four groups, starting with the top-level strategic mistakes and ending with the last-minute fulfillment mistakes. We will also discuss what to do in case of every error.
Category 1: Strategic and Planning errors
These are the mistakes that occur weeks or even months prior to Black Friday, which prepares you to have a stressful weekend even before it starts.
Mistake #1: The Wing It Discount Strategy.
It is the old-fashioned, “It is Black Friday, we will just do 20% off.” You put a generic banner on your site, email once, and hope to make sales. This is a killer strategy because it does not generate any actual urgency, and it is a quick way to kill your profit margins. It's a surrender, not a strategy.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): When your generic sale is not gaining any traction, then it is time to pivot. Rather than cutting the prices further, attempt to add value. Change the offer to "Spend $100, Get a Free $25 Gift" or bundle a best-seller with a slower-moving item. It’s also smart to check the average Black Friday Discount in your industry; you might be way off the mark without even knowing it.
Read More: Average Black Friday Discount
Mistake #2: Waiting till November to begin
If you start planning your BFCM marketing strategy on November 1st, you've already lost. BFCM is not a weekend; it is a season that is now beginning in October with many brands. Your competitors have been building email lists, teasing offers, and warming up their ad audiences for weeks. A single email on Friday morning is just a whisper in a hurricane.
- The Fix (When It Is Happening Now): You cannot make a time machine. But you may stretch your time ahead. When you are late, rebrand your sale. Name it the Cyber Week Extension or the Holiday Kick-Off Event to allow your marketing efforts some additional days to get up to speed. And for next year? Do yourself a favor and download a Shopify Black Friday checklist in August.
Mistake #3: Leaving Your Loyal Customers Behind
This one stings. You pay thousands of dollars in advertisements to get new, one-time deal hunters, yet you give your loyal, repeat customers the same (or worse) deal. It is a horrible message that leaves your best supporters feeling totally unappreciated and conditions them never to pay full price again.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): Send a VIPs-Only email to your current customer base. Appreciate them and offer them a special privilege; it does not even need to be a larger discount. Give them a preview of a new product, free expedited delivery, or a little free gift with their purchase.
Category 2: Technical & Website Mistakes
These are the technical hiccups that can cause your whole sale to come to a crawl, usually when the traffic is at its highest point.
Mistake #4: Not Stress-Testing Your Site (The 12:01 AM Crash)
The Mistake: Your advertising was a massive success. It is midnight, your email blast has been sent, and a thousand excited shoppers have just clicked your link at the same moment. And... your site has crashed. It is the nightmare of nightmares. You are losing thousands of dollars per minute and all those customers who were so willing to buy your products are now frustrated and going to the (working) site of your competitor.
- The Fix (When It Is Happening Now): To begin with, do not panic. Get on the phone with your hosting provider immediately. Write on your social media platforms: We are experiencing unprecedented traffic, and our site is failing! We are on it. When your site is only painfully slow, but not completely broken, begin to disable any unnecessary applications that consume resources (such as pop-ups or chat boxes) and downsize the largest images on your home page.
Mistake #5: A Sluggish, Complex Checkout
The Mistake: A customer loves your product. They add it to their cart. They hit "Checkout." And now they are confronted with a five-step, multi-page form that requires them to create an account, provide their phone number, and answer a riddle. Each additional click or field is a possibility for them to be distracted or frustrated and give up on the purchase.
- The Fix (When It Is Happening Now): This is a five-minute fix. Go into your Shopify admin right now.
- Enable Guest Checkout: Stop forcing account creation.
- Simplify Your Form: The fields of Company Name and Phone Number should be optional (or not present at all).
- Activate Express Payments: Turn on Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. These one-click options are a lifesaver, especially on mobile.
Mistake #6: Overlooking the Mobile-First Shopper
The Mistake: You have spent the entire month of October creating a gorgeous, movie-like home page on your 27-inch desktop computer. It's a work of art. The problem? More than 70 percent of your traffic is on a phone. On mobile, your beautiful design is a messy nightmare with the "Add to Cart" button buried, and the menu is not functional.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): It is an emergency of all hands on deck. Take your phone (and an Android phone in case you have an iPhone) and navigate through your own site. What's the most frustrating part? Is the pop-up impossible to close? Is the text unreadable? Find the single biggest-selling-blocking issue and fix that one thing first. Don't try to redesign the whole site. Just make it usable.
Category 3: Marketing and Offer Errors
These are the mistakes in the way you make your sale, and may cause the customer to be confused, burn out, or, worst of all, to be indifferent.
Mistake #7: Your Discounts are confusing or do not add up
The Mistake: You're trying to be clever. You are promoting Buy One, Get One 50% Off on one line, 20% Off Sitewide (except that line), and a Free Gift with $100 Purchase. Customers are getting mixed up, their carts are not displaying the correct prices, and your discount codes are contradicting one another. A disoriented customer does not purchase. They leave.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): Simplify. Immediately. Turn off all your mixed, contradictory promotions. Pick one simple, powerful offer (like "30% Off Everything. No Code Needed.") and plaster it everywhere. A plain, working discount is 100 times superior to a smart, busted one.
Read More: Black Friday Pricing Strategies
Mistake #8: The Sea of Sameness Offer
The Mistake: Your 20% Off email blast is in the inbox of your customer, right next to 50 other 20% Off emails of all the other stores they have ever shopped at. Your offer is not visible as it is totally generic and does not provide any incentive to make a purchase.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): You need to stand out by changing the value, not just the percentage. Instead of a simple discount, try a tiered discount: "Spend $100, Save $20. Spend $200, Save $50!" Or, try a "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" bundle. These deals are more physical, they generate urgency, and they are far more effective at boosting your average order value.
Mistake #9: Spray and Pray Email Marketing
The Mistake: You're sending the exact same "SALE! SALE! SALE!" email blast to your entire list every six hours. Your open rates are plummeting, your unsubscribes are skyrocketing, and you're training your entire audience to ignore you.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): Stop blasting everyone. Create two simple segments right now:
- Recent Purchasers (within 48 hours): Do not include these individuals in your sales emails. They already bought. Thank them instead.
- "Abandoned Cart" (last 24 hours): Send this group a focused email: "Did you forget something? Your cart is waiting!" This is a simple change that will prevent annoying your best customers and concentrate on those who are close to purchasing. And if you're stuck, look up some fresh Black Friday marketing ideas for Shopify stores to find new angles.
Category 4: Fulfillment & Post-Sale Mistakes
These are the mistakes that occur once you have made the sale, and they are the most dangerous since they destroy customer trust and any possibility of a repeat purchase.
Mistake #10: Out of Your Best-Sellers
The Mistake: Your marketing is brilliant. Every one of your advertisements and emails is promoting a single hero product. It is a huge success... and it sells out by 9 AM on Black Friday. Your ad money is now on fire, your customers are hitting a Sold Out page, and your whole sales momentum is stalled in the water.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): Triage, fast.
- Capture the Lead: Immediately add a "Notify Me When Back in Stock" button on that product page. Don't just let that traffic vanish.
- Redirect the Interest: Edit the product page immediately. Add a banner at the top: "Wow, you loved this! It's sold out, but check out our second-best-selling product [link], which our customers love even more!"
- Pivot Your Ads: Disable all advertisements that will result in the sold-out product and redirect that budget to the other product you have just suggested.
Mistake #11: Post-Purchase Ghosting
The Mistake: A customer completes their purchase. They receive a single automated Shopify receipt... and then... nothing. During ten days, they do not hear anything. They do not know whether their order has been shipped, whether it has been lost or whether you are a real company. Their enthusiasm gives way to panic and they begin to bomb your support inbox with Where Is My Order! (WISMO) tickets. You've broken their trust.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): Over-communicate. Be proactive. When you are overwhelmed, email all new buyers with a manual email blast. Be human and transparent. Your support is amazing! Our small crew is filling orders as quickly as possible. Shipping delay of 3-5 days is to be expected. We assure you it will be worth the wait! This single email will save hundreds of support tickets and angry customers.
Mistake #12: A Secret or Revengeful Returns Policy
The Mistake: You either conceal your returns policy or, worse still, you declare all BFCM sales Final Sale. It is a huge conversion murderer. A massive proportion of BFCM sales are gifts, and customers are horrified of being left with the wrong size or color. They will not take a chance when they see Final Sale or cannot locate a clear policy. They will simply drop their cart.
- The Fix (If It's Happening Now): Create a simple "Holiday Returns" page or update your main policy today. State clearly in your footer and on product pages: "Peace of Mind: All purchases made from November 1st to December 25th are eligible for easy returns or exchanges until January 15th." This eliminates any friction and provides the customers with the confidence to press the Buy button.
How to prevent these BFCM mistakes in 2025
Here are some tips to prevent these BFCM mistakes:
The Cause of the Majority of the Mistakes: Manual Management and Complexity
When you look back at this list, you are likely to notice a pattern. The most damaging Cyber Monday mistakes Shopify stores make, like confusing codes, conflicting offers, and boring sales, all stem from one root problem: complexity.
With the native discount system of Shopify, store owners attempt to balance dozens of various discount codes, collection-based rules, and timers. It is manual, it is clumsy, and it is a formula for mistakes. A great Shopify black Friday strategy isn't just about what you offer; it's about your ability to execute it without breaking your site or your brain. The most effective approach is to streamline and automate.
The Solution: Automating Your Discounts with the Right Tools
The most effective method of avoiding these errors is to quit struggling with your software and acquire a tool that is designed to do the task. Instead of manually creating 50 different discount codes, the smartest stores use one of the best Shopify apps for Black Friday to build their offers.
Discounty is designed to deal with this type of complexity. It lets you easily set up tiered, volume-based discounts (like "Buy 2, Get 10% Off," "Buy 3, Get 20% Off"), Minimum Cart Discounts ("Spend $100, Get $20 Off"), and apply them automatically. This arrangement will avoid confusion among customers, increase your average order value, and leave you free to concentrate on marketing and not on correcting broken codes.
Read More: Shopify apps for Black Friday
Conclusion: Stop Making Things Right, Start Making a Smarter System
It is not often that the distinction between a record-breaking Black Friday and a weekend of pure stress is a matter of luck. It comes down to preparation.
As we've seen, the most costly BFCM mistakes Shopify stores make, from site crashes to confusing discounts, are almost always preventable.
This year, quit attempting to extinguish fires. Instead, focus on building a smarter, more automated system. By using a clear Shopify black Friday strategy that focuses on automating your discount rules and perfecting your customer experience, you can spend your time marketing your sale, not fixing it.
