Black Friday Cyber Monday is coming up fast! And while you've probably put a lot of thought into your discounts and promotions, you may not have considered what you need to do to get your theme in tiptop shape. Read through our tips and prepare for a huge weekend of sales!

• Back up theme files: Having a copy of your theme that you can quickly revert back to after the BFCM rush, or in the unfortunate event of a code mishap, will save you lots of time (plus it's always a good idea to have theme backups!). Learn how here.

• Update your theme version: Make sure you've got all recent features and fixes for your theme by updating to the newest version. Check out our Help Center to view the changelog for your theme and to find out how to update.

• Install any new apps: This is a busy time of year for Shopify app developers, so make sure you tackle this as soon as possible to save you from last minute headaches. (We highly recommend our new app Section Studio!)

• Update product description: Update your product descriptions to include important information such as sizing details, delivery times, shipping costs, and return policies to reduce friction.

• Apply theme templates: Take advantage of your theme’s built-in page templates - or create your own! - to design a BFCM landing page that beautifully showcases your promotions.

• Add promotional and sales sections: Use countdown timers and promotional banners on your homepage to create urgency and draw attention to your special offers.

• Create featured collections: Create a ‘Bestsellers’ or ‘Staff Favourites’ Collection to feature the products you want to showcase directly on the homepage in a Featured Collection section.

• Display customer reviews: Ensure your customer reviews are displayed prominently on your Product pages, or even include a carousel on the homepage, to build immediate trust with your shoppers.

• Announcement bar: Make the most of your announcement bar section to promote discounts, free shipping, quick returns, or anything you want to direct your visitors to right away.

• Complementary products: Boost conversions by using the ‘Complementary products' block to show product recommendations directly on your Product pages. You can take this one step further and use metafields to show unique recommendations for different products.

• Popups: Don’t forget about your theme’s built-in popups! Use these to capture email addresses from visitors to offer discount codes, or simply to promote your BFCM campaigns.

• Blog posts: Create a blog post of your Top BFCM Picks with links to your product pages to boost SEO and create a gift guide for your shoppers that can be used on social media and in email campaigns.

• Test links: Go through your full site and double check that all of your links work (this includes your navigation, homepage buttons, footer links, social icons, etc).

• Test mobile: Test your site on mobile to ensure all of your text and images render properly, and adjust where necessary.

• Review copy: Review your site for spelling, grammar or other typographical errors. Even better if you can have someone else do it to catch things you might not have seen!

  
  

We're here to help

If you run into issues when making these updates, our friendly Support team is here to help! Please note that this is a busy time for us as well, and we will do our best to respond within 1-2 business days for all requests.

We also have tons of documentation available 24/7 in our Help Center to walk you through all of your theme's key features.