Schedule announcements for BFCM sale

Announcement bar with discount code

For Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, timing is critical. With Smart sections, you can schedule timely messaging during your BFCM sale, and save yourself the stress of publishing your theme when your sale starts.

This tutorial will show you how to add a smart announcement bar section that promotes your upcoming BFCM sale and then automatically updates when the sale starts.

  • Add an announcement section to your home page to promote your upcoming BFCM sale.

  • Add scheduled content that announces when the sale begins and shares a discount code.

  • Assign a date range to display your content at the right time.

Before December 1
December 1

Add Announcement bar section

To get started, install the announcement carousel section and add it to your home page.

We're adding the announcement carousel section for this tutorial, but you can schedule content using any Section Studio sections.

1

Duplicate your live theme

In your theme library, duplicate your live theme to create an unpublished copy. You can rename it to make it easy to find.

2

Install and add the announcement carousel

On the Announcement carousel page, click Install to theme and select your unpublished theme copy. In your theme editor, add the Announcement carousel section to your home page.

3

Add "Upcoming sale" announcement

Click the announcement blocks to add content, then customize the style in the section settings.

Add announcement text that tells customers about your upcoming sale: "Cyber Monday: Get 15% off on December 1."

Learn more about announcement carousel settings and how to edit Global styles to closely match your branding.

Add scheduled BFCM announcement

Now that you have your announcement carousel set up, you can add your scheduled message that will tell customers that the sale is live and share a discount code.

1

Create section variant

Go to the Smart sections page in the app dashboard.

Select the theme and template where you added the announcement carousel. Click Add variant. When added, the section variant duplicates the content and settings of the main section.

Enter a name for the section variant: "BFCM announcement"

2

Add live discount code messaging

Click Customize variant to open the section variant in the theme editor. You can edit the content and styles as you would any section.

Update the BFCM message in the announcement block: "Use code BFCM15 at checkout for 15% off."

You can change the icon, button, or any other element to make your announcement stand out. Learn more

Remember to click Save.

Set start and end times

Now that you have your variant BFCM announcement, you can schedule when you want to show it to visitors. Using the date range rule, you will set a start and end date for when to display the BFCM announcement. After the end date, the section will automatically revert to hide the discount code.

In this case, the "audience" is any visitor that arrives at your site within that date range.

1

Create audience with a date range

Go to the Audiences page in the app dashboard, and click Create new audience.

Enter a name for the audience. Example: "BFCM Sale".

Select the Date range rule, then enter the start and end dates for your sale. Select the timezone for the dates. Remember to click Save.

2

Assign audience to your Black Friday variant

To activate your scheduled variant, you need to assign the date range audience.

Go to the Smart sections page. Click the Assign button in the Audiences column. Select the audience you created.

Schedule more than one announcement

This tutorial shows how to add a single date range for one section variant. You could add another audience for second date range. For example, on the final day of your BF sale, you could show "Last chance" messaging.

Publish your new smart section

It's time to take the final step and publish your theme with your new smart announcement section.

Before publishing, you can preview how the section variant will look on your site. On the Audiences page, click the 'more' button (...) for your section variant and select your audience.

After publishing, you can set it and forget it. Your Black Friday promotion will automatically appear to visitors at that right time, between your start and end dates.

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