We're only one week away from what is set to be the biggest Black Friday yet, but it's not too late to plan for success! Client executive Aimee Ward gives us her top 7 tips for ensuring a smooth Black Friday experience.

7 Steps in 7 Days To Ensure Black Friday Success

We are officially only one week away from what is set to be the biggest Black Friday yet! A recent Bazaarvoice study found that 85% of retailers believe online sales will increase Y.O.Y and 61% expect a higher volume of sales overall - all due to COVID-19.

This is an exciting prospect for many businesses but now is definitely not the time to be getting complacent. In the same study, 55% of companies said they were investing more into e-commerce compared to previous years, meaning competition will be rife! We may be fast approaching the big day but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to fine-tune your digital marketing plan.

In this blog we will explore 7 key steps you should take over the next 7 days to ensure a smooth and successful Black Friday experience.

Day One: Bespoke Black Friday Landing Pages

Have you thought about a dedicated Black Friday landing page? Well now might be the time. In 2019 there was an abandonment rate of 71.3% - and we want to avoid this! By improving the users online experience you’re taking a step in the right direction. A promotional page offers clear navigation whilst showcasing products and can drastically improve user experience. Here are 5 areas to address;

1. The product/service value – remember to highlight those discounts!
2. Relevance – keep it simple but ensure the consumer has access to all the information they need i.e. when the offer ends, current stock availability and the number of people viewing the product.
3. Engaging content - appealing product/service descriptions are key.
4. High-quality imagery.
5. Page loading speeds and mobile optimisation – the last thing you want is users jumping ship purely due to speed or it not working on their phones.

Simple but effective.

Day Two: Perfect that Creative

Black Friday is awash with promotions and your ad copy is the most essential part of ensuring your brand stands out. Make sure your ads are bold, punchy, and straight to the point. Black Friday brings out even the shrewdest of bargain hunters so highlight those discounts in these ads! Ensure you can stand up to the competition by promoting extra services such as free shipping or gift wrapping. Don’t forget to upload your creative a few days prior to activation (but ensure they are paused) so that approvals are all in place and they can go live when required.

Day Three: Budgets

By now you will likely have your plans for Black Friday in place, including spend allocations, but don’t forget to capitalise on as many opportunities as possible over the promotional period. You can look to run ads with accelerated delivery which can help ensure that you show for a higher number of searches. Of course, this is budget dependent but worth doing if feasible.

It’s also best to remember not to rely completely on an automation platform to allocate your budgets during this time. Yes, budgets are often higher throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but you don’t want to burn through them by midweek.

Day Four: Let’s Look at Social

It’s time to increase your social presence. The next few days are going to be key so ensure you are posting appealing content on a more frequent basis. Create a hashtag, promote a competition, or run a poll – get those audiences engaged and ready to spend!

Day Five: Check Your Targeting

Understandably you will want to see how your business fared post-Black Friday so take the time today to ensure your campaign tracking is set up correctly. You might also wish to give your Google Analytics a health check. You want to ensure that all pages are consistently tracking impressions, that the number of leads showing is accurate, that all necessary domains have been added to your referral exclusion list, and you have the appropriate filters in place.

Day Six: Drive Excitement with Exclusive Previews and Access

It’s 2 days to go – time to ramp up some excitement! If you haven’t already launched your Black Friday sale, why not offer exclusive previews of your Black Friday deals? Give the consumer a taste of what’s to come and get them shouting about your brand ahead of the big day.

Day Seven: Email Marketing

Everyone’s inbox is often jam packed at this time of year, which may have you questioning email marketing’s worth but it’s an important step in promoting your Black Friday sale. You will often find consumers are far more engaged during the promotional period - they will be looking out for emails from their favourite brands and you don’t want to disappoint. Previous statistics have shown that email equates to a 30% increase in revenue over the Black Friday weekend - we are one day out and now is the time to close those sales!

Emails should;

• Be engaging – keep it simple and include clear calls to action.
• Incorporate a countdown feature to build anticipation.
• Offer early access to sales or special promotions to reward loyal members (if possible).

Want to learn more about how ClickThrough can help with your ecommerce strategy?