Black Friday eCommerce: How to Best Prepare & Strategize?

Black Friday. The mere mention of it is a reminder of frantic shoppers, overflowing carts, and doorbuster deals. Although it started as a post-Thanksgiving shopping spree in the US, Black Friday has become a globally-recognized holiday.

And it’s no longer confined to brick-and-mortar stores, you can offer benefits of the holiday on your eStore. From optimizing your website and crafting irresistible offers to leveraging social media and email marketing, our eCommerce experts recommend implementing a range of strategies for Black Friday.

That’s what we aim to cover through this blog. Let’s begin.

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season and is known for featuring significant discounts and promotions from retailers, both online and in physical stores.

Here’s what Black Friday entails:

• Deep Discounts: Retailers offer some of their lowest prices of the year on a wide range of products, including electronics, appliances, clothing, toys, and more.   
• Early Opening Hours: Many stores open very early in the morning, sometimes even as early as midnight, to accommodate eager shoppers.   
• Doorbuster Deals: These are limited-quantity, heavily discounted items designed to attract customers to the store early.   
• Online Shopping: Black Friday has evolved into a major online shopping event, with many retailers offering exclusive online deals and promotions.

Regardless of its origins, Black Friday is now synonymous with massive sales and the kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

How to Prepare for Black Friday eCommerce?

Well, before you start actively strategizing for Black Friday, it’s important to do some prep work to keep up with the rush and make sure there aren’t any major issues.

Plan Early

This first part is about strategically thinking ahead and preparing every aspect of your online store and marketing efforts to capitalize on the Black Friday rush. Here’s a breakdown of what it entails:

• Set Clear Goals: What do you want to achieve this Black Friday? Increased sales? Brand awareness? Customer acquisition? Define your objectives to guide your strategy.
• Analyze Past Data: If you have data from previous Black Fridays, analyze it to identify trends, top-performing products, and areas for improvement.
• Budget Wisely: Determine your budget for marketing, promotions, and website upgrades. Allocate resources strategically to maximize your return on investment.
• Create a Timeline: Outline a detailed timeline for each stage of your Black Friday campaign, from website optimization and inventory management to marketing and customer support.

It’s very important to plan early as it helps avoid last-minute panic and ensure the website doesn’t crash under pressure.

Check and Optimize Your Site Speed

Imagine this: a shopper finds the perfect deal on your site, adds it to their cart, and then… waits. And wait. That spinning loading icon can be incredibly frustrating for the customers, especially when they are trying to grab the best deals before someone else does.

So here’s what you need to do:

• Conduct thorough testing: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement.
• Optimize images: Compress and optimize images to reduce loading times without sacrificing quality.
• Leverage browser caching: Allow browsers to store website data locally to speed up repeat visits.
• Consider a Content Delivery Network (CDN): CDNs distribute your website content across multiple servers, improving loading times for users in different locations.

A good, high-performing eStore ensures a smooth and enjoyable shopping experience for your customers. So they stay in your store, browse more products, and ultimately complete their purchases.

Audit Your Checkout Process

You’ve attracted shoppers to your site, showcased amazing deals, and they’ve added items to their cart. Now, they need to cross the finish line – completing the purchase. A clunky, confusing checkout process can confuse the customers and make them abandon their cart.

Here’s what you need to do for auditing the checkout process:

• Simplify Steps: Minimize the number of steps required to complete a purchase.
• Offer Guest Checkout: Allow customers to checkout without creating an account.
• Provide Multiple Payment Options: Support various payment methods, including credit cards, digital wallets, and buy-now-pay-later services.
• Clearly Display Shipping Costs: Be upfront about shipping costs and estimated delivery times to avoid surprises at checkout.

The aim is to remove barriers to purchase, reduce cart abandonment, and ensure a smooth and satisfying experience for your customers.

Get Outstanding Support for your eStore

Shoppers are flooding in, grabbing deals, and inevitably, they’ll have questions, concerns, or even run into issues. So you need a strong support system that is proactive, responsive, and readily available through the customer journey.

• Proactive Customer Service: Prepare for an influx of customer inquiries by staffing up your customer support team or utilizing chatbots to handle common questions.
• Technical Support: Ensure you have access to technical support to quickly address any website issues or downtime that may occur.
• Monitor Website Performance: Continuously monitor and improve your website’s performance and be prepared to troubleshoot any problems that arise.

Covering these 4 aspects will ensure you have prepped for the Black Friday holiday effectively. Only after these, you should move on to the active holiday-based strategies. For these, you can also get our eCommerce website maintenance services. We will make sure everything from performance to security and more will be on point.

Best Black Friday eCommerce Strategies

After you are done with the prep work, it’s time to start with some key strategies to ensure Black Friday becomes a successful holiday for your eCommerce business.

Focus on Retargeting Strategies

Retargeting reminds shoppers about the awesome products they were checking out on your site. It’s a powerful strategy to re-engage those who showed interest but didn’t complete a purchase. They might do so during the frenzy of Black Friday when distractions are abundant.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Social media retargeting: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest are great for visual reminders and reaching specific demographics.
• Display retargeting: Show ads on websites across the Google Display Network, reaching a broader audience.
• Email retargeting: Send targeted emails to those who browsed specific products or abandoned their cart.
• Free shipping: A powerful motivator, especially for those who abandoned their cart due to shipping costs.
• Discounts: Offer a small percentage off or a dollar amount discount to entice them to complete their purchase.
• Limited-time offers: Create urgency with “flash sales” or “limited-time offers” exclusively for retargeted shoppers.

Make sure you continuously check the metrics to see which strategy is working the best, and refine accordingly.

Go Bullish on Social Media Marketing

Social media is quite important in eCommerce, and during Black Friday, it becomes beyond crucial. With it, you can connect with shoppers, generate excitement, and drive sales in the most effective manner.

Here’s what you need to do before, during, and after the holiday through social media.

Pre-Black Friday

• Tease upcoming deals: Share sneak peeks of your best offers to build anticipation.
• Run contests and giveaways: Engage your audience and generate excitement.
• Create themed content: Use Black Friday-related hashtags and visuals to capture attention.

During Black Friday

• Announce deals early and often: Keep your audience informed about your latest offers.
• Use eye-catching visuals: High-quality images and videos will make your deals stand out.
• Run flash sales and limited-time offers: Create a sense of urgency to drive immediate action.
• Go live: Use live streams to showcase products, answer questions, and offer exclusive deals.

Post-Black Friday

• Thank your customers: Show appreciation for their support and build loyalty.
• Share customer testimonials: Highlight positive experiences to build trust.
• Promote extended deals or Cyber Monday offers: Keep the momentum going with continued promotions.

A few of the key social media platforms for holiday eCommerce are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and TikTok.

Upsell & Cross-sell Your Products

Upselling and cross-selling are subtle yet powerful tactics to increase the value of each purchase. Think of it as offering helpful suggestions and enhancing the customer’s experience, rather than pushing unnecessary products. They are among the key tactics implemented through eCommerce product recommendations.

Upselling

Encourage customers to purchase a more expensive version or a higher-end product than the one they’re currently considering.

Example: A customer is looking at a basic coffee machine. You upsell by suggesting a model with a built-in grinder and milk frother, highlighting the added convenience and features.

Cross-selling

Cross-selling involves suggesting related or complementary products that enhance the original purchase.

Example: A customer adds a new phone to their cart. You cross-sell by recommending a screen protector, phone case, or wireless charger.

We can implement these strategies on the product pages, shopping carts, and final checkouts as well.

To get the best out of these strategies, you may need to clearly communicate how the upsell or cross-sell item enhances the original purchase or solves a potential problem.

Promote BOGO Offers

BOGO (Buy One, Get One) offers are a Black Friday staple for a reason. They tap into the customers’ love for a good deal and create a sense of incredible value. You can go for a classic BOGO or promote with a discount or the incentive of a complementary product.

Here’s what you need to do during the Black Friday BOGO:

• Manage the inventory: Use BOGO to move products that are overstocked or nearing their expiration date (if applicable).
• Promote New Products: Introduce new items by pairing them with a popular product in a BOGO offer.
• Prevent overspending: To manage costs, you might limit the BOGO offer to certain products, categories, or a maximum number of redemptions per customer.
• Create exclusivity: Limited-time BOGO deals or limited quantities can create a sense of urgency.
• Showcase on the home page: Feature your BOGO deals prominently on your website, in email campaigns, and across social media.
• Countdown timers: Create a sense of urgency with countdown timers leading up to the end of the BOGO offer.

These types of offers help ensure a significantly higher perceived value, increase the order value, and control the inventory as well.

Launch New Products

Black Friday isn’t just about slashing prices on existing inventory. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to generate buzz and excitement around fresh, new products. Since there will be a rush on the site during the holiday season, you can expect to get more eyes on your new product.

Here are a few tactics to adopt:

• Black Friday-specific launch: Make it clear that this product is debuting specifically for Black Friday, adding to the event’s excitement.
• Early bird access: Offer early access to your email subscribers or social media followers, rewarding their loyalty.
• Limited quantities: Emphasize that the new product is available in limited quantities, creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
• Launch discounts: Offer a special introductory price or a Black Friday-exclusive discount on the new product.
• Bundle deals: Pair the new product with complimentary items at a discounted price.
• Free gifts: Include a free gift with every purchase of the new product.
• User-generated content: Encourage customers to share their experiences with the new product on social media using a branded hashtag.

If you are going to launch the new products in the holiday season, it’s important to make sure you have enough stock to meet the anticipated demand. And offer expedited shipping to ensure the customers get their hands on the product and leave positive remarks quickly.

Personalize the Recommendations

A key to ensuring the best customer experience is not to deal with the customers individually. That means understanding their preferences and offering them personalized product recommendations. Here’s how you go about it:

• Gather information: Track website activity, purchase history, and even social media interactions to build a picture of each customer’s interests.
• Group similar shoppers: Divide your customers into segments based on shared characteristics (demographics, interests, buying behavior).
• Automate the process: Use AI-powered recommendation engines to analyze data and generate personalized suggestions in real-time.
• Place the recommendations suitably: Showcase the recommended products on the homepage, product pages, and shopping cart, along with marketing emails.
• Use personal language: Address customers by name and use phrases like “Recommended for you” or “Because you liked…”.

These strategies will help create a more satisfying and profitable shopping experience for everyone.

Push the Email Marketing Campaigns in Advance

Email marketing is your direct line to eager shoppers, and during Black Friday, it’s crucial to use it strategically to build anticipation, drive early traffic, and maximize conversions. Here’s how to leverage email campaigns in advance of the big day:

• Tailor your message: Don’t send generic blasts. Segment your email list based on past purchases, browsing behavior, demographics, and interests.
• Reward loyal subscribers: Offer early access to Black Friday deals or exclusive discounts as a thank-you for being on your list.
• Build anticipation: Include countdown timers in your emails to create a sense of urgency and excitement.
• Highlight top deals: Feature your most compelling Black Friday offers in your emails, using eye-catching visuals and persuasive language.
• Recover lost sales: Send automated emails to shoppers who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase.

Emails can be excellent for engaging your audience and generating excitement for your Black Friday deals.

Avoid Using Coupons and Codes

Coupons and codes can be effective promotional tools, but during the Black Friday rush, they can introduce unnecessary friction and complicate the checkout process. That may lead to lost sales. Here’s why minimizing their use can be beneficial:

• Every second counts: Black Friday shoppers are often in a hurry to snag deals before they expire. Having to hunt for a code, remember it, and enter it accurately adds extra steps and time to the checkout process.
• No surprises: When customers see the final price upfront, they’re less likely to experience sticker shock or feel misled.
• Highlight the offer: Instead of relying on codes, emphasize the value of your Black Friday deals through compelling product descriptions, high-quality images, and clear messaging about the savings.
• Automatic discounts: Implement a system that automatically applies discounts at checkout based on cart contents or customer segment, eliminating the need for manual code entry.

By ensuring automatic discounts without codes and coupons, you can create a more efficient and user-friendly checkout experience.

Prepare a Robust Shipping and Returns Plan

Finally, Black Friday is a time of high expectations. Not only do shoppers want great deals, but they also expect their orders to arrive quickly and without hassle. A robust shipping and returns plan is essential to ensure customer satisfaction and minimize returns.

Don’t be discouraged if the shoppers want to return some of their purchases. Make sure you have a robust eCommerce return policy in place.

If you need help with any of these aspects of Black Friday prep and strategy, our professional eCommerce development company will be suitable.

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FAQs on Black Friday eCommerce

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To Summarize

Black Friday isn’t just another business holiday; it’s a strategic battleground for eCommerce businesses. It demands meticulous planning, a deep understanding of your audience, and a multi-faceted approach. That covers everything from website optimization to post-purchase support.

Remember to plan early, optimize your website, provide outstanding support, and implement winning strategies. Plus, you need to ensure a personalized experience and prioritize customer satisfaction. If you need further help with Black Friday eCommerce, talk to our experts today!