The time has come once again, where people camp outside of stores and mercilessly stampede each other through the doorways of best buy to get that new TV for 40% off. You know what time I’m talking about…BLACK FRIDAY time. It’s time to dump that excess inventory, convert it into cold hard cash, and get plenty of new return customers along the way. Like most consumers nowadays (myself included), we tend to stay away from stomping over families to steal the last discounted TV, and instead, we prefer to just shop online from the comfort of our own home. This option is much more relaxing and less dangerous. Beyond that, it allows consumers to spend Black Friday week scouring the internet for good discounts on things that we’ve been wanting to purchase.
If you have an e-commerce brand or store without a major physical presence (like Best Buy), then this is your time to shine. You’re going to have millions and millions of consumers sitting on their phones, tablets, or computers shopping throughout the internet, and you need to be there to grab their attention and convince them to take you up on your discounts. As an advertising and marketing agency, our experience working with a plethora of e-commerce companies on and off Black Friday weekend, we can safely say that the average online store we work with (for Black Friday) can expect to receive around 500% their average monthly sales during the Black Friday week alone.
However, this is not as simple or as easy as just discounting your products on your website. As a matter of fact, there is a lot of work that goes into creating and executing a killer Black Friday campaign that actually drives killer sales. Because we’re the nice people that we are, we decided to provide the world with a list of 5 things that every e-commerce brand or company can do to maximize their Black Friday sales in 2022.
1. Create An Actionable Black Friday Discount
One big mistake we see some e-commerce companies make, is not creating an actionable discount. An actionable discount is one that the consumer cannot resist, and they believe they should take action upon (make the purchase). We have definitely seen our fair share of brands completely nose-dive their Black Friday sales by not giving a large enough discount. We understand if margins may be a drastic issue, but offering a weak discount is going to give the consumers a sense of non-action, and they’ll look online at your competitor’s sites to see if they’re offering more of a discount. By offering a greater discount, you’re improving your chances of a website visitor taking the leap into becoming a customer.
2. Discount The Entire Week, Not Just Black Friday Weekend
This is a power move that we have discovered many years back, and it has lead to drastic increases in online sales with our clients. Instead of only running your Black Friday sale from Friday to Monday (Cyber Monday), try running your sale from Monday to Monday (Black Friday Week Sale). You have to understand that during Black Friday, people are being overwhelmed with ads, Thanksgiving food comas, and family (on top of shopping). This means that your time for potential customers to take action on your discount will be drastically limited. That is, unless you run your campaign throughout the entire week. This will allow users to view your discounts and take action, wether it be that day or a few days down the line. This makes shopping much easier for the consumer, and it allows you more time to reach them and to convert them into customers. Use the entire week to your advantage.
3. Run Paid Social Media Ads & Search Ads To Really Drive Traffic & Sales
One big hurdle most e-commerce brands face, is exposure. Since you aren’t Best Buy (with a nationwide presence), you’re going to need to do some promotion. The best and most effective way to put your discounts in front of consumers fast is through paid digital advertising. This can be in the form of social media advertising, pay per click advertising, or display advertising. You can use channels like Facebook, Instagram TikTok, Google, SnapChat, and a variety of others to drive your messaging and bring users back to your site to take you up on your killer Black Friday deals. Keep in mind, you will need to ensure that your ad creatives and targeting is correct, or else you’ll end up sending the wrong messaging to the wrong people, and end up blowing a bunch of money with no results to show.
4. Make Your Black Friday Discounts & Information Visible Everywhere On Your Site
This may go without saying, but you’d be surprised how many companies will only discount their products, and many visitors don’t even realize a Black Friday sale is going on. The key here is to be more obvious, rather than less obvious. Put your Black Friday discounts and information on homepage banners, in top navigations, popups, and even product category banners throughout your site. Our one piece of advice here, is to ensure that a random visitor can see there is a Black Friday sale going on from every single page of your site, in one way or the other. Don’t lose sales because users were unaware that you were having a Black Friday sale.
5. Utilize Your Email Subscriber Lists & Audiences
If you’ve been in the business of e-commerce, then you’ll know just how important your email subscribers really are. This is especially true during sale periods. You need to be sending emails to your subscribers alerting them of your Black Friday deals and any miscellaneous information about your sale. However, this needs to be done tactically. Do not only send one email on Friday (when people are getting 8,000 Black Friday emails), and expect your sales to skyrocket. On the same token, don’t be those people sending 3,4,5,6 emails a day. Be strategic. Send emails when people are more likely to check them. Send them frequently enough to where you’re not annoying your subscribers, but you’re making them aware.
Make sure you’re prepared, and follow our tips for Black Friday this year, and we’re sure you’re going to see noticeable results! If you would like us to help your with your Black Friday campaign, contact us.
Best of luck to everyone!
