Black Friday tips for e-commerce marketers

Black Friday is known as a day of big discounts and bargains for our customers. For us, it is a time where we are getting unusual attention from customers and it is up to us how and what we want to use that valuable attention to achieve.

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Nowadays, Black Friday is gaining in popularity to such an extent that new additions such as Cyber Monday and Black Friday Week are emerging. As a marketer or retailer, you’re probably thinking about how to get the most out of this opportunity to really create results!

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We have a few types of inspiration for you to do exactly that. While we are at it, let’s remind you of a few important things to keep in mind when planning your Black Friday strategy!

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Set your goals!

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You need to find out what you want to get out of Black Friday and how. The more specific your goals, the better you will be able to devise ways to achieve them.

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Want to get more customers to your site? Do you want to sell as much as possible? Do you want to get rid of the least sold goods?

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An example of the fact that the goal of Black Friday is not always just profit is the strategy of some brands that spread the proceeds of the entire Black Friday to donate to charity. Why? What can you get from this?  

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You are not selling your products in the sale so you will not reduce the exclusivity and value it. You are showing that you are an ethical business and you do care. Which for some companies can be more profitable for the future than the profits from this one day.

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Black Friday is overall about DEALS and HYPE! Other questions which you should ask yourself are: How can I maximize the perceived discounts that am I offering? How can I maximize the hype about what I am doing here?

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Go all in – SoMe, Your site, mails

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It can be confusing for a customer when you try to convince them of the importance of the day, but they will not find related content on your site. If you want to show the customer that this is D-Day, this information should be heard on all your communication channels.

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Focus on products that are performing well

Build your strategy on products you have already tried, products that generate leads, and drive customers to purchase other goods the most.

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Discount up to 70%!

Create an attractive headline that attracts customers, but it will not push you to sell under the price. It will not destroy your margin on popular products, where you can not give that big discount in a profitable way.

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Also, by not showing a specific price on the main page, you will make your customers click on the product they are interested in. You can use price bands instead of specific prices. (350DKK-500DKK)

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Make a schedule

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By setting multiple discounts/offers at different times you will create a reason for people to come to your site multiple times. This means they will spend longer on your site- meaning a bigger chance to show them more of your amazing products.

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And for you, it is the reason to reach them multiple times during the day, maybe in different channels as well.

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Set up time and quantity limits! Give the people the feeling that if they want this product they need to take action. Having a  pop-up box in the corner of your webpage is great for this! It could be showing how many other people are interested in the same product as well.

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Start soon, be ready and make your customers ready

Make sure that you have all content ready for the whole day/week. Set this up on autopilot- plan when it should go out, where it should go, and prepare as much as possible!

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Prepare your customers and start with that soon. Talk to the customer and explain what it all is about! If it is a great deal no one is gonna mind getting a notification about it. You can start to inform customers week/month earlier.

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Let them know what is gonna happen this day. You want to get the HYPE before the start! This way you can people get pre-committed to visit your site on this day or even better at different times during the day.

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Don’t forget about powerful hashtags

On SoMe make sure you are using #blackfriday, but not just this main one! This hashtag is gonna be overcrowded so you should think also about different variants of it. Do your research and find the most popular hashtags for your specific audience. You can more likely get more attraction on those ones than on the main one.

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Static page on your site

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Create a static page on your site that is there the whole year targeting Black Friday and Cyber Monday keywords. You can just update this page every year. And customers have the possibility to find information whenever they need it.

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Due to Google trends, people are actually looking for Black Friday-related content and offers up to a month before actual Black Friday.

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Static URL which can get ranking when people are talking about their Black Fridays purchases every year. Customers can be linking through to this page, so over time, you can collect many interactions through this page.

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When you are setting up a static page, you can also create a popup window for subscribing for earlier access to Black Friday deals. This is a great way how to start to build the email list ahead of time because people will be searching for Black Friday before itself. This brings us to the next type…

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Make it special and exclusive

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The same special offer for earlier access to Black Friday deals you can offer on your SoMe or to your already existing lead list. Here you can get people to know that this Black Friday you will have some super cool offers. If they want to get them first they can sign up for early access to it.

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The great thing about this strategy is that people already put effort into it and they will feel a bit more special, committed, and included. That is giving the feeling of exclusivity to them.

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You have a bigger chance that those people will become actual customers and make some purchases on your site.

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It is not just about discounts!

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Black Friday doesn’t have to be just about discounts. You can offer some nice gifts if people will spend a certain amount. This is a great strategy because you can set up those numbers in a way that customers will cover the spending for the gift themselves.

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But you can also come up with some idea which will cost you even less to do. For example, it could be extra/double loyalty points during Black Friday. This can bring you more subscriptions for loyalty programs and thereby returning customers.

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Customers who want to make a purchase on your site will not want to waste those points so they will become a part of the loyalty program. For you, it means it is gonna increase their lifetime value and gives you the data you need to reach them for next time.

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How to choose the right strategy?

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In order for all these strategies to work as effectively as possible and to be able to choose the right one for your customers, it is essential to know your customers! A Customer Data Platform can definitely make the customer knowledge process much easier for you.

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A CDP is a marketing tool that collects, consolidates, and analyzes customer data. Based on those data, you can tailor the right strategy tailored to your customers!

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With a CDP, you get a continuous supply of analyzes about your customers but also about your products. You will find out which product is your most profitable, which will attract people to your site, and which will sell the least. You can then give the largest possible discount on such a product or give it away as a gift.

Did any of these tips help you? We keep our fingers crossed that your Black Friday will succeed! Let us know about it on social media or book a demo today.

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