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Black Friday is arguably one of the biggest days of the year for both retail stores and e-commerce sites with online sales as it stereotypically and traditionally falls on the last pay-day for most people before Christmas. Whilst it started off being very much an American ideology, like a lot of things, we in the UK have copied from those across the pond and this normal calendar day is now a huge day for businesses up and down the country. Traditionally Black Friday would be one singular day with specific black Friday promotions, however in recent years it has extended to a much wider period of time.
Deals can last the full weekend and even to the Monday which has been unofficially named “Cyber Monday”, and has became a big part of the holiday shopping season. Many big retail brands will even offer deals and discounts for the full week leading up to the Black Friday sales to ensure that they provide their target audiences with as much time as possible to explore their online sales. In this blog, we will be looking at the importance of preparation for the Black Friday sales and how you can prepare your online store with the best Black Friday marketing ideas.
Why Is It So Important To Prepare For Black Friday Sales?
More Customers Than Usual
Nearly all online retail brands will have increased custom on Black Friday as people will be looking for those fantastic Black Friday deals! This means that you have to be able to cater for the increase in the amount of customers in terms of logistics, stock and website capabilities with the appropriate Black Friday marketing strategies in place. Often websites can crash when they have a spike in visitors, so this is certainly something that needs to be considered in preparation for Black Friday in order to cope with more traffic than usual.
Higher Demand For Products
The extra customers that you acquire on Black Friday are unlikely to pass the time or simply browse your website. Having said that, people may browse in the weeks leading up to the Black Friday sales in order to see what products they hope to see included in the sales and discounts. The buyer intent is a lot stronger on Black Friday than your usual day and this is something that needs to be prepared in advance and taken into consideration when setting up your Black Friday marketing campaign.
Ensure that you have plenty of products in your stock to meet the high demand that your business will inevitably face. Customers are likely to return and repeat purchase in future if they receive a good Black Friday promotion.
Increased Competition
When preparing for Black Friday online, you need to remember that nearly all your competitors and other businesses will be doing exactly the same with their own Black Friday campaigns. They will be competing for similar, if not the same potential customers as you so you need to do all you can to ensure that they choose you ahead of your competitors. This means more marketing activity, better offers and discounts and most importantly, better customer service and communication, even if it is online!
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a common yet effective marketing strategy in 2021 as it often targets a mailing list which will include past customers and existing customers who’ve already expressed an interest in your business and your products.
In advance of Black Friday, you may want to get a lot of template emails ready to be sent to your mailing list, advertising your best deals and discounts for your best products on offer. It is also important when writing your emails in advance to include a customer-focused target line as 47% of email recipients will open an email solely based on the subject line (OptInMonster).
Do bear in mind that other businesses will be doing exactly the same so put some thought into your email campaigns campaign, and ensure that your emails truly stand out to your customers!
Social Media
Social media marketing is of course a very popular and a very important method of marketing in 2021 and is one that will be used by the vast majority of retail businesses in preparation for Black Friday. Retail businesses’ social media profiles will be very active around the time of Black Friday, ensuring that they are letting their customers know what brilliant deals and offers they have in store for them.
This can range from facebook ads for a targeted audience to social media posts, all of which have the aim of attracting new customers and achieving improved brand visibility. Make sure you stay ahead of the game by writing and possibly even scheduling your social posts well in advance of Black Friday to ensure that your profile is active and actively promoting your Black Friday deals!
Your Website
Black Friday can be quite a stressful day for some shoppers as inevitably, some products go quite fast. Don’t add any additional stress or complications to your customers’ day by giving them technical issues to worry about such as pages not loading, websites crashing and product/offer information being wrong. Ensure that your website is entirely up to scratch with good page speeds, good quality and accurate content as well as a fast flowing website that can cope with the large quantities of customers.
User-focused Content
This definitely applies all year round however is more relevant on Black Friday. Make sure your site, social and email content is fully appropriate for your target audience. Apply the right tone of voice (TOV) to all your content to fully up-sell your products, advertising your deals and discounts and inform your customers and potential customers of the best deals that your retail business can offer.
Your content will be seen by a lot more people than usual so make sure that it puts your business, your products and most importantly, your deals and discounts in the best possible light and maximise that opportunity of extra sales!
Product Range
It sounds obvious, but make sure that you have the appropriate product range in stock. A lot of customers will be buying Christmas presents so ensure that your products are suitable to be bought and received as presents. Whilst some products selling out is inevitable, ensure that you have a decent amount of each product in stock so that not only can you make sales but that you avoid disappointing too many customers. A one-off positive customer experience can often lead to a returning customer which can be beneficial in the long run for your business.
At Wriggle Marketing, we offer a range of digital marketing services, including social media, SEO and PPC. We also offer web development where we can create and optimise your website to ensure you have the best point of contact for your business. To find out more about our digital marketing services, contact us at 0191 815 0815 or email us at tickleus@wrigglemarketing.co.uk.
