For millions of people, Black Friday serves tons of different purposes. Be it a holiday shopping, long-awaited renewal of house appliances, an opportunity to update technical gear, or anything else, every year the numbers of consumer spending just seem to go higher and higher.

This year is not an exception since the Americans alone are expected to spend $258 million more compared to 2019, according to Finder. Besides, due to the Covid-19 crisis and social distancing, most of the shopping is predicted to shift online.

This means both new opportunities and challenges for e-commerce. To be fully prepared for what’s coming and get the best out of Black Friday 2020, one of the main tasks for online business owners is to get creative with Black Friday promotion ideas and build a strong Black Friday Marketing Strategy. Here are our key tips on how to do it.

Test your website

The performance of your website is one of the most important factors when it comes to conversions, and here’s why.

The customer journey begins far earlier than he or she decides to visit your Store, yet when it happens, this also becomes that crucial point where it can instantly end.

The truth is that it takes no more than 3 seconds for an average visitor to leave your website if it doesn’t load immediately, and the vast majority never comes back. Not only that – almost half of them tend to share their negative experience with their friends.

How to deal with it? Make the speed of your website one of your top priorities. Consider all the page elements imaginable – from the server your website is hosted on to image size and videos, not to mention the importance of a smooth experience during the checkout. Keep in mind the possibility of increased traffic, too, and make sure your website can handle it. Try it all out yourself, invite your friends and family to do it, and fix everything that might stand in your way. Once you’re done with it, you can try one of the popular online tools, for instance, GTmetrix, to check how your site performs.

Make sure your store is mobile-friendly

Considering the growing numbers of online shoppers and more and more purchases happening via smartphones, not adjusting your website to the needs of such customers is actually one of the biggest e-commerce mistakes. So, the first reason why you need a mobile-responsive website is as simple as that – your prospects and customers do expect it. Second, Google will simply ignore your store if it’s not mobile-friendly, so we recommend that you use this tool to easily test how it appears on mobile devices.

Moreover, poor navigation on a smaller screen can easily drive your visitors away. Not sure if you’ve ever tried to purchase something on a website that you need to scroll to all possible directions and constantly zoom in/out… Neither did I, and you know why? It’s just too annoying to even reach the checkout page.

What’s important to keep in mind here is a great browsing experience. If someone ultimately decides not to buy something from you, let the reason be something bigger than your website not being mobile-friendly.

Update product pages and descriptions

Although it’s best to update the content of your website regularly (Google loves it!), make sure everything, especially your product pages, is really ready for Black Friday 2020.

It’s where the magic happens, as they say, since the way you talk about your product and present it to your prospects and customers does influence their final decision. And that’s not all – good product pages can actually lower the chances of product returns, make them easier to spot in search results, or even discourage cart abandonment. So, what’s next then?

• Do keyword research and use them for better visibility and brand awareness. There are plenty of free keyword research tools available that’ll help you improve your store’s SEO without spending a penny.
• Pay attention to product titles. If you run a clothing store, don’t just name one of your dresses “a dress.” Everyone can see that it is. Think of it more like a headline for an article or anything else meant to grab attention – stay descriptive and brief yet try to convince it’s the best dress for your visitors to buy
• Get high-quality product photos not only to appeal to your visitors’ senses but also to let them take a good look at a product you’re selling and make their decision easier
• Highlight features and benefits. Everyone wants to know exactly what they’re buying so go into details but not so much that it gets boring.
• Don’t forget social proof since people rely on it a lot. Equip your store with a comment section and allow users to rate your products.

Build a subscriber list

As we’re getting closer to the communication stage, let’s make sure we have the people to talk to. A strong subscriber list can be a huge part of your success this Black Friday, so it’s important to take good care of it before everything goes live.

The common yet effective way to do this? Email sign up pop-ups and valuable incentives on your site.

It means that every time someone visits your store, they’ll see an invite to join a subscriber list in exchange for something they can benefit from. This is where it all gets a bit tricky though – your potential customers will only opt-in for attractive deals since no one really wants to be spammed with irrelevant offers.

Think of offering a discount on their order or a coupon for free shipping – anything you can come up with to encourage them to share their email address with you.

Start early

Make sure people know that you’re a part of this Black Friday madness by creating a buzz in advance. For this, you might want to hit all of your channels and tease your audience a little, so they’d be curious to come to you when it’s time.

Empower email marketing

Since we’ve already agreed on the importance of building an email subscriber list, the next step would be letting them know about your promotions. You can build excitement by sending them “a preview,” a countdown email, let them know about your best deals, etc., but make sure to organize them all well timewise so as not to appear too intrusive.

Benefit from SMS marketing

It’s a highly responsive channel that cannot be missed out on such an occasion. There are many ways to use SMS marketing, including discount codes, notifications about new sales, or even collecting feedback, and it’s great for time-sensitive deals that are the key during Black Friday.

Engage the audience on social media

Social media offers wide possibilities when it comes to engaging people who follow your business (and those who don’t, actually), and ignoring it would be even worse than trying and failing. Take advantage of videos, pictures, and other visuals, organize a contest, use ads to launch some creative Black Friday campaigns to spread the word.

Grab attention with banners

Identify which ones of your pages get the most traffic and make sure to spice them up with some nice Black Friday banners. This way, people who will be visiting your website will be aware of the upcoming deals before they even become available.

Offer value with your deals

Although it might seem that people impulsively buy whatever they can during Black Friday, that’s not necessarily true. A lot of them still plan their purchases and spendings in advance and come to the store with specific offers in mind.

Either you want to convince those who want to stick to their budgets to buy something from you or boost your conversion rates with the help of the impulsive ones, you have to offer something they truly need and find it worth paying their money for.

How do you show value to your customers though?

1. Come up with exclusive deals
2. Offer better quality than your competitors
3. Boost customer service efficiency
4. Personalize
5. Make it easier and faster to purchase
6. Exceed their expectations

Take advantage of FOMO

What’s FOMO, you ask? It’s an acronym for the fear of missing out, and more often than not, it drives sales.

Many things don’t last forever, and Black Friday is not an exception. Even more, urgency is built into this holiday since everyone knows it usually lasts for just a weekend at its best.

Knowing this, people tend to make more reckless decisions, and here’s how you can actually benefit from it:

1. Install a countdown timer – it will allow shoppers to see exactly how much time they have to benefit from your offer
2. Show the items left in stock – it should encourage to make a purchase quickly
3. Make clear to show that other people are buying – it’s almost a recommendation! Many are buying it, should be nice, huh?
4. Use words that inspire the sense of urgency - “Today only,” “Act fast,” “Limited-time deal,” ”While supplies last,” “Don’t miss out,” “Hurry!”

Retarget

Black Friday deals usually last for the whole weekend, however, a lot of people start doing their researches much sooner. There’s no guarantee you’ll ever see them again in your store, but the chances are higher with retargeting.

This is how retargeting works – by tracking shoppers’ behavior, you can later use this data to show them relevant ads while they browse online. Convincing someone who has already had thoughts about buying a specific product from you is actually easier than showing it to someone for the first time.

Besides, retargeting may also be used for abandoned carts. Cart abandonment is a major problem in e-commerce and has almost reached 70% in 2019. It’s a lot! There are a few ways to win them back - be it display ads, follow up email, or SMS, it’s always worth a try.

Final thoughts

Even if knowing exactly what to do won’t make the chaos that comes with Black Friday a little less bearable, hopefully, it will at least help you do your best while planning it all out. Complement your Black Friday marketing strategy with these tips, prepare your store, and get ready to drive more sales. Business growth? Coming soon!