How to boss Black Friday and boost your bottom-line

It’s that time of year again! Black Friday is right around the corner, and (dare we say it), Christmas isn’t far behind.

As shopper interest peaks, with everyone eager to bag the best deals, so does the competition for attention. With that in mind, we’ve gathered the team’s top tips to help you boost visibility, engagement and importantly, sales - on Black Friday and beyond.

Don’t fear - we’re not talking about a complete strategic overhaul, or building a brand new website. You’ll find something in here that you can action, whether you’re reading this well ahead of time or the night before (don’t worry, we’ve got you)!

If Black Friday is your “thing” - and let’s face it, it’s not for everyone - you’ve got to be in it to win it. But if you do need more convincing to join the Black Friday bandwagon, these stats from Mintel may just do the trick:

• Total sales during Black Friday reached an estimated £13.3 billion in 2023, up 7.3% year-on-year.

• 84% of consumers agree that a positive experience with a retailer during Black Friday would encourage them to shop there again.

What do these stats tell us? In short: Black Friday sales are rising year-on-year. But it isn’t just about driving sales; it’s about building lasting customer loyalty. And who wouldn’t want that?

Now we’ve highlighted the opportunity, let’s explore the tactics you can use to unlock it.

With 68% of online experiences beginning with a search engine, SEO can deliver some seriously valuable traffic. As a channel that typically requires long-term investment, there’s simply no better time to get started. Here’s how:

• Update seasonal content: Refresh existing Black Friday landing pages or create new ones. Ensure your titles, meta descriptions, and content highlight relevant offers and keywords such as “Black Friday deals [your product/service]”.

• Leverage long-tail keywords: Competition is intense for broad terms like “Black Friday deals”. Instead, focus on long-tail variations like “Black Friday discounts on [specific product]” or “[brand name] Black Friday offers”. Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to identify lesser-known opportunities.

• Improve page speed: During high-traffic periods, site speed can make or break the user experience. Test your site using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and make optimisations such as compressing images, browser caching, minifying CSS and JavaScript, and using a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure your site handles Black Friday traffic without hiccups.

• Optimise for mobile: Globally, mobile-commerce sales have increased by 20% since 2023. Ensure that your site is fully responsive, with easily navigable pages, fast load times, and mobile-friendly content layouts.

• Boost internal linking: Drive traffic to your Black Friday deals pages through strategic internal linking. Include these in blog posts, product descriptions, and homepage banners to make it easy for both Google to crawl, and users to find your top offers.

• Add product schema: Implementing product schema on your Black Friday pages helps search engines display key deal information, such as price, discounts, and availability, directly in search results. This can increase your visibility with rich snippets, improving click-through rates by providing users with essential details at a glance.

Pay-per-click advertising is a powerful tool when intent to buy is at its highest. And did you know that PPC ads account for around 45% of page clicks, and visitors from PPC ads are 50% more likely to make a purchase than organic visitors? Here’s how to make the most of PPC ahead of Black Friday:

• Plan your budget: Black Friday ad costs can skyrocket, so plan for an increased budget, particularly on high-demand platforms like Google Ads and Facebook. Prioritise best-selling products and offers that historically perform well.

• Segment your audience: Create different ad sets for various audience segments (e.g. existing customers vs. new prospects) to tailor your messaging. For loyal customers, emphasise exclusivity with “early access” to deals or VIP discounts.

• Create time sensitive ad copy: Highlight urgency in your PPC ads. Phrases like “limited time only,” “24-hour sale,” or “last chance” encourage immediate clicks.

• Use retargeting ads: Open retargeting audiences to include visitors who have been on your website in the last 180 days. Show them specific ads related to their previous behaviour, such as items they viewed or left in their cart. Retargeting ensures your brand stays top of mind.

• Capitalise on shopping ads: Data suggests that Google Shopping ads generate 52% more clicks than text ads. So if you haven’t considered these before, now’s the time!

Email is still one of the most effective marketing channels for driving engagement and conversions during Black Friday, with open rates increasing compared to normal days by almost 30%. Here’s how to use email marketing wisely:

• Build anticipation: With a series of automated emails leading up to Black Friday, featuring sneak peeks of upcoming deals and offering subscribers the chance to sign-up for early access to discounts.

• Use granular segmentation: 71% of customers want personalised experiences. For instance, if you’re using Shopify and Klaviyo, you can create a segment for all customers who made Black Friday purchases last year.

• Create dynamic content: Introduce dynamic content blocks for greater personalisation, and offer deals that are relevant to previous purchase behaviour.

• Design mobile-friendly emails: Ensure your email design is fully responsive and functions seamlessly on mobile devices, taking into account that a high percentage of email are opened on smartphones and tablets.

• Clear CTAs: Create call-to-action buttons that are easy to find and understand. Use direct language like “Shop Now” or “Claim Your Deal” to drive action.

In 2024, there are estimated to be 5.17 billion total social media users worldwide. Make sure your brand is the one they can’t miss:

• Have community management on standby: The pre-Christmas shopping period can be a wild one. Shoppers are increasingly short on time and patience. Try to have people on-hand to respond to comments and DMs as quickly as possible and prepare common responses ahead of time.

• Utilise user-generated content (UGC): Did you know that UGC can increase conversion rates by up to 29%? That’s because it makes your brand feel more relatable and trustworthy. Taking this into account, encourage your audience to share their experiences with your products leading up to Black Friday.

• Leverage influencers: Collaborating with micro and macro-influencers can amplify your Black Friday reach. Over 60% of consumers trust recommendations from influencers when making purchasing decisions, so consider running influencer promotions and tap into their highly-engaged audience base.

• Interactive content: Engage your followers with quizzes, polls, or contests. For example, a spin-to-win wheel or deal voting polls leading up to Black Friday can create extra excitement, generate shares and give you a greater audience insights.
  

• Capitalise on TikTok shop: Approximately two out of every three people using TikTok will make a purchase through the app. Tap into the spontaneity and trend-driven nature of the platform by using TikTok’s in-feed videos, LIVE videos, and the ‘Showcase’ tab to sell your products within the TikTok shop.

With high traffic comes the need for a smooth conversion process. Optimising your site for conversion will help you turn more browsers into buyers, with stats suggesting that the average ROI for companies using CRO tactics is 223%.

• Simplify the check-out process: Ensure your checkout process is as quick and hassle-free as possible. Implement guest checkout options and make sure the number of steps is minimal.

• Integrate one-click payment options: Offering one-click payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal can significantly reduce friction at checkout. By eliminating the need for customers to manually enter their payment details, you streamline the process and minimise cart abandonment, especially during high-traffic periods like Black Friday.

• Exit-intent pop-ups: Capture potential leads with exit-intent popups offering an additional discount to users who might abandon their carts.

• Display trust signals: With 81% of consumers stating that trust is a deciding factor in purchasing, the importance of building credibility and confidence cannot be overstated. With this in mind, be sure to display customer reviews, secure payment badges, and clear return policies prominently on product pages and during checkout.

Herdysleep, a UK-based luxury mattress retailer known for its sustainable and high-quality products, challenged us to drive online transactions during the bustling Black Friday period. We were ready to rise to the occasion!

We rolled-out a dynamic digital campaign across Paid Search, Display and Social, featuring real-time countdowns to drive urgency, supported by eye-catching creative and strong call-to-actions.

The results? Herdysleep experienced a 90% increase in transactions year-on-year, revenue jumped by 110%, and the average order value also climbed by 10%. This campaign demonstrated how a holistic approach to digital can drive significant sales growth on Black Friday and beyond.

Ready to knock Black Friday right out of the park? Our team is here to help you shape a strategy that not only drives some serious sales on the big day but keeps that momentum going well after the last deal is snapped up.

Whether it’s creating highly-personalised emails, optimising your brand for search, turning heads on social media, launching powerful PPC campaigns - or all of the above, we’ve got you covered. Get in touch today to see how we can help.