The festive season is one of the most successful times to generate revenue because often your customers are in a spending frenzy. 

There’s a financial crisis, but Black Friday is still tipped for huge success this year.

In 2021 alone, over 80 million people made purchases during Black Friday.

Now imagine if you can tap into that market share.

As always, you’ll need a comprehensive strategy for success – levels of competition are at an all-time high, ad performance is diminishing and it’s difficult to cut through the noise of the competition.  

We’ve rounded up the best tips and tricks to make the most out of one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Let’s get started.

Black Friday marketing tips for ecommerce

Here are factors to keep in mind while preparing your Black Friday campaigns.

1 | Check on your site speed

The worst thing that can happen during a seasonal sale is that your site crashes, forcing your customers to shop somewhere else.

Profits that should’ve been yours are given to your competitors.

You can prevent that by optimising your site speed.

 In this video, Neil Patel goes into more details.

2 | Use FOMO to your advantage

People value what they feel they can’t have. We’re hardwired to not want to miss out and this is where a sense of urgency comes in by creating FOMO.

Creating urgency is more than just having a banner on your website that says “while stocks last” or “limited offers”.

One great way to create fear of missing out is by releasing a limited number of products. In essence what you are doing is creating an “artificial” lack.

Result? 

You create hype and get people talking about your brand in anticipation of the release.

The rule of thumb is to combine social proof like partnering with an influencer and FOMO for the product, to create valuable word-of-mouth that you can capitalise on.

3 | Update your product pages and refresh your website

Everybody gets excited for seasons like Black Friday and you should too by updating your theme colours to reflect this.

Perhaps you can put up a banner that communicates your enthusiasm.

Another crucial area is your product pages. Customers don’t have the luxury of feeling a product so go the extra mile to make them see themselves using your products, by having killer product descriptions, adding product videos and featuring positive reviews.

4 | Adjust your email marketing plan

Another area that can give you even better margins during your Black Friday marketing campaign is your email list.

You need to treat email marketing during this time a little bit differently than usual.

Email tips for a successful Black Friday.

• Use an email design and colours that show that it’s Black Friday
• Segment your emailing period into three categories: pre-Black Friday, Black Friday and post-Black Friday 
• Profile your subscribers. Divide your list based on VIP customers, seasonal shoppers, product browsers, product category buyers and geographic targets
• Add interactive GIFS

5 | Offer a free gift for a particular order

Your customers are in spending mode, so why not offer a package that comes with a free gift?

The catch of course is the order has to be something of a high average order value.

For example, let’s say it’s a skincare package that goes for £150 after discount. You can give a free gift as part of the set and still have a good profit margin. This also helps to generate positive word of mouth.

6 | Up your game on social media

Social media can help you attract new customers, especially during seasons like Black Friday.

Tips on running Black Friday promotions:

• Create special hashtags and discount codes
• Update your bios and include links for special Black Friday pages
• Plan and schedule your posts early
• Consider including what’s trending in your content

7 | Create a gift guide

Black Friday is a good time for ecommerce because consumers are starting to think about gifts for Christmas.

Find out more about your target clients and utilise your industry experience to assist them in selecting the appropriate present for their loved ones.

Compile the ideas into a guide, then offer it as a download.

8 | Team up with an influencer

Influencer marketing techniques are not only used by major brands. Even small to mid-sized businesses can gain from working with influencers to expand their audiences for their marketing communications with the support of nano and micro-influencers.

9 | Target word-of-mouth

Herdify’s lead data scientist Ed Barter found that areas with strong offline word-of-mouth see 2.1 times as many Black Friday sales compared to areas with weak word-of-mouth (WOM). 

The effect of Black Friday campaigns also lasts much longer than in areas with little WOM, which means that you can spend less on your ads and see lasting results, without having to discount post-Black Friday.

To quickly calculate the impact of targeting ad spend in areas where you have strong word-of-mouth, check out our Black Friday calculator.