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Enter your expected Black Friday revenue and see how much extra you can generate.
That feels particularly true today [11th October], as Amazon launches its second Prime Day of the year. The company reported it sold 300 million items at July’s event, with analysts estimating a worldwide spend of more than $12bn. Leaders will be hoping they can hit similar figures again.
For many brands that aren’t Amazon, Black Friday remains a key opportunity to boost revenue, clear inventory and attract new customers. Consumers in the UK spent £9.42bn over the Black Friday weekend in 2021, a number that’s expected to increase by 25% this year. But given the cost of living crisis, many are thinking more strategically about how and what they’re spending their money on.
The current uncertainty is influencing marketers too. Many are leaving their Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotion until the last minute this year.
Diminishing returns on ad spend via tried-and-tested channels, supply chain issues leading to a surplus of stock, and a tightening of marketing budgets are creating the perfect storm. We know that retailers may also be more reluctant to discount this year, with rising energy prices and interest rates to contend with.
It’s not too late to plan for Black Friday but a new approach is needed. Rather than the typical “spray-and-pray” campaigns, marketers need to carefully direct their advertising budget to those areas where it’ll have the greatest impact.
But 95% of people follow recommendations from people that they already know. That’s even more pertinent during a downturn. When customers are being more careful about where they spend their money, they put an even greater emphasis on the advice of people they trust.
In behavioural science terms, offline word-of-mouth recommendations trigger something in our brains. Suddenly the brand or product or service that we’ve been told about seems to crop up constantly.
This Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or the frequency illusion occurs because our brain subconsciously looks out for something it’s just learned about. And that means customers who may have previously ignored a brand, are now primed to notice all of its marketing cues.
That potential for cut through is even more important on Black Friday when the competition will be shouting louder than ever.
Herdify’s research with a leading ecommerce business found areas with strong offline word-of-mouth recommendations see more than twice as many Black Friday sales and 126% more revenue, compared to areas with weak word-of-mouth.
As well as responding much more positively to discount messages, customers referred by word-of-mouth also remain loyal for longer. Our data shows the average transaction value in areas with high word-of-mouth activity is 8% higher throughout the rest of the year.
There are 64 million brand conversations every minute and three in four consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decisions. The trouble for marketers is those really powerful recommendations can happen anywhere – in the pub, at the gym, or by the school gate. That makes them harder to track and influence.
Until now.
Herdify’s SaaS platform, built off the back of 15 years of data and behavioural science research from Bristol and Cambridge universities, helps ecommerce and retail businesses acquire customers.
We tell you where people are seeing and recommending your products in the real world. We use this insight to target your ad spend to double your returns.
We’ll help you connect your sales data via easy-to-use connectors
You’ll receive Black Friday audience targeting data which can be used with all the advertising channels you use today, both on and offline
We’ll then work with you to keep the momentum going after the big discounting weekend.
This can seem counter-intuitive for ecommerce brands. But most of our influence as humans comes from local groups. Amplifying your marketing messages in targeted areas through channels such as events, sponsorship and outdoor advertising will increase brand exposure among those most primed to respond positively.
Branded packaging and merchandise for example, are marketing channels working hard for your brand far beyond just one customer.
Generating conversations around a brand will reinforce any exposure those potential customers are already experiencing without realising it. Think about how you can provoke a conversation and get people intrigued about your message.
Never underestimate the power of simply asking happy customers to tell their family and friends.
With a few tweaks to an existing marketing strategy, coupled with up-to-date insights and reduced ad spend, marketers can use word-of-mouth to:
With a few tweaks to an existing marketing strategy, coupled with up-to-date insights and reduced ad spend, marketers can use word-of-mouth to increase sales and revenue, spend less on campaigns that achieve more impact, and create an approach that will drive growth long beyond Black Friday.
Enter your expected Black Friday revenue and see how much extra you can generate.
Find out how much word-of-mouth you're missing.
hello@herdify.com
Forest House Office
3 – 5 Horndean Road
Bracknell
RG12 0XQ
© Herdify Ltd, 2022. All Rights Reserved
In our free keyword strategy guide, Ed Barter, lead data scientist at Herdify, explains why brands that maintain or invest in keyword spend are more likely to win the 2023 marketing race.