1. Maintain a BFCM landing page all-year-round
About
61% of holiday shoppers start searching online for gifts and planned purchases before Thanksgiving weekend. Launching a new landing page every year isn’t exactly the best idea, SEO-wise. Why? Because a new website page will start from 0 in terms of search rankings. On the contrary, it’s better to keep your Black Friday/Cyber Monday landing page up all year, as long as you make sure that you frequently update it with relevant content, no matter what time of the year. A good idea would be to add a sign-up function for guests who make their way to the page. Encourage them to subscribe to stay updated on upcoming deals, sales, and exclusive offers from your store.
2. Make sure to optimize for SEO
The competition to come out on top of the search rankings for Black Friday-related search terms is expectedly tough. So optimizing your website would require some strategic thinking and some insights about what your targeted customers are actually searching for. Keyword research is a crucial step when it comes to website optimization. You can optimize not only your website and product pages for search–but anything you post online including videos, social media posts, and paid ads. You can enlist the help of experts, like an SEO agency or a full-service marketing agency like PartnerForward to help you develop a robust SEO optimization campaign.
3. Launch a Black Friday email marketing campaign
Retailers start doing email blasts weeks ahead of Black Friday/Cyber Monday to inform subscribed customers of what they can expect for these events. People on your email lists are likely people who have already made a purchase at your store, so it would be an opportunity to invite them to come back to your site and check out deals for BFCM season. Email marketing is an effective strategy for both B2B and DTC businesses, with
25.1% of sales during Black Friday season originating from this channel.
4. Boost your promotions and social media
With your campaign landing page in place and marketing emails sent out, you can further boost exposure for your BFCM and holiday offers through your social media channels. It would even be better if you can do social media promotions weeks in advance. One of Black Friday’s biggest draws is the excitement that comes with searching, comparing, and scoring the best bargains. With the help of social media experts or a marketing agency like PartnerForward, you can plan out entire social media campaigns to tease your customers, post information, and build anticipation for upcoming deals on your ecommerce site.
5. Add a chatbot to your website
Chatbots are extremely handy when you have website visitors looking for quick assistance and answers on site. With expectations of increased traffic and orders during Black Friday, you need all the help you can get and chatbots can respond to customers with ready answers for the most frequently asked questions. Chatbots are also able to offer users personalized product recommendations to drive conversions.
6. Recognize loyal customers and repeat buyers
Shoppers love getting exclusive deals from stores they love. Special offers designed specifically for frequent or repeat customers is also one way to build a deeper relationship with your customer and give them the motivation to keep coming back to your website to make a purchase.
7. Promote wish lists
Abandoned carts are a common problem even among the biggest ecommerce platforms around. But if you have a wishlist feature, customers have a convenient place to bookmark items they would love to buy once they can afford to. Shopping from a wide range of selections and brands online can get overwhelming for customers. A personal wish list on your site can help them better narrow down their choices and make the best purchasing decisions. Wishlists can also help you gain insights into customer behavior and you can use data you collect for your other marketing campaigns such as email communications, cross-selling and upselling, and creating content such as buying guides and product recommendations.
8. Jump in on the Flash Sale bandwagon
Flash sales are recurring promotions and discounts that are only available for a limited time. Because of the urgency, customers will not want to miss the event and you have the potential to increase conversion rates by up to
35%. Examples of flash sales you can execute on Black Friday are Midnight Special or Last Day Flash Sale.
9. Invest in paid advertising
Black Friday ad spend grows every year, especially for Black Friday. Studies show Black Friday sales increase by an average of 348% on Black Friday compared to an average day in October. Regardless of how much your advertising budget is, Black Friday is the best time to really invest. Reach customers who are already actively searching for offers as well as users who are only starting to show interest in the products you offer. A marketing agency offering paid advertising expertise is your best bet if you want to make the most out of your Black Friday advertising budget.
10. Launch a referral program
Customer referrals can be an effective strategy to push your BFCM offers. Customers give a lot of consideration to product recommendations from people they know and influencers they follow on social media when making purchasing decisions. Reward your customers for every successful referral and you have a cost-effective way to drive a lot of sales in your hands.
