WEBITMD NEWSLETTER VOL.38

GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS YEAR'S BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND

Did you know that in 2023, Black Friday generated over 9 billion dollars in revenue? It's no wonder, then, that this annual shopping event is often make or break for many companies—a chance to end the year strong and come out on top after a slow summer.

But unless you have your marketing strategy in place now, it's going to be hard to maximize your profits by the time November 29 rolls around. Taking a reactive rather than proactive approach can cost you thousands of dollars. So how can you make sure that you're prepared?

IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

In order to get the best return on investment from Black Friday, you need to lay the groundwork early. You'll want to start with email list building so you can get as many visitors as possible on the day of the event. After that, you'll be ready to dive into these strategies:

• Email list building: As mentioned above, you need to start accelerating your email list building beginning in mid October. You can do in this a number of ways, from popup forms on your website to giving visitors an incentive to sign up for your email list (like early access to Black Friday deals).

• Email campaigns leading up to Black Friday: Don't forget to run strategic campaigns ahead of the big day. You could have a "Savings Countdown" series, in addition to "Last Chance" reminder emails closer to Black Friday. And never underestimate the power of gamification—consider running a Black Friday giveaway or contest to encourage subscribers to visit your site the day of.
• Non-intrusive discount codes: While you want your Black Friday discount codes to be exclusive to the sale and easily accessible to customers, you also want to make sure it's not too annoying, especially before the event begins. You may want to put the discount code in a bar at the top of your website, as well as a small popup in the lower left or right of the site that doesn't take up the entire page.
• Create a few gift guides for easier shopping: Finally, to help customers who might be a little overwhelmed, consider creating a couple of gift guides so that they can find what they're looking for more quickly. You can do this in the form of a blog post to kill two birds with one stone, since blogs are a great opportunity for both affiliate marketing as well as e-commerce SEO. You can also create a product tag to automatically sort products you want to feature in your Black Friday collection.

DON'T FORGET THESE LITTLE DETAILS EITHER

Last but certainly not least, you'll want to make sure you have some small details sorted out before Black Friday begins, so that your strategies will resonate as intended. 

• Payment: Customers want to know that their payment is secure and protected—and they also want easy, uncomplicated payment. Use autofill capabilities where possible, and consider adding Shopify trust badges to your website to put customers at ease.

• Site speed: If a page that a customer wants to see doesn't load within three seconds, over 50 percent will simply leave. Run a speed test on critical pages to ensure that they're loading quickly.

• Product descriptions: This is a great time to optimize your product descriptions. You'll want the copy to be concise and informative so that customers can quickly scan the copy and see the benefits your product will give them.

WHAT'S NEXT?WHAT'S NEXT?

As we head into the end of 2024, don't miss this chance to wrap up the year on a high note. And when the dust settles, think about how you can continue to implement some of these strategies into other major shopping events like Christmas and New Year's.

👀 TLDR: Black Friday is right around the corner—but are you actually ready to make the most of it? Use email list building, non-obtrusive discount codes, strategic email campaigns, and gift guides to get as many visitors to your website as possible. Last year, Black Friday generated over 9 billion dollars in revenue, so now is the time to end the year strong!

Best Regards,
WEBITMD TEAM