The holiday season is fast approaching, and for ecommerce brands that means it’s your busy season! As the biggest shopping event of the year, Black Friday presents a golden opportunity for ecommerce brands to boost their revenue, gain new customers, and build lasting relationships with their audience. To make the most of it, though, you need a rock-solid plan. Here’s a guide to help you prepare for Black Friday promotions and ensure your campaign is a success.

Start Planning Early

The secret to a successful Black Friday promotion is early planning. The frenzy of Black Friday weekend can be overwhelming, so laying the groundwork as early as possible allows you to manage every detail without the stress of a last-minute scramble.

Set Goals

Determine what you want to achieve with your Black Friday promotion and set goals early. Are you looking to clear out inventory, attract new customers, or boost sales for a particular product? Clear objectives will help shape your strategy.

Examine Past Performance

Review your data from previous Black Friday promotions to understand what worked well and what didn’t. Look at your product sales, email open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and customer feedback to refine your strategy.

Create Your Timeline

Map out your strategy on the calendar leading up to Black Friday. When will you launch teaser campaigns? When will the main promotion go live? A well-thought-out schedule ensures your promotions run smoothly and effectively.

Segment Your Audience for Targeted Campaigns

One-size-fits-all eblast campaigns are a thing of the past. Segmenting your email list allows you to send targeted messages that resonate with different groups of customers, making your promotions more effective.

Loyal Customers

Identify your most loyal customers and reward them with exclusive early access to your Black Friday deals or special discount percentages. This helps strengthen their loyalty and makes them feel valued.

New Subscribers

Newer email subscribers might need a little more persuasion to make a purchase. Consider sending them special offers or additional discounts to incentivize their first purchase during the Black Friday event.

Test, Test, Test

Testing is crucial to ensure your emails and website look and function correctly. The last thing you want is to send out a promotion that doesn’t display properly or contains broken links.

Designs

Test how your designs will look across different devices (desktop, mobile) and email clients (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to ensure a consistent and appealing design.

Links

Double-check that all links and CTAs lead to the correct landing pages. Broken links can result in missed sales opportunities and a frustrated audience.

Timing

Experiment with different email send times to determine when your audience is most likely to engage with your emails. For Black Friday promotions, consider sending early in the morning when many shoppers are eager to start looking for deals.

Create Urgency with Limited-Time Offers

Black Friday shoppers are looking for the best deals. Create urgency to motivate them to act quickly. Limited-time offers are a tried-and-true method to boost conversions.

Flash Sales

Run flash sales with deeper discounts for a limited time, such as “50% off for the next 2 hours.” These short windows create a sense of urgency and drive immediate action. You can run these flash sales during Black Friday, or even in the days leading up to it.

Countdown Timers

Include countdown timers in your emails and on your website to show how much time is left for the sale. This visual cue reinforces the limited-time nature of the offer and encourages quick decisions.

Leverage Post-Black Friday Opportunities

The day after Black Friday doesn’t mean your promotion efforts have to stop. Cyber Monday and the weeks leading up to the December holidays can offer additional opportunities to capitalize on the shopping momentum.

Extended Sales

Send follow-up emails announcing extended sales through the whole weekend for those who might have missed your Black Friday promotion.

Abandoned Cart Reminders

Remind customers about items they left in their cart during the Black Friday sale, possibly with a special follow-up discount.

Thank-You Emails

Send thank-you emails to customers who made purchases during your Black Friday sale, offering a discount on their next order as a gesture of appreciation.

A successful Black Friday promotion hinges on thoughtful preparation, strategic planning, and effective execution. By starting early, you’ll be well on your way to a profitable Black Friday. Most importantly, use this time not just to boost sales but to strengthen your relationship with your customers. If your customers have a seamless, frustration-free Black Friday shopping experience, chances are they’ll return to purchase more items for themselves or others in the future.

Not sure where to start in building your Black Friday strategy? Need additional hands to get everything done? Visceral Ore provides strategy, design, and execution to ecommerce brands. Let us take some of the stress off. Meet with us today.

Are You Black Friday Ready?