Why Black Friday and Cyber Monday Matter?
Cyber Monday and Black Friday are two sales events where people are ready to make purchases over the weekend, resulting in a huge increase in profits.
The deals on Black Friday can be some of the best ones you find in the entire year, with some of the most reasonable prices to hook the buyers at first glance.
As people research well ahead of time which brands to purchase from their top Black Friday picks of the season, retailers also must be prepared with their top online marketing strategies to capitalize on this event.
Take a look at the recent Black Friday stats to realize the magnitude of the event.
➤ From 2018 to 2020, Cyber Monday online sales spiked up from $7.9 Billion to $10.8 Billion. (Source: FinancesOnline)
➤ In 2020, Amazon saw the biggest holiday shopping season in its history. (Source: Amazon)
➤ Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are expected to surpass $10 Billion in e-commerce sales. (Source: eMarketer)
➤ There were $8.9 billion sales online during Black Friday 2021. (Source: Adobe)
The numbers are huge, right? Imagine how much you'b be leaving out on the table because of a wrong Black Friday marketing strategy or even lack of one. No need to worry; we got you.
1. Take Advantage of Email Marketing for Black Friday
Email marketing is one of the most affordable and effective tools to promote your Black Friday sales, but you need to make sure you plan and prepare your email campaigns well ahead of time to succeed.
Although people might not regularly visit your landing page or website to see what your Black Friday ecommerce promotional campaigns are, they will certainly check their email inbox.
In fact, a statistical study by Bussiness Wire found that 64% of customers are more likely to open emails from brands during the holidays, and 84% of email recipients expect to receive special holiday offers and discounts.
Having that in mind, you should take advantage of this powerful resource, especially in sales seasons like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Offer valuable email content and eye-catching visuals in your email messages to keep your subscribers entertained and engaged.
Announcing your Black Friday promotions and special offers via emails can create a strong connection with your prospects and trigger them to shop more.
You may start by sending a friendly reminder email to prevent cart abandonment or recommend products that best fit your clients' interests based on their purchase history.
Pro Tip: Make sure that your email subject lines are catchy enough to get opened.
Here are more key points and practices to consider once planing your email marketing strategy for Black Friday this year:
Grow Your Email List with Discount Offers
You can plan your email marketing strategies for Black friday in way to grow your email list and attract more users to your newsletter.
Asking how? Use the power of freebies!
People can’t wait to get something for free or on discount. In this case, you may create unique opt-in forms and display it at the right time and page to increase email subscriptions as well as your conversion rates in the long run.
By promising an early access and offering discounts through gamification to the customers who sign in to your email list not only you increase your Black friday emails open rate but also gain your customers trust and loyalty overtime.
Send Personalized Emails with Catchy Subject Lines
Personlization is the key to your customers heart and if you’re running an e-commerce store, this is something you should definitely consider doing!
Hurry up, segment your subscribers into specific groups based on distinct features such as location, interest and purchase history. After that, personalize each message and offer a value that can’t be turned down.
Considering that prospect's inbox folder will be bombarded by other brands' special offer emails as well, you should come up with an effective, eye-catching, interesting and unique email subject line.
You can take advantage of FOMO(Fear of Missing Out) in your emails and implement a sense of urgency in your subject lines with triggering words such as:
- Hurry
- Act Now
- Last Chance
- Don't Miss the Offer
- Shop Before It's Too Late
- Deadline Approaching
- Offer is Almost Finishing
Yo might also get inspired from: Funny Email Subject Lines That Work Like a Charm
If you’re convinced, you better trigger your campaigns with powerful subject lines to drive more sales! 🙂
Create a Sense of Urgency in Your Emails
In marketing campaigns, creating a sense of urgency has proven to be one of the most powerful tools.
By conveying the message that if they don't act now, they may lose this chance forever, you will trigger your prospects to act immediately.
Check out the Black Friday email from Google and learn from it. See how the whole email style is in harmony with the event.
You should definitely create compelling emails that boost your conversions and email open rates.
Believe me, by following this marketing strategy you’ll convert your subscribers into paying customers during the Black Friday week.
Let me tell you the reason behind this situation. Your customers are more likely to make a decision quickly when they think they’re about to miss an opportunity. Personally, it’s not fair, but this is marketing.
I want you to know that your competitors will use this tactic. So why shouldn't you?
Put yourself into your customers' shoes.
If you’d be the one that wants to buy those pair of shoes and if you’d be the one who experiences such an urgent situation, wouldn’t your brain force you to make a decision instantly?
Well, desire loses its value without a sense of urgency. That’s why you should trigger your customers with an immediate call to action.
You may create unique notification popups or a progress bar that will show up announcing that there are x hours & min left before missing the opportunity or when that particular product you’re looking for runs out of stock!
- Show a countdown timer on your Black Friday popup
This is another way to create a sense of urgency: set a deadline for a hot deal! Whatever your business is you can apply this tactic to get more conversions.
You can create your free Black Friday popup with Popupsmart, a no code popup builder today and make sure that you show your campaigns to the right audience at the right time thanks to its advanced triggering and targeting features.
2. Customize Your Landing Page for BFCM
The average landing page conversion rate across all industries is around 2.35%.
A lot of people search for products before Black Friday. In this case, you need a landing page strategy that will help your SEO efforts.
So, what you need to do is boost Black Friday sales on your landing page before the weekend of Black Friday.
- You should convey a simple and clear but powerful call to action with a unique “Black Friday” design.
Don’t forget to promote something valuable and provide it with your CTA. You may also link to other places of your e-commerce store.
You might also consider landing page optimization tools to optimize your Black Friday landing page.
3. Provide Combo Promotions with Discounts
I think we all use some promotion tactics in e-commerce businesses. Well, it works but you need something dynamic. To provide the best experience, you should think about what you can do.
Think about your limit. Is it better to give a discount on one particular product or is it better to give out offers on product combinations to elevate the average order value?
Personally, I recommend creating discount coupons for a package bundling which consist of various products relevant to each other.
Check out this product bundling example from Amazon, see how it creates a necessity to buy these products for its customers just by putting them all in a bundle with a great discount.
For example, it could be useful to offer a special discount on wet dog food multipacks when your customer buys a sofa dog bed. It’s just an example of retaining relevancy.
Considering that both the previous week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday make for an amazing sale season, so you should trigger your campaigns to increase your conversions.
Don’t you like to buy something which has bonus benefits on top of the exact order value?
Give them an experience that will make them feel like winning a reward, engagingly.
4. Boost Black Friday Sales with Social Media Campaigns
Social media is one of the main fields of today’s marketing landscape. It helps you build your brand voice and engage with your subscribers. It is a productive way to engage with your customers, listen to them and provide their expectations.
Consumers indeed often turn to social media to engage with brands. About 58.6% of American consumers use social media to interact with brands on about one to three times per day.
So, Black Friday is definitely something you should make an effort over, to increase your conversions through social media.
You should boost your related social media posts with special discounts and offers.
Don’t forget to use hashtags in order to promote your discount codes. Using #BlackFriday will be helpful to reach many more people who are interested in your products.
Remember, it’s always better to organize your social media channels based on the Black Friday & Cyber Monday context.
That means, your different social media channels should reflect the same thing, “Black Friday”!
You can optimize your cover photo, profile picture, a bio with a call-to-action button, banner, link, and description to stay up-to-date and let people know that you’re very well prepared and ready!
Here's a quick social media checklist for Black Friday:
- ✅ Use Black Friday Hashtags: They help you go viral easier and help your acount show up in the explore.
- ✅ Encourage More User-Generated Content. Get your customers to upload pictures of their purchases. This way, you can repost their posts to boost social proof marketing.
- ✅ Consider Working with Micro-Influencers: They can create eye-catching posts and videos and promote your brand in a more effective way.
- ✅ Try to Respond to Comments and Messages: Creating a sense of closeness with your prospects can be the trigger they need to become loyal customers.
- ✅ Benefit from Facebook Ads. They're even more targeted than search ads and they can drive higher conversion rates.
5. Optimize Your Product Pages for Better User Exprience
Online consumers spend a lot of their time on product pages trying to find the product they're looking for. If your product pages can't meet their expectations, even the massive sales you offer might not bring enough conversions.
- Write better product descriptions. Use relevant keywords for SEO and make it organic. Make sure to describe the product with sensory words to help customers visualize how it looks and feels.
- Invest in gift guides. People often search for gifts during the holiday seasons. You can turn this into an advantage by grouping products like "Home Decor Gifts," "Gifts for Her," etc.
- Upload six to eight product pictures. Display the item from different angles in high quality. Include a product video as well if you can.
6. Prevent Cart Abandonment Using Exit-Intent Popups
The average shopping cart abandonment rate across all industries is 69.80%. So, yes, consumers tend to add items to their carts and leave before purchasing for varying reasons.
The good news is you can reduce cart abandonment with a simple trick; the exit-intent trigger.
Exit-intent campaigns show up when a user tend to abandon the page.
For example, you can create an exit popup with Popupsmart and set it to trigger on exit intent. Then, select to show it only on the checkout page or cart page. This way, whenever a customer attempts to leave before buying, you can win them back with an offer.
7. Take Advantage of Referral Marketing to Sell More
There are thousands of people who choose to take up Black Friday offerings from home. So referral marketing programs are useful to boost your online sales.
But let me properly explain what I mean.
With referral marketing, you can develop exclusive offers to make your valuable customers happy.
Use popups for your referral marketing strategy and get two giggles from one tickle.
Following referral marketing strategies you are building your long-term loyalty, you can still acquire new customers.
Imagine that you provide something valuable for your existing customers. Give them something exclusive if they share an offer with their friends around Black Friday.
Think about it! Wouldn’t it be great to gain word of mouth and capture great insights to boost your conversions? I sure think so 🙂
All you need to do is establish a referral program that gives you a chance to engage with your customers and reward them for their loyalty.
Enjoy the best of both worlds.
Wrap Up
In the end, the best use for these tips is to put them into practice. Try adding some of these tips to your Black Friday sales marketing campaigns, and see how they impact your sales.
In some cases, you may find that a marketing strategy that works for other brands doesn't work for yours, which is why it's essential to test out these tactics in a controlled manner before implementing them across your entire store.
One last tip: Include extra time beforehand and follow your Black Friday marketing strategies to capture the early bird and late riser customers.
Remember, while most brands use the same offers and rewards for their BFCM campaigns, building a customized plan for your brand and having a unique way to promote Black Friday sets you up for success.
Find out the gaps and shortcomings in last year's Black Friday marketing strategies for this year to success.
Your last year’s mistake is your best teacher.
Hopefully, these tips will help you make the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
FAQs
When Should I Start Black Friday Sales Promotions?
Black Friday always happens the day after Thanksgiving, but if you want your online marketing campaigns to succeed, you should start earlier. Try to plan a solid strategy for each marketing platform and start teasing your products and sales from wekks before to heat up the engagement on the biggest shopping day.
How Long Should My Black Friday Sale Last?
You can create a sense of emergency for your Black Friday sales by offering limited-time discounts and sales; however, consider extending your sale a day or two after the big day to ensure your customers do not miss out.
How Can I Make My Brand Stand Out on Black Friday?
As a Black Friday retailer, personalizing your campaign is what will make you stand out from your competitors. Try to study your target audience beforehand and mix the marketing strategies with their preferences. The more related they feel to your offers, the better your sales chances are.
If you liked what you read here are other related topics you might find intresting as well:
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- 10 Best Order Confirmation Emails You Can Use Today
- Hit the Bull’s Eye with Free Shipping on Black Friday to Collect Email Addresses
