Blink and it’s Black Friday, or should we say Black November? In fact, we’re predicting super, early bird black Friday messages popping up throughout October.
Last week, we chatted all things Black Friday on a panel discussion with our very own John Readman (CEO and Founder, Modo25), Rebekah Waller (Senior Performance Marketing Manager) and Neil Sansom (digital transformation expert). We have rounded up our top tips and nuggets of gold ahead of peak season.
We’re living in a dynamic era where everything can change at the drop of a hat and we can’t predict the future but we hope these tips help you prepare for a boost in user demand and sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are going nowhere, despite the fluctuations in overall sentiment in the UK.
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Optimise your website
Customers expect websites to load fast so they can find the best deals and discounts as quickly as possible. We’re talking 0-4 seconds. Additionally, you don’t want to fall victim to a system outage like many big retailers in the past have due to unforeseeable traffic spikes. We’d recommend reviewing your web hosting, and if you’re nearing its resource limit, it may be worth upgrading.
Other tips and tricks include fixing any broken links and sprucing up meta titles and descriptions to include black Friday and/or cyber-Monday (but please remember to change these once the season is over.) Speaking of SEO, do some keyword research and float these terms throughout your website (but please, again, sound natural, save the stuffing for Christmas).
Build an email list
Begin growing your email list with subscribers who are interested in your upcoming offers so you can create bespoke, attention-grabbing emails when those sales hit. You could try building this using prospecting or remarketing ads on social, directing people to your sign-up page on your website, or using banners on the website to build a level of excitement and anticipation.
Push your socials
Use your social content to create brand awareness but also to build your retargeting and lookalike audiences – both paid and organically. As consumers search massively during this period, chances are they’ll land on your socials and with doom-scrolling being more real than ever you only have a few posts to get the user hooked.
Video content is becoming even more popular so make sure you’re getting these briefed to your designers or using reel templates for an easier and quicker way to push this type of content out.
Reminder; the world lives on social media so it only makes sense to use this to your advantage.
Offer buy now pay later
Given the cost-of-living crisis, if you’re not offering buy now, pay later as users are checking out, you’re bound to see a higher drop-off rate. You need to be meeting growing customer demands and by not including this offering, you’re not gaining a competitive advantage.
Additionally, more shoppers are predicted to treat themselves over their loved ones and one of the key trends is that millennials remain the strongest group to take advantage of sales during this period, so we’d recommend ensuring you’ve got some ‘treat yourself’ ads running around Black Friday.
Don’t panic
Listen up, don’t panic if sales don’t come rolling in as soon as your offer drops. Black Friday research starts weeks before the actual day and at this stage, consumers are not typically brand loyal. They’re not favouring a specific brand, they’re open to suggestions and with the financial crisis this year, they’re most likely going to be seeking the upcoming best deals. If performance doesn’t fly in week one, don’t panic, understand that users are on a bargain-hunting journey but ensure you remain competitive and offer the best user experience on-site that you can.
Have a backup plan
As marketers, we’ve all been there. You launch your sale and a day later your biggest competition goes in with 5% more off than what you’re offering. Time to roll out plan B! When your designers are doing their 15% off socials, website banners, affiliate & display images, brief them on a 20% offer, too. That way, if things don’t go to plan, there’s less stress for everyone involved.
If you need any help with Google Ads, SEO, paid social or organic social during the planning phase or peak period then get in touch at team@modo25.com
