We’re approaching the holiday shopping season. It means a sharp increase in online Black Friday traffic and high potential revenue for online businesses.
In 2020, consumers spent $9 billion on Black Friday, a 21.6% increase from 2019. Considering the trend, this number may grow significantly this year, too. Yet, the competition among businesses is higher this year because many of them go online.
This article will show you nine Black Friday marketing ideas to help you drive sales despite the stiff competition. We’ll also cover Black Friday campaigns from popular brands for inspiration.
Before creating any campaigns, check whether your hosting plan can handle the traffic spike. If not, upgrade it using Black Friday web hosting deals to save money.
Table of Contents
Many online stores aim to grab people’s attention on Black Friday, confusing consumers by sending similar marketing messages. Thus, have a different Black Friday timeline to stand out.
For instance, Target held #BlackNovember in 2020 and offered deals during the whole month instead of one day. You can also extend the Black Friday campaign by creating a series of sales throughout the holiday season, like Cyber Monday and Christmas.
Another great example is from Macy’s. In 2020, this fashion brand started the Black Friday campaign earlier and gave bonuses to early-bird customers.
Alternatively, hold an hourly deal like BestBuy. This marketplace launches promotions for a different category at each hour. This strategy can keep customers coming back.
Black Friday deals are not only about offering discounts for individual products.
Consider creating bundles to make your offers more interesting. Sell a set of products like various pens in different colors or mixed products like pens and papers.
Buy-one-get-one (BOGO) promotions are also an excellent bundling strategy. It makes consumers feel they get extra value. In fact, 66% of consumers like BOGO the most out of all promotions.
Another special offer is gift cards. They’re one of the most popular gifts in 2020, with each consumer purchasing three to four gift cards on average. Design physical or digital gift cards with personalized messages to make them memorable for consumers.
If you have a loyalty program, it’s also possible to combine it with the Black Friday campaign. For instance, Estee Lauder gives the VIP members double loyalty points for purchases made on that day.
Besides discounts and promotions, swap deals for donations to a particular cause. For example, a feminine care company BeYou donated all profits made from the 2020 Black Friday to a project focusing on educating people about menstrual health.
This Black Friday marketing campaign can improve customer perceptions of your business. 78% of consumers believe that companies should contribute to society. In fact, 87% of people are willing to pay more for brands donating for an issue they also care about.
Introducing new products in line with holiday promotions is a great marketing idea. It brings a fresh look to your online store and draws attention.
Consider taking pre-orders several days before Black Friday to build excitement and measure the new products’ demands. By offering pre-orders, consumers can pay a deposit or full price to reserve the product and receive it before the launch.
Alternatively, launch new and limited products that are only available on Black Friday. This method creates scarcity and exclusivity, motivating people to buy it quickly because they may miss the special deal.
Gift shopping during the holiday season can be overwhelming since there are many recipients and options.
Therefore, help your customers by creating gift guides, a web page, or blog post categorizing products to guide visitors to find suitable gifts. You can organize your products based on category, price, and popularity.
For a more creative option, check out American Eagle’s interactive quiz. It helps people get relevant recommendations based on their answers on personality, favorite color, and budget.
Gift guides aren’t only useful for customers but also business owners. They can increase conversion rates by 253% and engagement by 76%.
With email marketing, it’s possible to segment your customers based on their location and purchase history and send personalized offers.
Therefore, email campaigns will be beneficial if you have subscribers interested in the upcoming sales. Don’t wait – start growing your email list a few weeks before the shopping day. Create an email popup and incentivize new signups by giving them an additional discount or early access.
Approaching the big day, send these emails to your subscribers:
Ensure that the subject stands out to increase open rates.
Take Chubbies as an example. Typical Black Friday subject lines are about discounts and alerts, so they go beyond that by saying, “black friday is CANCELLED,” from a funny sender address liar@chubbies.com.
Black Friday conversation on social media increases year over year. Compared to 2019, total messages about this shopping day increased by 175.5% in 2020. The engagement even shot up nine times higher.
Use the following social media practices to maximize buzz:
Since you’ll be busy on Black Friday, consider automating your social media posts in advance using a tool like Buffer or Sprout Social.
Gamification in marketing has shown positive results. For example, Domino’s Pizza increased its sales by 30% after releasing a game app in 2018. It can also engage customers because it needs their active participation.
You don’t have to create an app to gamify your Black Friday sale. Instead, use these practical gamification ideas:
Of all the online shopping promotions, 94% of customers want free shipping as an incentive for the holiday season. This offer also encourages them to shop more and reduce the cart abandonment rate.
However, the cost of shipping can fluctuate throughout the year, especially during the peak season. Some carriers may take advantage of this opportunity to charge you more.
Here are free shipping strategies for the holiday season while still making a profit:
Black Friday gives online stores opportunities to increase traffic and sales. However, with the high competition, it can be challenging to reap the benefits of this big shopping day.
In this article, we’ve learned nine campaign ideas to increase your Black Friday sales and make you stand out:
We hope you found some insights to apply to your business and eventually help you drive more sales this holiday season.
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