Black Friday – tips to make the most of the retailer opportunity

It’s November, and you know what that means – I can officially talk about Christmas, but that’s not all – no, we are here to discuss Black Friday. 

What started as a US sales day following Thanksgiving has come leaping over the pond in recent years, and now Black Friday and Cyber Monday are staples in the UK retailing calendar. And there is no point ignoring it, there will be so much Black Friday hype you almost get your advertising for free, so you may as well get involved!

So what does it mean for you? Well my retailer friends, this is a great opportunity to push some campaigns out, run some promos, launch something new and get things polished in time for Christmas selling. It’s a busy couple of months, so here’s our 5 tip tops on how to make the biggest impact. 

1. Push new offers – of course – this is the name of the game. However, you need to check on your competition to stay competitive. That is, think about your pricing strategy here. Depending on what you are trying to do should reflect the types of promotions you run – are you trying to shift stock, stay premium, grab market share, or persuade people to try your product over a category leader. It doesn’t have to be money off, it could be adding something to a bundle. Giving a month free on a subscription. Give a good deal, but make it work for your overall strategy.
2. Make sure your message is consistent – whether the offer or the brand itself. Is the tone of voice the same on your social media as your website? While adapting to the channel or audience is essential, ultimately that person needs to know you are one business, trust and confidence is built this way.
3. Know where are you leading your visitors – if you are pushing ads on a particular offer or product and dropping them at the homepage, then you are making a big mistake. A confusing web experience will lose your audience – it’s confusing, the message becomes lost, worst still the audience gets lost, and it’s highly unlikely they are sticking around to navigate through the pages themselves. Drop them into a landing page all about that one thing they clicked on. Keep the message the same, the offer the same, give them everything they need to buy on that page. The easier the buyer process the more likely you are to make the sale.
4. Be better at service – essential to stay competitive in any business, but when online going the extra mile can make a huge difference. How about adding a web chat to your site to clarify quick questions your audience might have. If your product is being sent, ensure you have email comms sending to keep the buyer up to date on what’s going on. Thank them for the sale, let them know how and when it’s expected to be delivered, and if anything happens in the meantime, be there with transparent information – the customer will love you for being honest – especially when things go wrong.
5. Test, test and test again – of course Black Friday is just the support artist for the main event, Christmas – so why not use this time to test campaigns, messaging, channels, offers and web flow processes ready for Christmas and those boxing day sales.

There’s a huge opportunity. Retailers – you got this!