Tips for Black Friday & Cyber Monday Success

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, businesses everywhere gear up for one of the biggest sales events of the year.  

With online shopping growing each year, competition is fiercer than ever. To stand out, it’s essential to be well-prepared to handle the surge in traffic, meet customer expectations, and maximize sales.  

From optimizing your website for speed to crafting irresistible offers, every detail counts in making your holiday sales a success.  

Whether you’re running an ecommerce store or offering digital services, the right strategy can make all the difference.  

Here are some practical tips and links to useful resources to help you succeed this Black Friday and Cyber Monday 

Planning 

Inventory management 

Inventory and fulfillment planning are crucial to meet customer demand during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

To ensure you have a suitable amount of inventory, make sure you have assessed your inventory levels and reviewed past sales data to understand which stock items are more successful than others. 

This can help you to manage stock effectively, preventing overstocking items that may not sell and ensuring you have enough of your best-selling products. 

Website Preparation  

One key consideration when preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is ensuring your website is prepared to handle increased traffic.  

This is often missed by many business owners, and when the time comes for increased traffic, their website crashes – not ideal.  

With our autoscaling cloud technology you can keep yours and/or your customers’ websites running fast and functioning smoothly – even during traffic spikes.  

Your websites aren’t restricted to just one server, like at other web hosting providers, here it can access multiple servers. Check out how autoscaling works here. 

Also ensure your website security is up to date. Securing your website not only safeguards your customers’ sensitive information but also fosters trust, a key factor in driving online sales.  

Mobile optimisation is also another crucial element. 

If your website isn’t already, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. In 2023, mobile devices drove 54% of online Black Friday sales, with a similar number predicted for this year.  

Your website must be just as clear to navigate on mobile as it is on your website, with more people choosing to shop via their phone.  

Finally, simplify the checkout process by providing a guest checkout option. This can minimise friction for first-time shoppers, while payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal can accelerate the transaction process. 

Having a seamless shopping experience will enhance the likelihood of customers completing their purchases and boost overall satisfaction with your website. Whereas a bumpy checkout experience is likely to lead to cart abandonment and people turning to your competition. 

Plan for Complications  

Don’t forget to also prepare for complications during this period, which can sometimes be inevitable when demand increases so rapidly.  

• Shipping delays: Be upfront with your customers about shipping delays caused by high order volumes during this period, carrier delays are likely. Be honest if there are delays and hopefully your customers will understand. 

• Low inventory: The aim of the game is to sell as much as possible during this time period, and hopefully you do! But don’t forget to communicate low or sold-out products with your customers to avoid frustration.  

• Dissatisfied customers: Create a detailed FAQ section that covers common shopper concerns. This should include payment issues, shipping delays, and return policies, to provide quick solutions. Also consider a live chat, this can be highly effective for handling quick enquiries while keeping users on your site. Finally, remember that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are global events so customers will be shopping outside of regular business hours. Providing 24/7 support or extending your service hours helps ensure that customer issues are promptly addressed to. It is key to remember that some 84% of shoppers are happy to buy again from a retailer if they have had a positive Black-Friday experience, so dealing with dissatisfied customers the correct way is paramount.  

Marketing  

Marketing before Black Friday and Cyber Monday is crucial to ensure you build awareness, generate excitement, and maximise sales during this highly competitive shopping period.  

When planning your marketing strategy, be laser-focused on your targeted customer database, with equal parts of attention for repeat customers and attracting new consumers. 

Think about how your promotion will capture customers’ attention over your competitors and get ahead by starting your marketing efforts early and utilising all your platforms to spread your campaign. You want to be sure you’re casting a wide net when promoting your Black Friday deals. 

Email Marketing 

Email marketing should be at the core of your marketing strategy in the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday period. It’s a powerful and direct way of communicating with holiday shoppers. 

Spreading awareness of your discounts via email should begin early, with a series of planned emails including discount details, reminders and even extra special offers. 

Social Media Campaign  

Social media will be vital in building anticipation, creating buzz, and driving traffic to your online store or physical locations. So, utilise it by spreading your campaign across all your platforms.  

People will be looking out for the best discounts leading up to the event, so ensure you drive awareness by planning posts across various platforms to reach a wide audience of customers and potential customers.  

Paid ads 

Along with organic marketing, consider setting aside marketing budget to put into paid ads.  

Paid ads can be effective for many reasons but specifically for targeting key audiences. 

Platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram enable you to define your audience based on factors like age, location, interests, and even previous browsing behavior.  

This precision targeting ensures your ads reach the most relevant audience, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions. 

Offers 

Consumers will be looking for significant discounts and attractive deals, so consider how you can present your offers in a way that makes shoppers feel they’re getting great value for money. 

Encourage larger purchases by offering bigger discounts for higher spending thresholds. By offering 10% off orders above £50, 20% off purchases over £100, and 30% off orders exceeding £200 it encourages customers to spend more in order to qualify for the bigger savings. 

You could also consider a ‘buy one get one free’ strategy, another way to shift product while providing a great deal to your customers. Particularly if it’s on items you struggle to sell.  

Whatever promotions you decide, make sure they are displayed on your homepage and throughout the user journey, utilising countdowns or banners to emphasise urgency. 

If you haven’t already, now would be a great time to also offer free shipping.  

Shipping costs are one of the most common reasons customers abandon their carts, particularly during major shopping events. 

A report carried out by Baymard revealed that high extra costs such as shipping account for 47% of reasons respondents to the study would abandon their shopping carts.

Offering free shipping appeals to customers who value straightforward pricing, making it a potential competitive edge for online businesses. 

Consider offering this when a customer pays a certain amount, it’s likely then customers will add additional products to their cart to reach the free limit spend. 

Post-Black Friday & Cyber Monday  

After-Sales Support 

Post Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you should have now hopefully grown your customer base. 

Providing top-tier after-sales support to your new and existing customers is important for several reasons, but in particular it will help build long-term customer relationships and brand loyalty. 

Ensure you handle any returns or issues swiftly and quickly, leaving customers with a positive impression, turning them into repeat customers.  

Customer Feedback  

Finally, consider sharing customer feedback surveys to gather necessary feedback on customers’ experiences. 

Use this information when doing future discount sales to see what you can improve on next time!