Black Friday 2020: 10 Ways to Prepare for the Biggest Year Yet
2020 has been quite the year and with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and more holidays quickly approaching, this year’s peak shopping season is set to also be unlike any other.
As seen in our Q1 eCommerce report, the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly changed consumer shopping behavior, forcing many retail business owners to make the sudden shift from brick-and-mortar shopfronts to online stores.
According to eMarketer’s 2020 Holiday Shopping Report, eCommerce sales in the U.S. are projected to reach a whopping $190.47 billion this holiday season. Black Friday is expected to be the 2nd biggest day of the season, right after Cyber Monday, with sales estimated to reach close to $13 billion. Furthermore, 61% of businesses are expecting higher demand for their products or services this holiday season, making this year’s Black Friday even more competitive than ever before.
Are you ready to tackle the biggest Black Friday yet? To help you prepare, we’ve compiled a few Black Friday marketing strategies to help you make the most of the upcoming spending splurge.
Tis’ the season to make sure your sales soar! So, let’s get started…
1. Start planning as soon as possible
Did you know? 34% of U.S. shoppers reported they already make their holiday purchases before Thanksgiving and sometimes even as early as October. So, if you haven’t yet begun to plan your store’s promotions, stop what you’re doing and start planning for Black Friday, now!
Now’s the time to brainstorm which special offers you want to promote and what coupon codes to create. Don’t wait until thanksgiving weekend to kick off your deals, and instead, get your email campaigns up and running and start communicating your offers ASAP.
2. Test, test, test!
As mentioned earlier, industry experts are estimating a steep spike in online sales, so testing your site’s speed and ensuring it can handle a traffic surge is extremely crucial. In fact, 46% of online shoppers said they would never return to a slow website.
Run performance tests ahead of time to ensure that record breaking sales won’t slow down your site during peak shopping hours. Test the server load capacity and speed of your store and run tests for your homepage with tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or k6 cloud. These tests will enable you to understand what the expected load is. DO NOT leave these tests for the night before the big day, and instead, start as soon as you can. Remember, the most important functionalities to test are your shopping cart and checkout pages.
3. Improve your store’s SEO
Having a good presence on Google will enable your customers to easily find your products and special deals. If you sell on Amazon for example, you should probably know that 70% of Amazon shoppers don’t ever click past the first page of search results. In order for your products to stand out amongst all the competition out there, it’s essential that your products are easily discoverable.
Start by creating a dedicated landing page just for Black Friday, which is one of the more effective ways for targeting organic traffic. Next, begin building a keyword search strategy and do some research via Google Search to see which keywords are currently trending and ranking for Black Friday. Then, choose which of your products will go on sale and start writing descriptions for them that will sell and create a sense of urgency. Key phrases like limited time offer, only available on Black Friday and almost sold out are just a few to consider.
4. Choose the right products
Picking the products you want to promote this Black Friday as early as possible will really help with your inventory orders. Remember, you’re not the only eCommerce business prepping for this holiday season, so the sooner you know which products you want going on sale, the quicker your suppliers will get your products ready.
Since the pandemic is still going strong in many regions of the world, we suggest considering products that have seen an uptick in demand. We’re not saying that you need to entirely shift your business and switch products but do consider products that are in high demand now such as: home office & equipment, board games, health & beauty products, home & gardening and so much more. Adding a bit more variety to your store can really make an impact this Black Friday!
5. Make sure your store is mobile friendly
Offer your visitors easy navigation, zoom-in and zoom-out capabilities, quality photos and a quick load time. We suggest using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to test how a visitor views your site on a mobile device. The tool allows you to easily review your site and indicates any pain points that needs optimizing. Just insert your site’s URL and see how your page scores.
If you’re an Amazon seller, consider optimizing your product titles. Remember, the title of your product listings is what will catch your potential customer’s attention. According to Amazon’s recommendation, it should include no more than 50 characters and you should capitalize the first letter of each word. Your product titles should also include key info such as brand name, color, size, material and packaging.
6. Start producing your creatives
Here’s your chance to spread the holiday joy, and that means all over your site! As 2020 has been a rough year, there’s nothing better than offering a personalized holiday experience for your shoppers, making them feel extra special. Take the time now to write up dazzling announcements, design eye-catching ads, countdowns and other features to entice shoppers.
Plan accordingly with items like banners, sales announcements, hero images, and more in a wide range of sizes and get them ready for their reserved spots ahead of time. No worries, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to get this done. Take advantage of free tools like Canva or Taler to create your graphics.
7. Get crackin’ on your email marketing campaigns
This Black Friday, you’re going to need a way to stand out from all the noise out there. We strongly encourage to make your sales, well…irresistible! Make sure that before you launch your campaign, you have all of your ad copy and designs prepared.
Start by crafting up a jaw-dropping sale to attract customers who are looking for deep discounts. Consider focusing on the one sale product you feel is the most enticing to your subscribers. Once customers are there for the deep discount, there’s a chance they’ll pick up other items on their way to their cart.
Next, jot down some compelling email subject lines. Be as personal as possible, and as mentioned earlier, make your customers feel extra special this year. Be as descriptive as you can in your subject line in order to catch potential customers. Give them what they want to hear. Spread cheer, release joy and be jolly!
Move on to “sneak-peek” emails and let your subscribers know something big is coming — but don’t tell them what. Then, get started with hosting a countdown. You can host your countdown either a week before, or 12 hours before, but make sure your countdown is visible on both your emails and your store’s homepage.
Be prepared to also email visitors who abandon their carts, which will occur at a higher volume during Black Friday. Set up an automatically triggered email to help capture some of those abandoned conversions.
Now go live! Launch your promotion, but don’t stop there. Follow up with your subscribers after Black Friday and invite them to revisit your store.
8. Use live chat
With your site experiencing a surge in traffic, you’ll need to make sure you have support available for your customers who need to reach you. The last thing you want is to lose a customer because they couldn’t get an answer quick enough.
Of course, if your business can’t support 24-hour live support, consider enabling a live chat right after your last countdown email, as this is when most people will be clicking through their inbox. In addition, implement it on product pages that feature only your Black Friday deals and on your checkout page, so that you can help answer questions right before they make the purchase.
Beforehand, craft up a few phrases and replies in advance that will help you deliver meaningful and consistent service to your customers. Prepare for cases such as a lost or delayed order or damaged product.
9. Promote heavily on social media
With so many massive discounts out there, how can you stand out on social media? Well, first, keep an eye out for Black Friday hashtags that you can use. Check out what your competitors are using and figure out how to include them in your posts.
Facebook ads are a great way to promote your sales when you apply quality product photos along with strong ad copy. Remember, don’t wait till last minute to launch Facebook ads, as they’ll first need to go through the platform’s approval process before being accepted. We suggest launching ads during the same time you begin with your email marketing campaign.
Perhaps consider working with influencers and bloggers on either Instagram or YouTube in order to promote your products to a wider audience and ultimately increase sales. Gift guides are another way to increase awareness and sales. Have an influencer pitch a gift guide of your products and then post this on your business’ blog or social channel.
10. Turn Black Friday visitors into loyal shoppers
Remember, the holiday season has just begun. More holidays are on the way, meaning more discounts!
Now’s your chance to turn those holiday shoppers into loyal customers that will shop on your site all year round! Stay in touch, nurture them with emails, newsletters, etc. Go ahead and analyze your Black Friday shoppers’ purchases which can help you welcome them back in the near future with special discounts on their most-loved products.
The Bottom Line
Early preparation and planning are vital for a successful Black Friday and with a friendly website, excellent customer support, dazzling images and generous discounts, you’ll make this shopping season more memorable for your customers than ever before.
By staying motivated and strongminded, you’ll see your business grow and your customers coming back for more. Remember, spread cheer, release joy and be jolly, because we all need a bit more holiday spirit this year!
Growing Your eCommerce Business with Payoneer
If you’re thinking about expanding your eCommerce business into new markets, Payoneer’s flexible and all-in-one payments solution can help sellers like you grow your business and get paid by the world’s leading marketplaces.
Not yet a Payoneer user?