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For ecommerce store owners, Black Friday is an opportunity for record-breaking revenue, website traffic, and engagement. But relying on the same-old marketing tactics is a losing strategy.
According to Shopify's 2023 commerce trends report, new laws and regulations around consumer privacy are posing challenges for online retailers. Specifically, paid ads are increasingly more expensive (and less effective). Since 2021, Facebook ad costs have increased by 89% and TikTok ad costs are up 92% — with worse performance than ever before.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of reimagining your Black Friday marketing strategy to be more affordable and effective. By embracing innovative promotion ideas — like influencer collaborations and chat commerce — you can stand out from the crowd and achieve your Black Friday — Cyber Monday revenue goals.
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While innovation is the theme of Black Friday 2023, some things will never change. And one of those everlasting truths is that your website has to work.
A poorly optimized website may result in slow loading times, crashes, or technical glitches that deter visitors from completing their purchases. To prevent these setbacks, and position your website for success, this section provides a Black Friday website preparation checklist.
A smooth and responsive website is essential to provide a seamless shopping experience and maximize your conversion rates. Slow loading times, broken links, or checkout errors can frustrate and deter customers. Prioritizing technical website improvements ensures a glitch-free Black Friday.
A significant portion of shoppers browse and purchase from their smartphones — as reported by Pew Research, 76% of U.S. adults indicate that they have made online purchases using a smartphone. As a result, a mobile-friendly website is paramount for ecommerce business owners.
By focusing on mobile optimization, you’ll enhance user satisfaction, reduce bounce rates, and maximize conversions on Black Friday.
Accurate promotions, discounts, and prices maintain customer trust and avoid legal issues. Ahead of Black Friday, be sure any active promotional materials and prices are up-to-date and accurate.
Craft compelling and persuasive product descriptions to help captivate shoppers and drive conversions. Thoughtful descriptions can tell a story about each product, highlighting key features and complementing your product photography and pricing.
Prioritizing your ecommerce SEO strategy months ahead of Black Friday will ensure your website ranks prominently in search engine results and attracts organic traffic. SEO results aren’t immediate, but the long-term payoff is substantial.
Product images help your brand make a strong visual impact and entice customers to make purchases — especially during Black Friday, when customers see endless feeds of products. High-quality images can significantly enhance the appeal of your products, differentiate your brand, and increase trust among potential buyers.
Great categorization improves the experience of navigating your website. Well-organized and intuitive product categories enable shoppers to find what they’re looking for quickly, reducing frustration and increasing the likelihood of conversions.
Diverse marketing tactics are key to unlocking unprecedented success for your online business this holiday season. Black Friday can be a make-or-break affair for brands. It’s tempting to stick with what’s tried and true. But without innovating on your marketing strategy, outsized growth remains a distant reality.
Lean into the challenge, pay attention to Black Friday trends, experiment with strategies that might feel daunting, and seize the chance to redefine what’s possible for your brand this year.
In 2022, Meta reported that Instagram Shop has a potential audience of over 187.6 million people. This statistic points to the rising importance of social commerce for ecommerce brands.
Rather than relying solely on websites, businesses can expand their reach and sell products directly on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. From the simplicity of shoppable social posts to the interactive environment of live selling events, meet customers where they are on Black Friday.
SMS marketing is a unique opportunity for ecommerce companies to instill urgency and excitement in their Black Friday promotions. A 2023 survey of 1,400 consumers, business owners, and digital marketers found that 80.5% of consumers check their text notifications within five minutes of receiving a text. The immediacy of SMS allows for real-time notifications about flash sales or limited-time offers.
Jaxxon, a men’s jewelry brand, encourages website visitors to sign-up for SMS updates ahead of Black Friday, incentivizing sign-ups with the promise of upcoming deals and discounts. Their dedicated landing page for SMS sign-ups is also SEO-friendly, surfacing as a top search result for “Jaxxon Black Friday.”
Influencer marketing is a powerful tool for ecommerce companies to leverage large existing audiences to find new customers. A survey of 500 millennial and Gen Z consumers found that 71% of shoppers are likely to purchase a product because of influencers.
Glossier, a cosmetics and skincare brand, partnered with the creator Pamyla Cummings on BlackFriday to share her Glossier holiday gift guide. They simultaneously pointed social media users to their 30% off sale, complementing her recommendations with their deal.
An email marketing campaign is an important part of your overall Black Friday marketing strategy. A study conducted by Litmus found that email drives an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent.
With direct access to inboxes, ecommerce companies can establish a direct link to customers with customer service email marketing. Aim to stand out in a sea of promotional emails during Black Friday. Find the delicate balance between intriguing subscribers with early promotion news and overwhelming their inboxes.
Magic Spoon, a brand creating high protein and no-sugar breakfast cereal, sent out three emails as part of their Black Friday email promotions: an early bird email on Wednesday, a 25% promotional offer on Black Friday, and a final reminder email on Sunday, ahead of Cyber Monday. They coupled their promotional discount with a gift, sharing all the details with their email subscribers and featuring a clear call to action.
Your company sends more than just marketing emails. Your customer service emails — from issue resolution emails to product troubleshooting communication — are another opportunity to drive awareness of your upcoming Black Friday promotions.
Use Gorgias’ PS Macros to drive sales at the bottom of your support emails. Build up your Macro library ahead of Black Friday, testing different email post-scripts and tracking their performance.
The old-school understanding of chat is reactive: You receive questions and respond with answers. You can also use your chat widget to proactively reach out to visitors with chat campaigns.
For example, Gorgias Chat Campaigns send prospective customers information about exclusive sales, bundles, or reminders — in the flow of shopping. This Black Friday, set up a chat campaign offering discounts or coupon codes to website visitors, converting browsers into buyers.
For example, bidet brand TUSHY programs a chat campaign on the homepage, which pops up to advertise their “Brown Friday” promotion. A similar campaign is set for each of their product collection pages, promoting the offer and boosting conversion.
As of 2022, TikTok has over 1.4 billion users but remains underutilized by brands who feel more at home on Facebook and Instagram. This holiday shopping season, create vertical videos that spotlight your employees preparing for Black Friday, sharing behind-the-scenes preparations on TikTok. The casual feeling of the platform offers an excellent opportunity to humanize your brand by providing a candid view of your team in action.
Kulani Kinis, a swimwear brand, leaned heavily into TikTok marketing for Black Friday 2022, creating nearly half a dozen videos to promote their sale. Amongst them was a video from their Ecommerce Coordinator, JJ, who provided details about discounts and showcased some of her favorite picks from their Fever Dream collection.
A 2022 research study found that 82% of shoppers prefer a consumer brand’s value to align with their own. Furthermore, 66% of shoppers are seeking out eco-friendly brands and products. Partner with an aligned charity and donate a portion of Black Friday and Cyber Monday profits to appeal to conscious consumers and highlight what your brand stands for.
Poppy Barley, an ethically-made, sustainable footwear and accessories brand, set a donation goal of $20,000 and committed 100% of the proceeds from their 2023 Black Friday sale to KidSport. This amount went towards funding 100 girls in sports, helping them develop confidence and leadership skills for the future.
If you have a mobile app or plan on launching one this upcoming holiday sales season, consider integrating it into your Black Friday promotion. Offer an exclusive Black Friday discount code to app users, incentivizing app downloads. This also establishes a direct channel for sending in-app notifications about future products and sales.
Customers abandon carts if they can’t find information about shipping and returns. Use your chat widget’s automation to answer pre-sales support questions for holiday shoppers browsing your website on Black Friday.
Take advantage of a tool like Gorgias to create Quick Response Flows that automatically provide answers to these frequently asked questions.
For example, Loop Earplugs proactively educates customers about the product with questions like, “Can I still have a conversation wearing Loops?” to instill buying confidence:
Consider FAQs that answer questions about your promotions this Black Friday, too:
According to a 2023 commerce trends report from Shopify, people order about 2.5 items with free shipping, compared to less than 2 items with paid shipping. Additionally, people buy over $22 more on the median order with free shipping compared to paid shipping. Ecommerce companies can leverage this tactic on Black Friday to reduce purchase barriers, increase perceived value, and attract customers who make larger order sizes.
Flash sales and hourly deals infuse a sense of urgency into your Black Friday marketing strategy, prompting customers to make quick purchase decisions. With each flash sale, showcase a carefully selected product or a curated collection, offering a significant discount or exclusive bundle. By limiting the availability of these deals to a short duration, you tap into customers’ fear of missing out, urging them to seize the opportunity before it expires.
Clothing brand Princess Polly used a broad discount alongside flash sales across Black Friday weekend, keeping website visitors informed about deals and creating urgency with a countdown timer. They also updated their homepage banner throughout the shopping weekend, having it read “FINAL HOURS!!” as the countdown neared the end of the sale.
Include a gift with each purchase to enhance the customer experience during the Black Friday sales period. This marketing strategy distinguishes you from the competition while building brand loyalty and incentivizing larger purchases.
A gifting gesture also creates a moment of delight that leaves a lasting impression, increasing the chances of repeat purchases and word-of-mouth recommendations.
For Black Friday 2023, the skincare brand Topicals offered customers a free Faded Eye Deluxe sample on orders over $100. This promotional offer allowed customers to buy to buy their best-selling Faded cream, while also getting to try a newer complementary skin product offering for free.
While your business likely has more than enough happening during the busiest sales season of the year, unveiling a new product is a powerful magnet. The allure of discovering something new and exclusive, combined with the limited-time deals and discounts of the sales period, creates a compelling proposition for both new customers and loyal advocates.
Product bundles and loot boxes offer customers a value-packed deal, combining multiple products or exclusive items at a discounted rate. The appeal of this Black Friday marketing strategy lies in the perceived value they receive. The bundled price is often lower than the individual prices of the included items.
Bundles not only encourage customers to explore and try different products but also present an opportunity to showcase lesser-known items and drive sales for slower-moving inventory.
Casper, a mattress company, bundled together and discounted a set of pillows and sheets for their Black Friday product special. Dubbed their “Comfy Bundle”, this offering also complements the mattresses and larger-ticket items that were on sale, too.
Most ecommerce promotional offers explicitly exclude the purchase of gift cards. However, offering gift cards as an option on Black Friday extends a convenient solution for shoppers unsure about what to purchase or who may be purchasing presents for the holidays.
Gift cards can lead to additional sales beyond the initial purchase amount, as recipients may spend more than the value of the gift card when redeeming it online or in-store.
Implement a tiered discount model for your Black Friday promotions. This approach offers different levels of discounts based on the total order value, encouraging customers to spend more to unlock higher savings. Leverage this strategy to increase average order value and maximize sales during the Black Friday shopping frenzy.
Hive, a sustainable online grocery store, used a tiered discount model on Black Friday, advertising the offering prominently on their website. They offered customers 10%. 15%, or 20% off, depending on how much they spent.
Creating a product quiz to provide personalized product recommendations is a compelling way to drive sales (as well as upsells and cross-sells). This approach engages customers in a unique and interactive experience while helping them discover products that align with their needs.
Additionally, it generates valuable data and insights on customer preferences, informing your future marketing efforts.
Dr. Squatch, an organic soap brand, offers a quiz year-round, including during Black Friday. The quiz is linked prominently in the top-bar navigation. And with just a few questions, the personalized quiz helps buyers choose the product with the best scent, exfoliation, and hair care for them.
You can make your quiz even more discoverable by using Quick Response Flows in Gorgias, which build your product quiz into your Chat Widget or Help Center. Dr. Squatch adapted their quiz into a Quick Response Flow — check it out below (or on their website).
According to data from over 10,000 Gorgias merchants, repeat customers generate 300% more revenue than first-time customers.
While attracting new customers during Black Friday is undoubtedly valuable, retaining Black Friday customers for the long term holds even greater significance. Lean into strong customer service, strategic campaigns, personalized email marketing, and social media engagement to foster long-term customer relationships that build brand affinity and maximize sales.
During the hustle and bustle of Black Friday marketing, it’s crucial to zoom out and remember your long-term goals beyond the sales frenzy. While driving immediate sales and capturing new customers is key, it’s equally important to focus on the customer experience that improves retention, reduces BFCM returns, garners reviews, and turns first-time buyers into loyal customers.
Building strong relationships with your customers, and providing exceptional post-purchase experiences, will pave the way for long-term revenue growth for your ecommerce business.
Encourage customer feedback, engage with reviews, and implement strategies to foster loyalty. By nurturing these aspects, you turn Black Friday shoppers into loyal advocates who return all year round.
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Black Friday marketing campaigns can increase sales, heighten brand visibility, drive customer acquisition, clear excess inventory, and create a sense of urgency among potential customers.
Start planning your Black Friday marketing strategy several months in advance to allow ample time for campaign ideation, budgeting, coordination, and execution.
Use email marketing for promotional offers, SEO to improve online visibility, and influencer partnerships to expand reach and credibility.
While significant discounts are common on Black Friday, offering value-added promotions, exclusive perks, or limited-time offers can also attract customers and differentiate your brand.
Consider offering unique deals, personalization in marketing efforts, exceptional customer service, and engaging storytelling across marketing mediums.