Black Friday Checklist for Retailers 2023: Getting Ready for the Shopping Frenzy
Can you believe that Black Friday is only 5 weeks away? Where has this year gone?
It’s that time of the year when the shopping frenzy begins, and if you haven’t locked in your Black Friday plan, it’s not too late to start.
Here’s why it’s essential to prepare and some key things you can do to make the most of this peak sales season.
Unlocking the Black Friday Opportunity for Retailers
This year, 62% of Australians will grab a Black Friday bargain, and with the economic downturn, customers are literally waiting for it. This presents a golden opportunity to expand your customer base as shoppers actively search for the best value.
Preparing for Black Friday Success
To unlock the Black Friday opportunity fully, planning and executing your strategy meticulously is crucial. This includes offering appealing discounts, optimising your website for a seamless shopping experience, and ensuring top-notch customer service. Black Friday is not just about sales; it’s about delivering value, building trust, and positioning your brand for long-term success.
Insights from the Ecommerce Pros
We recently had a valuable Black Friday Planning Session with Lauren Cantwell, Head of Ecommerce at Cue.co. She shared a crucial insight: “Layering the offer and having key messages based on multiple offers get the highest engagement.” This strategy can set you apart during Black Friday, so it’s something to keep in mind.
Getting Ahead with Your Retailer's Black Friday Checklist
If you want to get ahead of the game, here are some key steps you can take:
1. Focus on Growing Your Email Database
A robust email list is a powerful asset. Refresh your pop-ups to ensure they are attractive to your customers. Good pop-ups can convert at around 5%. Make sure your pop-up content aligns with key moments, such as Black Friday, to boost your conversion rate. You can also consider using User Generated Content (UGC), Spin to Win, or offer a Gift with Purchase to sweeten the deal. Let’s dive into these pop-ups:
User-Generated Content (UGC) Pop-ups: Building Trust and Fresh Content
Encouraging your customers to share their experiences and reviews through UGC pop-ups can be a game-changer for your online store. Here’s why:
Building Trust: UGC is a powerful tool for building trust. When prospective customers see real people sharing their positive experiences with your products, it adds authenticity to your brand. Shoppers are more likely to trust the opinions of their peers over traditional advertising.
Authentic Content: UGC generates fresh, authentic content for your website. This content is invaluable for several reasons. First, it keeps your website up to date with real, user-generated experiences. Second, search engines love fresh content, which can positively impact your SEO. Third, UGC can be repurposed for marketing materials, social media posts, and more, saving you time and effort in content creation.
Spin to Win Pop-ups: Adding Fun and Data Collection
Spin to Win pop-ups are a fantastic way to inject some fun and excitement into your website. Customers not only enjoy the chance to win discounts or special offers, but you’ll also reap the benefits of valuable data collection:
- Customer Engagement: The interactive nature of Spin to Win pop-ups captures your visitors’ attention. It creates a sense of gamification, making the shopping experience more enjoyable and memorable. This heightened engagement can increase conversions as visitors are more likely to purchase when they feel entertained.
- Data Insights: Every spin provides an opportunity to gather data about your customers. You can collect email addresses, preferences, and other valuable information that can be used for future marketing campaigns. This data helps you understand your audience better, tailor your offerings, and improve customer retention.
Gifts with Purchase Pop-ups: Attracting and Retaining Customers
Offering gifts with purchase pop-ups is a brilliant strategy to attract and retain customers. Here’s how it works:
Enticement to Buy: Customers are naturally drawn to freebies. When you offer a free gift with a purchase, you provide an additional incentive for customers to make a buying decision. This can be especially effective during events like Black Friday when shoppers are actively seeking value.
Brand Loyalty: Providing gifts with purchase enhances the perception of your brand. Customers not only appreciate the value they receive, but they also feel valued by your brand. This positive experience can lead to increased brand loyalty, repeat purchases, and word-of-mouth recommendations.
Incorporating these types of pop-ups into your ecommerce strategy can significantly impact customer engagement, trust, and conversion rates. They add an interactive and value-driven dimension to the online shopping experience, making your brand more memorable and enticing to consumers.
Implementing Lead-Generation Campaigns with Facebook Ads
In the ever-evolving landscape of ecommerce, effective lead-generation campaigns are key to growing your database before the peak sales season. Among the various strategies to capture and engage potential customers, utilising Facebook ads stands out as a powerful and versatile approach.
Think about your offer:Â
Using competitions, giveaways, or downloadable resources like guides and checklists in lead-generation campaigns is a savvy strategy to foster audience engagement and expand your database. These incentives create a win-win scenario: the leads have a chance to win exciting prizes or access valuable resources while you, in turn, gain their contact information for future marketing efforts.
 These incentives create a win-Competitions and giveaways generate immediate excitement and encourage participation, attracting individuals who might not otherwise have engaged with your brand. On the other hand, downloadable guides and checklists provide a longer-term value, positioning your business as a knowledgeable resource.
Whether it’s the thrill of competition or the allure of valuable content, these tactics effectively pique the interest of potential customers and serve as a foundation for meaningful, ongoing relationships
Use Lead Generation Ads:
Facebook offers a specific ad format known as “Lead Ads.” These are designed to simplify the sign-up process. A pre-filled form with their contact information (such as name and email) appears when a user clicks on your Lead Ad. Users can submit this information with just a couple of taps or clicks, making the process incredibly convenient and user-friendly.
2. Walk Through Your User Journey on Mobile
In today’s mobile-centric world, approximately 70% or more of your customers will visit your website via their mobile devices. To ensure a seamless mobile shopping experience, pick up your phone and walk through the purchase process.
Identify what’s working and what’s not. Often, your website looks and functions differently on mobile. Optimising the mobile experience is crucial as you head into the peak sales period.
The Customer’s Perspective:
To understand what your customers experience on your mobile site, stepping into their shoes is crucial. Picking up your own phone and walking through the entire purchase process is the most effective way to gauge the user experience. This hands-on approach allows you to identify what’s working smoothly and what’s causing friction.
Uncovering Challenges:
During your mobile journey, you may uncover several challenges. These could include issues related to user interface design, page load times, checkout processes, and the overall responsiveness of your website on mobile. Identifying these challenges is the first step toward addressing them and ensuring a more user-friendly experience.
Responsive Design:
Websites often look and function differently on mobile devices compared to desktops. Responsive design, which adapts the layout and content to fit various screen sizes, is key. By optimizing your site for mobile, you ensure that every element, from product images to navigation menus, displays correctly and functions smoothly on smaller screens.
Speed Matters:
One of the primary factors impacting the mobile user experience is page load speed. Mobile users have less patience for slow-loading pages. Optimizing your website for mobile involves compressing images, leveraging browser caching, and minimizing HTTP requests to enhance load times. Check your website speed here.Â
Mobile Checkout:
The checkout process on mobile should be streamlined and user-friendly. Cumbersome forms, unclear navigation, or payment processing hiccups can lead to cart abandonment. A smooth mobile checkout process is essential to maximizing conversions.
3. Plan Ahead with a Clearly Documented Strategy
Black Friday can be the craziest time of the year for retailers. Take the pressure off by having a well-documented plan. But don’t fret if you haven’t had time to create one; we’ve got you covered!
Download our Black Friday checklist to help you stay on track and make the most of this exciting shopping event.
Black Friday is fast approaching, and with the right preparations, it can greatly boost your business. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to engage with your customers, offer fantastic deals, and grow your business.
Download our Black Friday checklist today and get ready for a successful Black Friday 2023.
BIO
Kelly Slessor, is an Ecommerce Coach and a digital marketing expert. Passionate about retail, hospitality and retail service providers. As the founder and CEO of Shop You, an AI powered personalised virtual shopping mall she has spent 20 years building retail technology that responds to customer needs, drives conversions and increases revenue. Over the past year she has worked with over 1000 retailers and hospitality providers. If you want discover more about digital growth and optimisation, work with me.
