Black Friday Marketing Strategy Hacks – How to 2x Your eCommerce Sales this Holiday Season

by Manas Chowdhury
8 minutes read

Black Friday is rapidly approaching. My guess is that if you are reading this post, you are searching for best black Friday marketing ideas to boost your sales by double and profit handsomely from the upcoming holiday shopping season.

This post aims to provide you with 20 incredibly easy eCommerce black Friday marketing tips that can boost your sales by double or even triple.

Let’s give you an idea about the amount of Black Friday sales generated over the years:

YearSales (In Billions)
2023$9.8
2022$9.12
2021$8.92
2020$9.03
2019$7.4
2018$6.2
2017$5

Who should read this post? Not a fan of reading? Watch this:

Anyone looking to make a lot of money this Black Friday, including marketing professionals, eCommerce entrepreneurs, and affiliate marketers, should pay attention.

Why do shoppers buy on black friday?

Black Friday Marketing Strategy Examples on How to Promote on Black Friday

Unless you have a strong Black Friday marketing strategy, no matter how good your Black Friday flash sales are, no one will know about them. This entails promoting Black Friday specials on social media. Also, make sure to make great use of email marketing and inform your clients and prospective clients about the fantastic prices you have available during the holiday shopping season.

Improve your landing pages and website

If you operate an online store, you are aware of the importance of your website. Additionally, in order to be ready for Black Friday advertising, you must maintain high-quality, quick loading times for your landing pages while accommodating a surge in traffic.

According to studies, consumers will leave your site at a rate of 1% per extra second if it takes longer than five seconds to load. On the other hand, you can have an average conversion rate of 32% if your landing pages load in less than a second. 

This means that whether you plan on offering your Black Friday deals or not, it is important for eCommerce stores to have bandwidth, memory, storage and processing capacity to handle the increased traffic. 

Select relevant keywords for your eCommerce store

eCommerce websites are fighting for a prominent place on Google’s SERP on Black Friday. You must optimize your eCommerce store  for online shoppers in order to rank.

Using keywords that consumers are likely to use when looking for holiday bargains is one method to do this. After conducting some research on keywords, use those terms sparingly across your website. Make sure your content seems natural and avoid keyword stuffing.

Furthermore, as more and more people are shopping for gifts on their phones, make sure your website is responsive. Designing landing pages specifically for Black Friday and Cyber Monday can attract attention from customers and improve your search engine ranking.

Try out some paid advertising

While organic SEO is the most effective approach to rank high on Google and other search engine results pages (SERPs), paid ads can be quite beneficial for eCommerce Black Friday marketing.

You can test out your PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in the run-up to Black Friday weekend and see a rapid increase in web traffic. According to 79% of brands, PPC allows easy customization for reaching your target audience. 

Create an email list

Any business has to have strong email marketing campaigns, but during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing season, this becomes much more important. Make sure your Black Friday email has interesting content that gets clients excited about your sales and activities. 

You should work hard particularly to grow your email subscriber list in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Customers might sign up if they see pop-ups with discounts, special deals, and early access to sales. An effective Call to Action and eye-catching graphics can also help. 

Plan your pop-ups

Well-timed and thoughtfully selected pop-ups can greatly impact the consumer experience. They can help you inform customers about upcoming Black Friday specials. It can also grow your email list, and reduce abandoned cart rates. 

You have to understand that timing your pop-ups correctly can influence customer behavior by upselling or even subscribing. Online retailers who are experts in black Friday marketing are aware of this feature. 

Your Black Friday Marketing Strategy must include automated, targeted, and scheduled pop-ups. We all know that creating a sense of urgency should be considered by incorporating a countdown as it makes customers buy products faster.

Bring attention to your email subject line

When you are good to go utilizing both Call to action (CTAs) and pop ups timing, it is time to make sure that the customer is clicking on your targeted emails. This requires a lot of efforts specially during Black Friday as back in 2021 there were more that 5.8 billion emails sent to customers.

Subject Lines and call to actions are the main key for you to grab attention and to get more customers to open email and do shopping.

Using common email subject line hints and techniques in your Black Friday marketing is also worthwhile. For instance, adding the recipient’s name to the subject line alone can result in a 22.2% boost in open rates. Similarly, there is a 22% increase in the open rate for subject lines that convey exclusivity and urgency.

Check out these inventive Black Friday email subject lines that companies have previously utilized for some inspiration: 

  • There will be no Black Friday.
  • Make use of your power-shopping abilities on Black Friday.
  • The timer for Black Friday has begun.
  • Your guide to surviving Black Friday
  • Best presents for BFCM weekend
  • Psssst – This is a covert sale! 

Black Friday Social Media Strategy

While some buyers prefer to prepare ahead and take advantage of early bird bargains, others relish the excitement of the hunt. Here’s an overview of Black Friday shopping behavior and other information that may help you create your social media marketing strategies.

By promoting your sales on social media, you can draw in both types of customers. One way is to advertise details about your upcoming promotions. You can also offer “mystery deals” on your feed to hint at sales. Countdown timers, special offer previews, and other interesting material can help businesses create excitement and increase foot traffic on Black Friday. 

We all are familiar with social media and it is a fantastic tool for engaging with clients. It can also be used to respond to any inquiries customers might have regarding your Black Friday deal.

Give special attention to referral, VIP, and reward programs

One way to win Black Friday sales is making sure to understand the importance of referral, VIP memberships and reward systems. Small Businesses can easily attract new audiences during black Friday sales by using these ideas. 

It will not only help you maximize your sake during Black Friday, but also help you to foster long term connections which will go way beyond Black Friday Sales. 

As I mentioned previously, you can also use pop ups, crafted email marketing campaigns and even sending reminders for abandoned shopping carts are key factors to convert casual visitors into long term customers.

We all love to have access to extra benefits and discounts, you can utilize this feature better by offering them to VIP customers in ways such as free shipping or extended sale periods. One such example can be seen by the Amazons’ “Prime Membership” feature.  

Create gift guides

About 27% of Black Friday buyers look for gifts for the approaching holidays over the sale-filled weekend. Create gift guides showcasing your top-selling, unique, or specialized products. These guides will help shoppers choose perfect gifts for their loved ones.  

Recall that individuals may be researching unfamiliar brands and products when they shop for gifts. This means that in order to appeal to and engage a wider range of customers, you might need to think outside the boundaries of your typical target market. 

Make it easier for holiday shoppers by:

  • Organizing your gift recommendations
  • Considering the interests and demographics of your audience. 
  • Including a table of contents for easy navigation. 
  • Notifying clients by sending emails 
  • Make sure to post about your Black Friday sale blog on social media each time you publish a new gift suggestion.

Look through some of Buzzfeed’s gift guides for ideas on excellent selections. You can narrow down your choices based on the recipient, category, hobbies, cost, or even choose presents that make a difference.

To sweeten the pot even more, consider rewarding the givers if their shopping basket exceeds a certain threshold with a free gift for themselves. Studies show that giving a surprise gift can double the chance of making a sale. Almost 90% of customers are “somewhat likely” to buy more from a company that gives them a free present. 

Remember to use hashtags!

You can use appropriate #BF hashtags in your marketing to drive more visitors to your online store and social media pages in addition to PPC Black Friday advertising.

  • Employ a range of hashtags, from general to industry-specific. To draw in a certain market, you can mention your region or area of expertise. 
  • Investigate the hashtags that other companies are using to advertise their Black Friday sales. 
  • Try varying the wording and where you place the hashtag to increase the number of likes and interactions. 

Make advantage of UGC content

User generated content (UGC) can be an asset in marketing. It enhances your credibility. Comes in handy when you’re running low on content for platforms like Instagram and other social media sites.

Consumers are 2.4 times more inclined to view user generated information as genuine with 79% of them acknowledging its influence on their purchasing decisions.

Adopting an influencer marketing strategy could also bolster your proof especially if you currently have limited UGC to share. A whopping 89% of marketing experts agree that influencer marketing offers brands a return on investment compared to marketing techniques.

If you’re unable to engage influencers due to budget constraints consider collaborating with micro influencers. Another option is providing them with products.

Interact with your customers

When brainstorming ideas for Black Friday marketing campaigns it’s important not to go. While it may be tempting to impress an audience with sales and discounts, successful businesses understand that consumers seek more than just great deals. They want to support companies that genuinely value their needs and requirements.

Asking your clients what they want is a perfectly acceptable way to obtain the greatest Black Friday ideas for small businesses. Are they more interested in receiving a special deal or in simply receiving free shipping on every order? Maybe your clients would rather donate their earnings to a worthy cause or charity than pursue a sale?

To obtain this data, attempt: 

  • After a customer makes a purchase from your store, sending out a survey and “thank you” emails.
  • Contacting VIP clients to offer them a unique opportunity to decide what will happen with their next transaction. 
  • Putting some of your best ideas for Black Friday promotions into a social media poll to see which gets the most traction. 
  • Providing rewards for feedback, including first dibs on purchases.
  • Making requests for comments via SMS. Research indicates that SMS outperforms email in terms of open rates, read and reply times, and conversion rates. For this reason, it may be a great substitute for unsolicited sales emails. 

It would be best to stay in touch even once you have brilliant ideas for Black Friday promotions. An eCommerce site may see a surge in traffic and sales on Black Friday, but you still need to be present for customers during and after their shopping experience.

Using live chat software is an awesome Black Friday marketing Strategy to let your customers know that you’re available to them. Thanks to this, customers will be able to ask inquiries at any time. It will expedite customer support.

  • According to a survey, 79% of companies say live chat has improved revenue, sales, and customer loyalty. 
  • After introducing live chat for a client selling specialty pen kits, Goinflow saw a 3.84% rise in conversion rates and a 6% increase in income. 
  • Customers that used a live chat feature prior to making a purchase had an average order value boost of 10%.

Change your website appearance

If you want to attract more customers on Black Friday, consider updating your website with holiday-themed designs. This will make your shop more noticeable and let clients know about your special deals. 

Using the colors of Black Friday in the layout of your website and product pages is an easy way to accomplish this. Color psychology can greatly impact impulsive purchases. Experimenting with color on Black Friday could provide market insight. 

The Black Friday colors are often red and black. However, you don’t want to completely alter the look of your website such that it can no longer be identified as yours. Instead, draw attention to your banners and pop-ups by incorporating the festive sale colors with your regular logo. 

Now is a good time to check your product pages. Make sure they’re interesting and informative. Also, adjust the colors and layout of your website. Verify that all of your pages have plenty of sensory descriptors, are optimized for keywords, and have well-edited photos. 

Offers and countdowns should sync with all channels

It is simple to lag behind when using several marketing channels for advertising. Therefore, it’s more crucial than ever to make sure that every advertisement for your Black Friday marketing is pushing the same deal or price. 

Additionally, you need to take care to avoid endorsing products that aren’t currently in stock.

Provide channel-specific promotions

To ensure consistency in your advertising it is advisable to use the messaging, across your website, email and Facebook. However you can also consider implementing Black Friday deals for each platform. For instance you could offer a discount available to email subscribers.

Many businesses have found success by organizing social media contests in the form of sweepstakes or lucky draws. The prizes for these contests could include gift cards, free delivery or exclusive gift bundles.

You can promote your offers on different channels. It will surely help you to engage your audience and make a sense of excitement during Black Friday. To make it more effective, consider the deals which are unique and personalized to different users .

Deals that are exclusive to mobile users

Most of our work is usually done through mobiles. In 2022 more than 56% of Black Friday sales were made through mobile devices. We all can expect a linear increase in this usage. To cater to this trend you can offer discounts exclusively for Black Friday customers who make purchases through their devices. 

This is the time to make better profits by providing extra discounts if a customer downloads and uses your app for purchasing. This will help you take advantage of the growing trend in shopping. 

Ensure that your website is fully optimized for visitors using devices while you are organizing any offers specifically designed for mobile users. The difficult-to-read content on mobile devices is the second-biggest reason visitors abandon your website. Having a low conversion rate is not good, and Google favors mobile-friendly websites when ranking search results. 

To guarantee that mobile consumers have the greatest experience possible, check your mobile device’s setup, loading speed, and image sizes. 

Inform your audience on stock levels

When your inventory is getting low, one excellent approach to instill a sense of urgency in your customers is to show stock levels on individual items. Customers get the impression from this that a certain item is in high demand and should be purchased right away to avoid stock outs.

With Dropshipping tools like Oberlo or Dropified, dropshipper’s can effortlessly keep an eye on and update their inventory across various sales and marketing channels. 

Customers will feel more urgency if you use time-sensitive phrasing on low-stock items. When you’re almost out of stock, you might even offer an additional “last change” discount. Here, color psychology can also be useful by emphasizing low stock with an urgent red typeface.

Try to get a product back in stock for Black Friday if you run out of it before the holiday and make a big fuss about it.

Make sure your eCommerce fulfillment service is operational as well. With shipment delays or a poor experience, you don’t want to disappoint eager customers. In fact, 47% of customers are reluctant to associate with an online company after a negative purchasing experience, so you need to get this right. 

Boost the average order value of customers

Consumers spent $311.75 on average during the course of the five-day Thanksgiving holiday in 2022. $9.12 billion was spent online on Black Friday alone!  

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great opportunities for businesses to increase the average order value of their shopping carts. This is because consumers spend a lot of money these days. Using a Buy More to Save More offer is the most common Black Friday Marketing Strategy for cross-selling clients. 

This essentially implies giving customers who raise the worth of their carts to a certain amount of money something extra. Free delivery is frequently offered if you spend a specific amount in a single purchase. But you may improve the experience by rewarding consumers who meet Average Order Value (AOV) targets with something different. For instance:

  • X% more in savings 
  • Choose a complimentary gift upon spending more than $__.
  • Bonus mystery item free with eligible orders!
  • Present wrap at no cost to holiday shoppers

Another excellent technique to raise AOVs is through bundles. Examine a few of your best-selling items and consider related products that buyers frequently purchase in tandem. Utilize this data to build customized bundles. If you provide free shipping, you may discover that consumers start spending more on even basic items right away. 

Lower the rate of cart abandonment

Raising the average order value is one thing, but you can lose up to $260 billion in sales if customers are leaving their shopping carts empty! 

It’s not all terrible news, either. Even a small number of abandoned cart recoveries might have a significant impact on your revenue. If these buyers added your products to their baskets, it shows some interest, which is good. 

You need some really good abandoned cart emails and SMS templates in order to target cart abandoners. Additionally, you should examine your checkout procedure to make sure that it isn’t driving away customers:

  • Make sure it’s as quick and simple to checkout as possible.
  • At the point of sale, avoid requesting more information from clients. 
  • Offer a guest checkout feature.
  • All prices (tax, delivery, and any additional expenses) should be mentioned clearly in the cart.

According to numerous studies, unanticipated, additional expenses are the main cause of abandoned carts, with 60% of consumers leaving because the costs are too high.

Consider last-minute or early bird sales

Big or small, Black Friday is a thing for everyone. Fortunately, there are original ways to grab the interest of prospective clients before the overwhelming Black Friday messaging from e-commerce behemoths wears them out.

One way to accomplish this is by acting early. Your business can start its sales for the day on Thursday and claim the day by labeling it “Black Thursday,” rather than waiting until Friday. In this manner, you get a head start in the inboxes (and wallets) of your subscribers.

One Black Friday strategy to boost your holiday sales is to get early birds; another is to convert latecomers. You can use the phrase “Black Friday” to suggest too-good-to-miss deals throughout the year since customers identify it with unbeatable offers.

You give away that your customers are in for some amazing deals when you say that you are bringing Black Friday back. Try organizing your own Black Friday by acting early or late if you’re reading this outside of the traditional timeframe or if you want to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Conclusion

At every stage of the process of developing a winning Black Friday marketing strategy, you must take your customers into account. To have a great Christmas season, you must communicate openly with customers. Make them happy to shop with you, but don’t deceive them.

Recall that Black Friday shoppers are not limited to one-time purchases. Black Friday might be the beginning of an enduring and beneficial relationship with your brand if you offer the greatest shopping experience along with simple communication.

If you want to give your Black Friday advertising ideas a little more oomph, how about incorporating a well-known shopping quote into your campaign? In the end, “those who said that money couldn’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to shop.” 

Got Questions?

How can I make more sales on Thanksgiving Day?

To increase sales on Black Friday, reducing abandoned carts is a simple strategy. There are also other Black Friday marketing strategies that can help you make the most of the shopping season. 

– Offer special discounts to devoted clients.
– Boost AOV by offering free shipping if you spend $X or by upselling related products.
– Construct complementing product assortments.
– Give referral bonuses
– Offer discounts to particular customers based on their usage habits.
– Pre-sale to prior clients

What marketing techniques retailers employ to draw in shoppers on Black Friday?

Even the greatest deal in the world won’t ensure customers visit your store when it comes to Black Friday. It takes an efficient marketing plan to generate visitors, so you’ll need to put in a lot of effort to spread the word about the amazing deals your company is offering.

– Make a clear announcement about your Black Friday deal on your website’s landing page, on social media, and in email marketing campaigns. 
– In order to establish a sense of urgency, use countdown clocks. 
– To create a thematic look, use the BF colors, red and black.

When is the best time to begin Black Friday marketing?

While there isn’t a set deadline for you to start developing your Black Friday Marketing Strategy, it’s generally a good idea to start as soon as feasible.

During Thanksgiving weekend, most stores (online and offline) will have discounts that start early and end later. You will thus have to put in a lot of effort to spread the news about your incredible promotions before others do.

Does Black Friday bring in money for stores?

Briefly put: sure. In 2000, Black Friday was formally named the busiest shopping day of the year. Small companies should anticipate an increase in revenue of +107% throughout the BF/CM weekend.