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Black Friday must-haves for your online store to succeed

Posted on October 10, 2019

Black Friday is fast becoming the e-commerce event of the year, with sales growing from £810 million in 2014 to £1.49 billion during 2018, according to figures from IMRG. Although a recently new phenomenon, consumers are actively cashing in on the deals and discounts available to them during the last Friday in November – set to fall on 29th November this year. With Black Friday e-commerce sales predicted to increase year-on-year, there’s no better time to start pushing your promotions and offers to attract and retain new and existing e-shoppers for your online store.

So, if you are looking to make the most of this peak sales period, then read on to find out our must-haves for your online store to succeed this Black Friday.

Planned email marketing

Timing is everything when it comes to planning and rolling out a successful email marketing campaign in time for Black Friday. Both past and potential shoppers should also remain on your emailing list, in addition to current customers, to ensure that you can expand your sales targets and customer base. A catchy subject line that is relevant and highlights your sales will ensure that your email doesn’t go straight to the deleted items, while scheduling your emails to meet with time zones and peak email users will also ensure that you optimise your click through rates. Remember that not all customers are equal: entice past customers back with loyalty programmes or freebies, while potential customers will be drawn in with limited time offer deals.

Social savvy campaigns

Planning and scheduling a social savvy Black Friday campaign for your digital channels will enable you to keep excitement high in time for 29th November. Treat your social followers as you would your customers and remember to respond to any comments or queries as quickly as possible so that you don’t become the next trend on Twitter. Consider your content for each channel carefully, Instagram requires high quality images and short, sharp captions while Tweets are ideal for highlighting time-sensitive offers. Finish each social post with a call to action such as “visit our store” to encourage hesitant e-shoppers to turn clicks into sales.

Countdown for the best deals

Adding a countdown timer on your site is a quick and easy way to encourage hesitant shoppers to complete a sale. Timers can work across all items on your site – but higher-value items or Christmas ‘must-haves’ will benefit from a countdown timer to add to the excitement. You could also add a website banner timer on your landing page to reveal when your Black Friday sales will begin, encouraging your e-shoppers to start planning when to hit your store.

Upsell on items

Upselling is a great way to push current site users to spend more on your website. By creating “suggested items” in pop ups or combos on packages, you can push your stock and encourage customers to up their spend while they bag a bargain the process. Consider your copy and messaging so that it creates a sense of urgency, pushing e-shoppers into completing their transaction.

Flash sales drive purchases

A flash sale is the ideal way to create hype and drive traffic to your site before Black Friday, be it a few hours or a day or two prior to the event. Keep an eye on timings and limit your product offerings to up interest.

Here at Kelkoo Group we can help you get your campaigns online and up and running in time for one of the busiest sales periods of the year. With over 20 years’ experience in e-commerce and digital advertising, our teams are on hand to help your online store succeed. Why not get in touch to find out how we can help this Black Friday and beyond?

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