Black Friday 2021: How To Prep And Execute For The Biggest Sale Of The Year
Black Friday is right around the corner, and that means marketers and brands are all working overtime on making sure one of the biggest sales Days of the year goes off without a hitch. Last year, Black Friday spending hit record numbers. On Black Friday 2020, online spending hit $9B in sales, up 21% from the previous year. Over the five days of Black Friday/Cyber Monday, online spending reached $34, accounting for nearly 20% of online sales for the entire year!
This year, sales are predicted to increase another 20%. So, what can we do as marketers to ensure the best Black Friday experience for our customers, and the most profitable one for ourselves? Check out the tips below.
Preliminary Check
Check your inventory
This year, Black Friday is going to look a little different because of the ongoing supply chain crisis. Some industries are going to be more heavily affected. But either way, we are seeing product shortages everywhere. Consumers could be looking to buy things up in a frenzy to avoid potentially long restocking delays and scarcity.
Shipping
Make sure your shipping logistics are set up and ready to handle an influx of orders. For smaller businesses that rely on in-house fulfillment with one or two people, make sure you have extra support.
Customer Support
This goes the same with customer service, more orders tends to lead to more questions (especially about shipping). Be ready to receive a higher volume of customer inquiries leading up to and after the Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deal.
Running Media
A/B Test Creative
A week or two before the launch put together a variety of creative for the team to review. You should be testing a few different formats. For example, Ezra Firestone of Boom! By Cindy Joseph, found the most success with GIFS and a PPCOB ad (Person, Product, Color, Overlay, Border).
Increase Ad Budget
Nearly 30% of people say they discover new brands through social media ads. During the BF/CM you should ramp up your ad spending so you can get your ads in front of as many eyes as possible.
Consider An Early Sign Up
Many brands have been revealing their BF/CM deals sometimes two weeks before the actual sales weekend. You can create an ad for early access to the deal by leading people to a signup form where they input their email to receive an early bird deal.
Social Partnerships
Let influencers do the work for you by promoting your deal. If you already have a set group of influencers you work with, let them promote your Black Friday deals on their accounts. You can monitor the sales that come from these people by having a unique code, and use an app like GoAffPro to track their commission.
Consider Extending Past Monday
If your deal is proving to be successful, you may want to ride that wave a bit longer. You can keep running your ad past Cyber Monday with copy that tells the potential customer that you’ve extended the deal, but they only have 24 more hours to take advantage of it. This creates a sense of urgency that could potentially drive more sales.
CRM/SMS
Segmentation & Early Access Deals
Before you even launch your Black Friday ads you will want to do some segmentation of your email lists. We put together some tips on how to do that here. You want to reward your most active subscribers and big spenders with a VIP early access campaign.
If you’re running SMS, you’ll want to give the people that consented to receive texts and early access deals as well.
Increase Frequency
This is the time to be sending daily email reminders about your big promotions. You're competing for your customers' inbox with other brands promoting their Black Friday deals. You’ll want to make sure your campaigns are being opened and clicked. Set up A/B testing for different subject lines and preview texts to optimize top performing combinations.
If you follow the above measures, your brand will be set up to have a successful Black Friday/ Cyber Monday. It is always a good idea though to have a back up plan though if something falls through. Just make sure to coordinate with your team and work out scenarios where something could potentially go awry. It’s unlikely to happen but it’s always good to be prepared.
We wish everyone the best of luck this Black Friday and happy marketing!
