It is a once a year unique time period, with advance expectations from both the online retailer and the customer – your customers are anticipating substantial savings, and you know there will be a major spike in sales. Your profit margin will take a hit, offset to some degree with an increased quantity of sales, but the epicenter of your marketing strategy should be to establish new – and nurture existing – customer loyalty. There will be continuous and strong competition, not just head to head, but in dollar for dollar with everything your customers will spend on during the course of the next year. How efficiently, creatively, emotionally and magnetically your brand secures that connection with your audience will be invaluable as they turn to you as an old trusted brand friend who is always there for them, remembers key non-invasive things about them, and always treats them special. During this brief, much anticipated, ramped up promotional period, your comprehensive marketing strategy should look way beyond just these five days.
Ralph Legnini – Web Consciousness Explorer
E Boy Enterprises
Black Friday can be a chaotic time so to limit the confusion and search process day of, research sales for the best deals. Use online sources to shop around for the most competitive prices before the sales are set to start. Black Friday flyers are usually released weeks in advance and allow you to compare the top deals across multiple stores. It’s always a good idea to shop early, as the most sought-after items sell out fast. Online stores often increase their sales for Cyber Monday, but there is no guarantee the items you’ll want will still be in stock if you don’t check out on Friday!
Michael Bowley – Shopping Publisher
Finder
- Prepare, prepare, prepare & prepare. It’s better to be over-prepare than under prepare. Whatever you think may go wrong will. So prepare for it.
- Make sure your site can handle the increase in traffic. Check with your hosting company if you’re self-hosting.
Consistent marketing messaging across all channels. The customer needs to understand your offer. - Flex customer service schedule for your team. Customers will have questions on Thanksgiving. So have someone to answer the questions. Higher Traffic + Happy Customer = More Sales / Higher Traffic + Mad Customer = Less Sales
- Shipping & Logistics is key to having a successful Black Friday Weekend. Customers will still be expecting fast shipping. So bring in the logistics team on Friday, Saturday, or even Sunday to prepare shipments.
- Constantly monitor your site in orders during that weekend. Just in case the website goes down, or there are any glitches so you can inform the Dev team to get it back up and running.
- Make sure you have adequate stock. Make sure you have products to sell. Make sure you have enough shipping materials. You never want to run out of supplies in the middle of Black Friday Weekend.
Windy Pierre – Director of eCommerce & Digital Marketing Strategy
eMac Media inc.
See more tips from Orange142, Mutesix, and Visiture.
Brian Roizen is the Cofounder and Chief Architect of Feedonomics, a full-service feed optimization platform that optimizes product data for hundreds of channels. He has been featured on numerous podcasts and eCommerce webinars, and regularly contributes to Search Engine Land and other industry-leading blogs. Brian graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
