It’s time to start planning your digital campaign strategy for the holiday season. We’ve collected tips from Take Some Risk Inc. and The ADS Group on the best ways to prepare for Black Five-day and the holidays.
Product Sales Data
The biggest way a brand can over-index on Black Friday is by looking at the data in Google Analytics and Google Ads. Look at what sold the last two years; what was your ROAS and profit margin on those items? Understanding where you can compete as a brand across your shopping campaigns and other marketing channels is how you are going to maximize your revenue. You don’t need to have everything on sale in order to win Black Friday. Part of a great strategy is knowing what you do well and pair that with what your customers want to buy.
Customer Experience
This is not something you can do last minute but always use your site like a customer would. Go through your checkout experience on a mobile and tablet device. We have seen brands have pop-ups and other experiences that make it hard for someone to shop when they are on a mobile device. This is one of the best ways a brand can win Black Friday but also prepare themselves for next year. You don’t want 3 pop-ups on your site when someone first lands on one of your product pages. We have seen it happen to even the biggest brands.
Duane Brown – Founder & Head of Strategy
Take Some Risk Inc.
First and foremost, build your email list. Black Fiveday is designed for bargain hunters, which means that plenty of consumers are going to be making their plans ahead of time. Email marketing is extremely effective in driving sales, so start advertising your offers as soon as possible. Then as the day of the sales approach, you can reward your subscribers with a special discount code or an extra sale offer- this is also vital in keeping your subscribers moving forward!
Timing is everything. Consumers are flooded with email marketing sales and discounts across the board during the holiday shopping season, so catching their attention can be tricky. Marketing your sales or discounts either earlier in the season, or even later in the season (after Black Friday is over) will give you a chance to stand out amongst your competitors while building a sense of loyalty from your customers.
Convenience. Shoppers are overwhelmed with options both off and online, so offering them as much convenience as possible to make their experience easier will give you a huge advantage. This could include offering them the option to add your sale as an event to their calendar that includes a direct link to the website- it’s a no brainer for you and your customer!
Everyone loves a surprise. Leveraging the element of surprise in your marketing tactics can be extremely effective; it keeps your consumers engaged and will increase your conversion rates when utilized properly. For example, if you send an email or post an ad about Black Friday discounts, your audience already knows what they’re getting. If you use a headline or a subject line that mentions a discount, but not what it’s for or how much, it will intrigue the user more to open it and see what they’re getting. It’s the holidays, give them a gift to open!
Bailey Murphy – Digital Marketing & Content Manager
The ADS Group
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.
