Black Friday – to some, retailers’ biggest day of the year – isn’t far off.
But it’s worse to do Black Friday badly than not at all, says Adam Hindle, Managing Director at ecommerce specialist Fluid Commerce, and sellers need to think carefully about it.
No doubt by now you’ve seen countless emails and social media posts from brands, agencies and tech solutions shouting about how to succeed at Black Friday. That you must download their ebook, click on their link, scroll through their Instagram carousel – if you don’t, you’ll miss out on making this year’s Black Friday the best yet.
In many instances, they will be right. After all, Fluid Commerce has its own ebook (The Ecommerce Retailer’s Guide to Black Friday) to help ecommerce brands excel this year.
However, it is worse to do Black Friday badly than not to do it at all.
Every year, there’s an enormous amount of pressure on retailers to slash prices, cover their website in big, bold ‘sale’ stickers, and fill their social media platforms with Black Friday Sale countdowns. But without the right preparation, merchants will risk:
- Irritating, then losing, your existing customers
- Failing to retain any new customers you attract
- Wasting what time, budget and resources you’ve put into marketing and merchandising.
There are dozens of things retailers need to do in order to prepare properly for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, there are just three critical areas: your online store, your customers, and delivery.
These are the absolute prerequisites that ecommerce brands must get right if you want to succeed this November. If you don’t have the time or the resources to spend on these areas, simply skip Black Friday altogether and jump ahead to developing your strategy for 2022.
Invest in customer retention
It’s endlessly frustrating to me when I see ecommerce brands squandering opportunities to grow their customer base, and thus their revenue, particularly at this time of year.
Much of the traffic hitting your site on November 26th will be new to your brand – they’ll be looking for bargains or Christmas presents. Short-sighted retailers see Black Friday as a means to flog old stock to these new shoppers, and fill up the coffers ahead of Christmas.
But the ones who get it right are the brands with long-term vision – these retailers will capitalise on the influx of traffic by delivering a sophisticated range of customer retention techniques. Their goal for Black Friday is not merely to sell lots of stock, but to convert these new shoppers into long-term, repeat buyers.
Some customer retention strategies for you to consider:
- Pop-ups and overlays asking visitors to sign up to your newsletter
- Incentivising people to subscribe with offers or discounts
- Including a ‘sign up to our newsletter’ option at checkout
- Setting up a ‘Welcome’ programme in your email marketing strategy to keep these new subscribers interested in your brand
- Encouraging people to sign up to your newsletter in your abandoned cart series
- Adding a loyalty programme
- Asking people to follow you on social media in your newsletters and on-site.
