How to Boost Your Black Friday Ecommerce Sales

Statistics show that Black Friday Ecommerce sales crossed $9.8 billion in 2023, which is $680 million more than in 2022, when the recorded sales were $9.12 billion. What is more, data analysts note that 2024 is expected to generate even more than $9.8 billion in online sales for Black Friday.

With the number of online purchases rapidly increasing over the past few years, it’s expected that even more people will shop online this year.

Prepare your e-store: 15 Black Friday strategies for retailers

As a business owner, you want to make the most out of the peak shopping season. If you’re still wondering how to prepare for Black Friday ecommerce sales, worry no more: We’ve got you covered with 15 Black Friday ecommerce tips that will help you drive more online sales during the year’s most important shopping season.

Let’s explore our step-by-step guide on how to build your Black Friday Ecommerce strategy:

1. Plan ahead

This year, Black Friday begins on Friday, November 29, and continues until Cyber Monday, December 2. It might seem there’s still plenty of time, but given the fact that many retailers start promoting sales earlier and earlier (e.g. beginning of November or even late October!). The shopping season is in fact just around the corner. That’s why it’s essential to plan well in advance, which means getting started as soon as possible.

Begin by researching Black Friday best practices that other retailers have implemented in the past few years. Analyze and decide which work with your own master plan for Black Friday, then tweak and twist them to make them fit your business needs. Here are some popular Black Friday campaigns that went viral, which can serve as inspiration as you get started.

Now that you’ve checked out what your main competitors have been doing, go ahead and build upon that, make it better, more relevant to your business, and more successful.

Dig deeper and brainstorm fresh Black Friday ideas that you can even A/B test beforehand so that when the time comes, you can apply your takeaways to your actual campaign.

Create a coordinated content strategy throughout all your channels, such as your website, social media platforms, and email campaigns. Think of relevant content for each of these channels, as well as the timing for rolling everything out.

To help you attract even more online sales for Black Friday, we’ve compiled a downloadable guide with actionable steps to follow during the whole Black Friday season.

2. Make sure your website can handle the increased web traffic

If you’ve completed step #1 correctly, you can expect lots of traffic to your online store during Black Friday. This raises the next logical question: whether your website is ready to handle all that traffic.

Traffic spikes can consume large amounts of bandwidth, potentially exceeding your hosting plan’s limits or causing network congestion, resulting in slower data transfer rates. This can lead to slower processing times or even crashes.

As the server struggles to process requests, the time it takes to load pages may increase dramatically.

If the server cannot handle the load, it may start returning errors like 500 Internal Server Errors, or requests may time out entirely, leading to broken pages and failed transactions.

Needless to say, if your site slows down or breaks completely due to the traffic spike, you will lose sales.

As an ecommerce website owner, you need to make sure that your online store loads as fast as possible for your visitors, and that it’s reliable.

Here are a few things you can do to optimize your web pages’ loading speed:

• Use a caching technology

Caching is one of the most powerful tools to speed up your website, especially during traffic peaks. It stores copies of your files and data in the server memory, allowing multiple users to access them faster.

• Enable a content delivery network (CDN)

A CDN is a tool that speeds up your website when you have international traffic to your website from multiple countries and continents. It will cache your website content, distribute it over different data centers around the world, and deliver your site content from the server closest to the visitor.

• Leverage image compression

Having a large number of images that are also heavy in size can slow down your website. Compress your images without compromising on their quality by using WebP format, which will decrease your image size by up to 85% and decrease loading times.

Learn more about how to prepare your website for Black Friday and holiday traffic.

3. Secure your website

Along with step #2, securing your website is equally important because a large part of holiday web traffic may come from bad bots. This kind of traffic can hurt your online business and reputation, leading to financial and conversion losses. Here’s what you can do to prevent it:

• Implement CAPTCHAs

CAPTCHA is a challenge response test that can be used to determine whether the user is a human or not. That is, completing the test should be easy for humans, but difficult for a computer. For example, a human would easily identify certain objects in an image, while a bot would have a harder time guessing.

• Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF)

A WAF is a security solution that is designed to protect web applications by monitoring and filtering the traffic between a web application and the Internet. It then blocks requests that are in violation of certain predefined security rules.

Learn more about how to avoid bad bot traffic during Black Friday.

4. Refine your product descriptions

Product descriptions usually include a title, price, product detail, tags, meta title, and meta description. They are one of the first things your visitors will be looking at. That’s why they need to be informative and engaging in order to stimulate your visitors to buy. To help you achieve that, we’ve prepared a few, easy-to-follow tips:

• Mention features and explain how they will benefit the user and improve their life/solve their problem.
• Use power words to trigger an emotional or psychological response to make them perform the desired action.
• Optimize descriptions for search engines by targeting the right SEO product keywords – but remember to write for humans, not bots.
• Make descriptions easy to scan through by using bullet points for benefits/features, and/or bold font for important information
• Include a clear call to action (CTA) that encourages users to go to checkout.  Remember to keep it short and straight to the point.

5. Show off “happy customer” reviews

According to studies, customer reviews (along with free and fast delivery) matter the most to Black Friday shoppers. That’s why it’s super important to show your happy-customer reviews as part of your Black Friday ecommerce strategy.

For example, you can include them in a section that’s connected or linked to the specific product they’ve reviewed, or show them in a separate section with all customer reviews. Or you can prepare a few short videos with satisfied customers, where you ask them specific feedback questions.

Whatever you choose, make sure the reviews look appealing and engaging. Include stars, thumbs up, or another visual element that shows satisfaction. Also be sure that the total number of reviews is also visible, as users often prefer to reference how many customers have used the product – if there are many reviews, then the product will seem even more attractive and legitimate to them.

6. Give your biggest discounts of the year for Black Friday

One of the best Black Friday ideas for small businesses is to save your biggest discounts of the year for the Black Friday season.

Begin by researching what the average discounts for your industry are and go beyond that in order to attract more (potential) customers. Make sure that your discount stands out. This is the only time of the year when you can and should lower your prices as much as possible.

Another idea that you may consider is lowering the prices of certain categories of your products. For example, begin by promoting one of your products’ categories in early November to build up your customers’ expectations. As Black Friday approaches, include yet another category of discounted products to attract even more customers. This way, you keep your visitors engaged over a longer period of time.

7. Take advantage of special promotions

Spice up your discounts by taking advantage of special promotions. Leverage classic incentives for attracting new and returning customers, such as “free shipping”, “fast delivery”, “buy 1, get 1 free”, and the like.

You can also create a sense of urgency among your audience by including “low in stock” labels on products that are about to be sold out. Most ecommerce platforms allow for easy product management, and automatically implement such labels when the minimum quantity (that you’ve predetermined) is reached.

8. Offer a variety of payment methods

Credit cards were used by 49.4% of the online shoppers making them the most used payment method for Black Friday ecommerce sales in 2023. Indeed, while credit cards may often seem like the default, we shouldn’t forget that there are other payment methods that can be leveraged during the Black Friday period. These include debit cards; PayPal; gift cards; Apple Pay; Buy Now, Pay Later; store cards; Venmo; Google Pay; even cryptocurrency. And the list goes on and on.

With such a variety of payment options out there, you wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to close a purchase. Imagine the ready-to-buy customer that goes to checkout and they don’t see the payment method they prefer or are used to, thus deciding to leave the product.

To avoid this and similar situations, implement the most popular payment methods listed above on your checkout page.

9. Simplify your store’s checkout

The competition among retailers for Black Friday ecommerce sales is rough. But there’s also competition among buyers for the products they want to acquire from their much-desired list of items. They don’t have the time to wait on your online store. With that in mind, your store’s checkout should be as simple as possible – a one-page, one-click buying process would be best.

One way to do that is to implement a safe mobile wallet that stores each customer’s payment information. It allows them to simply review their order and buy by clicking a single button.

Another useful piece of advice is to introduce dynamic checkout buttons that allow returning customers to pay with their preferred payment method, preselected from previous purchases. You can go one step further and add such buttons on the sales/products pages in order to streamline the process.

Last but not least, have a test group go through your checkout process. Let them identify pitfalls and areas for improvement to help you make the process smoother for the Black Friday ecommerce rush.

10. Leverage automated coupons and codes

Another useful Black Friday ecommerce strategy to consider is the implementation of coupons or codes. 

Make them visible on your website, along with the discount percentage they provide. That way you’ll attract more customers. 

For example, once the ready-to-buy customer is on the sales page, have a small pop-up window with the discount code and its percentage. To activate the code, the customer simply needs to click on a CTA button. It can say anything along these lines – “apply code”, “get discount,” etc. And that’s it, the code will be applied to the final price on their checkout page.

To include such functionality, either explore the options in your ecommerce platform; look for a relevant plugin; or consult a web developer to customize the functionality to your liking.

If you’re not a fan of pop-ups, you can always place a bar at the top of your website with the same information and functionality. Once a user clicks the CTA button on the bar, the discount is applied to their cart and the bar can disappear.

11. “Save” abandoned carts

An often overlooked, but important Black Friday ecommerce strategy, is “saving” abandoned shopping carts. Keep in mind that these abandoned carts are the result of ready-to-buy customers who, for one reason or another, left their online shopping cart without making a purchase. Here are the top four tips to win back abandoned carts:

• Enable automated push notifications on your website for returning, nearly converted users

• Create exit pop-ups, reminding them about the discount and the unfinished purchase

• Send re-engagement emails to encourage them to complete their purchase

• Consider offering a bonus discount if they return and finish their purchase.

Make sure that if a visitor comes back to your website, their online shopping cart is still there waiting for them with the items they’ve put in it. All they need to do is click the checkout CTA button and pay for these items. Don’t overcomplicate the process for these visitors, because that’s probably your last chance to turn them into customers.

12. Provide strong customer support

The Black Friday ecommerce period is that time of the year when your customer support should be best prepared and organized, working at its full potential. You can’t risk a single customer writing a bad review, as it can cost you brand damage and sales losses.

You can expect more customer requests during this busy period. To avoid some of their inquiries, make sure to include or update (if needed) your sales page FAQs. Include things like shipping time, regions to which you deliver or not, return policy, etc.

You may also want to consider having more customer support team members on shifts.

The channels and hours during which they are available should be clearly stated on your site. On top of that, make the process of reaching out to your team as simple and straightforward as possible.

Next, have your customer support team undergo special training before Black Friday. In this training, you can include learning the answers to Black Friday FAQs (just in case); some admin specifics you want them to follow; shift schedules; and anything else that will streamline their work process in the upcoming weeks.

At the end of the day, your support team should be fast, efficient, helpful, and – most important, – friendly.

13. Have special savings for loyal customers

Go the extra mile for your most loyal customers. They’re the ones who are most engaged with your brand, as well as the ones who are most likely to make purchases from your business this Black Friday.

Make sure that you treat them with extra care and make them feel valued. There are a few ways to do this:

• Send them teaser emails before Black Friday so that they know what offers to expect.

• Include them in a customer loyalty program with special offers, rewards, or benefits.

• Give them “early bird” access to your Black Friday deals.

• Text them an SMS saying “Thank you,” along with a special deal.

• Reach out to them with personalized direct messages on social media.

• Send them a custom gift box that includes a handwritten card and discount code.

Before undertaking any personalized marketing activities, make sure that you are GDPR-compliant and these customers have given you the necessary consent to receive personal messages from your brand.

Want to go on the next level with your Black Friday ecommerce? Check out our blog for even more creative Black Friday campaigns that aren’t discounts.

14. Segment your audience for your email marketing campaigns

Ecommerce email marketing plays a crucial role for the success of your Black Friday ecommerce endeavors.

Segmenting your audience is the most important step in your email marketing campaigns. You can divide them into different groups based on various factors, such as their past purchasing behavior. For example, if you identify a group that has previously bought earrings from your online store, you can use the cross-selling technique, where you send an email recommending a matching necklace. Similarly, by identifying a group of people that are on your basic subscription plan, you can send them a promotional upsell email, telling them the advantages of your premium plan. 

PRO TIP: Plan your Black Friday email campaigns strategically and well in advance:

• Pre Black Friday emails that count down the days to the big sales event
• “Early bird” access emails that offer VIP benefits to more engaged subscribers
• Black Friday announcements that go out on a specific date and time
• Last-chance emails that create a sense of urgency for your offer as it comes to a close

Read our Beginner’s Guide to Ecommerce Email Marketing and learn how to create an ecommerce email marketing strategy, get examples of must-send marketing emails, and much more.

15. Build hype on social media

Statistics show that 25% of people look for Black Friday deals on social media. That’s how important social media is for your Black Friday ecommerce. Here’s how to build buzz on social media platforms before and during Black Friday:

• Promote your deals, by making your audience use a special hashtag
• Encourage your followers to enter a giveaway by liking, sharing, or commenting
• Share an inspirational customer satisfaction story and let them tell theirs

PRO TIP: Make sure that any content you post on your social media channels is both valuable and visually appealing.

Black Friday ecommerce: get ready to get the best out of it 

Planning ahead and incorporating the above tips will lead to your Black Friday ecommerce success. In the meantime, feel free to post your questions or share any ideas in the comments section below.

Have a lucrative Black Friday!