Every year, as Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) approach, the shopping world becomes intensely competitive with incredible deals. Last year, Shopify merchants achieved a remarkable $1.5 billion in BFCM sales. For online store owners, this is a golden time to plan innovative holiday marketing strategies that can help you win new customers and go head-to-head with major retailers.
That's precisely why we're here with this quick blog: to provide essential tips for diving into Black Friday sales. Let's explore top 9 Black Friday marketing strategies to make this your best season.Â
What is Black Friday - Cyber Monday (BFCM)?
BFCM meaning
BFCM, an abbreviation for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is a highly awaited sales season that merchants, whether operating online or in physical stores, eagerly anticipate. BFCM encompasses a 4-day shopping event, commencing on the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving Day in the United States and ending on Cyber Monday, the following Monday.
Why is BFCM significant for online store owners?
BFCM represents one of the most highly anticipated shopping seasons, marking the largest holiday sales event annually in November. The term 'Black Friday' originates from the tradition where retailers and companies would finally turn a profit, or 'go into the black,' on this day.
The importance of Black Friday for businesses lies in its capacity to drive sales and attract new customers. By offering discounts and special deals on a wide range of products, companies can not only boost their revenue but also expand their market share, capitalizing on the multitude of shoppers seeking bargains.
In today's expanding eCommerce landscape, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are significant for anyone involved in online retail. Additionally, beyond revenue enhancement, these days provide an excellent opportunity to clear out slow-moving inventory or surplus stock. The rush to secure limited-time deals can help liquidate excess items swiftly, ultimately contributing to increased profits.
When is BFCM in 2023?
Black Friday 2023 takes place on November 24, marking the start of the significant weekend leading up to Cyber Monday on November 27.
Now is the perfect moment to start early preparations! Everything, from overseeing inventory and logistics to strategizing marketing campaigns, should be well-organized before the end of November.
9 Black Friday Marketing Strategies and Ideas for 2023
Pre-holiday: Marketing strategies to prepare for Black Friday
We've compiled a checklist to guide you in preparing for Black Friday 2023.
1. Test your website performance to prepare for traffic spikes
Before Black Friday, it's advisable to assess the speed of your website in preparation for increased traffic. Sluggish loading times can lead to shopper frustration, resulting in a negative shopping experience and ultimately impacting your conversion rates. Even a minor enhancement of just 0.1 seconds in your site's speed can yield a substantial 10.1% conversion boost.
For eCommerce websites, the optimal loading time falls within the range of 0 to 4 seconds, as this range is associated with conversion rates ranging from 12% to 30%.
We also suggest using a website speed testing tool such as Pingdom, GTMetrix, or Google PageSpeed Insights to gauge your page's loading time. These tools can provide valuable recommendations for optimizing your website's overall performance.
Pro tip: To ensure your page speed remains fast, optimizing your images efficiently is important. Selecting the right image format is crucial. For instance, JPG is an excellent choice for blog images, product displays, and slideshows, while PNG works well for infographics, banners, blogs, or screenshots.
Additionally, it's essential to resize images appropriately for different page types. For instance, a size of 1920 x 1080 pixels is recommended for optimal Shopify background images. For a smooth slideshow experience, consider using images with dimensions ranging from 1200 to 2000 pixels in width and 400 to 600 pixels in height. Learn more about Shopify image sizes here.
2. Design eye-catching Black Friday banners on your website
Image: Black Friday Expert UK
It's the highly anticipated end-of-year sales event when everyone eagerly awaits perks, discounts, gifts, and freebies. Black Friday Sale banners should be designed to entice your customers to complete their purchases and proceed to checkout!
Below are the key elements to consider when creating a Black Friday banner for your marketing campaign:
- Headline
To effectively capture your audience's attention, consider incorporating keywords such as Black Friday, discount, exclusive, sale, deals, up to % off, or special offers. You can also use words that indicate urgency.
Consumers should perceive that they stand to miss out significantly if they don't seize the discount immediately. Use terms like Hurry, Now, Expire, Fast, Limited, Quick, and similar expressions to convey this sense of urgency.
- Minimalist Design
To align with the 2023 website design trend of minimalism, it's crucial to prioritize simplicity and clarity in the design of your Black Friday banners. Since people tend to pass by these banners quickly, maintaining straightforward yet attention-grabbing design elements is essential.
Ensure that the text is easily readable, even when viewed from a distance or on different screen sizes. Employ varying sizes for the main headline and text on the banner. Additionally, use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters while avoiding the use of cursive fonts.
In addition to the minimalism approach, you can also explore other top eCommerce website design trends shaping the digital landscape in 2023, including 3D design, asymmetrical layout, layering, gamified design, and more.
- Visual effects
Did you know that your website only has a mere 50 milliseconds to create a compelling initial impact?
Fortunately, there's a solution! Incorporating animations into your website can help capture your audience's attention and enhance engagement rates.
Web design animations include various graphical effects used to create movement and interactive features on a site. These animations can range from simple ones, like buttons changing color on hover, to more complex sequences covering the entire page.
Here are some types of animations to consider:
- Hover Animation: Hover animations respond to the user's mouse cursor when placed over a website element. They are crucial in web usability, indicating clickable and interactive elements. These animations can highlight important information and improve the overall aesthetics of your site design.
- Loading Animation: Loading animations are widely used in web design to inform users that a process is underway. They give users something to focus on while waiting for their request to be processed.
- Hero Animation: A hero animation is an animated version of the hero image typically positioned prominently on the webpage, just below the header. Animated hero images make the initial contact point more dynamic, lively, and appealing to users.
- Call to Action
You can influence the consumer's decision by using words or phrases that eliminate hesitation when considering whether to use your product or service. Here are a few examples: "Shop Now!", "Subscribe Now!", "Order Now!", "Add to Cart Now!", etc.
Pro tip: Easily design Black Friday banners with a Shopify page builder
For Shopify merchants, we highly recommend the Foxify Smart Page Builder app, one of only 92 apps (out of 8000+ apps ) recognized by Shopify as a 'trusted, high-quality app for merchants' with the 'Built for Shopify' badge.
Foxify provides an intuitive, feature-rich editor that's beginner-friendly. With this tool, you can craft your banners from the ground up or select from various pre-designed templates tailored to align with your offerings and discounts.
Moreover, you can customize the layout with elegant fonts, captivating animations, color schemes, backgrounds, and more.
3. Enhance Black Friday revenue through incentives
Image: Mango
- Incorporate Gamification with a Lucky Wheel
Beyond the usual 'add to cart' or 'checkout' options, there are alternative ways to engage with shoppers. One effective approach is to introduce a gamified pop-up wheel, where customers can play for the chance to win discounts. Allowing customers to play and win not only boosts engagement but also creates a memorable shopping experience that lingers in the minds of shoppers.
- Implement Quantity Discounts
Discounts remain a highly effective incentive for attracting and retaining customers throughout the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period. Consider introducing bulk discounts as an example, such as a "Buy 3 Items, Get 10% Off" deal. This encourages customers to make larger purchases, thereby increasing the overall value of their shopping carts.
A straightforward method to incorporate bundle discounts into your online store seamlessly is by using Shopify bundle apps, and our top recommendation is the Kaching Bundle Quantity Breaks. With this app, creating tiered pricing options becomes easier than ever.Â
You can effortlessly publish them to your selected product pages, setting discounts in percentage, dollar amounts, or specific prices. The flexibility extends to customization, allowing you to match colors and styling with your store's look and feel. The best part is that you can track bundle performance in the dashboard, identifying popular bundles that can be consistently implemented in the future.Â
Experience Kaching Bundle Quantity Breaks now at a 20% discount using the exclusive code FOXECOM20.
- Set a Free Shipping Goal
Establishing a free shipping goal can have a significant impact on online sales, particularly during events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For instance, you can offer free shipping for all orders once customers reach a certain cart value, utilizing cart progress promotion bars on your site to encourage more purchases and higher spending.
 Pro tip: You might wonder how to seamlessly incorporate these elements into your store. Fortunately, Shopify offers a range of upsell and cross-sell apps to help you achieve this goal. One option worth considering is FoxKit, an all-in-one sales boost app.
 With FoxKit, you can effortlessly integrate highly sought-after features into your store, ensuring a significant increase in sales during the most anticipated sales season of the year.
FoxKit offers a range of upsell features, such as product bundles, quantity discounts, product recommendations, and sales-boosting features like back-in-stock alerts, countdown timers, free shipping goals, and more. FoxKit ensures that you always have the opportunity to close deals and maximize your sales potential.
You can explore more about FoxKit’s upsells and sales-boosting features here.
We've introduced Foxify and FoxKit apps to gear up for your BFCM campaign. And that's not all – dive into a treasure trove of 50+ sizzling BFCM Shopify app/themes deals.
From email marketing and SEO to dropshipping and product reviews, our partner UpPromote has it all covered just for you! Seize these unbeatable offers and unlock incredible savings! 🚀🔥
4. Optimize your efforts with Black Friday email marketing strategies
Image: The Fork
As many shoppers tend to search online for deals, allocating resources to email marketing presents an ideal opportunity to attract them to your business rather than your competitors. Let's explore some readily applicable tips to prepare for your Black Friday email marketing.
- Test your email subject lines for Black Friday
Boosting email open rates can prove challenging, and one of the primary influencers of open rates is the content of your email subject lines. For instance, should you use the term “free” in your emails, or is it more effective to employ 'discount', or even state a specific “10%” discount?
To maximize your chances, your subject line should immediately capture the subscriber's attention. You can employ enticing words such as “Markdown”, “Free shipping”, “X% off”, “Closeout”, etc. to enhance open rates on Black Friday weekend.
Conduct A/B testing on your email subject lines. This involves sending version A to 25% of your recipients and version B to another 25%. The subject line that performs better becomes the choice for the remaining 50% of your email list.
- Personalize your emails
Personalization can be as straightforward as including the recipient's name in the email subject line. Email subject lines with this level of personalization exhibit a 22% higher open rate than the typical open rate.
- Generate a feeling of urgency in your Black Friday email campaigns
Instilling a sense of urgency within your Black Friday marketing strategy is essential. For example, consider incorporating a timer or highlighting product scarcity in your communications to convey to your customers that the promotion has a finite duration. This approach can lead to a notable surge in conversion rates.
5. Light up your Black Friday sales with social media
Using social media can significantly enhance your business promotion, primarily because many young shoppers make direct purchases via social media platforms.
Here are some tips and tricks to prepare for Black Friday marketing on social media:
- Enhance your social media profiles
Ensure a distinct profile picture and a branded cover image are in place. Incorporate relevant business keywords into your bio. Verify that all the provided links are functional.
- Use the social shopping feature
Businesses can link their online stores with platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, enabling customers to make direct purchases from their feed. This functionality streamlines the shopping process, reducing any potential obstacles.
- Employ Black Friday hashtags
Prior to planning your social media campaign, conduct some research on hashtags. This will allow you to gauge the sentiments and interests of your target audience, enabling you to tailor your social media content accordingly.
Although there are well-known Black Friday and Cyber Monday hashtags (#blackfridayspecial, #cybermondaydeals, #blackfridaysales, etc.), it's valuable to discover other trending hashtags that can be included in your posts. For example, consider exploring hashtags like #giftsforher, #giftsforhim, #giftideas, or #christmasshopping.
During holiday: Black Friday marketing strategies to maximize sales
6. Recover abandoned carts
Did you know that during the Black Friday season in 2021, the average rate of abandoned shopping carts stood at a staggering 79.88%?
To tackle this issue, consider implementing automated Abandoned Cart Emails as a marketing strategy for Black Friday 2023. These emails are dispatched to customers who came close to making a purchase but ultimately left their shopping carts without completing the checkout process.
They remind customers about the items left in their carts or present them with tailored offers based on their browsing history. These strategies are aimed at re-engaging potential buyers and motivating them to finalize their transactions, ultimately enhancing your sales performance.
According to research conducted by Moosend, it has been found that over 40% of cart abandonment emails are opened, and half of the recipients who open these emails go on to complete their purchases.
Additionally, create compelling subject lines. Nowadays, people receive a lot of emails, and breaking through the cluttered inbox is increasingly difficult. To capture their attention, you need to craft subject lines that are both concise and engaging.
Here are a few examples of captivating subject lines:
- Left Something Behind? Let's Complete Your Purchase
- Unload Your Cart with a Special XX% Discount
- Time's Running Out! Your Cart Is About to Expire
- Undecided? {Product Name} Is Eager to Join You
- Surprise Awaits Inside – It's a Gift Just for You
7. Introduce last-minute or extended Black Friday promotions
Image: Foreo
You can expand your Black Friday sale offers to include Cyber Monday as well. Make a social media post to notify your audience that they still have the opportunity to access some of your top Black Friday deals on Cyber Monday. To incite a sense of urgency, incorporate a countdown element to encourage prompt action.
Additionally, ensure you promote your late Black Friday offers across various marketing channels to ensure your customers are well-informed and don't miss out. This approach can also alleviate the pressure of creating distinct promotions for your followers during the holiday shopping season.
Post-holiday: Black Friday marketing strategies to retain new customers
8. Attract customers with an irresistible loyalty program
Image: Pandora
Transform your Black Friday shoppers into loyal customers. Initiate a loyalty program, which may include punch cards or referral rewards to retain their business throughout the year.
Provide exclusive discounts and complimentary gifts based on their spending. This strategy will motivate them to continue shopping, and the loyalty program will serve as a means to maintain customer engagement even after the holiday sales season concludes.
Loyalty programs extend beyond mere discounts, enabling you to establish a more profound and personalized connection with your customers. Additionally, they represent an excellent Black Friday marketing idea, especially for small businesses.
Pro tip: Leverage the Shopify app store to create an effective loyalty program. If you're unsure about which extension to use, consider trying BON Loyalty Rewards & Referrals. As a top-rated loyalty program builder on Shopify, this app empowers you to transform one-time buyers into repeat customers.
Think of this app as the best friend to your affiliate program. Once customers have been referred to your store, loyalty programs will keep them coming back, which helps your affiliate program have a longer-term impact on revenue. With BON Loyalty, you can motivate post-sales engagement through loyalty points, rewards, and VIP programs.
The Holiday Season are just around the corner, and everyone is hyped up for gigantic orders. So are you; you should also employ the best post-purchase strategy to boost your sales not only this Holiday season but in many other seasons to come.
With BON Loyalty, you can:
- Promote post-purchase interaction through a points-based system that offers discounts and rewards for online & POS customers
- Motivate buyers to return on special occasions (birthday gift, point expiry reminder, …)
- Reward high-spending buyers through VIP tiers
- Make your loyalty program stand out with tons of customization options
- Approach customers worldwide with 250+ languages displayed simultaneously
And the best part? Seize the exclusive Holiday deal from BON Loyalty Rewards & Referrals, offering a 10% discount on all paid plans, along with a 15-day trial, exclusively for FoxEcom customers. Elevate your sales and enhance customer retention through this outstanding loyalty rewards and referrals program!
Get your BON Loyalty, Rewards & Referrals discount here
9. Send post-purchase emails and request feedback
Now that you have your customer's email address, use it wisely! Don't send too many emails and annoy them, but it's a good idea to send a follow-up email after they've made a purchase. This not only shows you care about their shopping experience but also gives you a chance to ask for a review.
Reviews represent a highly effective method for increasing sales without incurring substantial expenses. Whether you collect reviews directly via email, through social media, on Google Reviews, or with an impartial review platform, positive reviews can be one of the most effective ways to maintain a strong return on investment (ROI).
Get ready for the upcoming Black Friday shopping season?
Black Friday signifies the busiest shopping period of the year. Therefore, creating a robust marketing plan is essential to capture attention and increase sales. Implement the exceptional holiday marketing strategies shared in this blog to secure the highest revenue for your store during this festive Black Friday season.
Time passes quickly, and November and December will arrive soon. Gear up for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, laying the foundation for your most successful holiday sales season ever. Good luck!
