Black Friday marketing tips and tricks for Black Friday 2017 is a great time to increase revenue, boost customer base, and market your brand. As businesses continue to see major sales growth when they capitalize on the Black Friday frenzy, it’s important to make sure you are marketing your brand the right way. Retail trends are a huge benefit to your business. When you use the forecasted retail trends of Black Friday 2017 the right way, you can give your business a competitive edge. Each year we see a rise in mobile sales. Here are the top 7 tips for a successful Black Friday 2017 based on the retail trend predictions of the experts.
Get a Head Start on Marketing Tips For Black Friday
It’s no secret that Black Friday is a major sales opportunity. In 2016, online retailers watched their business explode by jumping on the Black Friday trend train. When compared to a regular Friday sales report, Black Friday traffic was up 220% more. This increase in traffic for online retailers turned into billions of dollars in sales.
While many of the major corporations like Walmart and Amazon were included in the numbers, small and medium businesses benefitted as well. With the rise in numbers for retailers, experts predict even bigger statistics for Black Friday 2017.
Shoppers are anxious to get a head start on their holiday shopping, especially if they know they can take advantage of great deals. Taking advantage of this anxiousness can be a benefit to businesses. Set up a plan to start marketing your deals as early as possible. Send a little sneak peek to your current customer base through their inbox. Create a great promotion or sale that will draw potential customers in.
Don’t just plan to create a great promo, send off an effective email marketing message, and step back. You need to be prepared for the increase in traffic volume. Talk to your staff about an effective system to handle the spike in orders your online shop is ready to take. You goal should be to covert emails to sales. To do this you need to make sure you are ready for the influx of customers.
Check Your Mobile Responsiveness
More customers are heading online to do their Black Friday shopping. Those days of watching TV coverage of long lines outside of stores are starting to diminish. Mobile-friendly websites come into play here and make a huge difference in your sales results.
Make sure your online shop is ready for all the traffic that will come from mobile devices. Optimize on mobile conversions by creating mobile-friendly checkout options. Digital strategies are huge for your Black Friday success. Create a digital strategy that includes online, social, and mobile aspects.
Run promotions and contests specific to your social media followers. Build your brand through your social media presence. Redesign your website with Black Friday promotions and sales. You can even create landing pages designed for Black Friday that target your mobile viewers. Some businesses go so far as creating a dedicated mobile look to their website or their own company app.
Whatever tactics you implement, make sure you focus on these key factor tips:
- Make sure your website is equipped for mobile checkout options.
- Use mobile-friendly technology to encourage conversions from your mobile viewers.
- Consider push notifications, text messages, strong call to action buttons, one-click checkouts, and more.
- Create a sale specific for loyal customers.
- Find a unique way to capitalize on the idea of customers lining up outside your store on Black Friday.
- You can have a countdown clock on your website or create time sensitive e-mails to launch your promotions.
Focus on Convenience
The world of technology makes convenience a key factor in shopping decisions. Instant gratification options can give you the competitive advantage you need to watch your numbers soar. Customers want shopping to be easy.
Offer free shipping without the need for a minimum purchase. You can incentivize this by offering next day delivery for customers who exceed a specific purchase amount. Offer 1-click checkout options or click-and-collect options. Same day pickups are a great way to get customers to act urgently when making purchases from your store.
Regardless of the options you offer for customer convenience, be sure you provide the ongoing support they need to boost your business in the minds of shoppers. Customers can use mobile checkout as an in-store option. The easier it is to buy from you, the more likely it is you will draw in the customers.
Avoid long one-page mobile checkouts. To a customer, that page seems like an eternity of information that is way too complicated to have to enter. If you do need a decent amount of information from your customers, break it up into multiple pages for your checkout. Make sure each step of the checkout is optimized for speed and success.
Offer auto-detect and auto-fill support options to make things even easier for your customers. Have an easy to find, easy to see call to action button. A click to call is a great option for those who want to talk to someone for support one on one.
Create Consistency
There are many ways to market your brand. Use all your marketing channels to your advantage. Combine mobile, email, and social marketing for Black Friday 2017. Using all your marketing channels is an effective way to tap into your audience from all different areas of business. But, you need to be sure you remain consistent.
All channels should be delivering the same message. Promotions should be consistent. And you should create a campaign that allows you to continually deliver your promotions and sales to the eyes and ears of your customers. Continually sending out the message can remind potential customers to buy from you.
Expand on your client base by encouraging existing followers to share your promotions with friends and family. You can offer special promos and offers to those who share your message. Create a unified message across all your marketing channels. Make use of all avenues of your marketing strategy.
Create an Amazing Customer Experience
While sales and promos will drive new customers to your business, it’s their customer experience that will keep them as customers. Seasonal shopping events are a great way to market your brand. But, they are like a first impression when it comes to drawing in ongoing customer relationships.
A poor customer experience can cause you to lose new customers that could have been lifetime buyers. Talk to your staff about the importance of customer experience. You can even create incentives for your staff to encourage positive customer interaction.
Talk to your management team about possible resources needed to create an amazing customer experience for all those who shop with you on Black Friday 2017. More customers might mean you need to bring in additional staff for the seasonal promotion.
Leverage Your Business’ Uniqueness
There are all sorts of campaigns focused around the Black Friday Weekend. Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are two prime examples. Although online sales are generally through the roof on Black Friday, in-person experiences are important as well. Use your local community to encourage shoppers to stop by your store.
The power of community can build up your business and bring you customers that last the whole year through. Check out your local Chamber of Commerce for business events taking place in your community. Talk to your local government about ways you can get involved. Use social media marketing to promote any community involvement you engage in. Social media is an effective public relations promoter.
Make Them Want to Come Back for More by Optimizing the Checkout Process
The entire customer experience ends with your checkout process. By focusing on important details from start to finish, you will leave your customers talking. Added details during the checkout process can make a huge difference when it comes to customer retention. If your customers see that you care all the way to the last part of their experience, they will come back to you for future business and refer you to their friends and family. So, what can I do during checkout that will really make a difference you may wonder?
For starters, make sure your back button is fully functional. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to go back to a previous page and losing all your progress. Plus, in many cases customers are going back for more. The interface for your checkout should be simple. You don’t want your customers to be confused with a lot of fluff going on. As we said earlier, more convenience and less distraction is your goal. Allow your customer the option to easily modify the order. This can be done right in the cart with options to delete an item or change quantities.
During the checkout process, providing your customers with real time support can be a great asset to your company. If a customer has a problem or a question, real time support can give them the answer they need immediately. This can even help bulk up their cart. Keep the checkout process short and the forms customers need to fill out even shorter. Customers get frustrated when they have to enter a lot of details, especially when they are working from a mobile device.
The checkout process doesn’t end for you as a business when the customer completes the order. There are many ways you can follow up once the checkout is complete. Tell your customers what comes next. Inform them about delivery times, confirmation e-mails, or processing. A confirmation e-mail should be sent to your customer’s inbox once the order is completed. Show how much you care by giving it a Black Friday shopping theme.
Use the confirmation e-mail to your benefit. Share a coupon code to encourage customers to come back and shop. Offer cross sell or upsell options that can spark interest in their mind. And always give the option to log in and modify the order shortly after completion. If there is a mistake made, even if it’s the customer’s fault, give them the chance to rectify it before their item ships. This will not only give you a happy customer, it’ll save you money on shipping costs for returns.