by Tom Shackleton

With Black Friday on the horizon, there’s a huge amount of information out there on making the most of the busiest shopping day of the year. Sometimes, it can be difficult to even know where to start.

With Black Friday on the horizon, there’s a huge amount of information out there on making the most of the busiest shopping day of the year. Sometimes, it can be difficult to even know where to start.

So we’ve asked our team for their top actionable Black Friday tips to give you a simple list of effective steps you can start taking right now to be ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

From web optimisation advice to marketing strategy, here are the Statement team’s tips for a great Black Friday.

Dan (Director) - Plan Ahead

Dan Black Friday

#1 - "Black Friday and Cyber Monday is such a fantastic opportunity for retailers. It may sound obvious, but as a former online retailer myself, my top tip is to plan way ahead!

It may be a sin to mention the _'_Christmas' word in the middle of May, but that's the best time to start your planning and preparations.

Everything from sourcing your stock to creating your marketing collateral, the sooner you plan ahead the more time you'll have to ensure you have put in place the best possible promotions that will drive the best sales for your store at this pivotal time in the retail trading calendar."

Josh (Digital Marketing Manager) - Use the Whole Week & Collect Customer Data

Josh Black Friday

#2 - "Black Friday isn’t just one day of sale nowadays, it’s an event that covers not only the weekend but the whole week for some retailers - if you can, start your offer with a pre-sale to get in early against your competition.

However, this will only work if you have a strong marketing campaign around it with a theme, a message and a cause - customers can spot a sale that exists for the sake of it but if you can craft a week of relevant offers, inspiring competitions, engaging giveaways etc. it can be worth it."

#3 - "You should also begin a marketing campaign that focuses on collecting customer data a month in advance - a competition to build social media likes, email addresses or website visitors. This will ensure you have a bank of recent and relevant customers that you can then market to on Black Friday through social activity, email campaigns and remarketing ads."

Joe (Web Developer) - Speed Up Your Site

Joe Black Friday

#4 - "It’s really important t_o f_ocus on optimising your store's speed to ensure your customers can easily navigate through the entire checkout process without experiencing slow load times.

Large images, unnecessary apps/extensions and an unstable platform can all contribute to a slow shopping experience and therefore an unhappy customer who ends up missing out on time or stock limited deals."

Thomas (Digital Marketing Assistant) - Think About Post-Black Friday

Thomas Black Friday

#5 - "I’d say something that’s often overlooked is having a plan for following up on your Black Friday and Cyber Monday successes afterwards.

You’re bound to attract plenty of new customers and you need a plan to retain them after Black Friday. The Christmas shopping season doesn’t end after Cyber Monday, so a post-Black Friday plan is key to ensure you see a benefit from the sale event after the day itself."

Harry (Designer & Front End Developer) - Keep it Simple

Harry Black Friday

#6 - "My top tip would be to k__eep your store design simple. For a customer, t__he process of finding a product, gathering all of the information needed, and then commit__t__ing to a purchase should be as easy as possible.

Your site's design and structure on Black Friday should accommodate this as much as possible_, especially when customers are eager to purchase quickly."_

Your Next Steps…

There’s always a huge amount for your store to do for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but follow our team’s top actionable tips and you’ll be well on your way to a successful weekend.

Your next steps should be to:

  • Plan your Black Friday campaign;
  • Start collecting data for marketing;
  • Optimise your site’s performance and load times;
  • Design simple, dedicated Black Friday landing pages;
  • Plan for post-Black Friday.

If you’d like to find out how the Statement team can help you get ready for Black Friday, feel free to get in touch.

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