Black Friday is fast approaching and it is a fantastic time for customers to redeem exciting offers!
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF)’s report, Black Friday 2021 sales amounted to $8.9 billion and the average US adult spent $430 each. Furthermore, 66.5 million US consumers shopped in-store while 88 million shopped online during the shopping event.
Despite the fact that the holiday season is a great time to boost sales and grow your brand, it comes with a lot of pressure to perform better every year, leading many businesses to make the same mistakes.
In this article, we’ll share some common mistakes to avoid while giving you actionable advice that will help you prepare your store for the busiest shopping season of the year!
1. Waiting too late to launch campaigns
Customers are starting to receive countless emails and messages on Black Friday promotions. Waiting too late to launch your campaigns can mean that customers have already found similar deals and mentally allocated their budget to other brands.
So do not wait until the last week of November to start sending well-paced reminders about your brand’s deals for Black Friday. Remind your customers to drop by your restaurant or store at the beginning of the month to gain the upper hand.
Businesses can build pre-Black Friday momentum by sharing previews of exclusive deals or a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency.
2. Focusing only on one marketing channel
Promote your seasonal offerings and deals via all of your marketing channels to secure all available customer touchpoints. Let them know what your business has to offer this Black Friday via SMS, emails, and on social media and App notifications.
It is important to personalize messages and offerings to make your customers feel a sense of understanding to your brand. However, make sure that you do not overwhelm your customers with too many messages at the same time. Within Como, you can definitely configure and pace your communications strategically.
3. Limiting promotions to discounts only
Take it one step further by offering different types of deals in addition to traditional discounts. For example, you can offer free shipping or give freebies after your customers make a purchase in your store.
Run a product affinity analysis to determine which products are complementary and increase your Black Friday sales by cross-selling products that have a high affinity rate. You can also offer gift bundles to make it easier for customers to pick out holiday gifts to give their loved ones or friends. In this way, your customers will be motivated to purchase more products than they had originally intended, driving more revenue for your business!
4. Neglecting customer service
It’s likely that you’ll receive a lot of questions from customers this Black Friday, and part of providing great customer service is responding quickly. According to Shopify, businesses that respond within 5 minutes convert 70% more customers.
Black Friday being a short event, customers won’t have much patience to wait for answers to questions they might have on your products and services. Be memorable and attentive this holiday season, and customers will support your brand even after the sale is over.
5. Forgetting about Cyber Monday
While Black Friday holds a certain amount of retail power, Cyber Monday is not falling far behind in terms of sales. To prove this further, consumers spent a total of $10.7 billion on Cyber Monday, which is $1.8 billion more compared to Black Friday’s sales.
Therefore, maximize the holiday sale weekend by extending your promotions and offers until Cyber Monday!
Ready, set, go!
Black Friday is a crucial time for marketers to get their brand ready. Without a plan, you can end up making mistakes that impact your bottom line. But with a well-thought strategy, common mistakes in mind and Como’s support, you can prepare your loyalty program for one of the highest holiday seasons of the year!
