It happened. You blinked and it’s Q4 already. That means Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are right around the corner. This year, retail sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday are forecasted to top $75 billion, which accounts for roughly 8% of all holiday shopping.
In short, it’s a big deal. Is your business ready?
While there’s only a short time before these key shopping days, there’s still a lot your business can do to set yourself up for success.
Our team of digital marketing experts has put together 30+ BFCM marketing tips and things your business can do right now to reach your holiday marketing goals.
Gear up for the holiday rush with these Black Friday Marketing tips:
Optimize Your Website
“Since SEO is more of a long-term game and BFCM is right around the corner, focus on technical fixes throughout the website to ensure a good user experience,” said Lexie Buhrandt, SEO Specialist at E-Power Marketing.
A fast, user-friendly site will prevent customer drop-offs and improve conversion rates.
- Ensure your website uses responsive web design so text, images, and layouts adjust seamlessly between desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
- Test your site’s responsiveness using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to understand page speed and performance on mobile and other devices.
- Comb your site for broken links to ensure seamless navigation between products and key pages.
- Implement structured data to help search engine crawlers understand your site and improve how your site shows up on search results pages.
Gain Your Customers’ Trust
In an age of scams and misinformation, trust is everything. You can signal that your business is trustworthy through a secure website, positive reviews, and providing options that minimize risk for customers.
“You want shoppers to trust the website they’re buying from, especially this time of year,” Lexie said.
5. Make sure your website has a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate to encrypt data sent between the server and the browser. You can tell if your website is secure if the URL starts with https://.
6. Feature authentic customer reviews and embed user-generated content from Instagram, TikTok, and other social platforms on your product pages. Reviews are powerful trust signals that influence buying decisions.
7. Use trust badges and messaging prominently throughout the checkout process. Phrases like “secure checkout,” “free shipping,” and “money-back guarantee” can reassure customers that they’re buying from a trustworthy store.
8. Prominently display your company’s warranty options and return policy to give holiday shoppers extra peace of mind.
Gather Customer Info With Pop-Up Forms
When it comes to gathering customer contact information, the sooner the better. Pop-up forms are a great way to gather email addresses and phone numbers of customers.
“Adding a pop-up form to your website is an excellent way to start capturing contact information even before the holidays roll around, so you can reach those customers in the busy season through emails and advertisements,” said Hannah Lohrenz, Content Marketing Specialist at E-Power.
Once you’ve built up your email list, you’ll be able to send exclusive product recommendations and information about BFCM deals to those who have already shown interest in your brand.
9. Provide an irresistible BFCM offer to entice sign-ups (like free shipping or a discount code).
10. Time your pop-ups wisely. Good options are 15-30 seconds after a customer visits your site or a certain page and/or when visitors are about to leave the site.
11. Consider holiday-themed gamification to increase engagement, like a spin-to-win wheel or scratch cards that reveal exclusive discounts.
Personalize Your Emails
As you send out emails over the next few weeks, focus on personalizing and segmenting your messages for best results.
“Personalization is becoming key, especially during competitive holiday sales,” Hannah said. “Segmenting your email list based on purchase history, engagement frequency, and more, can help you send targeted emails that feel relevant to each customer.”
12. Identify contacts that purchase regularly or show high email engagement and reward them with early access to your Black Friday sales as a way of saying thank you.
13. Leverage cart abandonment emails to remind users of pending purchases and exclusive discount incentives.
14. Highlight similar or complementary products in your email campaigns based on a user’s past purchases or browsing history.
Optimize Your Ad Budget & Targeting
When it comes to digital advertising, it’s more important than ever to keep an eye on your budget and overall campaign performance.
“Given the competitive nature of Black Friday/Cyber Monday, it’s essential to allocate your budget effectively,” said Brett Wilkins, Digital Advertising Specialist at E-Power. “Increase bids and budget for high-performing keywords and audiences, but also be prepared to quickly adjust based on real-time performance.”
15. Start building awareness early by teasing your deals through pre-sale ads to capture attention and build anticipation.
16. Leverage retargeting ads to reach past visitors and abandoned carts. These users are more likely to convert when sale prices are live.
17. Use countdown timers to generate excitement and tap into customers’ fear of missing out on a good deal.
Make the Most of Existing Content
“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to content during this busy time of year,” said Emily Miels, Inbound Marketing Strategist at E-Power. “You can get more bang for your buck by making the most of the content you already have.”
While consistent, on-trend content is important, you can see some quick wins during the holidays by refreshing and distributing existing content that is already bringing traffic to your site.
18. Rather than writing new content, revise existing seasonal content such as winter-focused blogs, gift guides, and other holiday-themed content to ensure all links, product information, data, and keywords are accurate and up to date. Add new information as necessary.
19. Adjust publish dates or add the revision date to signal to readers and Google that the content is fresh and optimized.
20. Reshare seasonal content on your social media platforms and via email throughout the holiday season to maximize views and engagement.
21. Adjust CTAs on high-traffic pages to highlight limited-time Black Friday deals and special offers to visitors and encourage conversions.
Address Common BFCM Questions Upfront
The last thing customers want to do when they’re already short on time is wait hours — or even days — for an answer to their question.
You can get ahead of complaints, provide a superior user experience, and save your team time by making sure you clearly address common questions on your website.
22. Update your FAQ or shipping page with important BFCM and holiday dates, such as the last day to place an order to ensure on-time Christmas delivery, average shipping times, sale start and end dates, product exclusions, and other promo details.
23. Set up a BFCM-ready Chatbot with 24/7 responses to common BFCM questions like “What’s the discount on X product?” or “When will my order arrive?”
24. Make sure your company contact page is up-to-date and clearly displays business hours and standard response times to set customer expectations.
Take Advantage of Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are an excellent way to engage with your audience, drive traffic, and boost Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.
“These Stories only last for 24 hours, so it’s a great way to do flash sales and make your followers feel extra special for seeing and engaging with them,” said Crystarra Tuchscherer, Social Media Specialist at E-Power.
25. Use Stories to create a sense of urgency around flash sales or limited-time discounts.
26. Use link stickers to send traffic to key pages, such as product pages, holiday landing pages, and seasonal blog content.
27. Use polls to ask followers what products and discounts they’re most excited about or what discounts they’d prefer. This engages your audience and gives you insights you can use to tailor future marketing messaging.
28. Show behind-the-scenes glimpses of your team preparing for BFCM to build excitement and humanize your brand without cluttering your main feed.
Think Beyond the Holiday Season
While you want to make the most of the holiday shopping spree, it’s important to think beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday to set your business up for long-term success.
29. Craft enticing offers that will resonate with both new buyers and loyal returning customers.
30. Incentivize future purchases and ongoing engagement by inviting new customers to join a loyalty program or sign up for a membership/subscription service.
31. Encourage BFCM buyers to leave reviews. This social proof will help you attract more customers in the future.
32. Use insights from your BFCM campaign to refine your marketing and inventory strategies for future promotions or year-round sales.
Maximize Your Holiday Sales with E-Power Marketing
E-Power Marketing has been helping businesses exceed their holiday marketing and sales goals since 1998.
With transparent marketing dashboards, dedicated account managers, and an expert team of marketing experts at your service, we’ve got your back. We’ll help you maximize your marketing campaigns and set your business up for long-term success.
