In 2019, Black Friday online buyers reached 93.2 million, and the sales hit an impressive figure of $7.4 billion. In 2020, these sales hit a new record of $9.0 billion in the country, and the trend doesn’t seem to slow down.

What does that mean to your CPG brand? That you can boost your Black Friday sales through result-driven marketing strategies. 

To increase your website traffic, get more leads, and boost your conversions, consider implementing some of these surefire Black Friday marketing tips. 

1. Send lots of emails to your list

It’s no surprise to you that email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools. But did you know it has an estimated ROI of $42 for every $1 spent? That’s what I’m talking about!

Plan on sending at least one email every day of your sale and a teaser/reminder email the day before your sale starts. Get your customers and prospects excited and primed to buy with a preview of your sale details.

If you want to build up an even bigger email list before your sale starts, try running a giveaway this month. Feature your best products, require a name and email to enter, and promote it as much as possible.

After the giveaway is over the winner is chosen, email the rest of the entrants. Tell them the next best thing to winning is to save big during your Black Friday sale and to be on the lookout for more info.

Add in SMS texting 1-2 times throughout the weekend for an even bigger boost in sales.

BONUS: Use an abandoned cart email sequence. If you’re not doing this already, you should set it up before Black Friday anyway. It’s one of the easiest, most effective ways to boost your sales. Email service providers like Klaviyo make it effortless.

2. Go all-in for VIP customers 

Come up with bigger and better discount offers for your loyal customers. They are your VIPs and have stood with your business for the longest time you can remember. So, don’t be afraid to give them better offers during Black Friday.

And you even get something in return by giving them bigger offers. Research shows that VIP customers make up only 3-5% of your mailing list but spend three times more as much as the rest of your customers.

3. Build anticipation or pre-sale curiosity

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the entire campaign season are designed to spike sales through psychological triggers like scarcity and urgency. But instead of offering your deal on Black Friday, which all every other brand will be doing, be different and build anticipation and curiosity before the big day. 

You can achieve this by creating a teaser of an offer, your product, or a hashtag to track your pre-sale campaign. Use word combinations that spark curiosity but do not reveal everything. 

You can even have an Early Bird sale that starts the week before Black Friday. Set up an email opt-in page for people to sign up through. Then send the sale details early to that list. It spreads out the chaos of fulfillment and rewards your eager customers with early access.

4. Use hourly or daily flash sales

Instead of just offering a flat discount for the entire duration of the sale, you can keep things interesting and exciting with flash sales.

Flash sales are among the most popular Black Friday marketing strategies. It involves a short period with a high discount. Surprise your customers with interesting offers every hour or every day. In addition to increasing your customer base, flash sales can increase your sales by up to 35%.

You can make them even more exciting by telling customers they’ll be randomly announced throughout the sale on your Instagram stories. Keep them engaged and chomping at the bit to hear from you!    

5. Smarter social marketing to attract customers

With the advancement in technology, the number of social buyers is on the rise. In fact, research shows that there were about 80 million social buyers in the U.S. in 2020. So using smart social marketing to attract customers should be a no-brainer for you.

As your creating your email and SMS campaigns ahead of time, make sure you create your social media content too. Create content for organic posts and for paid ads. Even if you don’t have a big budget for ads, retargeting your website visitors is affordable and super effective.

6. Leverage hashtags to increase your brand visibility

Take advantage of Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram’s hashtags to increase your brand visibility and increase traffic to your website. Some of the hashtags that you can use include:

  • #BlackFridaySales
  • #BlackFridayDeals
  • #BlackFriday
  • #BlackFridayOffers
  • #BlackFridaySpecials
  • #BlackFriday2021
  • #BlackFridayDiscouns
  • #BlackFridayBestDeals

Research your direct and lateral competitors to see if there are any other industry-specific hashtags you should be using as well.

7. Optimize your website

This is an underrated but effective tip for boosting your Black Friday sales.

These are some things to try:

  • Add a “sticky banner” with the sale details and countdown timer
  • Feature the sale details on your homepage
  • Update all product pages with sale prices
  • Increase your site speed as much as possible
  • Add an exit-intent pop-up that offers an even better discount
  • Add free shipping over a certain dollar amount

8. Make the check-out process easy 

According to CNBC, an average U.S. consumer spends $5,400 each year on impulse buying. That means that by making your check-out process as easy as possible, you could end up with more sales generated through impulse buying. 

Reduce the on-site barriers a consumer has to go through to buy a product. For instance, a “One-click” buying removes the barriers of confirming personal details before making a purchase. You can enable One-click purchases through:

  • Paypal 
  • Shopify Pay
  • Android Pay
  • Apple Pay

And like I mentioned in the last section, add a free shipping option over a certain dollar amount. Unexpected shipping costs are the top reason for cart abandonment so the free shipping can nip that in the bud. Plus, it increases your average order value. Boom!

The Bottom Line

Black Friday can be your biggest sale of the year by implementing these tips. Use them and any other strategies you can think of. Go all out. Have fun. And make sure you tell your customers how much you appreciate them. That’s what the season of Thanksgiving is all about!

Oh, and don’t forget, all of these orders and sales mean you need to stay on top of your inventory and production. That’s where Fiddle comes in. Schedule a personalized demo to learn more.