7 Black Friday success tips for businesses

Love it or hate it, Black Friday is one of the year’s biggest and most anticipated shopping events. It’s the perfect time for customers to bag big deals ahead of Christmas, and for businesses, it’s a golden marketing opportunity.

We take a look at how to prepare your business if you want to get involved.

1.   Plan for Black Friday well in advance

It’s never too early to start planning for an event as big as Black Friday. For many businesses, it’s one of their key annual events. That’s why you should begin preparations as early as possible. If you haven’t got around to it yet, don’t worry—there’s still time.

You need to decide which products to include in your Black Friday sale and what discounts to offer. A good place to start is to see what your competitors are doing. In this instance, your biggest competitor is Amazon.

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According to Statista research, most UK shoppers (59%) went straight to Amazon in 2023 to find the best Black Friday deals. For small businesses, though, it’ll be hard to compete with the e-commerce giant. So, establish realistic benchmarks by researching other brands of a similar size to see how they’re approaching Black Friday.

You should also assess your sales records to find the best-selling products. These are likely to be your Black Friday winners.

2.   Choose the right discount strategy

Shoppers will be looking for the best deals, but it’s not necessarily all about who can offer the cheapest price. There are numerous discount structures you can use to entice your audience, such as:

• Tiered pricing (e.g. 10% off when you spend £50, 15% when you spend £70, and so on)
• Quantity discounts (e.g. Buy one get one free)
• Free shipping on all orders
• Gift with purchase
• New customer offers (X% off your first order)

Also, you don’t have to commit to one discount strategy. Black Friday has evolved to span an entire weekend nowadays, with many brands participating in Cyber Monday, too.

So, you can stagger your offers and see what works best. However, be careful not to overcomplicate it or undercut any previous discounts, as this can confuse and frustrate consumers.

Remember that while it’s a sales event, it’s not purely about boosting revenue; you should consider what offers will generate the most value for your business and customers.

That said, it’s equally important to ensure your offers are competitive. Therefore, you should find a healthy balance between maintaining desired profit margins and gaining a competitive edge.

3.   Start communications early

Once you’ve buttoned down your strategy, start teasing your Black Friday offers a few weeks in advance (now). Get the ball rolling and build excitement with social media posts, email send outs, or in-store activity.

Communication should be regular but not overpowering—just enough to inform your customers that something exciting is coming. You should also create a sense of urgency to entice people to stay tuned for unmissable, limited-time deals.

And remember, work smarter, not harder. Take advantage of automation tools to keep communications prompt and organised. We recommend apps like Hootsuite for social media scheduling and Moosend and HubSpot for email marketing.

4.   Create a Black Friday landing page

We mentioned earlier that online shoppers tend to flock to Amazon first in search of great deals. However, search engines and retailer websites are the next two popular destinations.

With that in mind, we recommend creating a dedicated Black Friday landing page. That way, no matter how someone reaches your site, they’ll immediately see that you have exciting offers waiting for them.

In the run-up to the event, the landing page should invite users to sign up for notifications and early access deals they won’t want to miss. This is a great opportunity to capture valuable customer data for future marketing campaigns.

Make your offers prominent on the day (or days) of the event, explain how people can claim them (they should be easy to understand), and clarify when your deals are ending to persuade customers to bag them now.

A landing page will also assist with search engine optimisation (SEO), improving the chances of your website appearing higher in users’ search results (primarily on Google).

If you have a physical store

Black Friday is popular on the high street, too. So, if you have a physical store, advertise your upcoming offers with in-store points of sale (POS), such as bespoke posters, window displays, and leaflets that people can take away with them.

To maintain interest, it’s a good idea to implement QR codes into your in-store advertising that direct shoppers to your website. This allows them to find out more about your Black Friday deals after they leave the store, helps keep your brand at the forefront of their minds, and helps maximise sales.

5.   Prepare your website for a traffic surge

Your website will likely receive heavier traffic than normal, so preparing it for the extra load is essential.

Otherwise, if you present your online visitors with a website that loads slowly or crashes mid-purchase, they’ll quickly lose interest and spend their money elsewhere.

Here’s what you can do to prepare.

Facilitate a seamless customer journey

First, ensure a super smooth customer journey. Navigation menus should be crystal clear and easy to use, so visitors can find the deals they want quickly and easily.

The checkout process should also be swift, with multiple payment options, such as express checkout, Apple/Android Pay, and PayPal. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) methods are also useful, considering that half of UK adults use BNPL schemes as of 2024.

Autofill fields and guest checkout will speed things up and reduce dwell time.

A seamless user journey will ensure that people don’t linger on your website for too long, thus improving its speed. Faster websites also rank higher on search engines, which will help with your brand’s discoverability.

Optimise digital content

Analyse your website’s images, videos, code, widgets, and other elements to ensure they are optimised for speed. Reduce file sizes where possible, as this will significantly affect your website’s capabilities.

For maximum efficiency, start by focusing on your high-traffic pages. Find out which pages get the most views and optimise them first.

The type of device someone uses can also impact website speed. We recommend optimising your site for mobile, the most popular device for online shopping, as shown in the chart below.

It’s clear that desktop is still relevant and important, though, especially if your clientele is a little older. So, don’t neglect to optimise your website for this device if needed. But generally, mobile should be the priority.

Set up a virtual queue

If you run a larger, more established business, your traffic surge could be considerable on Black Friday. To help manage the influx, you could set up a virtual queue. This will help limit the amount of visitors at any one time and reduce the strain on your website.

6.   Ensure you have enough staff

It’s not just your website that will have a larger workload during Black Friday; your team will, too. To avoid overstretching and ensure that productivity and efficiency remain high, you need sufficient manpower.

We recommend opting for a call answering service like Bizik. With only a few weeks left until the big event, there isn’t much time to recruit and train new people. However, by outsourcing, you’ll ensure that you have the support your business needs, even at the last minute.

Also, if you need a hand only for Black Friday, there’s no need to hire permanent staff. Let us know what you need help with and how you’d like us to answer your calls, and we’ll be here for as long as you need us.

Most importantly, partnering with a call answering service means you don’t have to compromise on the quality of your customer support. Even at the busiest of times, our expert team can help you maintain high standards your callers won’t forget.

7.   Don’t forget about loyal customers

Black Friday is an excellent mechanic for acquiring new customers. As it’s a limited-time event, shoppers have less time to evaluate brands in detail, and the main focus is generally price and value. It is also one of the few times a year when people are more open to shopping with new brands if they offer the right deal.

But while growing your customer base is important, don’t forget your loyal customers. It might be tempting to focus your attention on newcomers, but Black Friday aside, nurturing existing relationships remains more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. They are what will drive long-term, sustainable business growth.

So, consider implementing an exclusive Black Friday deal for your existing customers. Again, this can be a simple discount code or another offer you think they’ll appreciate.

You should also adapt your marketing and communications in this instance with engaging, meaningful, and personalised copy that lets them know you value and appreciate their loyalty and support.

Get set for a successful Black Friday

The sheer scale of Black Friday can be daunting for first-timers. But don’t let that put you off participating in this enormous event, as there are many growth opportunities.

Namely, sales. This is ultimately the main objective. However, brand awareness and loyalty are other considerable benefits to taking part in Black Friday. Whether it’s your first or 10th time, stick with our top tips above to prepare your business for a successful sales weekend.