Black Friday is Almost Here… Are You Ready?

Read Time: 4 minutes

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner.

Each year Billions of dollars are circulated through the market.

$9.2 Billion to be exact in 2022. Here’s a chart showing the growth of Online Sales on Black Friday.

Last year was actually a record-breaking year for online Black Friday sales and man did it show.

We ended up printing money for my clients, to the point that we sold out of a lot of products.

Today, I want to go over a few marketing strategies that I’m going to be utilizing this year and how you can implement them into your business.

Everyone’s Wallets are Open

Before I dive into the strategies I want to make something clear about this time of year.

Everyone during this time are “programmed” to spend money. Most importantly they are looking for a deal. It doesn’t even have to be something they necessarily want or are even thinking about.

The point is people are more likely to open their wallets at this time of year than any other time of year, which means you have an opportunity to sell a lot of what you are offering.

Let’s break down some of the strategies that I’m using this year.

Strategy #1: Upsells

Upsells are an offer that you put either into the checkout process or right after the checkout encouraging them to purchase, which then increases your total order value.

At this time the customer has already bought in and they are purchasing. If you present them with a really good deal at that exact moment they are more likely to add that item to their purchase. Especially if it’s heavily discounted.

If you want to see this in action check out Dr. Squatch here.

This is something you can utilize throughout the year but during the Black Friday weekend it’s a great way to offer an even better discount on one product to increase the order value.

On a practical note, if my client is using Shopify I personally use an app called Rebuy to set up all of my upsells.

Strategy #2: Gift Cards

Gift cards are a great way to bring in new orders for your business. Most of the time they are utilized by friends and family to give to a loved one at Christmas.

However, another way to look at Gift Cards is as a lead magnet.

Let’s say over Black Friday you offer gift cards at a steep discount. $30 gift cards for $15. Grandma gets a good deal when she purchases and her grandson gets a $30 gift card, but in order to get everything he wants he needs to spend $50 at your store.

A couple of things happened here:

1. You made $15 and didn’t have to ship anything or have any COGs.

2. There is a high likelihood that that gift card will never be used. Roughly 51% of people have unused gift cards.

3. If it is used they have to spend more to get everything they want.

4. Even if they don’t have to spend more to get everything they want, you are ultimately buying a new customer for $15. Then you can calculate in lifetime value of that customer.

Use Gift Cards as a lead magnet tool, not just an easy gift that people can use.

Strategy #3: Bundles

Bundling your products into one package is a great way to give a deal and make it easy for the person buying the gift.

Let’s unpack this marketing strategy a bit more.

Buying a gift for someone can be a bit tricky. Let’s say someone wants to buy their Dad a new razor for Christmas, but there is shaving cream, different blades, different containers, post-shave moisturizers, etc

What should they get? What will their Dad like?

It’s all a bit confusing, but let’s say you made 3 bundles and marketed them as:

1. Legendary Lumberjack: For the Outdoor Dads
2. Grizzly Guardian: For the Bear Hug Dads
3. Bourbon Brawler: For the Suave Dads

These bundles would only be available during Black Friday and would be discounted.

This cuts down on the decision-making for the customer (because you put everything they need into one bundle) and gives them an idea of which package would fit the style/type of their Dad.

All while increasing the average order value for your business.

In Closing

Black Friday is a great time of year to bring in a lot of sales for your business.

These are some of the strategies that I’m utilizing this year for my clients and I’m anticipating it being another huge year.

No matter your product or service you should be able to use one if not all of these strategies with your marketing.

The Short

1. Black Friday is coming up
2. People are ready to spend
3. Upsell to increase order value
4. Gift Cards to bring in leads
5. Bundles to cut down on confusion.