The success of your Black Friday/Cyber Monday marketing strategy relies heavily on setting strong foundations months in advance.
Whether you run a retail business or manage the marketing for Shopify business owners, this streamlined checklist will help you capture sales, manage traffic and keep customers happy during the biggest shopping event of the year.
Why you need to get started early
Shoppers are already talking about Black Friday deals as early as September, and 51% say they want access to Black Friday discounts a month before November. From as early as April, buyers are building wishlists and hunting for the best sales, ready to hit ‘Buy Now’ the moment Black Friday sales kick-off.
Advertising competition is fierce so getting started early puts you front and center when your audience is ready to buy. Position your brand early as the one-stop gift-buying destination, and you’ll be off to a running start.
So, what do you need to do to capitalize? Here are 26 steps that will set up your business for Black Friday success. It all starts with laying the groundwork. Let’s dive in.
Preparation and strategy
How can you tap into the heart of your target audience to find out what they really want from you this Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend?
Tap into social listening
Imagine if your customers told you explicitly which Black Friday marketing campaigns they want to see from you in advance. What would this mean for your revenue targets? Well, these conversations are already happening online, and social listening tools like Sprout Social and Brand Watch can help you tap in to get detailed data like:
- What people are saying about your brand – See real-time conversations and sentiment (positive, neutral or negative) around your brand.
- What your audience cares about – Discover customer pain points, preferences and trending topics they’re interested in.
- How your competitors are performing – Learn what people are saying about competitors and identify gaps you can fill.
- Who your audience is – Get insights on demographics, interests and behavior patterns to connect better.
- How campaigns are landing – Track the success of your marketing efforts and gather feedback to improve.
Redditors making predictions on what will go on sale on the Google Store this Black Friday.
Dive into trends and social chatter. Identify what people are buzzing about — this can give you ideas for timely deals and unique and interesting ways to position your products.
Review last year’s winning campaigns
Look at Black Friday marketing campaigns that did well last year. Not just among your competitors but across the board. What made them so successful?
Barnes and Noble ran special signed editions on Black Friday for book lovers.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your previous campaigns against those that captured the hearts — and wallets — of target audiences online.
Conduct a thorough competitor analysis
Take the time to dive into what your competitors are doing. Don’t just glance at their campaigns, instead analyze the types of products they are promoting, the way they are promoting them and what deals they are running to do so.
Look at their strengths and weaknesses and identify gaps they aren’t filling. These insights can help you benchmark your own efforts and sharpen your strategy.
Set clear KPIs
Set goals that align your marketing results with your overall business goals. If you’re looking to drive profitability, you might track metrics like Profit on Ad Spend (POAS). For example, you might like to aim for a $2 POAS on every $1 spent on advertising.
If you want to track the efficiency of your marketing as you go, track your Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER). The type of KPIs you set will also be largely driven by whether you’re focusing more on brand or performance marketing this Black Friday/Cyber Monday. So setting these KPIs early will help you define the types of campaigns you’ll run, when they’ll start and how long they’ll run for.
Stay flexible; if a campaign or channel underperforms, adjust in real-time based on benchmarks and live data to make sure every dollar spent is working toward your objectives.
Run a data audit
Conduct a complete data audit to evaluate how you measure and report on your marketing outcomes. What’s working? What isn’t?
Use tools like marketing mix modeling (MMM) to establish benchmarks and multi-touch attribution (MTA) to analyze customer touchpoints. Add incrementality testing (IC) to the mix so you can triangulate your true campaign impact.
Important questions to ask when running your audit include:
- Can you access the data you need when you need it?
- Can you trust the data enough to pivot quickly, or do you need to centralize insights first?
Decide where you’ll track your data — spreadsheets or dashboards — and how to aggregate it for real-time decisions. Black Friday may last a weekend, but staying agile lets you extend the sales momentum through Christmas and the New Year. Adapt fast to maximize results!
You can get set up and model your data quickly with Funnel, a no-code, easy-to-use platform with near-limitless data measurement and reporting capabilities.
Our Data Hub enables you to access high-quality insights when you need them with its unique non-destructive data transformation. You also have the largest library of marketing connectors at your fingertips and stable data connections thanks to our intelligent management of APIs. It’s unbreakable data, just in time for the holidays.
Your data hub acts as your source of truth for making data-informed decisions on the fly.
Clean up your lists and audiences
To make sure you’re reaching your audience across channels, make sure your email lists and ad audiences are cleaned up:
- Refresh your lists and audiences to boost deliverability and engagement during the holidays.
- Remove bounced or inactive email addresses to improve open rates and avoid spam filters.
- Segment audiences to tailor deals to their preferences, increasing conversion potential.
- Update customer data to reach the right people at the right time.
Keeping your lists warm and engaged helps your campaigns stand out in crowded inboxes and drive better results during the holiday rush.
Set your baselines
Start by reviewing last year’s performance — what worked, what didn’t and where you can improve? Use these insights to establish realistic benchmarks for your sales and engagement this year.
With clear baselines, you’ll be able to discern whether your Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaigns contributed to your results or if you would have made those sales anyway.
Set budgets for platforms that drive the most traffic and conversions
With the insights you’ve gathered, determine which channels are going to drive the best results based on your KPIs and baselines. Set your budgets in advance. Then, allocate more resources to these channels to maximize reach and engagement.
Optimize your site to manage the added traffic load
Make sure your website is optimized to handle increased traffic and sales:
- Check your website speed using a tool like GTMetrix, which will grade your site performance.
GTMetrix provides a report on your site’s performance with suggestions you can give to your developers.
- Optimize your site to an A Grade on your GTMetrix report.
- Then aim to keep your site performing at that level under heavy traffic.
- Optimize shopping for all devices — especially mobile.
- Simplify checkout with fewer steps and multiple payment options.
- Use real-time stock updates to avoid overselling.
- Protect customer data with updated SSL and security protocols.
Optimize your site SEO to drive more traffic
You’ll want to make sure your sales pages and online storefronts are as optimized as possible to maximize conversions. Take steps like:
- Using keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions for landing pages to improve your appearance in search.
- Optimize product descriptions with relevant keywords and clear benefits.
- Improve your site structure to make navigation and indexing simple.
- Add alt text to images for better search visibility.
- Regularly update your content to keep it fresh and relevant — and keep Google’s relevance and recency algorithm happy.
Create contingency plans
Run risk analysis and prepare your contingency plans. Consider things like:
- What happens if stock runs low early?
- What if ad costs blow out?
- What if your sales page crashes?
- How will customers pay if one of your methods fails?
- How will guests pay if they don’t want to create an account?
Proactively addressing these risks keeps your campaigns running smoothly, no matter what challenges arise.
Campaign development and execution
Keep sustainability top of mind
Shoppers today are using their purchasing power to support brands aligned with their values. Keep sustainability and ethical practices front and center as consumers are actively seeking greener solutions.
For example, Amazon highlights 75% recycled plastics and 90% recycled magnesium in their new Kindles, with 99% of the packaging sourced from sustainable or recycled materials.
Amazon promotes the use of recycled materials in its new range of Kindles to target eco-conscious readers.
This Black Friday, Lush Cosmetics supports reforestation efforts with its Orangutan Soap.
Highlight your brand’s values to resonate with your conscious shoppers and make a meaningful impact.
Soft launch teaser campaigns
Start building buzz with teaser campaigns and pre-launch offers across your channels to engage early birds and warm up your list.
Engage with online communities relevant to your niche to get shoppers talking. You can run exclusive sneak-peek previews with early access offers and countdowns to Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.
Michael Kors offers an early access sneak peek of their new Lita Crossbody handbag.
Build excitement while getting early insights to fine-tune your campaigns before the big rush.
Get featured on curated lists
Take some of the heavy lifting off your marketing team by featuring your products in curated wishlists in relevant magazines, like this curated list in Women’s Health.
Curated wishlists make Black Friday purchasing simple for shoppers.
Take a look at the types of lists that ran last year and try to get featured in 2024, or even create your own.
Help your loyal customers skip the queue
Gym Shark knows what matters most to their audience: curating a list of what they want and making purchases as simple as possible.
Gym Shark allows existing customers to make their wishlists in advance to skip the queue on Black Friday.
Add some festive flair to your channels
Update your homepage with seasonal flair. A seasonal refresh on your website can make the shopping experience more enjoyable and highlight any special promotions.
Sephora promotes its festive season deals above the fold on its home page.
Make the buying experience as seamless as possible whether it's with on-platform shopping or through your online store.
Incorporate AI for 24/7 sales support
Consider adding chatbots to assist with real-time support. Generative AI can help answer common questions and guide Black Friday shoppers through checkout. It’s a smart way to keep people engaged and provide 24/7 sales support.
Sephora runs 24/7 customer support to guide shoppers to the products they want.
Take advantage of emerging trends
Beat your competition by leveraging new trends. Influencer marketing and social commerce are changing the way shoppers buy. These marketing tactics can keep people on-channel for as long as possible rather than having users click away (zero-click).
TikTok makes it possible for shoppers to interact with and purchase products during live shopping events.
Partner with influencers who align with your brand to build trust and reach wider audiences. These people are already discussing products like yours, and you can tap into the potential by ensuring your brand is mentioned.
Lock in your return policies
While your goal is obviously to make sales rather than returns, by making returns hassle-free you build trust. An easy return policy highlighted right below the ‘Buy’ button can get hesitant buyers over the line.
But make sure the process is straightforward and clearly communicated so it’s easy for your team to manage. It should integrate with your inventory system and shouldn’t inflate your revenue figures.
If you’re working within Shopify, you’ll find setting up returns is simple.
Performance optimization
Tap into customer behavior to increase cart value
Use customer behavior data to suggest relevant products and boost cart value. Offer upsells and cross-sells based on what your customers are looking for and what they’ve bought in the past.
Etsy uses customer behavior info under CTA buttons to create a sense of scarcity and urgency.
Set up automated reminders
Don’t let abandoned carts go to waste. Black Friday/Cyber Monday falls across Thanksgiving weekend. People are busy and carts get forgotten. Send quick, enticing notifications during the promo period, sweetened with special deals and offers to seal the deal.
A timely nudge with an exclusive offer can turn “maybe later” into “Buy Now.” Because they are automated you can boost your Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales effortlessly.
Use customer service insights to optimize on the fly
What kinds of questions are your chatbots and customer service team fielding? Use these
to spot patterns and friction points so you can respond proactively. Update your landing pages with answers to common questions as you get them to increase sales while taking the pressure off your customer service team.
Review real-time heatmaps
Heatmap tools like Hotjar and Crazy Egg can show you where customers are clicking and where they drop off.
HotJar uses color heat maps to show you where your audience is clicking and where they stop reading.
Use this data to adjust your layout and move CTA placements for conversions.
A/B test multiple versions of your sales pages
Relying on one version of your sales page in 2024 is like running a race with one shoe — you might make it across the finish line, but you’re seriously limiting your potential.
Use heatmap data to create test variations. From button colors to headers and layouts, dynamic testing is built into most e-commerce solutions and will help you uncover what resonates most with your audience for faster conversions.
Post-campaign growth and follow-up
Review your numbers
Analyze your data and evaluate your performance against your KPIs and business objectives.
What worked? What didn’t? Bring your team together for a collaborative session to discuss outcomes and document lessons learned. Use this opportunity to create a culture of continuous improvement and refine your strategies for better results next time. Make sure this is all well documented so you can be better informed next year.
Kick-off dedicated post-campaign retargeting
Run dedicated post-campaign retargeting to turn “window shoppers” into loyal customers with strategic Christmas and New Year campaigns:
- Target Black Friday shoppers with exclusive holiday shopping season discounts or a free gift with purchase.
- Invite back existing customers with stock alerts for previously unavailable items or follow up on abandoned carts with added incentives like free shipping.
- Highlight seasonal bundles tailored to past browsing or purchase history, like “Holiday Must-Haves” or “New Year Starter Packs.”
These targeted email marketing campaigns and retargeting ads keep your brand top of mind and drive conversions throughout the extended holiday season.
Funnel is the method to your Black Friday madness
While the holiday season may be chaotic, Funnel keeps you cool, calm and in control. With our Data Hub, you can automatically collect, monitor and report all your ad platform data in real time — no waiting until the New Year to see what worked.
Get started with Funnel and bring some method to the Black Friday madness.