Boost Black Friday Online Sales With These In-Store Techniques

Black Friday is now an online event. Last year, 105 million consumers shopped online during Black Friday, surpassing the 99.1 million that shopped in stores.
The holiday is ripe with opportunity to draw in new and repeat customers, and you need only make a few changes to your current digital advertising to entice consumers to spend. Start by trying some of the marketing tactics used by brick-and-mortar stores.

1. Craft an experience.

In retail, customers know when there’s a sale, thanks to advertising and signage. E-commerce sites need to use omnichannel marketing to reflect special offers, holiday sales, and seasonal themes. Add holiday symbols to your text messages, change the background colors of your landing pages, add holiday icons to your mobile app, or change the images on your Facebook page.

2. Schedule ads to appear earlier and later in the day. 

Stores that stay open on Thanksgiving know that, for many shoppers, accessibility plays a big role in sales. Just as consumers who work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. appreciate the convenience of being able to shop on their days off work, your marketing should take customers’ schedules into consideration. Try sending ads before and after traditional work hours, when consumers can actually shop from the comfort of their homes, then analyze the metrics.

3. Create new arrangements.

Retail stores take their cues from the seasons and holidays, regularly changing displays and spotlight products. The same should be true for your website and app, with ads pushing seasonally focused items. Create a landing page just for your Black Friday promotions to keep things fresh and timely for your visitors.

4. Get personal.

Remember when retail stores were known for their personalized service? Consumers still long for those days when they felt their individual needs were being met. The same is true for online shoppers, and targeting can add to the feeling that they’re more than just an email address. Segment your audiences based on past behaviors, including purchases, items they’ve viewed, and when they’ve shopped.

Don’t lose out on Black Friday profits. Model your marketing after physical stores to reap the benefits of this biggest shopping weekend of the year.