Black Friday has now become a regular event for all companies: thanks to the great attention given to the event for the past few years, consumers are particularly receptive to deals and opportunities to discover new brands.
But are we really sure that all that glitters is gold?
In fact, we often fail to mention some factors that could turn a promotion campaign into a real boomerang for your company. Possible errors in evaluation, elements that are sometimes overlooked, or even new consumer priorities that turn the tables.
So in this article we want to tell you about the 8 things not to do for an effective Black Friday strategy!
Mistake 1: Neglecting technology costs
If your business operates primarily online, or if you have an e-commerce business, it is very likely that your Black Friday campaigns will be channeled through digital channels. Running a website or e-commerce business requires a high level of attention and cybersecurity, particularly when handling payments and customer financial data.
On occasions such as Black Friday, the huge growth in online traffic exposes individuals and businesses to risks that should not be underestimated. Therefore, when developing a website, landing page or when activating a traffic campaign to an e-commerce website, it is necessary to take these possible critical issues into account.
One of the most common risks is hacker attacks, which are increasingly numerous and sophisticated, with disastrous consequences for both brand reputation and loss of consumer trust.
In many cases, the simplest solution is to rely on third-party applications developed specifically to handle payments in complete security. However, such a choice requires a very careful analysis of the various options available on the market, and the costs of the applications may be high. Finally, the presence of third-party components on your website could make it more complex to manage, especially during high traffic periods such as Black Friday.
Another element to consider is the cost required to collect and manage your customers’ information in compliance with regulations. With increasingly stringent privacy regulations and laws, such as GDPR and CCPA, the consequences for not effectively protecting user data have become more serious and costly. For example, a 2018 data leak cost British Airways a whopping $230 million fine.
In general then, overlooking the high levels of complexity involved in website management is one of the most common mistakes when planning a Black Friday strategy. Our advice, therefore, is to better inform yourself about the technical requirements of a business like yours, and turn to web development experts like Instilla.
Mistake 2: Losing sight of the customer journey
It may have happened to you, too, on occasions such as Black Friday, that you browse through offers on various sites at different times of the day, switching from one device to another depending on the situation.
This phenomenon, called the “Black Friday Bounce,” is closely related to the nonlinear nature of online customer journeys: nowadays, it is unthinkable to disregard users’ multichannel fruition. According to Criteo’s data, this trend is now the norm for many shoppers, and it becomes even more evident during Black Friday, when people are driven to do a lot of research and comparisons before completing their purchase.
The risk here is to develop a strategy that is overly focused on one channel (e.g., Google Search listings), without taking into account the other touchpoints from which conversion might come. Adding to the already great challenge of being relevant to consumers in an extremely competitive environment is the difficulty of having to track the many touchpoints and devices used by each individual user.
The solution is in two words: integrated strategy. When designing a Black Friday campaign, remember to always keep in mind the possible customer journeys of your target audience. Each activity that will be developed should therefore be declined on each touchpoint, and convey a consistent message across the board. Technology implementations should also follow this principle: by linking shopping carts on your mobile site, app and desktop you will, for example, allow shoppers to easily pick up where they left off.
READ ALSO: Black Friday: a social strategy to tame it and boost sales
Mistake 3: Not effectively leveraging data
It might seem like an obvious one, but it makes sense to remember: not taking advantage of all the data collected during Black Friday to increase your database and build customer loyalty would really be a wasted opportunity!
In fact, during the discount period, you have the opportunity to collect purchase data and contact information, as well as reviews and suggestions from many more consumers than usual.
All this information can later be leveraged to set up retargeting advertising campaigns, with several very important objectives:
- Attempt to convert all those who visited the page without purchasing into customers
- To have the purchase completed in the case of an abandoned shopping cart
- Do upsells on those who have purchased, but may be interested in other products
- Retain new customers with special offers
Demonstrate attention to customer satisfaction by offering assistance
Mistake 4: Falling into the “tunnel of discounts”
When planning a Black Friday campaign, it is important to carefully evaluate the benefits, but also the possible costs, of the promotions introduced. Launching overly aggressive offers, or a large number of them, certainly has the advantage of bringing stores and e-commerce an increase in immediate sales.
At the same time, however, as Bloomberg explains, this strategy could cause losses or negative implications from an earnings perspective in the medium term. This is because, between Black Friday, Christmas discounts and year-end sales, stores are facing a long period of sales with reduced margins.
In addition, Black Friday discounts tend to attract mostly customers with little connection to the brand, who often buy more for the savings opportunity than because they are really interested in the specific product. In terms of Lifetime Value, this basically means customers who are less profitable in the long run and more likely to choose other brands in case of better deals.
The most drastic solution is to skip Black Friday altogether, focusing on other sales opportunities. Our advice, on the other hand, is to consider a more judicious and conservative approach to new customers, instead reserving the cheapest discounts for regular customers.
Mistake 5: Damaging brand image
Online consumers have now become extremely attentive and conscious toward what is offered to them. Even on Black Friday, there are numerous tools available to monitor discounts by detecting any “fake deals” by brands.
A very common trend, especially on platforms such as Amazon, is to raise the price of a product before important sales periods and then introduce a discount. In fact, according to data, only 1 percent of Black Friday discounts represent the lowest price achieved by the item over the course of the year.
Such techniques are certainly not new, and varying the price according to the time of year can certainly be an effective way to increase sales. If, however, discounts exceed a certain credibility threshold, they could be perceived by the customer as an attempt to scam and thus be discarded out of hand. At the same time, your brand reputation would also be damaged, and this could bring more harm than good in the long run.
Mistake 6: Conforming to the masses
The most immediate reason for taking advantage of special events such as Black Friday is the potential increase in sales. Often overlooked, however, is the fact that simply activating offers does not guarantee a (significant) increase in sales, such as to justify the cost of the campaign.
In fact, to make the strategy truly effective, it is necessary to be able to stand out from the mass of ads that overwhelm every user during this period, and to highlight the uniqueness of your brand compared to the competition. Black Friday thus also turns into an excellent opportunity to increase brand awareness, make your values and mission known.
Here are some examples of brands that have been able to get noticed with out-of-the-box campaigns:
- Amazon is a brand whose image is often associated with convenience and discounts. With its “Home of Black Friday” campaign, the e-commerce giant launched pop-up stores reminding users to go through the Amazon website to look for the best Black Friday deals.
- Patagonia is now known for its choice not to make deals during the event, instead launching campaigns to discourage purchases. In 2016, the outdoor clothing brand had even chosen to donate 100 percent of the profits made during the day to charity. A move that brought considerable visibility, reinforcing its image as a sustainable brand.
- The popular board game Cards Against Humanity came up with a real anti-offer for Black Friday in 2015: users could pay $5, without receiving anything in return. All the money raised (as much as $71,145) was then donated to charity.
Mistake 7: Forgetting the value of sustainability
Between consumerism and waste, Black Friday is now also one of the most controversial events of the year. With the growing attention of people and organizations to the importance of protecting the environment and reducing unnecessary consumption, many companies are following that path pioneered several years ago by brands such as Patagonia.
According to experts, the leverage of discounts pushes consumers to buy even things they don’t really need, at a time in history when human impact on the environment should be reduced rather than incentivized.
At the same time, the more importance the event gains, the harder it becomes to stay out of it-that is why many brands that cannot or do not want to enter this mechanism decide to turn this choice into a real positioning.
On the other hand, putting sustainability at the center of your business choices is not only right in itself, but can also be particularly effective in strategic terms. According to experts, a new demographic segment called the “perennial” is emerging, consisting of all those people who, beyond their age, experience the opportunities and problems of the contemporary world with great involvement. Here, to be truly loved by perennials, a company must act in accordance with a purpose (purpose), and sustainability is one of the most important and kept in mind.
In general, the advice is to consider whether such an approach may be the best fit for your company and your target audience, and choose accordingly whether to take advantage of the Black Friday opportunity to take a clear stance on it.
READ ALSO: E-commerce and UX: user-proof shopping experiences.
Mistake 8 (in conclusion): wanting to be there at all costs
As we have repeatedly anticipated in the previous paragraphs, the biggest mistake we can make when planning a Black Friday strategy is to act without thinking. When a company chooses to go a certain route just because that’s what everyone does, the least risk is to be indistinguishable from its competitors.
In the worst case, as we have seen, deciding to launch into a Black Friday campaign without considering all the long-term effects can even be a negative boomerang for your company. Other times, however, the strongest choice in terms of positioning is just not to be there, or to make a campaign that reverses the logic of the event.
How to avoid mistakes during Black Friday?
Well, the wisest answer is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. You need to analyze, internally or with the help of digital marketing experts like Instilla, the pros and cons of each activity, and thus make a truly strategic choice.
