Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! We’ve compiled a list of our go-to optimisations for ensuring your website isn’t just prepared for the influx of Black Friday shoppers, but also ready to keep them engaged and buying!  ‍

1. Consider The Placement of Your Sales Messaging

When it comes to Black Friday, a single sales banner isn’t going to cut it. Having a big announcement front and centre on your home page is great, but what about shoppers coming from search engines who land directly on product pages? Make sure you have sale banners and messages across your whole site. From discount code reminders, to announcement bars that stay visible on every page, to even the addition of cart messaging, the key to Black Friday is consistency and persistence. ‍

2. Implement Upselling And Cross-Selling

Black Friday is all about incentivising customers with savings. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the increase in your website traffic to sell non sale items, too. You just need to be smart about it. Try recommending non-sale items that compliment your big ticket savers, or create bundles as ‘frequently bought together’ suggestions. You should also think carefully about how you present both your sale and non-sale items. Grouping them together in complementary bundles can help maintain a sense of balance and avoid overwhelming your customer, all while giving you a chance to increase the average value of your orders.‍

3. Make Your Free Shipping Threshold Clear

During Black Friday, a lot of your products are going to be cheaper than usual. While this is a great incentive to encourage customers to purchase, it has the knock on effect of making a free shipping threshold harder to reach. Make sure to clearly display how much you need to spend in order to receive free shipping across your website in order to keep the customer on track. This is also a good chance to encourage upselling too. If a customer is only £5 away from receiving free shipping, they’re likely to add something to their basket to reach that goal. Even during the biggest sale of the year, people love an extra saving!‍

4. Review Your Navigation Structure

Make sure your sale section is prominently featured on your website, adding to the UX journey on your site. Shoppers are more inclined to browse when they can easily find what they want. And trust us, on Black Friday, shoppers want savings! The larger your sale, the more important this is. It can be incredibly useful to have separate sections for people to filter through, especially if you’re a high volume store, rather than having just one large collection page, which can cause people to lose interest a lot faster. ‍

5. Utilise Product Badges

Product badges are an excellent way to draw attention to your sale items, and help them stand out amidst what can be an overwhelming sea of savings. Use them to highlight various different types of promotions, such as time-sensitive deals or products that are likely to sell out soon. It’s also important to consider the placement of these badges. Make sure they’re prominently placed, easy to read and are visible across all device types. These badges are an opportunity to grab your customer's attention, so take advantage of it!

Badges can be designed and affixed manually, or you can use an app from the Shopify App Store. The above example is from Product Badges & Labels Pro.

6. Create a Dedicated Landing Page‍

By having a dedicated landing page for your Black Friday sale, you’re providing a centralised location for your customer to browse all sale items. Many people shopping during Black Friday aren’t looking for a particular product, but rather, a particularly good deal! By giving them a space in which they can browse your entire sale section together, you’re more likely to catch their interest with different savings.

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Black Friday isn’t just about who can provide the biggest savings. It’s about ensuring your customers enjoy a seamless and engaging shopping experience while trying to provide big savings. By implementing these tips and tricks, and fine-tuning your plan well in advance, you can maximise your Black Friday impact not just for the holiday, but for the future too. Remember, a happy customer is often a repeat customer.

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Looking for more help with your strategy? Just get in touch. The only thing we love more than planning Black Friday? Celebrating a successful one, of course.