What to avoid during Black Friday; Tips for eCommerce professionals

Black Friday; the single most popular day for online shopping is closer than one may think! Ε-shop administrators are thus required to get their stores ready for Black Friday early in advance, so as to maximize their sales. Especially online stores, where competition has been particularly intense lately, thorough preparation and organization are required in a timely manner, in order to avoid potential unforeseen circumstances.

Besides best practices that can definitely make your Black Friday profits skyrocket, there is a series of practices that you should avoid at all costs, in order to lead every user to complete their purchases without a doubt about your e-shop’s credibility and reliability.

Some practices you should refrain from while preparing for Black Friday are the following;

1. Do not dismiss any communication funnel
Social media, search engines, SMS marketing, and newsletters are just a few of the multiple channels through which Black Friday offers can be communicated. Some of those are ideal to create salience for your brand and thus remind past shoppers of your e-shop as a perfect choice for their Black Friday shopping, while others focus on attracting brand new consumers.

In any case, you are encouraged to communicate your online store’s Black Friday offers via all means available, so as to increase the prospects of new sales to the largest extent possible. You should also try to make good use of the data you have gathered from past campaigns, and adjust your brand messaging according to each medium’s demographics.

2. Avoid lack of information and hidden costs
Every e-shop must clearly and coherently display its purchase, delivery, and return policies. This very type of information is crucial to users, as they tend to search for them prior to going through with their purchase.

Subsequently, lack of information, as well as additional costs hidden in the fine print will most certainly backfire, as it will create a feeling of disappointment for the consumers, leading a significant percentage of them to become quite hesitant about their purchase – not just during Black Friday, but in general, as well. Place this useful information in a prominent place on your e-shop, so consumers are able to easily spot them.

3. Do not overcomplicate user experience
User interface and experience are the single most important factors for every website, let alone ones that offer online purchases. Functions such as online payments and order completion must be implemented in a fast and timely manner, so as to avoid cases such as cart abandonment, which tends to appear as a consequence of dysfunctional, difficult to use e-shops.

In this context, you should make sure that your e-shop is both functional and fast in loading, while opting for an aesthetically pleasing interface and maximal responsiveness across all devices, thus leading to a simple and easy experience – all of which are essential to beat your significant competition during Black Friday.

4. Do not underestimate technical optimization
Each e-shop’s technical aspects are extremely important. Think of them as the “back office” of your e-shop. As the volume of visitors to the e-shop will skyrocket on Black Friday, it is extremely important that its technical background is able to cope with this “traffic” and that all users are able to browse undisturbed.

If you want to make sure that your e-shop is technically strong, try using website optimization tools. In this way, you can ensure that your e-shop will be able to handle Black Friday’s traffic frenzy, thus avoiding malfunctions such as slower loading and website crashes.

5. Do not go over the top with your Black Friday offers
Black Friday is, arguably, your e-shop’s best shot to achieve a significant sales boost, while spreading awareness towards brand new audiences. While Black Friday strategy ought to be thorough and specific, one thing you should definitely avoid is bombarding your audience with current or upcoming offers.

Black Friday-related SMS marketing and newsletter activities, for instance, must be frequent yet moderate, so as to avoid tiring prospect shoppers and leading to completely opposite than desired results.

To sum up, Black Friday stands out as one of the prime chances for your online store to boost sales and attract new customers. By putting these tactics into action, you will not only provide a superior shopping experience for your clientele but also nurture enduring relationships with them, ultimately leading to overall success for your brand.

Consumers prefer e-shops that make shopping as easy as it can be. By striving for that, you will be able to cultivate long-term relationships with them, thus setting up your brand for success!