Five top post-Black-Friday marketing tactics

For better or worse, Black Friday is now a noteworthy fixture of the global ecommerce landscape. What used to be an exclusively American phenomenon caused by the liminal space between Thanksgiving and Christmas, has now become a global day of discounts, deals, and doubling down on your marketing efforts.

Since every online store is doing the same thing at this time of year, you’ll naturally feel like you have no choice but to join in. Plus, because of all the competition, you’ll need to really go hard to make an impact. This might make you reasonably ask, how hard can you really go for just one day? How do we keep the momentum going after Black Friday, into Christmas, and then on into the new year? Here are five key strategies you should consider.

1. Contingent follow-up discount

Follow-up discount emails are a common strategy all year round, and the statistics bear this out. 70% of people surveyed on the subject reported using an email discount in the previous week. 93% of people used an emailed discount code at least once in the previous year. Make Black Friday count for this by ensuring you send at least one follow-up email to every sale with a discount code included – optimum results suggest 2-3 emails work best. A first-order invites a 10% or 15% off discount code email a week or so down the line.

However, it is important that this is a discount code that can be applied to anything, not an email containing a selection of discounted products that are currently available. Research suggests that consumers associate discounted goods with reductions in quality or other negative connotations that reduce the overall likelihood of sales.

2. Points bonus

Loyalty schemes are excellent ways to turn short-term brand interaction into long-standing customer loyalty. By integrating new points account automatically into a customer’s first purchase – or offering an extra points bonus into existing accounts for buying on/around Black Friday, you naturally incentivise future purchases. You also give another reason to keep the customer interaction going long after Black Friday has passed.

A time limit associated with the usage of these points can also be valuable to add a sense of urgency to proceedings, but this needs to be calculated carefully. Too short, and your customer will think of it as stingy and the kind of offer that can be easily dismissed. Too long, and it becomes marketing background noise that feels as though it is always available and consequently never gets used.

3. Target adjacent audience

There is a very good chance that your most directly targeted audience already saw all the marketing emails, social media posts, and other targeted advertisements you put up on-around Black Friday. Instead of trying to continuously search after a finite resource, whose patience might be stretched thin seeing the same brand pop up too often in their feeds etc, the post-Black Friday season might be a good time to look for a new audience.

There is a multitude of means to do this. Changing the tone/style/content focus of your social media is among the most obvious. Targeting different search keywords is another. A third could be holding off on approaching marketing on an entirely different platform or format until after the Black Friday storm has passed. After all, you don’t want your consumer’s perception of you to be that you’re just adding to the commercial noise this time of year generates. To be distinctive, it might be wise to have an entirely separate strategy formulated for adjacent audiences launching after the Black Friday madness has ended.

4. Offer discounts/points for reviews

Reviews are always a key component of any kind of marketing outreach for a variety of reasons. They provide keystone quotes that can be peppered into prominent places around the website. They direct engagement which can then in turn be redirected elsewhere for more sales. They also create indicative content which tells other users that your business is busy, implying reliability and wider value.

To make the most of this kind of content, you need to incentivise reviews as best as possible. Offering discounts, free shipping tokens, or multi-buy advantages to customers that leave useful and user-friendly reviews is a great way to do this. While you have to be clear about how your review incentive structure works for transparency’s sake, when managed correctly this will likely only grow client and customer trust. You can cultivate participation and passion among the people who buy what you bring to the marketplace. This kind of boost to your overall online presence can only do you good things, especially after Black Friday.

5. One-click ordering for new accounts

Black Friday is a great opportunity for a whole host of first-time customers to find your website, make a purchase, and give you the chance to turn them into loyal ongoing consumers. As new accounts are formed, in-built browser systems that record and autofill passwords will naturally make the overall purchasing process easier. However, you can go one step further.

One-click ordering options for all your new account members is a great way to make the Black Friday effect last and linger over the next few months. Make the most of the wave of new interest this season of commercialism has brought, and make it even easier for people to purchase what they might want next. This method is especially effective when combined with many of the other strategies above.

Let OrderWise help

Black Friday means there’s a lot to organise. We often think of the build up and the day itself, but implementing these streamlining systems, organising marketing outreach, and delivering everyone’s discount code could be very difficult. That is why your business needs OrderWise. An ERP and WMS system that integrates and enhances every aspect of your operation. From CRM to courier integration and everything in between, OrderWise empowers you to deliver the exceptional ecommerce experience everyone expects these days. Speak to a specialist to discover more.