Retail websites face major competition when preparing for Black Friday in ecommerce. According to a blog on WPForms, a WordPress Form Builder, there are nearly 24 million ecommerce websites worldwide. This number is increasing rapidly. Ecommerce platforms must put in extra effort surrounding Black Friday to capture and convert customers. Spend Me Not, a finance insight providing organization, concluded that 30% of all retail sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. In preparation for Black Friday, ecommerce websites must be optimized to avoid losing customers over preventable issues. Marketing strategies alone are not enough to ensure customers.
13 Black Friday Ecommerce Optimization Strategies to Implement This Year:
Here is a list of Black Friday ecommerce website preparation strategies that we believe you should implement this year for a successful Black Friday retail season:
1. Test Website for Heavy Traffic
Ecommerce websites receive an abundance of traffic as soon as Black Friday sales begin. Therefore, prepare your website for heavy traffic by testing it beforehand. Here is how you can test your website:
-Simulate Real User Test Cases
Consider simulating the following test cases for real users to check if your website will handle heavy holiday traffic or not.
- Test buttons that are used infrequently. Some key buttons to test are “Back”, “Delete from Cart”, “Add Discount Coupon”, and other similar ones.
- Visit your website via multiple browsers and devices at once.
- Perform load testing by operating your website with different geolocations.
- Load test any third party APIs that you are using.
There are multiple tools available to test your website. They collect data about the web crawlers, browser extensions, and ISPs that visit your website. Here is a list of the best tools to test your website:
- SemRush
- UberSuggest
- SimilarWeb
These tools provide a lot of information in their free versions. However, for detailed insights, consider purchasing their premium versions.
-Implement and Test Virtual Private Server Hosting
Purchase a virtual private server (VPS) hosting plan if you need to upgrade your hosting. A VPS is cheaper than a dedicated server, but provides you with similar benefits. Make sure to test the hosting services, and make a backup plan with the server hosts. Don’t forget to test it multiple times before Black Friday arrives.
Get a detailed look into “How to Test an E-Commerce Platform” with our guide.
2. Optimize Website Speed
Unbounce, a marketing tool provider, concludes in a 2019 study that nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer. Here are some tips to optimize your website’s speed:
-Speed Up Load Times
Every second that a customer spends waiting on your website to load brings them closer to abandoning their cart. Here is how to avoid long page load times:
- Use Google’s PageSpeed Insight tool to get the complete picture of your website’s health.
- Minimize your website’s design and ensure that lazy loading is implemented.
- Enable browser caches.
-Reduce Redirects
Redirecting can slow down a consumer’s shopping process. Therefore, it is better to avoid redirects when possible. Here is how to identify and reduce redirects on your website:
- Enable only necessary plugins on your website.
- Utilize a redirect scanning tool to check for redirects that lead to old, irrelevant, or deleted pages.
-Enable Compression
Compressing images and videos on your website will improve your website’s speed. Cross check multiple times to ensure there are no graphics or walls of texts that are too heavy.
-Improve Server Response Time
Server response time plays a vital role in fetching and delivering information from and to the website. Here is how you can improve server response time:
- Optimize databases.
- Reduce the size of scripts.
- If you are using WordPress, keep it lightweight.
- Above all else, use a reliable hosting service.
3. Optimize Website UI/UX
User experience is the key to keeping website visitors interested in your website. According to a statistic by Startup Bonsai, a software service provider, 88% of consumers are less likely to return to a site with bad UX. This is why every website’s UI needs to be refreshed before the arrival of Black Friday. Here are a few things to keep in mind while working on your website’s interface:
-Improve Content
Content is king. Content helps with SEO and converts the customers. Improve your content with the following tips:
- Optimize your keywords and key phrases to reach a good position on search engines.
- Make sure all product related information is updated.
- Deliver information concisely and efficiently.
- Don’t bore your visitors with walls of text.
Buttons are an essential way to get your customers to the checkout page. Make sure buttons are used properly with the following strategies:
- Place them correctly and in a concise order.
- Do not over-do the total number buttons. Requiring too many buttons can be annoying and confusing for customers.
- Ensure buttons take you to the correct page.
-Avoid Pop-ups
No one likes a pop up, especially when they are in a hurry to purchase something. Avoid adding repetitive pop up windows in your customers buying journey because they reduce site speed and deter customers from completing their purchase.
-Optimize Fonts, Images, and More
Visual elements play a key part in brand identity and customer experience. Fonts, imagery, and graphics set a brand apart from its competitors. Not only can visual elements help with brand distinction, they can also help guide consumers through their buying journey. Implement the following tips to improve visual consistency and make your website easy to navigate:
- Ensure fonts are consistent and easy to read.
- Format headers, subheads, and body text to guide customers across your web pages while drawing their attention to key elements.
- Compress all forms of multimedia.
- Imagery of every product should be updated and accurate.
4. Set Up a Strong Marketing Plan
Marketing is the key to a successful Black Friday Sale. According to The Pipeline, a Strategy Providing Organization, 98% of sales reps are reaching their quotas through social selling. Having a good marketing plan in place is necessary to survive the competitive market. Consider these suggestions while creating your plan:
-Social Marketing
Social media marketing is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to reach out to potential customers surrounding Black Friday in the ecommerce space.
- Regularly publish social media posts prior to the holiday sale season.
- Create hype around the products that will be on sale.
- Place ads before Black Friday to advertise discounts.
- Use multiple social channels to market the products on the day of the sale.
- Interact with your customers on social media. Respond to their comments to strengthen customer loyalty.
- Allow customers to purchase products via social media platforms.
- Hire social influencers to promote your products before Black Friday.
-Email Marketing
Apart from catchy subject lines, come up with a proper email marketing strategy before Black Friday. Here are tips on how to implement a strong email campaign:
- Send out coupons and discount codes to customers through emails.
- Give reminders about the Black Friday sale and keep them updated with a virtual catalog.
- Offer increased promotions to loyal returning customers that subscribe to your emails.
-Google Ads
Google Ads are a common way to redirect customers to your website. They can increase your position on search engine result pages, visually promote your brand on partner websites, and highlight your brand’s unique selling points. Here are key ideas for using Google Ads:
- Place Google Ads on Google’s search engine before the actual sale starts.
- Keep your ads precise and to-the-point.
- Research and pick the right keywords to grab potential customers’ attention.
- Choose partner websites that your target customers visit.
-Offline Marketing
Everytime your business packages an order for a customer, place a personalized thank you note with a promo code for future use in the box.. You can also include a unique hashtag to encourage customers to post images of their order on social media. Additionally, you can incorporate a QR code into the design that directs customers to your website. This is an offline marketing tactic that became popular in recent years.
5. Offer Multiple Payment Options
Make payment easy for customers by providing them with multiple options. Multiple payment methods, like one click checkout options, attract a wider pool of customers and increase the chances of conversions. Oberlo predicts that by 2025, more than half (53%) of all ecommerce spending is expected to be carried out with digital and mobile wallets. Here are a few options to payment options to offer:
-Credit Cards
Credit cards are a necessary option to provide. A large percentage of people are still most comfortable using credit cards for online purchases.
-Buy Now, Pay Later
Incorporate a Buy Now, Pay Later(BNPL) option. There are numerous benefits to offering BNPL to customers. One of the major advantages of Buy Now, Pay Later is that BNPL allows customers to buy higher value products as they can complete the payments later. Popular options for BNPL services are:
- Klarna
- PayPal Credits
- After Pay
- Zip
- GoCardless
-Gift Cards
Some people are unsure when buying gifts for their friends and family. Gift cards are a popular choice for gift givers, as it eliminates the hassle of picking a product. Gift cards provide a twofold boost in revenue – once when a customer purchases the gift card and the second time is when a customer buys something with that gift card.
-PayPal/Stripe
PayPal and Stripe are two of the most popular digital payment methods. These digital payment methods are highly trusted and are many online shoppers’ first choice when completing a checkout. Ensure that you provide both of these digital payment methods on your ecommerce website.
-Secure Gateways
Secure gateways provide your website with a way to receive payments. They are essential in protecting consumers while shopping online. This is also a trust issue between you and the customer. Websites without proper payment gateways are not trustworthy ecommerce websites. Ensure proper coding and decoding methods are in place before the holiday shopping season arrives.
6. Provide Top-Notch Customer Service Around Black Friday
Customer service can make or break the buyer’s shopping experience. According to a HubSpot blog, 58% of American consumers will switch between similar businesses because of poor customer service. On Black Friday, ecommerce platforms must go above and beyond to ensure the customer’s interaction with the customer support team goes smoothly. Here are two simple ways to accomplish this:
-Customer Support via Chat and Email
Exceed the demands and expectations of your customers by providing exceptional support through email and live chat. Here are a few ideas:
- Make sure your live chat is available and running smoothly at all times.
- Respond to queries, whether e-mail or chat based, as quickly as possible.
- Train your support team to handle all kinds of questions before the busy shopping season arrives.
-Chatbots
Chatbots are great when used properly. They reduce a customer’s waiting time when they need an immediate answer. Here is how to make the most of your ecommerce customer support chatbot:
- Ensure they are in sync with your product inventory.
- Use chatbots to inform customers of their estimated delivery time, order status, and other important information related to the customer’s purchasing journey.
- Give reminders of abandoned carts every time the customer visits your ecommerce platform.
- Check that your chatbot’s auto feature is not interfering with the customer’s experience, whether via placement issues blocking key website functions, loud chat notifications, or recurring pop-ups.
7. Streamline the Cart Checkout Process
The process of checking out a cart can become a hassle if not optimized. According to FundEra, a finance service providing organization, the ideal checkout flow has 12-14 form elements. Here is how you can streamline your cart checkout process and keep it simple:
-Offer Guest Checkout
Guest checkouts make the buying process simpler for customers. Here is why guest checkouts are successful:
- Guest checkout requires less commitment from customers.
- A first-time purchase happens quickly with guest checkout, creating a positive last interaction with the website.
- Guest checkouts are trusted by consumers who do not want their personal or payment information stored on ecommerce platforms.
Implement guest checkout to maximize conversions on your ecommerce website.
-Be Transparent
Transparency in the checkout process is key to winning loyal customers. Here is how you can implement transparent practices to improve customer loyalty:
- Show the final cost of the cart at checkout before the user completes the purchase.
- Allow customers to easily edit their cart during the checkout process.
- Never have any hidden charges in place.
- Be clear about the shipping methods and their costs during the checkout process.
- State an accurate delivery date range next to shipping options.
- Verify the order during the checkout.
-Remove Clutter
Multiple buttons and redirects clutter the checkout process. Keep your checkout page design neat and simple to eliminate customer frustration. A streamlined checkout page allows the customer to easily follow the steps without any distractions. Too many distractions on the checkout page can prevent a consumer from completing the purchasing process.
-Use A Progress Indicator
People love to know how many steps are left in the checkout process. Eliminating uncertainty helps customers feel in control of the process. Customers are likely to abandon their cart if they are uncertain about the checkout process length and visit a competitor’s site instead. Progress indicators on the purchasing pages increase conversions and increase customer loyalty.
Learn more about the importance of optimizing your website’s checkout process by reading our blog about one-click checkouts here.
8. Ensure Mobile Ecommerce Website Optimization
According to a statistic presented by Spend Me Not, a financial service company, nearly 43% of Black Friday sales happened through mobile phones in 2021. Here is how you can boost your sales by ensuring your platform runs perfectly on phones:
-Optimize Mobile Fonts and Visual Elements
Mobile devices are smaller in size compared to desktops. It is necessary to make mobile fonts and visuals compatible with mobile screens. Here is how you can ensure your mobile fonts and visuals are optimized:
- Fonts should be readable and the visuals should be clear.
- Mobile website load time should be optimal.
- Lags are eliminated on the mobile website version.
- Formatting should be similar to its desktop counterpart.
-Improve Mobile Search UX
Nearly half of a customer’s product related searches begin on their mobile devices. The consumer’s buying journey begins on your mobile website before they move to the desktop website to complete the purchase. Emizentech, a software services provider, predicted that in 2021 mobile commercial sales will account for 54% of total eCommerce sales.
Here are 3 ways to improve mobile search UX on your ecommerce platform:
- Allow for typos. A well designed website utilizes smart search settings to overlook typos and still serve the potential customer the correct search results.
- Make a sticky navigation bar. This will keep your search function easily accessible while a consumer shops on your mobile website.
- Improve your search result pay design. Visual results are a key factor to converting a potential customer to a customer. Results should be easy to navigate and visually appealing.
Learn more about our Search Platform at UpStart Commerce here.
-Mobile Wallets
Introduce mobile wallets as a payment method while making a purchase on your mobile site. Apple Pay, Google 5Pay, and PayPal are popular wallets that consumers trust to process their payments. Incorporate these mobile wallet services on your mobile website.
9. Setup Multiple Shipping Options
Multiple shipping options reduces the total number of abandoned carts. Credible shipping methods build brand loyalty and create a positive impression in the eyes of customers. It is crucial that you are always transparent about your shipping policies. Consider the following shipping factors while setting up shipping options:
-Shipping Rate
There are multiple calculation methods for shipping rates. Make sure your customer is aware of how the shipping is calculated and which method is used. Three common shipping calculation methods are flat weight, weight based, or distance based.
Get detailed insights on shipping trends from our blog “Keeping Up With Shipping Trends for E-Commerce in 2022”.
-Offer Shipping to Multiple Addresses
This is great for customers who want to send products from a single order to different addresses. Allowing a customer to designate multiple addresses to a single order removes the redundancy of placing multiple orders. Be sure to incorporate this on your website this holiday season.
From order placement to order shipping, utilize our services for a smooth experience. Get more information about what UpStart Commerce offers here.
10. Collect Reviews and Feedback on Website
Feedback and reviews have a large impact on a customer’s decision to purchase your product over a competitor. According to a statistic shared by Fera, a Shopify Review Building Platform, 66% of consumers stated that reading online reviews help them trust a brand online.
Here are a few tips for the review and feedback process on your website:
-Implement a Section for the Feedback
Dedicate a section of your website to customer feedback. Placing customer feedback in an easy to find location builds brand credibility and helps customers in their purchasing journey.
Looking to implement a feedback system? Get a demo of our services today. Learn more about UpStart Commerce’s Rating and Review feature here.
-Gather Genuine Reviews
Incentivize real customers to leave honest reviews of your products. Fake reviews are quite common these days and are easy to identify. Inauthentic reviews can harm your brand’s identity and destroy trust between your business and potential customers.
-Ask Customers to Leave Reviews and Feedback
Ask your customers to leave feedback at the end of their purchasing journey. Collecting authentic feedback about their website experience will help you identify potential roadblocks in the purchasing process. Improving upon feedback will benefit other customers when they make a purchase.
You can also implement email automations to gather reviews on your products after orders have been delivered. This makes the review process easy and effortless for customers. Many brands also incentivize customers to leave reviews by providing them with a promotional code after their review is submitted. Not only does this benefit your review section, it also helps build customer loyalty and encourages them to make future purchases
11. Cross Sell Products
Cross-selling products is a great way to increase sales and revenue. According to a report by McKinsey, a management service provider, cross-selling can increase sales by 20% and profits by 30%. Here is how you can cross-sell effectively:
-Set Up a Strategy
Most organizations assume they can just begin the cross-selling process without defining a proper strategy. They couldn’t be more wrong. Here are simple tips to keep in mind while making a cross-selling strategy:
- Offer additional services that are unique when compared to your competitors.
- Make suggestions based on collected data.
- Analyze purchasing patterns and place products accordingly.
Everyone loves a good discount. Offering product discounts and promotions can increase your total number of sales. Following tips can help cross sell with discounts:
- Bundle products together and offer a percentage discount on both if they are bought together.
- Offer promo codes for purchases that include a specific number of products.
Use available templates to offer discounts and promotions to your customers with the UpStart Commerce Promotion feature.
12. Work on Reducing Cart Abandonment Rates
Research conducted by Baymard Institute, a research organization for UX, concluded that the average cart abandonment rate on desktops is around 70%. This is an important metric for businesses to monitor and constantly work on improving. Here is how you can stop customers from abandoning their carts:
-Be transparent about all costs
It’s quite infuriating if you assume the cost of your purchase will be a certain amount but it ends up being more than expected. Online retailers must be clear about all the hidden charges, taxes, and other costs that are added on to the end of a purchase. Provide transparency every step of the way to avoid customer abandoning of carts due to unexpected costs.
-Display the total saved amount
Use reverse psychology on your customers. Display the total amount saved on their purchase throughout the checkout process. This creates a positive impact on the customer and encourages them to complete their purchase.
-Send email reminders of customers carts
If a customer abandons their cart without completing their l purchase, send an email to remind them about the cart they left behind. This will keep the cart relevant in their minds and may result in a purchase.
Offer promotions and discounts on abandoned carts. Promo codes for forgotten carts can increase the chances of customer conversion and entice customers to follow through with their payments.
13. Have a Backup Plan
Did you know that hardware failures cause 45% of total downtime? (WebTribunal, 2022) Online retailers should always be prepared in case things go wrong. Create a contingency plan to help your business prepare for any unforeseen issues. Follow these tips to make sure you do not end up with any major losses:
- Get a trustworthy hosting service and set up a backup plan with them.
- Create back ups for all of your company’s data.
- Testing your back ups on a regular basis.
Conclusion
Preparing your website for the Black Friday ecommerce sales can seem like a daunting task. Proper website preparation requires a lot of dedication and great ideas. According to dotdigital, a cross channel marketing organization, around 76% consumers plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In the end, these strategies determine whether your sales will increase or decrease. Following the above discussed strategies can provide a starting point when preparing your ecommerce website for the busy holiday shopping season.
Next, check out our previous blog post on 8 strategies to improve your customers’ online experience and 15 retail KPIs to track this holiday season.
Did you like what you read? Continue reading similar blogs on UpStart Commerce.
