Shoppers are researching and saving for Black Friday early – are you ready for them?

From as early as October, shoppers are doing online research for Black Friday¹. They spend weeks building their lists and finding which online shops they’d like to buy from.

Their plans extend to budgeting, too: 74% of people who shopped last year’s sale said they saved up ahead of time to secure the deals they wanted². This saving starts in September for almost half of sale shoppers³.

With 7.5 million shoppers online during the 2023 sales season⁴, and possibly more clicking this year, the question is: how can you be ready for all those early planners?

Amplify your online sale strategy for savvy bargain hunters

Your online sale event strategy needs to be primed for shoppers who know exactly what they want from the sales.

Now that Black Friday has been one of the biggest online sale events on the eCommerce calendar for a few years, shoppers are savvy – they expect big bargains and fast delivery, they want to put a dent in their Christmas list, and they know exactly what they want to save money on.

So, what impression do you want to give these shoppers? A great sale strategy will aim to provide a strong impression on new customers, while giving loyal customers a better experience than ever.

Read more about how to create a Black Friday sale strategy that gets your customers excited.

Encourage customers to use your wish list function

Wish lists are a powerful function for eCommerce businesses and customers – and they’re perfect for this research stage of the Black Friday sale journey.

A wish list gives your customers an easy experience when they’re ready to buy: they simply go back to their wish list and hit purchase to receive their Black Friday discount.

For eCommerce businesses, it’s a great way to keep track of what customers are interested in before the sales, which can help with stock management. It’s also another way to encourage shoppers to sign up to your shop, and you can let them know when the items they’re interested in go on sale – an important way to turn those wishes into conversion.

Spring clean your online shop

Before the sales, you want to make sure your site is nailing the customer experience. It’s all about making sure your products are easy to find, pages are fast to load, and the checkout experience is smooth and simple.

• Black Friday shoppers love high quality images, good product descriptions and reviews from other buyers to help inform their decisions
• Make sure all pages are mobile-friendly
• Check page load times
• Optimise your site for search
• Test and refine your site’s search functionality
• Add a live chat widget with automatic responses
• Confirm your hosting platform can handle extra traffic
• Offer a variety of payment options
• Make sure the information on your delivery and returns policies is clear and accessible
• Encourage your customers to use the AusPost app for an improved delivery experience

Create a buzz around your great offers

This online sale event is attracting more customers each year. When comparing 2023 with 2019, it was found that Black Friday has grown by 88% - there are more shoppers taking part, and they’re each spending more⁵.

To get your brand noticed on the busiest sales weekend of the year, you’ll need to make some noise. Use every marketing channel at your disposal, including social channels, email newsletters, display advertising, in store point of sale and SMS to generate buzz around your brand, leveraging distinctive graphics and clever copywriting to stand out from the crowd.

With your database of existing customers, create an email nurture series to build excitement and promote your best deals. Don’t be afraid to send more emails than you usually would in the days leading up to the big sales – you’ll be competing with many other brands in your customers’ inboxes.

On social media, ramp up both organic and paid posts. Create and schedule a series of organic posts and paid ads to showcase your best deals.

Prepare your plan for shipping and returns

With an increased number of customers purchasing from your brand over Cyber Weekend, providing a great delivery experience is going to be important. Take this opportunity to re-evaluate your shipping and delivery strategy, considering things like:

• Make sure your team is ready for the influx of orders that come through over Cyber Weekend and that they’re ready to pack orders like pros
• Stock up on boxes, satchels and fillers to get orders out the door
• Prioritise your express deliveries over your regular speed deliveries
• Add messaging to your website about despatch and delivery timings
• Make sure all your staff are trained and ready to answer customers’ queries
• Have your returns policy up to date

Our guide to preparing for peak season will help your eCommerce business sail through this busy time of year.