As the year draws to a close, it’s an excellent time to reflect on the past couple of months, encapsulating our learnings from yet another successful year of running Black Friday campaigns. Crafting an effective strategy is key to capitalising on this shopping frenzy. In this blog post, we’ll delve into a comprehensive Black Friday strategy, covering everything from pre-announcement to post-event reflection.

Essential Preparation: Ready, Set, Go!

We recommend starting your preparations and promotions for Black Friday well in advance—ideally 4-6 weeks ahead. This is especially crucial when collaborating with others for your assets, website and ads, as Black Friday is a busy time for digital agencies as well.


1. Craft an Irresistible Offer 

Ensure your offer is compelling and unique, standing out amid the Black Friday noise. We recommend making it the most significant one of the year. Alternatively, if you’re hesitant to slash prices, consider adding value through exclusive bundles, freebies, or limited-time offers.

2. Preannounce Sales: Building Anticipation

Consider pre announcing your Black Friday sales, especially if your brand is not typically associated with discounts. This early communication builds anticipation and sets the stage for a successful Black Friday.

3. Early Bird Gets the Worm

Many businesses kick off Black Friday promotions as early as late October, while others start 2-3 weeks before the big day. Plan your timeline to stand out and capture attention amid the early holiday buzz.

4. Update Signup Offer

Prioritise updating your signup offer to entice new subscribers before Black Friday.

5. Design a Cohesive Collection of Assets 

Design a cohesive collection of web assets that you can use across platforms to create a unified look.

  • Social Media Post
  • Social Media Story
  • Social Media Reel
  • Newsletter Header and Banners
  • Homepage Slider
  • Product Page Banner

Pro tip! Social Media posts can also be used in advertising and most of the assets will also work for Email campaigns. 

6. Plan an Email Campaign

Prepare a series of strategic emails:

  • Preannouncement email – Sale Coming Soon
  • Announcement email – Sale Now On
  • Reminder email – Sale Continues
  • Testimonial email – Here’s what others say
  • Last chance email – Campaign Ending
  • Extended email – Sale Extended

During your Black Friday Campaign

7. Prominent Discount Display

Ensure your discounted prices are prominently displayed on your website. We recommend featuring the sale event in the homepage slider, product page banner, top announcement bar, as well as showing the discounted price on every individual product (next to the original price).

There are various ways to achieve that, for example, on Shopify, you can use an app like Discounty. Discounty allows you to schedule your campaign for a specific timeframe and it can discount up to 10,000 SKUs in just a couple of hours. Alternatively, if you have only a few products, you can utilise the built-in compare-at-price functionality to manually add the discounted prices.

8. Remove Popups Temporarily

Temporarily remove pop ups during the discount period to streamline the shopping experience.

9. Nail Customer Support

Be available on chat and social media platforms to address customer inquiries promptly.

10. Run Ad Campaigns

Running a dedicated ad campaign throughout the duration of your sale event is a strategic move, ensuring more visibility and quicker results. It’s advisable to allocate a budget for this well in advance, considering that, for most businesses, advertising significantly influences final sales.

11. Extend the Campaign 

Many vendors choose to extend their campaigns as they near the end. There are two approaches to this – either keeping the campaign running for an additional 6 to 12 hours to avoid customer disappointment and convert users who are hopeful that the sale is still ongoing, or formally announcing the extension in an effort to entice last-minute shoppers.

Following the Sale Event 

12. Express Gratitude

Take the time to express gratitude to your customers for their participation in the Black Friday sale. A simple thank-you message can go a long way in building customer loyalty.

13. Solicit Feedback

Encourage customers to share their feedback about their Black Friday shopping experience. Use this information to identify areas for improvement and to enhance future events.

14. Plan for Future Sales

Start planning for upcoming sales events. Whether it’s a holiday-themed sale or an exclusive event for loyal customers, having a roadmap for future promotions keeps your audience engaged.

15. Evaluate Performance

Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Black Friday sale performance. Review sales data, customer feedback, and any challenges faced to identify key learnings for future improvement. Having this information ready for your next sale event will be invaluable. 

Black Friday is a prime opportunity for e-commerce businesses to thrive. With a well-thought-out strategy, early planning, and effective execution, you can make the most of this shopping extravaganza.

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