Preparing for the Black Friday rush is crucial, as it's a huge revenue opportunity for retailers. Even the smallest gaps in your platform setup can lead to missed revenue. Our Black Friday playbook includes a checklist packed with expert tips on how to get ready for the biggest retail holiday of the year.
- Check Your Product Data
The quality of your product data can make or break your Black Friday campaign. Customers won’t wait around if filters, recommendations, or stock information don’t work. Make sure your campaign products are fully enriched with all the necessary attributes (size, color, stock levels, badges) so that they are easily accessible and easy to shop. To save time, you can even preassign "deal of the day" bundles or categories to launch pages even faster. With a product information management (PIM) system in place, you ensure consistency across all channels.
- Be Legally Compliant
In the EU, promotions, Black Friday included, must include the “lowest price in the last 30 days.” Automating these labels saves time and prevents compliance risks.
- Think Week or Month, Not Day
As mentioned, Black Friday is no longer a one-day holiday; it's evolved into a full Black Week (including Cyber Monday) that sometimes stretches into a whole month. Spreading your promotions across multiple days not only reduces pressure on your systems and teams but also helps you capture different customer behaviors throughout the week.
To increase relevance, start with your customer data. A generic “xx% off yy” message is easy to set up, but you can go even further by tailoring banners and offers. Use the data you already have to create audiences/segments and vary your communication. This isn’t just about short-term promotions. It’s a long campaign season, and if you treat it as the lead-up to Christmas, it stretches even further.
- Let Your Campaign Tell a Story
Build Black Friday hubs and create inspirational guides (for example, “Our Top 10 Staff Picks”) that mix inspiration with deals. Gifts or tips for women/men/kids/partners, etc., are also a way to give campaigns a personal touch, or you can put the focus on spoiling yourself before Christmas!
- Be Consistent
Keep design, messaging, and flows stable across the customer journey. You know what they say, familiarity drives conversion!
- Protect Your Margins
Set clear rules for which products or brands can be discounted and which should remain “premium.” Define ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) floors that align with your business goals and use performance data to guide decision-making.
- Check Last Year’s Data
Your data from last year holds valuable insights into where customers dropped off in their journey. Review checkout behavior, evaluate how Black Friday and other campaign pages performed, and identify whether certain devices or browsers underperformed. With digital experience analytics tools such as Google Analytics 4, Hotjar, or Contentsquare, you can dive deeper into user behavior and identify and resolve friction points. By learning from last year’s patterns, you’ll set yourself up for a stronger start this year.
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- Remember, Mobile-First
Most Black Friday shoppers use their mobile phones for purchases. Make sure you audit and optimize banners, filters, and checkout on small screens.
- Plan Retention Early
Winning a customer once isn’t enough. After Black Friday, run nurture flows and loyalty pushes with CRM platforms to keep your new customers engaged. Put this in your plan now so you don’t forget!
- Personalize Journeys
A seamless experience is your most powerful differentiator when competitors are shouting about deals. Tailor newsletters, landing pages, product recommendations, and banners based on loyalty tiers, past purchases, or browsing history. Keep an eye out; have your visitors marked their favorite products that are now discounted? Do something with that information!
- Give Loyal Shoppers Early Access
Reward your loyalty program members with exclusive shopping windows. Whether it's a 24-hour head start, a members-only product drop, or sneak previews of limited stock, these perks drive urgency and boost conversions.
- Optimize Search and Recommendations
Your search and recommendation engine is a silent sales rep during Black Friday. Prepare it well. Add keywords like “Black Friday” and local terms like “Christmas gift” to avoid no-result pages. Don't forget to check synonyms! Another tip is to set up “complete the look” or “frequently bought together” modules to increase average basket size.
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- Go Multi-Channel
Use email, SMS, online retargeting, and push notifications to promote your upcoming and ongoing Black Friday deals. Make sure your messaging is tailored yet consistent across all touchpoints to build trust and recognition throughout the customer journey. SMS and push notifications (if you have an app) are, for example, extra good for shorter, more FOMO-type messages that create a sense of urgency.
- Don’t Forget to Analyze and Optimize
Don’t forget to track how your planned content, campaigns, and communication are performing. A/B tests are, of course, the best way to know what works and what doesn't, but if your organization isn’t there yet, make the most of the data you do have and optimize wherever possible. This is not the time to simply hit publish and hope for the best!
Just as important as real-time optimization is the evaluation afterwards. Post-campaign analysis helps you identify the lessons that should inform your future strategy. For example, which channels delivered the most profitable traffic? Which campaigns performed best? Feed these insights back into your strategy for next year.
Congrats!
You made it to the bottom and are now either just saying “check, check, check” or you have some follow-up questions. Reach out to us, and let’s see if we can help you!