Black Friday creeps around each year unsuspectingly until the very weekend before, when small businesses alike panic that they haven’t prepared for the consumer rush that will soon come.
Save your sanity this year and get ready in plenty of time by setting up your website and getting the help you need well in advance.
Here are Team Organic’s top six steps for getting your website ready for Black Friday.
Manage your traffic
The worst thing that could happen to your website on Black Friday is for your website to crash. While the upside is that plenty of people are flocking to your site, the downside is that they can’t actually buy anything.
You need to prepare in advance for this influx of traffic to your site by making sure that your server will be able to handle it. If you’re worried that your server won’t be able to accommodate, get in touch with the web hosting provider you use to look at upgrades or alternatives.
Check your speed
A slow website is enough to drive anyone crazy. A website that takes longer than a couple of seconds to load will have customers dropping off like flies and turning to your competition, which is why you need to make updating your website’s speed a priority.
You should also focus on mobile speed as this is how many of your customers will buy. When looking to reduce speed take a speed test and if necessary minimise the use of images and videos.
Update your returns policy
When preparing for an increase in purchases on your site, you need to make sure all your policies are up to date and relevant. This applies in particular to your returns policy. If you fail to close loop holes and be crystal clear, it’s possible that customers will take advantage.
Make sure you have a dedicated page for your policies that you can direct people to and that there is no ambiguity in your wording. You may even want at add a clause relevant just for Black Friday sales so you’re crystal clear about what returns you’re prepared to accept.
Have a strategy
If you want your website to thrive from Black Friday sales, you’ll need to get your digital marketing strategy on point beforehand.
There’s no such thing as too much planning here so try to cover all bases. Who do you want to target with your Black Friday sales? How will you cater your advertising to this market and what social and content strategies do you have in place? If you feel a bit clueless here you can grab a free review from Team Organic below to find out how we can help.
Extend offers to existing customers
Black Friday is the perfect time to entice new customers to your business – but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the customers you already have.
Show your appreciation to loyal customers with extra discounts and offers which are exclusive to them. This will help keep your brand loyalty at its peak. You should incorporate these offers to your email marketing strategies and send out exclusive emails. Things like early bird deals will work brilliantly here.
Make the most of it
Now for the fun part; milk it for all it’s worth!
Black Friday is a retail holiday in its own right, and as such, it deserves nothing less than every business making the most of it.
You may even want to extend your deals to Cyber Monday to really get more customers on board. This isn’t just a singular sale day anymore, it’s a weekend of discount extravaganzas that appeals to everyone.
Do you need help getting your website ready for the rush of Black Friday? Team Organic can take the pressure off by managing your SEO, social and content all in one go. Grab a free review and quote to see what we can help you with.
