Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) started as an American tradition and has become one of the biggest dates in the UK retail calendar, with retailers hoping to benefit from increased traffic and sales.
Each year, UK consumers eagerly await to help themselves to bargains from UK brands across Black Friday and Cyber Monday. When BFCM comes around, we consumers always make the same promise: don’t splurge out and max out your Xmas gift budget. But how can you say no to a cheeky sale? 53% of us Britons are, in fact, saving more money to spend this BFCM than in previous years.
The key to reigning in these sales is simple: prepare now or lose your traffic to someone else. In this blog, we’ll break down how you can prepare for the manic BFCM event.
4 steps to plan your BFCM paid media campaign
1.Get the word out early
Build anticipation for your BFCM sales and leverage the power of a pre-campaign hype. Consumers often plan their spending well in advance, so it’s important to create early brand awareness about what your brand will be offering.
Trio implemented an early pre-campaign strategy to achieve 30% YoY growth in Black Friday revenue for a London aesthetic clinic. By launching our campaign across paid social platforms in October, we not only heightened brand visibility but also generated hundreds of email sign-ups leading up to Black Friday.
You can initiate early campaigns across paid social media, develop targeted email marketing strategies and use pop-up promotions on your website.
2. Optimise your website
Make sure your website is optimised for mobile, especially if you’re an e-commerce site. Mobile purchases outpaced desktop sales by 72% and 28%, respectively, across Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
A slow website will lose customers. Don’t let this be you. Your website needs to manage huge traffic surges or it may result in slow load times or site crashes. You can test and prepare your website using analytics tools like PageSpeed Insights.
Ensure your discount codes actually work! Nothing frustrates customers more than discovering a discount code doesn’t work at checkout. Test all your discount codes before launching your BFCM campaigns to ensure they apply correctly and provide the expected discounts. A seamless checkout experience is essential to retaining customers and maximising your conversion rate.
3. Optimise your paid media campaigns
Implement budget scheduling for your paid campaigns across Meta Ads. Schedule budget increases in advance for specific days or times when you anticipate peak traffic periods, such as early mornings and evenings.
Running campaigns on Google Ads? Use product-specific promotions. Apply promotional assets featuring your discount offers in Google Ads and also add these promotions to Google Merchant Center if you’re running Shopping or Performance Max (PMax) campaigns.
With so many bargains available, you might see a jump in basket abandonment rates. Prevent this through retargeting campaigns that redirect shoppers to your site to complete a purchase. Convert these highly motivated visitors into paying customers.
4. Implement cross-channel integration
Implementing a cross-channel BFCM strategy will create a seamless and cohesive customer journey. A uniform approach will assist in maximising significant results and maintaining a unified brand presence.
Make sure your SEO metadata includes your promotional content so your organic search results reflect the same offers and messages as your ads. Plan your content strategy and write blogs on your upcoming BFCM deals. Add in shopping guides, product deep dives and case studies for that extra push if you’re selling a bigger investment.
Coordinate your organic social media posts with your paid campaigns. Share the same promotions, creative assets and hashtags across paid and organic posts to ensure a unified message.
Start preparing for BFCM now
Preparing for BFCM requires a strategic, cohesive approach across all digital channels. You need to optimise your website, plan your paid media campaign and ensure your message remains consistent across every touchpoint. Once you’ve done this, generating BFCM sales will be seamless.
Need advice on your BFCM strategy? We’re here to help.
Let’s get your BFCM strategy in order. Contact our team today and we’ll help you achieve the results you’re aiming for.