Make the most of your Black Friday 2018 promotions.

Last year, we at Splio published this infographic revealing the incredible rise of Black Friday for Spanish retailers and e-commerce businesses. Black Friday 2017 was a sales success in Spain, although it didn’t follow the same format or have the same goals as in the United States. So what have we learned from the 2017 experience, what does 2018 have in store, and what strategy should we adopt in November?

Lessons Learned from Black Friday 2017.

Spanish brands have successfully adapted Black Friday to their own style, and it is important to keep the following conclusions in mind when developing the 2018 strategy:

• Is Black Friday on November 23? Last year, promotional campaigns lasted 8 days across all channels!
• Online or offline? Both! Black Friday is omnichannel. Retailers and e-tailers will have to work to redirect traffic to both their e-commerce sites and the nearest store for consumers. Black-Friday.Sale reported a 30% increase in online sales and a 33% increase in overall revenue for the event.
• Is Black Friday more for retailers and Cyber Monday for e-tailers? It’s a single seasonal event for both! Black Friday has absorbed Cyber Monday to create a full week of promotions.
• Just another promotional week among many others? Not exactly. Black Friday allows brands to kick off their end-of-year sales under the best conditions. The ultimate goal is to establish a clear sales path leading up to the 2019 sales season.

Your Black Friday strategy clearly depends on what you want to do for your brand and your customers.

The Promise of Black Friday 2018: Excitement and Sales

“Promotion” isn’t necessarily a negative term, and it doesn’t always go hand in hand with “excessive promotions.” Black Friday hasn’t yet become (in Europe) synonymous with all-caps keywords, spam, or garish yellow promotional banners. It’s up to us marketers to make Black Friday our own and turn it into the seasonal event that best suits our brand, our customers, and our prospects.

Give meaning to your promotion! Black Friday is an event that draws people in because, at its core, it’s all about promotions. But what kind of experience do you want your customers to have? Your strategy this year will be to give meaning to the promotion by communicating your positioning and philosophy regarding Black Friday and by organizing an event.

1. What story do you want to tell during Black Friday? Don’t forget that Thanksgiving is coming up in the United States—an important time for families to get together. Is this the time for your customers to treat themselves and their families? To get a head start on Christmas and make this special occasion even happier and more emotionally meaningful?
2. What positioning should your brand adopt? Is it time to communicate a value that’s meaningful to you or your brand and use Black Friday to highlight it?
3. What if you chose to focus on giving back and doing good deeds for Black Friday 2018? Black Friday falls one month before Christmas. To give Black Friday more meaning—while still acknowledging the commercial nature of the event—you might consider partnering with social organizations or participating in collaborative initiatives. A Black Friday with a social cause? Here’s an example of an initiative that Millennials will welcome and that will allow you to run a PR campaign!

What Strategy Should We Adopt in November: Promotions or Small Gestures?

Should you focus on customer acquisition or customer loyalty during Black Friday? Both! Take advantage of Black Friday to launch a loyalty campaign and a customer acquisition campaign by organizing your database based on these two segments. Adopt a transactional communication approach with prospects and implement a strategy that combines transactional and relational rewards for loyal customers.

• An eye-catching campaign visual and a personalized message of thanks to your customers. Thanks to your knowledge of your customers and personalization, you can take advantage of this event to invite your loyal customers to your store or e-commerce site and offer them a promotion on an item they regularly view or have saved to their wish list.
• Use data from your prospects’ abandoned carts to gain as much insight as possible about them, so you can understand your entire customer base—both customers and prospects—through a shared experience.
• Offer promotions for everyone and provide exceptional service to loyal customers and brand ambassadors by creating a buzz around Black Friday, delivering a unique experience in your online store, or organizing engaging in-store activities at your busiest location. Black Friday is the perfect opportunity to show your loyal customers that you’re eager to treat them even better! Use this occasion as a lever for differentiation and to build relationship-based loyalty with your customers.

What's the best plan for Black Friday?

Start your communications in early November, after Halloween, and opt for regular omnichannel communication, including a weekly email, in line with the Black Friday strategy you've implemented.

First week:

• Starting November 5, build anticipation among your customers and prospects by announcing the arrival of Black Friday week and the event you’re organizing for the occasion on November 23.
• An email that includes a real-time countdown (meaning, every time a user opens the email, the countdown will update) would be a great way to pique your readers’ curiosity.
• Take this opportunity to explain the philosophy behind this seasonal event: Is it a time to treat yourself or those you love?

Week 2:

• Personalize your messages by drawing on your knowledge of customers based on analyses of previous email campaigns.
• Offer seasonal recommendations, a gift based on purchase history, or suggest a special deal for a friend.

Week 3:

• Highlight the most viewed and clicked products
• Think of a gift for loyal customers—that little Black Friday extra
• Drive them to your website or store!

On November 23:

• Today's great deals
• Promote your event live—on your e-commerce site and in your stores!

Until Cyber Monday, make sure your customers take full advantage of the deals you’ve made available to them.
Black Friday is likely a great time for your brand to stand out and for your customers and prospects to appreciate it, given that we’re operating in a highly competitive market. In any case, don’t lose sight of your conversion, customer loyalty, and sales goals.Enjoy the sales!