As the holiday season nears, retailers are preparing for the crucial Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) rush. However, Black Friday 2024 brings new challenges. Inflation is causing holiday shoppers to scale back – with ⅔ of consumers saying high prices will impact their holiday spending. In addition, retailers are starting Black Friday promotions earlier, with some kicking off in September in hopes of capturing more consumer attention and share of wallet.
Black Friday deals, while still present, may be smaller due to tighter margins. In 2024, the big BFCM winners will be the brands that shift their focus from solely offering massive discounts to building memorable, delightful shopping experiences that engage consumers and foster customer loyalty. BFCM 2024 will be about quality over quantity, and maximizing each campaign to drive the most engagement and purchases possible.
In this article, Wyng and Voucherify have teamed up to provide retailers with immediately actionable tips that improve engagement and purchase conversion rates of the 10 most popular Black Friday marketing campaigns.
How to maximize the 10 most popular Black Friday campaigns?
1. Gift Finders
Gift finders are a game-changer, especially for Black Friday sales. These tools help customers find the perfect gift fast by offering personalized suggestions based on the recipient and occasion, which means less indecision and more sales.
With Black Friday traffic, a good gift finder can guide holiday shoppers to relevant products, making their experience smoother and boosting conversions. It also opens up chances for upselling by showing complementary or premium products.
Most common pitfall: Creating a gift finder with too many products (think an entire product catalog). Instead, be intentional about which products or bundles you’d like to promote. The most successful gift finders (the least time to build and the greatest ROI) should recommend only up to 5-6 products.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for gift finders this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Promote your gift finder on channels where your target audience is most likely to engage – like social media platforms or email. Be intentional with how you incorporate the gift finder onsite by adding a link in your site’s top navigation or adding banners or widgets on category pages to drive online shoppers to the gift finder.
Maximize conversions: Consider integrating features like a progress tracker to guide users through their journey. On the results page, provide clear reasons why each product is recommended, boosting user confidence in their choices. Make sure users can easily click through to relevant product pages or add items directly to their cart from the results page. Lastly, add discount codes for recommended products for that extra incentive to purchase!
2. Deals of the Hour / Deals of the Day
Deals of the hour are time-sensitive promotions that offer significant discounts on specific products for a limited time, usually lasting – you guessed it – an hour! Deals of the hour are a great way to create a sense of urgency. Customers won’t have enough time to overthink their purchase and feel the “use it or lose it” pressure.
Most common pitfall: Failing to anticipate traffic spikes and demand. Time-sensitive promotions put a huge strain on technical resources and product demand. For a brand, there is the potential for huge credibility loss if their site goes down during this type of promotion. Similarly, there can be major backlash if a product runs out too fast.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for deals of the hour / deals of the day this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Create a sense of urgency with countdown timers, encouraging immediate action. Highlight limited stock or exclusive items to enhance the FOMO effect, and use dynamic messaging across channels like email, SMS, and social media to drive attention at key hours. Engaging visuals and clear calls-to-action will also help in generating more traffic in your ecommerce store.
Maximize conversions: Display a prominent banner on your homepage for each deal. Pairing the hourly deal with a broader site-wide discount can further entice shoppers. For example, offering 40% off site-wide along with an additional 25% off on a featured brand during the hourly promotion can motivate customers to not only take advantage of the specific deal but also browse and buy more items across the store. This combination of urgency and widespread savings creates a more compelling shopping experience.
3. Countdown Calendars
Countdown calendars effectively combine excitement, urgency, and engagement – making them a powerful sales tool for retailers during Black Friday. With countdown calendars, shoppers have a reason to revisit your site every day to unlock new offers, content, and prizes. Not only does this behavior lead to earlier purchases, but it can also lead to multiple purchases.
Most common pitfall: Making your countdown calendar too long. Some marketers think the longer the countdown calendar, the more engagement and sales. However, the opposite can be true. Keep your countdown calendars to 10-14 days max in length to align with the shorter attention spans of your audience.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for countdown calendars this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Capitalize on the increased foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores during the holidays by using in-store QR codes to drive traffic to your digital countdown calendar.
Maximize conversions: In addition to promo code unlocks, consider adding different types of experiences to your countdown calendar. For example, one tile could unlock a sweepstakes that requires proof-of-purchase (ie. receipt upload, UPC code) to enter. Another tile could unlock a trivia quiz about your brand that rewards higher discounts for the more answers the user gets correct (a great way to drive conversions while educating shoppers about your brand or products!).
4. Mystery Savings
Mystery savings encourage engagement by enticing shoppers to discover hidden discounts – usually at the time of checkout. This approach increases customer interaction, enhances the thrill of shopping, and can lead to higher spending. By adding an element of surprise, retailers not only boost immediate sales but also foster brand loyalty, making it a perfect strategy for Black Friday.
Most common pitfall: Succumbing to bad actors! To prevent customers from using incognito mode to exploit deals, an identity authenticator can help ensure you’re gathering accurate data. While extra steps might reduce engagement, streamlining the process can protect against abuse without significantly disrupting the user experience.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for mystery savings this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Create a visually appealing interface that highlights the excitement of the reveal. Ensure the mechanics are simple and intuitive, so customers can easily understand how to participate.
Maximize conversions: Immediately after the reveal, offer personalized product recommendations based on the customer’s interests. This will enhance the likelihood of additional purchases, increasing average order value.
5. Gamified Instant Wins
Instant win promotions let customers win prizes immediately after taking a specific action, like making a purchase or spinning a wheel. These types of promotions create excitement and urgency, as customers discover right away if they’ve won. This immediate feedback enhances the shopping experience, while the thrill of potentially winning motivates customers to participate more actively, making these promotions effective for driving sales.
Most common pitfall: Offering prizes that aren’t appealing or valuable enough, which can diminish interest and engagement. Additionally, overly complicated entry processes can deter participation. To avoid these pitfalls, focus on clear communication, appealing prizes, and a straightforward entry mechanism to enhance the overall experience and drive better results.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for gamified instant wins this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Consider a variety of gamified formats – spin-to-win, scratch-off, swipe quizzes or polls, memory/matching, hit the target, or drop-and-catch experiences.
Maximize conversions: Similarly to mystery savings, instant win campaigns have much higher conversion rates once followed with a personalized product or a bundle recommendation.
6. UGC Contests
User-generated content (UGC) contests are promotions where brands encourage customers to create and share content related to the brand, such as photos, videos, or stories. Participants typically submit their content for a chance to win prizes, and this content is often showcased by the brand.
Most common pitfall: Not providing clear guidelines for participation, which can lead to confusion and inconsistent submissions. Also, failing to promote the contest can result in low participation. So is not properly acknowledging or rewarding participants, which can diminish enthusiasm and community spirit.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for UGC contests this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Use in-store signage and transactional emails to ask consumers to share their purchases or holiday moods. Allow multiple modes of entry – direct upload, #hashtag, or @mentions. Display submissions via an interactive gallery and encourage users to vote for their favorite entries. Limit the number of votes allowed each day, to encourage repeat visits and participation.
Maximize conversions: Map one or more products/SKUs to individual UGC assets and configure on-click behavior – allowing users to be immediately directed to product detail pages for additional product information and checkout.
7. Charity Donations
Charity donations encourage engagement by letting customers contribute to charitable causes while shopping. Techniques include donation matching, where brands match customer donations, and limited-time offers that direct a portion of sales to charity.
This approach aligns with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles, allowing customers to engage in socially responsible actions while feeling rewarded. It’s a strategic way for companies to promote positive behavior without incurring immediate financial costs, creating a win-win for both customers and the brand.
Most common pitfall: Unclear communication about how donations are made, which can lead to customer skepticism. Additionally, if the chosen charity doesn’t resonate with the target audience, it may not generate the desired engagement. Another issue is the potential for perceived insincerity, where customers feel the promotion is more about marketing than genuine giving
How to maximize engagement and conversions for charity donations this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Focus on transparency by clearly explaining how donations work and which causes are supported. Choose charities that resonate with your target audience to enhance connection. Use compelling storytelling to highlight the impact of donations, showcasing real-life examples of how contributions make a difference.
Maximize conversions: Incorporate urgency with limited-time offers or matching donations to encourage immediate participation. Promote the campaign across multiple channels, including social media and email, to reach a wider audience.
8. Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes let customers enter for a chance to win prizes, typically by submitting their information or making a purchase. Running sweepstakes during high-traffic shopping events, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, can significantly increase a brand’s email subscribers and boost sales.
Most common pitfall: Scammers! Whenever there are large prizes in play you can almost guarantee there will be bad actors trying to game the system. Be prepared with a risk management and fraud prevention strategy. Some common safeguards are: enabling participation limits, adding reCAPTCHA on forms, requiring email or phone number verification, and automatically blocking emails from disposable domains.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for sweepstakes this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Enable referral tracking to reward users with an additional entry into the sweepstakes for every friend they get to participate. Make it simple for users to share their referral link by adding share buttons to the sweepstakes confirmation page.
Maximize conversions: Offer appealing prizes that resonate with your audience, ensuring they are relevant to the holiday shopping season. Create a sense of urgency by emphasizing limited-time entries or exclusive prizes for early participants.
9. VIP Promotions
VIP promotions are special offers or rewards designed to engage and retain high-value customers. The idea is to incentivize big spenders and keep them in that space. As big spenders are also more inclined to buy more expensive and full-price items, VIP promotions don’t have to necessarily be deep discounts, but other valuable promotions like early access to products or sales that will be publicly accessible later.
Most common pitfall: Not clearly defining what qualifies someone as a VIP. This can lead to confusion and dissatisfaction among customers who feel they deserve VIP status but don’t receive the associated perks.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for VIP promotions this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Focus on creating personalized offers that align with your VIPs’ preferences. Communicate through personalized emails or direct messages to announce these promotions, emphasizing their uniqueness.
Maximize conversions: Encourage VIPs to share their experiences on social media to further amplify engagement, and host exclusive events to deepen their connection to your brand. Finally, ensure enhanced customer support during this period to address any questions.
10. BOGO & Bundle Specials
BOGO simply means “buy one, get one.” It is a sales promotion where shoppers are offered a free or a discounted product (for instance, they only pay half price) when another product of the same or higher value is purchased. Bundle promotions get the most engagement as they are simply a very good deal.
Most common pitfall: Bundle promotions can put significant pressure on margins. To mitigate this, it’s key to establish clear parameters for these promotions, including caps on discounts and specific thresholds for eligibility. Also, consider structuring promotions so that more substantial discounts are tied to higher spending levels.
How to maximize engagement and conversions for BOGO and bundle promotions this Black Friday?
Maximize engagement: Make your bundle Black Friday promotions highly visible. Use eye-catching banners on your website and promote them heavily through email marketing and social media. Clear communication about the value of the offers is crucial – highlight the savings customers can enjoy.
Maximize conversions: Leverage personalization by recommending specific bundles based on customers’ previous purchases or browsing behavior. This makes the offers more relevant and appealing. Also, consider offering exclusive BOGO deals for VIP customers or loyalty program members, adding an element of exclusivity. This can boost engagement among your most valuable customers.
Optimize your Black Friday campaigns with gamification and personalized promotions
The key to Black Friday success in 2024 is not about how big the discount is or how many promotions you offer. It is about maximizing the campaigns you already have – adding elements of gamification and personalizing promotions to engage consumers, enhance customer loyalty, and ultimately drive more sales. With these practical tips, retailers can truly sleigh this upcoming holiday season.
Interested in more practical advice you can implement before the holiday season to drive greater engagement and sales? Join Wyng and Voucherify on October 8 for our webinar: Play, Win, Sell: Last Minute Tips for Black Friday.
About Wyng
Wyng is a consumer activation platform that helps brands grow and understand their audience, to deliver more relevant experiences. With Wyng, marketers can easily build interactive digital experiences that engage customers at the right moments, earn preferences and other zero-party data, and personalize in real-time. Whether the experience is a product finder quiz, promotion, or preference center – Wyng experiences are always well-timed, user-friendly, and offer genuine value to consumers. Wyng serves over 250 global brands, including Disney, Estée Lauder, LVMH, and Unilever, who use Wyng to drive opt-ins, increase sales, and strengthen consumer trust and brand affinity. Request a demo of Wyng.
About Voucherify
Voucherify is an API-first loyalty and promotion engine for digital teams. It empowers marketers to quickly launch and efficiently manage promotions personalized with customer and session data, including coupons, gift cards, in-cart promotions, giveaways, referral, and loyalty programs. Voucherify works with over 300 brands (among them Clorox, easyJet, ABInBev, Bosch) and serves millions of consumers through thousands of promo campaigns around the globe. Request a demo of Voucherify.
