Black Friday Survival Guide For Your Ecommerce Website

T minus two weeks until the biggest shopping day of the year. Are your e-commerce website, marketing and customer service teams ready to provide a world-class customer experience? Here are some key things to consider as Black Friday approaches. 

Content Strategy

First of all, if you don't have an editorial calendar in place for your holiday and Black Friday posts, the clock is ticking!

• Make sure your sale prices are clear and consistent across all platforms. Double check that old PPC campaign to be sure you're not confusing a customer with a non-sale price.
• If you are re-messaging on various channels, make sure each post adds value.
• Consider all the legal language you need to include to cover deals, discounts and limitations.
• On your main website, be sure to have your return policy and answers to frequently asked questions updated and easy to find.

Social Media

Social media is a huge part of the holidays and black Friday. If you are on an e-commerce platform like Shopify, Big Commerce or Amazon be sure to check in and see if there are any special marketing opportunities to take advantage of relative to purchases made with these tool. 

Don't forget to incorporate social media into your website as well!

• Make sure all product pages have social sharing icons, and that sharing is set up to post photos, quality descriptions and pricing by default
• Encourage users to share their purchases as well to social media by offering share icons after they check out

Email

If you're using email to promote your Black Friday deals:

• Make sure you're using a clean opt-in list.
• Double and triple check your emails to make sure you're not triggering common spam filters.
• Confirm that you are CAN-SPAM compliant in all messaging.
• Be sure all user passwords are not sent in plain text (either send a link to reset passwords).

Security

Protect your company and your customers now to avoid a hassle later.

• Double check with your e-commerce platform provider to make sure you are on the latest version;  upgrades often include new security features.
• Make sure any back-end admin level accounts have strong passwords that you reset often so your customer data is secure.
• Make sure you have your abandon cart tracking in place - and plan ahead for how you'll encourage a sale for users who left your website.
• Consider building trackable URLs, if you don't have them set up already, for the various platforms you plan to advertise on so you can measure ROI by source at the end of the year.

Tracking

• Make sure you have your abandon cart tracking in place - and plan ahead for how you'll encourage a sale for users who left your website.
• Consider building trackable URLs, if you don't have them set up already, for the various platforms you plan to advertise on so you can measure ROI by source at the end of the year.

Fulfillment

Now is the time to build up morale internally to make sure everyone stays happy.

• Test your website to make sure you are setting accurate, realistic expectations in regards to delivery and inventory you have on-hand. Double check that all messaging is clear and concise.
• Give fulfillment team members the access they need to update the website inventory or distribute messages to social media if stock is running low or there are delays in shipment.

Now take a deep breath, and keep a positive attitude. Your interactions with customers in this busy season will make a lasting impression so make sure it is a great experience for everyone. Need a hand making this year the best it can be? Give us a buzz or download the handy-dandy ebook below.