Your Last Minute Black Friday Checklist for a Fantastic Digital Experience!
We know it’s coming. It happens every year, but are we ever fully prepared? Well, it depends if you use this checklist or not I guess! But in all seriousness, we’ve put together your go-to checklist before you go live with your record breaking Black Friday sales for 2021, because it seems like Black Friday only gets bigger and bigger every year and your competitors are likely starting their sales earlier and earlier to make sure they hit their own KPIs before everybody runs out of money. R.I.P our wallets as consumers.
Does your navigation make it easy for users to filter and find the product they’re looking for? Your website is likely one of many that your customer is looking at for similar products. Use this time to check out your competition and see how they’re making their website more accessible. The less clicks to purchase, the better.
Optimising your category content is never a bad idea but it does take a little while for Google to notice any changes. This is why we’re specifically talking about your on page heading, meta titles, and meta descriptions. If you didn’t notice already, Google is swapping out some meta titles with the Heading 1 on your landing page (about 50/50!). So, make sure your meta title still makes sense even if Google decides to pull through your H1 as the title.
Make sure you’re pulling through your Instagram feed to show your products in use mixed in with aspirational content. There’s a reason why the Instagram Shopping feature works so well. Users love to see the product in a real-life scenario and it doesn’t hurt to pull that through to your website using a simple plugin (especially if you’re using Shopify).
Answer the users questions before they even think of them.
Users are more conscious than ever with their purchases and if a brand doesn’t align with their values then they will likely look elsewhere for a similar product. Values can be related to; charity, eco-consciousness, diversity, sustainability, etc.
Are reviews obvious, honest, and easy to read? Do you make use of your product star ratings at a glance or do users have to go hunting for them?
This is a personal pet-peeve but when checkouts don’t make the coupon code section obvious enough, it changes the experience. Consider using a sitewide sale to auto-discount the products instead of using a coupon. We understand that coupons can be much easier to implement depending on your system – if that’s the case, make the coupon section easy to find, and make your coupon easy to copy and paste (or remember).
Are you expecting shipping/packing delays due to Black Friday sales? Buyers appreciate transparency and like to know accurate measures for when they are expecting to receive their package.
You should already have this enabled but we had to pop it in our checklist.
Did you know that platforms like i=change can improve your cart abandonment rate? Users love to know that part of their purchase is going towards something they can feel good about. Especially if it also aligns with your brand values.
This is a great opportunity to encourage return customers by signing them up for your loyalty program or your mailing list. Make sure it’s clear what the values are when the user signs up and how you differ from your competitors.
Do you have a ‘people also purchased’ or ‘add these extras to your bag to reach free shipping’ functionality in your checkout? These get me every time. Yes, I want a travel sized skincare sample if it means my shipping is ‘free’. Simply adding extra items in your checkout process can increase your average cart value by $20 – $50, which quickly adds up when you’re getting hundreds of orders.
That’s all folks. Hopefully you got some ideas for quick wins you can implement them before the weekend kicks off. Or maybe you’re already implementing all of these in which case you’re probably about to absolutely crush it!
As always, if you need help with your eCommerce website, we specialise in eCommerce digital experience across a number of popular platforms, and we’d be happy to help you smash some goals in 2022!
