This Black Friday, most brands faced a peculiar dilemma amid an ever-changing and complex backdrop. Do they go all-out with a guns blazing, broad-church approach, or do they favour a more subtle, targeted method?
With the ongoing economic turmoil caused by the global cost-of-living crisis, marketers faced looking out-of-touch by going too big and too hard, how then. So how to moderate your approach while still communicating the great deals on offer?
Many chose to go big and early, with market trends indicating that the vast majority of customers would prioritise early Christmas shopping this year to better spread the cost of the festive period.
The relatively frantic nature of this year’s cyber period had led to a rather mixed bag, with some businesses coming off as over-zealous and confused, whilst others succeeded with a more toned-down, bespoke strategy.
A range of industry experts share their take on what marketers got right, and what they got wrong this crucial Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Organic senior SEO consultant, Luke Whitaker
Done right
Big deals: “It felt like this year there were some big deals to be had, which I haven’t felt for the past few years. Maybe that’s just the skill of marketing or maybe the focus has been on actually offering some strong discounts this Black Friday. Regardless of this, urgency seemed to be the key in 2022.”
Clarity of content: “Having your Black Friday landing pages live and optimised, weeks before the day, took place pretty much across the board, for top retailers. Lengthy content on landing pages was out and clear categorisation of discounted goods, with easily explorable site navigation, was in.”
Done wrong
Lack of structure: “For those that did not fare so favourably, I did notice that their site structure lacked an SEO mind and instead took visitors on a wild journey through anything and everything that had a percentage off.”
Untargeted approach: “Further to this, another spot for those not doing so great in the Black Friday arena were those who failed to offer discount on the brands of the moment (most notably air frying and hair drying goods). While the full data is yet to be analysed, it is clear that those who understood what their customers were really looking for and provided them with a smooth website journey are in for some of the strongest results.”
Marketing expert and consultant, Danny Denhard
Done right
Relevant overall: “Some took the opportunity to push deals across the most-relevant channels rather than spray and pray across every channel. Some companies experimented with TikTok shop and managed to capture plenty of attention for their key products.”
Less is more: “Some smart brands stood out by not sending any or too many communications. Many brands simply copied others, hindering themselves and hurting their performance.”
Done wrong
Too early, too often: “I believe that most marketers went too early, too often and confused the potential customers with so many messages. So many brands sent multiple messages before and across the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, many diluted their brand and hurt their email performance by sending many messages in one day.”
Killed email and SMS: “Our inboxes were flooded with “deals” and “offers” and what it meant was you were competing against everyone. Most deals were overly confusing and didn’t help the customer with their problems, while changing the deals regularly created further confusion.”
Social Nucleus CEO and founder William Tickle
Done right
The early bird catches the worm: “By starting Cyber sales early, brands have been able to get ahead of the curve and capitalise on the hype-building period leading up to Black Friday.”
Breaking new ground: “Launching new product lines to coincide with the Cyber period has re-engaged existing customers and boosted LTV, while creating loyalty programmes for current customers has boosted repeat conversions at the time it matters most for brands.”
Done wrong
Unsustainable planning: “By concentrating too much on immediate Black Friday revenue, brands have missed out on the opportunity to establish healthier long-term profit margins.”
Familiar Cyber deals: “Not switching up offers on Cyber Monday has led to stagnated BFCM sales – missing the chance to re-engage shoppers with brand new deals.”
Paws Group chief marketing officer, Richard Clark
Done right
Fair messaging: “The one good thing that seems to have come out this year is a real look at fair consumer messaging. There was a situation a couple of years back when people had messages that to the average customer amounted to more than 100% off. That approach seems to have left a little, but deep promotional messages remain.”
Done wrong
Unhealthy deals: “For me people that have got it wrong include the fast food delivery services. Offering Black Friday deals on junk food feels a bit out of sync with the way the world is at the moment, but that is purely a personal view.”
