Prepare your ecommerce website for Black Friday!

5 ways to fully prepare your ecommerce website for Black Friday!

We’re half way through the fourth (and final) quarter of the year. This means ecommerce sites should be making changes to accommodate for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas!

We’re way past the planning stages now, being 11 days away from Black Friday means it’s time for execution!

Here are some things you should consider to prepare your ecommerce website for Black Friday:

1) Display the best offers on your home page:

Carousel banners were innovated for a reason…use them!

By now you should have designed a few banners showcasing your best offers.

Keep the carousel on a 3-5 second timer, with the banner designs featuring minimal text combined with appealing imagery.

Here’s an example of something we did for a client – MrMangoDelivery.co.uk

Although it’s not Black Friday centric, the style of imagery and text shows you what you should be aiming for.

 2) Use clear CTAs (call to actions):

As seen on the above example, call to actions have been used!

You have to attempt to invoke a reaction from the user – in other words, tell them exactly what they need to do.

Here’s another banner we designed for Mr Mango Delivery…

Simple, minimal text and has a clear CTA!

Too many times some of us think we need to portray every detail on the banner when, in actual fact, it needs to contain minimal information.

If it’s enticing enough, you can lead people to another page because they’re going to click on the banner for more information.

Remember one important thing – Value + Relevance = More Conversions (taken from Unbounce)

 3) Test your site for mobile:

As the image below demonstrates, the number of Mobile users surpassed desktop in 2014. Since then, the gap between mobile and desktop has become increasingly wider…

It’s not a case of whether mobile is important, we’ve known it is for quite some time.

Execution is key and that means designing your site primarily for mobile users.

Just think, how many times do you look at your phone every day?

A study, led by Nottingham Trent University, asked the participants (between ages 18-33) to estimate the amount of time they spend on their phone every day.

They then compared their estimates to their actual usage (which was measured through an app installed on their mobiles).

Mobile phone usage counted as:

• Looking at message notifications
• Checking social media alerts
• Taking phone calls
• Playing music

The study concluded the average person checks their device around 85 times a day, equating to 5 hours of usage per day.

The research also indicated that smartphone use was also confined to short bursts. Unless your website is enticing enough (and built for mobile), people just won’t stay on your website anymore.

4) Use time to your advantage:

Where there is scarcity there is urgency, and when urgency is created so are sales.

There are two ways to invoke urgency from a potential customer:

• Quantity-related: ie we only have 2 sofas left!
• Time-related: ie you only have 2 hours left to buy!

Just think – if you thought you had all the time in the world to buy a product on offer, you won’t have the urgency to convert there and then.

You’d probably consider buying it, but won’t go through and convert.

Now think again – if you think there’s only one product left, you’d think “I NEED to get that before someone else takes it”? Of course, you would!

5) Ensure your website has simple navigation:

Ever been on a website and then you can’t find what you’re looking for? Or perhaps it’s too confusing to navigate? I have experienced this on way too many occasions…

It’s the worst and the first call of duty for me is to simply find another site which will satisfy my lazy shopping needs.

The best website is one that is as simple as can be, with all relevant information provided.

I hope you have already executed some (if not all) of these to prepare your ecommerce website for Black Friday.

Here’s a free pro tip for you, promote your best offers on social media too. You can bet that #BlackFriday will be trending on the day, perhaps even the whole weekend.

Schedule 7-8 posts to go out throughout the day to maximise sales for your ecommerce site.

Invest in social. It’s a must, no ifs no buts.