Black Friday and Cyber Monday 101

The biggest retail time of the year is fast approaching, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With a background in performance marketing for ecommerce and retail brands, we’ve compiled the most effective tactics to help you maximise your ROI during this peak sales period.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the largest retail event of the year

It’s important to note that from Oct onwards, we’re officially in Holiday Season. More than 60% of shoppers started gift shopping for Christmas as early as September. Now, why am I talking about Christmas when this is an article about Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Because a recent Google survey highlighted that more than 55% of shoppers are planning to hold off on Christmas gifts until major sales. With this in mind, brands preparing for the Holiday season should definitely be considering the role Black Friday and Cyber Monday plays in their strategy.

One popular question we receive often is whether Black Friday or Boxing Day is bigger. Perhaps a few years ago, I would have said the latter, however, more recently, Black Friday and Cyber Monday searches have surged. Last year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday generated +84% search queries compared to Boxing Day sale terms (Google Keyword Planner; 2022).

It’s competitive, so start early & tease before Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Given Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the largest retail event of the year, this also means a cluttered and competitive market during the key period of Nov. Paid social platforms like Pinterest and Meta are predicting CPMs to potentially double during Black Friday week (Meta Holiday Season guide 2022). Meaning it will cost advertisers more, to reach users during this period.

So, how do we combat this? In my opinion, teaser campaigns can be very effective in off-setting inflated costs. In the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, consider running some form of an early promo (eg; VIP early access). The idea is to capture users and build your remarketing pools. This will create a large group of earned audiences, you can then remarket to during the sale period. This will generate maximum efficiency and ROI for you as earned audiences are inherently cheaper to target.

Build an audience and product- centric sales approach

Consider who you want to target and what you want to show them. Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a great tactic to acquire new customers and retain them post the sale period. A significant portion of shoppers will be looking for deals, so brands with an effective offer will have an opportunity to reach new prospects and position themselves in their  consideration set. 

Advertisers should also think about how to engage and add-value to existing customers. Your current database will also be targeted by other brands with competitive offers, so it’s important to ensure you’re re-engaging existing customers as well. 

Combatting promotional fatigue during Black Friday and Cyber Monday

It’s imperative to combat any promotional fatigue from users seeing the same offer in market for a significant period of time. A few key tactics that are key to achieving this:

• Flighting Schedule – a strategic flighting approach is critical to a successful strategy. Consider flighting budget in line with demand and your largest offers to maximise ROI.
• Experiment with different offers
• Plan holistically – consider what products to promote based on trending search categories (your agency can help provide these insights)

In my opinion, brands that get ahead of the competition, invest appropriately during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday and who have an audience and product-centric approach to the sale, will be the ones to win out during the sale period. 

Reach out to our ADMATICians today to see how we can support and develop a tailored Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategy for you.