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- Online traffic sky-rockets every November in the build-up to Black Friday
- Window shopping and abandoned carts are at their peak
- Implement a strategy to capture serial browsers now, before you become another forgotten bookmark
I’m a window shopper. When I browse online shops in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, I don’t buy. I might add items to my basket, or bookmark them to keep a watchful eye, but why would I buy anything? Black Friday looms on the horizon, and I’ll click off the page knowing in a few weeks the sales will start and I’ll get a deal - or I’ll find it cheaper elsewhere. That’s if I even remember to check back in on the product at all. There’s a lot of buzz around the end of November; it’s lucky if I go back to visit a fraction of the products I’d bookmarked. They’re doomed to sit in my reading list for 6 months, gathering dust until I do some browser spring-cleaning.
With last year's cart abandonment rate over Black Friday sitting at an average of 77.7%, I’m clearly not the only one who does this – and ecommerce foot traffic only gets heavier the closer we get to Christmas. Like it or not, Black Friday is getting bigger year after year; retailers need to find a way to capture the legion of window shoppers that appear every November before they take their business elsewhere when the Big Day comes. Be inventive, be creative, do something to get my attention.
What can you do in the run-up to Black Friday?
This all begs the question: why wait for Black Friday to start your promotions? You’re facing a month of window-shoppers browsing your site; start your Black Friday warm-up now and convert shoppers there and then.
You need to stand out if you’re going to convert on (or before) Black Friday. Try to do something that delivers urgency and will stop a user from thinking they’ll “just come back later.” For example, you could start some of your discounting earlier on certain products in limited supply; or run a Gift With Purchase campaign to give a sense of urgency to serial browsers. Many retailers now start discounting earlier than ever; for instance, Best Buy and Walmart have already launched some of their Black Friday deals this year and it’s not even the end of October yet!
If you have big plans for Black Friday itself, make sure your customers know about it early. Take a page out of how Apple handles their Black Friday campaigns: they send marketing emails teasing their sale weeks before. As the day approaches, they send more emails highlighting some of their planned discounts to firmly plant themselves in the minds of customers and ensure they come back on sale day. Apple won’t be caught out being one of those forgotten bookmarks. Whatever you do, make your campaigns creative and impactful to stand out.
Take shoppers from browse to buy
To really push conversion in the run-up to Black Friday, use a tool like Nibble to engage customers immediately while they're on your page. Nibble is an engaging negotiation chatbot that allows retailers to set a target discount, and Nibble takes care of reaching that target by haggling with users. It converts potential customers by opening up a conversation about price on the product page and invites users to name their price in a real-time AI negotiation.
The chatbot can be triggered by a variety of options including multiple page visits; exit intent; dwell time and more. Our data so far has shown Nibble achieves up to 50% increased conversion and manages to improve profit margins by negotiating a deal below the target discount set by retailers. Best of all, users have fun negotiating with a cheeky chatbot and get a memorable purchasing experience.
Want to use Nibble to improve conversion before Black Friday on your site? It’s simple to install and can be up-and-running within ten minutes. Use the contact form below to arrange your free trial now.
