Black Friday & Cyber Monday - how to capitalise

The clock is ticking, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching. The 2023 dates for smashing your PPC campaign conversion rates fall on Friday 24th November, with offers carrying through until Cyber Monday on the 27th November.

TL;DR

This is an opportunity that every company is looking to capitalise on. 

The bad news: competition will be high, as all of your competitors will be pushing their budgets over this period.

The good news: you’ve got plenty of time to build new landing pages or update existing ones, work on your keyword and discount strategies and implement loss-aversion tactics like a countdown timer.

Top five tips

Read our top tips for how you can stay one step ahead on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and have a record year.

1. Create specific landing pages 
2. Update existing landing pages 
3. Review your keyword strategy 
4. Develop your discount strategy
5. Add a countdown timer 

1.Create specific PPC campaign landing pages

For your Black Friday and Cyber Monday PPC campaigns to rank highly, you’ll need to create some specific landing pages that are focused on the deals you’re offering. Your website is already full of details about your products and services, but customers will want to be led to the most relevant pages for their search queries. Most importantly, they want to see top offers as soon as they land on the page.

Bespoke landing pages

Concentrate all of the highlights of your available offers onto a bespoke Black Friday or Cyber Monday page. From this one page, you can lead the user to other pages on your site where they can access full details on each deal.

Focused copy

Remember, writing specific copy on the landing page is vital. Creating a through line from the user’s search query to the copy found on the landing page will boost your SEO for the sale period. Good SEO can also help reduce costs in your PPC campaigns during one of the most competitive sales periods of the year. Who doesn’t love to save on budget?

Cut down the clicks

Aside from the copy on your landing pages, there is the importance of efficiency for customers. By creating specific landing pages that relate to those all important offers, you cut down on the number of clicks needed for users to get to your deals. They want savings, and they want them now!

2. Update existing landing pages

Keep things simple

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You could simply optimise what you already have on your site, focusing on pages that are performing well, or on product pages that you know are going to be popular with your most impressive offers. If you have the time, do both!

Limit distractions

We’d recommend limiting distractions on the page by keeping your copy focused on the offers. If a customer wants to see specific details on a product as they do their research before making a purchase, they can click through to the product page from the landing page that they first interact with. What will first grab their attention however, is the offer itself.

Add compelling CTAs

These should go at the top of each page to incentivise users to scroll beyond the fold. Those first impressions really count. Remember, these users might be opening multiple tabs at once, looking for the best deal available. You won’t want them to miss out on an offer simply because you’ve hidden it beneath the fold.

Page load time

It’s important to consider page loading times and the overall user experience to make the most of your top-converting pages. Now’s the time to double check the basics, just in case anything rudimentary is slowing your page performance down ahead of time.

3. Review your keyword strategy

 In the run up to Black Friday, you should be focusing on non-branded keywords to  capture as broad a range of users as possible.

Branded queries

Transition to more specific brand names as you get closer to the big day. This mimics users' search queries in the run-up to Black Friday; they’re making more general searches a few weeks before, but have a good idea in mind of what they’re after as the date approaches. Now it’s your job to make it as easy as possible for them to find offers for the specific products that you're already selling, as they search for them.

Steer clear of costly keywords

Believe it or not, these are often too broad and will pull in users that aren’t hunting for relevant deals. They’re also super competitive and pricey as a result of their seasonality. We’d recommend considering using them as negative keywords so that you don’t pull in users who are simply searching for generic Black Friday deals. You want customers with more specific intent!

Double down

You know what works for your brand, and Black Friday isn’t going to suddenly bring in users who are entirely different from your core audience. So double down on what already brings in conversions at this key period.

4. Develop your discount strategy

Have you ever considered creating a discount strategy that rewards returning customers through incentives? This is a great opportunity to retain users long after Cyber Monday has come and gone.

Discount example

A great example of loyalty discounts for returning users is the use of percentage discounts for customers who make a purchase during the sales period. This can be a strong foundation for customer loyalty because you’re literally providing value to customers who are already interested in your brand.

Shipping discounts

Consider shipping discounts, bundle deals and other exclusive deals that are only available between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can even ask for customer details at the checkout and allow customers to sign up for your loyalty scheme for future offers at the same time.

This is a peak season for traffic to your site, so make sure you’re giving those new customers a reason to want to return after the madness of Black Friday has calmed down.

5. Add a countdown timer

In today’s online market, Black Friday is famous. People are waiting, ready to pounce on the best available deals as soon as they go live. 

Amp up the excitement and anticipation with a countdown timer banner at the top of your landing pages. You can do this for the start time of any exclusive deals, or even create specific timers that countdown how long specific sales will last.

A countdown timer will incentivise users to make the most of deals when they're live. They’re also important and useful reminders that these offers do have a cut-off point, preventing any users from missing out on savings after wrongly assuming that you'll extend your deals until after Cyber Monday.

Summary of capitalising on Black Friday & Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are becoming more popular with each passing year. As your competitors gear up to make the most of peak traffic and engagement, we want to make sure you’re one step ahead.

By optimising your landing pages, focusing on a keyword strategy that actually works and making it as easy as possible for users to engage with your offers, you’ll be ready and prepared for a very busy (and highly converting) sales period.

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