OCTOBER 27th, 2022
The Black Friday season is a period of time that, if you do it right, does not go unnoticed in Google Analytics charts. Once the user finds you (either through SEM or through the SEO and branding work previously done) it is essential that when they arrive on the web they are presented with the best version of your storefront that leads to the final conversion. A CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) project is a trial-and-error methodology that starts with quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as other techniques to find possible improvements aimed at providing a better user experience and, thus, improving eCommerce results. Here are 7 must-haves to review for Black Friday in order to convert this traffic peak into sales and break metrics.
1. Checkout adapted to the type of business
The checkout is key in the customer journey. Between each step of this, there may be important traffic leaks that must be detected in time and reviewed to see what may be generating them.
It is important to keep in mind that each eCommerce is different, and therefore has specific needs. Depending on your product and your target audience, you should assess whether you need more or fewer steps, whether the current steps have the necessary fields, whether the structure is correct...
For example, if in a checkout step the user must indicate whether he/she wants to continue shopping with or without registration, it is important that both options are visible equally: it is quite common to see a significant percentage of dropouts in this step because the option to continue without registration is not visible.
One of the CRO techniques that can be used to detect these pain points are screen recordings, totally anonymous and encrypted, where you can see the movements and clicks of the user and identify which ones are stuck.
If there is an obstacle that is repeated in a staggered manner in different navigations, it is important to put it on the table. If in doubt about whether to make any changes, the ideal is to test it to make a solid decision based on the data (prior to a time of peak sales such as Black Friday).
2. Specific Landing page for Black Friday
One of the maxims of CRO is to make it easier for the user to move towards where he wants to navigate.
In this sense, creating an ad hoc landing page where best-selling products and special promotions are presented is very useful to promote the Black Friday campaign (both on the website itself and on social networks, paid media, etc.) and to focus attention where we want it.
In addition, this landing page serves to centralize the entire discounted catalog and thus take advantage of the high purchase intent of the audience that is not yet clear what to buy (just want to buy on sales). This not only increases the probability of purchase, but also boosts the average ticket by offering a wide range of products.
This is valid as long as you take into account which products are the most interesting to sell (those with more stock, more profit margin, top sellers...).
In addition, as it is a season of high sales volume, it is necessary to have an near-daily stock control in order to avoid promoting unavailable products in banners, campaigns...
If you choose to carry out this landing, take the opportunity to devote efforts to optimize it at SEO level to attract organic traffic.
3. Elements of urgency
There are certain inputs that can trigger conversion acceleration.
An example could be to add the number of remaining stock in the product card or, in the case of a period with an end date of sales such as Black Friday, to add a counter of hours/days remaining until the discount is valid throughout the website.
These elements tend to create a dilemma for the user by raising doubts about the availability of the discounted product in the time it takes to decide to make the purchase (and, in most cases, it ends up motivating the conversion).
4. Price, the key element
Price is the main motivating element of the Black Friday season (as well as any other sales season). This focus makes it a delicate issue that should not be played with.
It is important to keep in mind that altering the original price of the product can be very costly in terms of brand reputation (many times the user already has the original price of the product in mind, so tricking them with a fake discount does not work).
Considering the obvious, it is important that the discount, the original price and the final discounted price are visually highlighted.
Finally, the shipping costs must be detailed and accessible to the user so that they do not come as a surprise at the time of payment and cause the user to not end up making the final conversion.
5. Shipping conditions, return policy, FAQs and warranties adapted to Black Friday
Staying on the product sheet, it is important to keep in mind that, depending on the expected sales volume, shipping conditions such as delivery dates and shipping costs should be reviewed (and, if necessary, adapted), as well as taking care of confidence-building elements such as the return policy and guarantees.
In this way, the company's commitment to contribute to the generation of a good user experience is ensured.
It is advisable to check that this information is easy to find in the product file and also throughout the navigation.
6. Search engine
Although it is often not given the necessary attention (letting it go unnoticed throughout the navigation), the search engine is an essential element in terms of CRO.
The user profile that is clear about what he wants on Black Friday and has a high purchase intention needs to find the search engine at a glance (especially if the eCommerce has a large catalog of products). Therefore, you should analyze if it is important in your case:
Make it visible by keeping it accessible on all pages (from the home and categories to the product page).
Make it interactive by generating product suggestions as the user types his search.
Always present alternative results even if the product they are looking for is not available or the user writes with spelling mistakes.
In addition, a very interesting practice to perform periodically (not only on Black Friday) is to review the search terms that users type in the internal search engine of the website, as it can help to know if it is necessary to expand the catalog with products that are not currently available; as well as to know if users are having trouble finding a product that is available, and therefore it is necessary to give it more visibility on the web.
7. The basics: have the website up and running and have stock and logistics well planned.
We end with the most obvious (but no less important): having logistics and warehouse resources ready to receive a considerable volume of purchases.
There is nothing more frustrating than working to generate traffic, and that this does not end up translating into conversions for reasons external to the purchase motivation. In addition, it is essential to avoid generating a bad user experience by having these elements under control, since a dissatisfied user is much more difficult to recover.
Of course, the website must work properly. It is necessary to make sure that the server can cope with such a volume of traffic.
It is also important to check the loading time of the pages, so that there is no overload on the web that generates a wait that the user is not willing to accept.
Always, but especially in times of peak sales such as Black Friday, it is important to help the user to easily find what they are looking for and lead them with neon lights towards the path of conversion.
Still, keep in mind that CRO is a long-distance race that needs to be done well before these peak seasons, and it's this groundwork that makes it possible for the results to be optimal.
So, although it may be tempting, avoid testing during Black Friday to minimize risks that may affect sales. And, for the subsequent data analysis, keep in mind that the browsing data collected at times like Black Friday does not represent the reality of eCommerce during the rest of the year.
Why work with us?
At Rocket Digital we are committed to personalized CRO & Analytics services. With our help, you will be able to start your online business presence with the support of specialists with expertise to address all the important aspects for success; as well as to prepare it for essential discount seasons such as Black Friday.
