17 ideas to help your business make money on Black Friday

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. The shopping holiday is a major driver of sales for both brick-and-mortar and online businesses.

In fact, according to CNBC, an Adobe Analytics report found that e-commerce Black Friday shopping in 2023 increased by 7.5 percent compared to 2022, and Black Friday shoppers spent $9.8 billion in 2023, a new record. A Mastercard analysis found that online sales grew by 8 percent compared to the previous year, while in-person sales grew by only 1 percent.

That’s especially good news for e-commerce companies, though there are also plenty of ways to take advantage of Black Friday’s momentum to drive sales for your brick-and-mortar business too.

Black Friday is the kickoff to the holiday shopping season and consumers are actively looking for deals during the Black Friday, Cyber Monday period, so it’s important to take advantage of the media coverage and excitement to maximize your business’s sales.

Top ideas for your business to make money on Black Friday

Fortunately, there are many ways you can drive sales on Black Friday. These ideas work for many budgets, and you can combine multiple ideas to create a more comprehensive marketing strategy.

1. Offer limited-time Black Friday deals

Offering limited-availability deals can help create a sense of exclusivity, encouraging customers to shop early to ensure they get the deals they want. You can also offer an early bird discount on purchases made before a certain time. By getting customers to make their purchases early in the day, they’ll be less likely to spend money elsewhere, which can help drive your sales.

2. Create an exclusive Black Friday product

To generate excitement for your Black Friday sale, consider releasing an exclusive product. You could also bundle multiple existing items together to create a new, exclusive bundle. Offering a product only on Black Friday encourages customers to buy it. After all, if they don’t, they’ll miss out on it forever. Plus, revealing a new product that will be available for one day only offers lots of marketing opportunities around the special release.

3. Consider offering flash sales and hourly deals

Flash sales and deals available only for a short time can help you keep the Black Friday excitement going all day long, encouraging customers to make multiple purchases throughout the day. These strategies work well if you have a loyal customer base, and they can increase your number of sales.

4. Partner with a good cause

Partner with a nonprofit that aligns with your business’s and your customers’ values. Pledge to donate a certain percentage of each Black Friday sale to the nonprofit.

If customers are undecided about whether they want to make a purchase — or if they have the option to buy the same product from another business — knowing that their purchase will be supporting a good cause may sway them to buy from your store.

This strategy can also make for fantastic marketing material. Promote your partnership on all of your social media channels and through email in the weeks leading up to Black Friday.

Take advantage of the opportunity to create video and photo content, too — if possible, have your staff visit the nonprofit and document the visit. Highlighting the work that each donation will be supporting can build an emotional connection with your audience.

5. Use a coupon spin wheel

To add extra excitement, consider using a coupon spin wheel on your website (or in your store). After entering their email addresses, customers can spin the wheel to receive an extra discount or a free gift. Even if they don’t make a purchase, you can add their email address to your email marketing funnel so you can cultivate the relationship and potentially convert them into a paying customer later on.

6. Maximize upselling opportunities

Upselling — encouraging customers to purchase a higher-priced version of the item they plan to buy — is an excellent way to increase your profits. Consider running Black Friday discounted upgrades to boost sales.

7. Sell mystery boxes

Mystery boxes put a fun twist on Black Friday shopping, and they may appeal to loyal followers who love your products. When you offer up a mystery box of items for a lower price than normal, customers get a deal and a fun shopping experience they won’t necessarily find from other retailers.

Plus, with the holidays around the corner, if the box includes items that the customer won’t use themselves, they can use the items as gifts.

8. Offer a Black Friday gift card special

In addition to offering Black Friday sales on your items, create a special gift card offer. For example, offer a $150 gift card for $125. The discount can be appealing to shoppers looking to save money but still give generous gifts.

Selling a gift card also means that the recipient will likely eventually make a purchase from your business. Often, customers spend more than their gift card value, so you may make an even larger sale when the gift recipient redeems the card.

9. Offer sneak peeks of Black Friday sales

Sneak peeks can be a great way to build excitement for Black Friday and connect with customers. Offer just a bit of information on what will be on sale, and then include details on when customers can expect the full unveiling.

Sneak peeks give you an extra opportunity to engage with your customers, and they provide valuable social media content. Have fun with your sneak peeks — take videos of items in boxes without revealing the full items, or take close-up photos of products and see if your followers can guess what they are.

10. Run a Black Friday referral program

While part of your Black Friday success depends on effectively marketing your business and sales, if you establish a referral program, your customers can help drive sales for you.

Create a referral program in which your current customers can earn incentives — like store credits or extra discounts — for each new customer they refer who makes a purchase. This type of program can help build your customer base at minimal cost.

11. Offer free shipping

Customers don’t want to pay for shipping, so offering a free shipping option can be enticing. While you don’t have to give free shipping on all orders, consider offering free shipping for orders that meet a minimum amount, such as $50 or $75.

This set minimum for free shipping may prompt shoppers who haven’t quite reached that minimum to add a couple more products — their shipping will be free, and they’ll feel like they’re getting an even better deal.

12. Start Black Friday early

Traditionally, Black Friday begins at midnight, but more and more retailers are offering early deals and shopping opportunities on Thanksgiving. Starting your Black Friday deals earlier — and even offering them on Thanksgiving — can help you stay competitive and take advantage of that early shopping excitement.

You don’t necessarily have to offer all of your Black Friday deals early, though. Offering certain limited-time specials that are available only on Thanksgiving can appeal to shoppers who want to get those early deals while also encouraging them to return to your website the next day for additional shopping.

Customers won’t want to miss out on those limited-time deals, and these specials can help extend your shopping hours.

13. Provide surprise checkout discounts

Cart abandonment can be a significant problem, especially when customers suddenly see their merchandise totals plus the cost of shipping and taxes. If you offer a surprise discount, customers may feel like they’re getting an even better deal, and it can reduce that sticker-shock effect.

Consider offering a discount spin wheel on the checkout page with prizes like free shipping or a percentage off of the order total. Customers will win even greater savings, and seeing their cart totals drop can encourage them to complete the checkout process.

14. Reward your loyal customers

If you have an established customer loyalty program, look for ways to optimize that program during Black Friday. This is the perfect time to demonstrate your gratitude to your loyal customers for choosing to shop with your business.

There are many ways to reward your customers. Consider offering double or triple customer loyalty points, a special sale that only those in your customer loyalty program can access, free shipping for customer loyalty program members, or another special incentive.

These types of perks can reaffirm customer loyalty. Giving them these extra rewards can help demonstrate your appreciation and remind them of why they love your brand.

15. Engage your social media audience

As Black Friday approaches, it’s essential to engage your social media audience. In addition to scheduling posts about your Black Friday sales, look for ways to continuously connect with your audience.

For example, social media competitions are an excellent way to get your audience active leading up to and during Black Friday. Consider holding giveaways for free products, offering steep discounts, or promoting another appealing prize on your social media channels.

By asking your followers to like and share a post to enter a contest, you’ll expand your marketing and reach more social media users. Giveaways can help you keep the engagement up on Black Friday, helping drive your sales.

16. Host a virtual event

Go live on social media leading up to and on Black Friday to provide a unique and engaging shopping experience. During these virtual events, you can showcase and demonstrate products, host giveaways, engage with your audience, answer questions, and build excitement around your Black Friday sales.

17. Use software tools to manage and automate your Black Friday sale

While Black Friday can be a tremendous income generator, a well-run Black Friday sale also requires plenty of work. The more processes you can automate, the more time you’ll have available to interact with customers and provide solid customer service, especially during the busiest shopping hours.

The right software can help you manage and automate your sale so you can stay organized and keep things running smoothly. Jotform is a powerful online form builder that can help you automate many processes, helping your business make money online.

There are plenty of ways to put Jotform to work for your business. Our drag-and-drop form builder is easy to use, and you can create order forms to easily sell items online without any coding required. If you run a website that features a membership component, you can create membership registration forms.

You can also easily add payment processors to forms, making for a seamless registration and checkout process. When customers complete forms, Jotform automatically collects that data and organizes it in tables.

Jotform offers more than 10,000 customizable form templates, letting you save time when creating a form. Easily create professional, visually appealing forms and incorporate your business’s branding colors, logo, and more.

Additionally, you can use Jotform’s no-code app builder to create an app to help you manage your Black Friday campaign. The Black Friday App template features a ready-made app that you can customize to match your store’s branding. You can add your items, item descriptions, and Black Friday deals and coupons. Then, customers can use the app to shop from your business. It’s easy to share the app by email or QR code, and you can even link to it from your social media accounts.

Black Friday success with Jotform

Black Friday can drive your business’s holiday season success, but planning is key to running a successful sale. It’s essential to develop your Black Friday strategy early, identify the products that will be on sale, make sure you have enough stock to deliver on orders, and outline your marketing strategy.

A platform like Jotform can help you automate and manage your Black Friday plan, maximizing your success and sales.

Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash