How to speed up your sales during Black Friday 2023

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in online retail sales, many businesses, including traditionally brick-and-mortar ones, have adapted to the changing times. Technology luckily makes this transition possible.

Whether you’re new to online selling or have been at it for a while, the potential of this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales is unparalleled.

Of course, that means there are plenty of ways you can attract shoppers and benefit from this shopping craze. In this post, we highlight some of the most effective ways you can increase sales as the holiday season approaches.

Facts Behind Black Friday

Black Friday’s origin

Black Friday refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving when U.S. businesses typically sell products and services at a discount. Although companies usually promote sales during this time, the origin of the name actually has nothing to do with marketing.

According to Britannica, “Black Friday” originates from the early 1960s and was used by Philadelphia police who had to deal with crowds and heavy traffic in the city on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The name took hold nationwide in the late 1980s.

This was when sellers started to use “Black Friday” to describe business going from “in the red” to “in the black” after Thanksgiving, meaning it was prime time to raise profits.

Today, Black Friday is the big day of sales we know and love. Some businesses even start offering Black Friday deals before the Friday following Thanksgiving to get a head start.

How Black Friday shoppers think

Almost everyone loves a good deal, and of course, that’s the main reason Black Friday is so attractive to shoppers. According to CNBC, Black Friday’s primary draw is exactly that: Consumers find buying something at a lower price satisfying.

CNBC also states that consumers fear missing out on limited-time deals. People feel more inclined to buy something at a discount when they know it won’t last.

Just how big is Black Friday?

Economically, Black Friday is a huge deal. In 2022, the National Retail Federation found that 196.7 million people did their shopping from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, which speaks to how successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday are. This was an enormous jump from 2021, with an increase of about 17 million shoppers.

This year, the numbers are expected to grow, especially for online shopping. Adobe Analytics predicts that Black Friday to Cyber Monday will garner $37.2 billion in online sales, with Black Friday’s online sales growing to $9.6 billion.

Capital One Shopping’s projections back this up, stating that online spending will likely reach about $9.5 billion this year.

And Black Friday and Cyber Monday won’t just be dedicated to holiday gift shopping; a Gallup survey found that 64 percent of shoppers this year plan to treat themselves to something nice during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

These numbers are great incentives to participate in Black Friday — but there are many other reasons why organizations should set up a Black Friday campaign.

Why you should have a Black Friday strategy

Clear out stock

If you have excess stock in your warehouse, Black Friday is probably the best time of the year to do some clearing out. Set a discount for something you have too much of, so more customers will feel inclined to buy it — especially if it makes a good holiday gift. You’ll get rid of some older stock and make space for new products.

Acquire new customers

People often use Black Friday as an opportunity to see what businesses have to offer as the holiday gifting season approaches.

If someone has been on the fence about buying from you, a good deal will help reel them in. Advertising Black Friday deals will also introduce and attract potential customers who haven’t come across your business before. That’s exactly why there’s no better time to brush up your team’s customer engagement skills.

Boost your revenue

Since Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping events of the year, it’s also a great day to bolster your sales. Use this time to see how profitable deals can be for your business while ensuring that they’ll be good enough to catch a customer’s attention.

Keep up with competitors

Your competitors will most likely set up their own Black Friday strategies. And with customers searching for the best deals, you’ll have to convince them to choose your store over others.

Take into consideration how other businesses might try to entice customers, and make an action plan. This might mean getting a jump start on Black Friday advertisements or offering deals like free shipping.

Powerful ways to boost your Black Friday sales

Use email and SMS marketing

To ensure your customers keep you in mind as they do their shopping, you should reach out to them. Marketing with email newsletters and text reminders is crucial during this season. Make sure that your email subject lines and texts are eye-catching, as customers will probably have inboxes full of promotions.

Personalize the shopping experience

Great customer engagement is the gateway to more sales. After all, your customers should feel that they’re special to your business. You can improve sales by offering personalized deals and discounts to certain customer groups, like those who love a specific brand or especially loyal customers.

You can even customize your Black Friday email newsletters to include a customer’s name in the subject line — that way, they’ll get curious, open the email, and find out what great prices you’re offering.

Create your own app for Black Friday with Jotform

According to a study from the Pew Research Center, 76 percent of U.S. adults have reported shopping online using their smartphones. It’s worthwhile to build a mobile app showing off what you sell.

Luckily, Jotform’s Store Builder requires absolutely no coding skills, so you can effortlessly make a mobile store app on your own. Choose from one of our 250-plus store templates. Add goods, services, or subscriptions to your app, and then connect with one of Jotform’s 30-plus payment processors.

Once you’ve built your app, easily share it by embedding it into your website, posting or sharing a QR code, or sending the link to customers.

Advertise on TikTok

TikTok has done great things for many businesses, big and small. Use this massive social media platform by posting videos that include trending sounds, or buy some ad space. You’ll get the chance to reach a wider audience and get some new eyes looking at your business during the Black Friday season.

Make use of online forms

Online forms are a powerful resource for any business, so take advantage of Jotform’s Black Friday discount to make a variety of them. Here are some great examples.

Online payment forms

Jotform’s Form Builder includes plenty of payment processor integrations, so building a form that collects online credit card payments is straightforward. With a payment form, you can

• Create a product list
• Manage your stock
• Automatically calculate sales tax
• Generate invoices
• Process coupon codes
• Add form widgets like a timer, form calculator, and terms and conditions

Use one of Jotform’s e-commerce integrations

Subscription and registration forms

If your business runs a subscription service, use an online form to collect payment from customers. You can also use online forms to have customers register for email newsletters, which helps with retention. 

Jotform offers more than 60 subscription form templates. All you need to do is pick one and customize it to fit your needs.

Booking and appointment forms

Businesses that require reservations, like a hotel, tattoo parlor, or restaurant, can also use one of our forms. Feel free to use an appointment form template to jump-start the form building process.

Add custom popup forms to your website

You don’t just have the power to create shareable online forms. With Jotform, you also have the capability to embed forms as popups on your site, which helps with customer engagement and encourages visitors to become customers. For the Black Friday season, that’s especially important. You can use popups for subscription, lead generation, and feedback forms.

Think outside the box

To stand out from the other Black Friday promotions, you’ll have to brainstorm some unique marketing tactics.

That might mean getting creative with QR codes, creating a public Black Friday Spotify playlist, or creating viral tweets to bring attention to your business. Whatever you do, make sure it stays consistent with your company’s branding.

Let your customers do the talking

Nothing engages customers more than other customers. After all, people want to know how others like them feel about your business. That’s exactly why you should put your customers front and center in your Black Friday campaign.

One way you can do this is by showcasing photos and videos from your customers, alongside their real reviews, in your marketing.

For example, if you run a clothing store, you can post images of customers wearing your clothes for Black Friday promotions. Other customers will see how the clothes look on everyday people and feel more confident in making purchases.

Running a contest can also spread awareness of your business. Host something like a giveaway or photo contest to encourage people to invite others and spread the word.

Embed Easter eggs to spark curiosity

Want to get people talking about your business? You can hide coupon codes in your website or somewhere else in the checkout process. If a customer discovers them, they’ll want to share them with others, and that’ll get people participating in what’s practically an online scavenger hunt. This helps you look unique in a sea of other businesses during Black Friday.

Create tables & reports to measure your Black Friday campaign’s success

You’ll have to keep track of your orders and revenue, of course, and there’s no better tool for that than Jotform Tables. Since form submissions are automatically stored in corresponding tables, you can conveniently keep track of registration information, orders, booking details, and more. 

Jotform Report Builder can also help you visualize what your Black Friday campaign accomplished. Once you’re able to see that data in a nutshell, you can make an action plan on what to pursue next or what you can improve for next year.

Use Jotform for your Black Friday campaign

Whatever you’re selling on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Jotform’s products are loaded with features designed to optimize productivity and help you get bigger sales, even outside of the holiday shopping season. If you’re new to using Jotform, getting started is easy, and it’s free!

If you like what you see and want to upgrade, take a look at Jotform’s Black Friday discounts, which offer 50 percent off paid plans.