– Written by Freddie Warner –
Black Friday is one of the most significant dates in the retail calendar, as well as being a notably budget-intesive time for PPC campaigns. Last year, the average PPC expenditure was £113 per person. With such high traffic, you want every penny to be impactful. Put simply, you want to place your ads before as many Black Friday bargain hunters as possible.
In this blog post, Infinity shares top insights into achieving that by focussing on your call data. We also provide expert tips for maximising ROI (Return On Investment) on Black Friday campaigns from Freddie Warner, Senior Paid Media Account Manager at Passion Digital. If reading isn’t your preference, you can discover all the insights in this podcast episode.
In recent years, Black Friday has evolved in terms of how both consumers and advertisers perceive the promotional period. Advertisers and brands are increasingly launching offers well before the traditional Black Friday at the end of November. An analysis of Google Trends data over the past five years shows that interest in the term ‘Black Friday deals’ typically peaked in mid to late November. However, last year, this spike occurred at the beginning of November, highlighting the necessity to prepare for these sales periods much earlier.
While people frequently ask, ‘when is Black Friday 2024?’, the blurring of defined sales periods means that Black Friday in the UK can extend beyond the end of November, right up to the Christmas period. Advertisers should approach this as a more extended, end-of-year strategy. Additionally, the elongation of the promotional period offers marketers more data to use in optimising their campaigns.
While this period is particularly valuable, especially for e-commerce businesses, the recommendations for a successful campaign remain consistent across the board.
Ensure that the data you provide to ad platforms is of high quality, enabling campaigns to optimise towards the desired outcomes. Make certain you are tracking offline conversions, such as call data and integrate this information into PPC platforms to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer journeys.
Leverage AI-driven campaigns available on Google, such as Performance Max. Performance Max utilises the products on your site to deliver ads to an audience actively searching for them. Embracing AI will not only assist you in reaching your target audience but also do so in a cost-effective manner.
With a plethora of Black Friday creative campaigns launching simultaneously, securing click-throughs will depend on the strength and clarity of your offer or truly distinctive creativity.
Produce cost-effectively. Given the short duration, consider how you might repurpose existing assets instead of developing something entirely new. However, don’t just rely on adding ‘Black Friday Sale’ titles to an existing ad – think about altering graphics, the voiceover or colour schemes in a current campaign to capture the attention of a familiar audience.
Be crystal clear about the offer. This is arguably more crucial than product details and brand positioning, as the main concern for consumers is the deal. Naturally, the creative should be recognisably from your brand (to avoid alienating an eager audience anticipating Black Friday), but perhaps more than at any other time, your brand’s tone of voice could be adjusted in favour of sales messaging. Use bold titles, simple calls-to-action and ensure that sale or offer information is displayed on screen right from the start; don’t leave it until the end.
Create a sense of urgency. Consider developing multiple variants with messages like “Now On”, “Closing Soon” and “Closing Midnight”.
Stand out. If timing permits, try to offer more than just the deal. Consider using self-aware humour relating to your brand/category or Black Friday sales or utilise breakout graphics (elements that appear to jump out of the frame). Can you target different audiences with slightly varied creative content?
Think ahead. Crafting effective assets takes time and achieving optimal cost efficiencies requires good planning. However, even at the last minute, there’s always potential to repurpose creative assets effectively with the right creative partner.
With a streamlined budget, brands need to narrow their focus to make the most of limited resources. One area to streamline is the conversion actions for campaign(s). Having multiple conversion actions with a smaller budget can dilute the impact, so concentrate on one or a few conversion actions for improved results with less expenditure.
Brands must set realistic goals when dealing with a reduced media spend. Although efficiency gains can be achieved by adjusting ad campaign setups, a decrease in media spend will generally result in reduced marketing output.
While brands with constrained media budgets might prefer to activate funds only during key periods like Black Friday, it’s beneficial to launch campaigns earlier than anticipated. Doing this allows for the collection of performance data, enabling critical decisions to be made for optimising the campaign in time for the primary sales period.
Lastly, ensure that you incorporate exclusion lists in your campaigns to avoid wasting budget by appearing in auctions dominated by major competitors.
Ensure you have the appropriate goals established and are measuring the correct elements to accurately assess the success of your campaigns. Do not overlook the importance of frequency; displaying your ad to a single individual just once is unlikely to yield significant results.
Ensure you establish realistic yet ambitious targets before commencing any activities. You can only gauge a campaign’s success if you have defined goals and objectives in advance. Consider the size of your media budget and the competition surrounding your campaign to avoid setting yourself up for failure.
Examining the call data from Infinity Hub within the retail sector reveals significant increases in call volumes over previous Black Friday periods. In 2023, there was a 41% increase in call volumes compared to the 2022 Black Friday period. It is important to recognise that not all these calls will pertain to sales enquiries. Given the time-sensitive nature of Black Friday, it is crucial to ensure that agents remain focussed on converting callers into customers.
Call tracking provides complete visibility into the online journey customers undertake before making a call. With this information, you can establish rules to identify high-intent customers and prioritise them in the queue to finalise their purchase. Additionally, call insights can help identify friction points in the online journey, enabling you to optimise customer experiences and self-service options online. This, in turn, frees up more of your agents to secure those vital Black Friday sales.
With call tracking, you gain detailed insights into which keywords and PPC ads are driving those crucial sales calls. Armed with this information, you can allocate more resources to the activities you know will generate a return and pause those that won’t, ensuring your valuable budget works harder for you during this critical period.
You can enhance this approach with a solution like Infinity’s Smart Match, which accurately connects positive sales call outcomes to the PPC ads that prompted them. By using this conversion data, you can guide the algorithm to present your top-performing ads to more customers likely to convert, securing a strong return for Black Friday.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail! Understand what drives your most valuable sales calls well ahead of the Black Friday deadline to ensure your campaigns are fully optimised and your budget works as efficiently as possible.
With tools like Infinity’s Conversation Analytics, retailers can access unfiltered insights directly from customers. This allows you to understand what’s generating interest and identify any common doubts or purchasing barriers. Such insights enable you to continuously refine your messaging, creating more impactful campaigns that ultimately boost conversions.
Managing PPC campaigns during Black Friday is complex and competitive. However, by following the top tips above, you’ll not only enjoy a successful Black Friday period but will also be poised for continued success into 2025.
If you need assistance this Black Friday, feel free to reach out to our Paid Media team. They’re ready to offer recommendations to help you achieve your sales goals during this crucial time of year.