Creative Ways to Amplify Your Black Friday and Cyber Monday Strategy With Search
We’re on the cusp of the biggest shopping period of the year and retailers everywhere are finalizing their plans for the holiday season. Cyber Monday is now outpacing Black Friday in terms of revenue and more shoppers are turning to ecommerce sites first for those post-Thanksgiving deals. Competition during this time of year is fierce to say the least – especially when your competitor’s site is a click away. Aside from compelling ad copy and promotions, there are a few creative ways that your website’s search engine can amplify your Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategy this year.
Give users what they came for
9 times out of 10, when a customer comes to your website on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, they are looking for one thing in particular: deals. No matter what you’re selling, your customers are going to expect to get a discount on something and your website should make those discounts easy to find. While some customers are fine browsing for these promotions, your search bar can add a whole new layer to a site’s user experience. Anticipate certain queries that visitors will be searching for, like “doorbusters,” “on sale jeans,” or “Black Friday deals” and ensure that users are taken somewhere relevant when they search for those terms. Consider creating custom landing pages that exist within search results to further highlight your discounts. Historical data can help shed some light on which search queries to use when building your strategy.
Don’t be afraid to get personal
Personalization can be a powerful tool in any marketing strategy, especially during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Users come to your site carrying a lot of data on who they are and where they came from. Leverage that data to present your customers with information that pertains to them. Search tools with features like Visitor Targeting can allow you to more accurately market the right products to a given audience and segment certain deals. Many retailers like to extend pre-sale promotions to their most loyal customers or email subscribers. By segmenting results based on source or user type, you can ensure that only the customers you’re targeting can see certain discounted products.
Take control over your search results
During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday rush, it can be helpful to guide your users towards the products you want to sell the most and away from products that are out of stock or discontinued. By using search tools with boost and bury functionality and pinning, you can easily control what customers see on search results pages. Consider boosting the products that are on sale during this time to maximize conversions. Once the dust settles, and your holiday sales are done, you can turn these rules off to go back to business as usual.
Cross-Sell and Up-Sell
Cross-selling and up-selling similar products to users is certainly nothing new, in fact, 35% of Amazon’s revenue is generated from its recommendations engine alone. However, there are some ways to get smarter with your cross-selling strategy. Recommendations tools that use machine learning, can take details on your users and up-to-date sales data to present products that customers are more likely to purchase. These tools power widgets that display bestsellers, trending products, and recently bought items and they can be very helpful in raising your average order value. Recommendations engines with machine learning get even smarter as time goes on and more data is collected, so start early! The key to success during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond is all in the strategy and optimized on-site search can add one more layer to your plan. With a search platform that’s relevant, accurate, and intelligent, you can provide a satisfactory experience to customers and retain them long after the holiday season is over.
To find out more about HawkSearch and learn how you can push your website’s search to the next level, schedule a one-on-one demo today.
