November is a highly anticipated month for businesses, especially those in the e-commerce space. The reason is Black Friday—a massive sales event where companies offer customers incredible deals, driving huge sales volumes and, ultimately, significant profit.
For many businesses, the revenue generated during Black Friday can outshine several months of sales combined. It often serves as a crucial financial lifeline. Missing out on this opportunity could spell disaster and signal a tough year ahead.
However, Black Friday success only happens when opportunity meets preparation. In this post, we’ll outline the key steps businesses in Nigeria can take to prepare for a profitable Black Friday.
Solidify Your Technical Foundation
Few things are more frustrating for a customer than clicking on a Black Friday ad, only to land on a “404 Page Not Found” error, see that the product is out of stock, or find that the checkout process is broken. A successful Black Friday begins with a solid technical setup.
Run a thorough audit of your website. Ensure all links are clickable and the checkout process works seamlessly. Check your site’s speed to make sure pages load quickly and are properly optimised, especially for mobile users. You should conduct multiple rounds of testing to ensure your website is perfect before the big day. Even an hour of downtime could result in the loss of thousands of naira in sales. Consider collaborating with a professional website design agency in Nigeria to fix and maintain your site’s technical aspects ahead of the event.
Update Your Product Inventory
It’s a common mistake: a customer clicks an ad for a product they want, only to see the dreaded “out of stock” message. In that moment, you haven’t just lost a sale—you’ve created a frustrated customer who might share negative feedback, and you’ve wasted your ad spend.
Before the sales begin, conduct a full stock audit. Update your inventory levels on your website and ad platforms accordingly. If you have 50 units of a specific earring for your Black Friday deal, ensure the stock number is set correctly on your site and counts down as each piece is sold.
Allocate a Dedicated Ad Budget
While organic marketing can generate tremendous engagement and leads, paid advertising is essential to maximise your reach during a major promotion like Black Friday. Set aside a healthy budget, focusing primarily on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google Ads to capture customers who are actively searching for deals.
Confirm Your Tracking and Attribution
Digital marketing is iterative; performance improves with testing and data. As the saying goes, “You can’t optimise what you can’t measure.” Ensure all your tracking pixels and tags are installed correctly and firing when they should. Track the right metrics—like add-to-carts, initiated checkouts, and purchases—and feed this conversion data back into your ad platforms for better optimisation.
Curate Exciting Offers
No amount of clever marketing can make a boring offer exciting. Business owners often overlook this, believing that more precise targeting is all they need. While good marketing is crucial, your offers must be genuinely appealing. Give your potential customers mouth-watering deals they can’t refuse. When you pair an irresistible offer with the right marketing, you’re on track for a fantastic Black Friday.
Collaborate with the Right Partners
Your digital marketing success also depends on the skill and experience of the team implementing your campaigns. As Black Friday approaches, even businesses with internal teams might benefit from collaborating with specialists. Partnering with an experienced digital marketing agency in Nigeria can provide the expertise needed to plan and execute a high-impact Black Friday campaign.
Conclusion
The tips above—ensuring your website is technically sound, your inventory is up to date, your ad budget is healthy, your tracking is accurate, and your offers are exciting—are the foundations of a successful Black Friday.
While consumer scepticism for Black Friday deals is rising, Nigerian brands like Jumia and Konga continue to record impressive sales year after year, proving that customers are still eager to shop.
Wishing you a great Black Friday ahead!
