How To Prepare Your Website For Black Friday 2023

It’s nearly time for every deal hunter’s favourite day of year, Black Friday. With the majority of shoppers ditching the crowded aisles in favour of searching for deals online, it’s time your website was prepped to shine. With Black Friday 2023 just around the corner, let’s make sure your website is performing at its best for the virtual shopping event of the year!

Here’s your essential guide to ensuring your website is ready to handle the stampede of deal-hungry shoppers over the Black Friday period.

Speed Optimisation.

As we all know, a speedy website is essential. Bidnamic found that improving a website’s loading time by just a single second boosted the conversion rate by 17%. Think of all the extra 💸💸💸 your site could be generating with a 17% bump in conversion!

Convinced? We thought so. To increase the speed of your website, look at compressing images and removing any unnecessary apps. If you’re using a theme, you may want to consider finding one that’s optimised for performance.

If you’re planning to add a load of fun videos and animations to your site ahead of Black Friday, it might be wise to rethink.

Top tip: make sure your hosting plan can handle the increase in traffic. If you’re expecting a big surge, consider upgrading your package. You should also back-up your website in case of any technical emergencies.

Mobile Responsiveness.

Mobile devices account for 60% of all e-commerce sales worldwide and show no sign of slowing down. Making sure your website is responsive on mobile is a must, especially if your target demographic is Gen-Z or Millennials. Your website needs to look and perform just as well on mobile as desktop, if not better!

Test your site on your own phone. Check that all menus and buttons are easy to tap with your thumb and forms are easy to fill in. We’d also suggest staying away from thin or complex fonts and considering whether you need to increase the size or line spacing to improve readability on smaller screens.

Inventory Management.

“We ran out of stock on Black Friday”. Imagine the horror! Failing to order enough stock for Black Friday happens more often than you might think. Be sure to forecast enough stock to last you until Cyber Monday is over.

You can also integrate your website with your inventory system to provide real-time stock information. This helps to prevent shoppers from ordering products that are out of stock – a nightmare for customer service and a disappointment to your customer.

User Experience.

We’re all about a seamless customer experience. It’s advisable to test every single thing on your website before it hits Black Friday.

• Fix any broken links, buttons or forms.
• Update any out-of-date information. Think product descriptions, pricing, images, shipping information and your returns policy. If you’re offering different shipping options and extended returns for Black Friday orders, make sure to update this.
• Take a look at simplifying the checkout process and reducing the number of steps required to make a purchase. To streamline the process, it might be worth offering guest checkout as an option.
• If you haven’t already, offer a search function with filters and sorting options to help customers find products quickly.

Security and Privacy.

Level up your cybersecurity by ensuring your website is secure and compliant with data protection regulations, especially when handling sensitive customer data. Use HTTPS and keep your security certificates up to date. The last thing you want is a security breach risking the relationship you’ve built with your customers over the years.

Customer Support.

If you have the capacity for it, consider implementing a live chat or chatbot support throughout Black Friday weekend to help customers with their questions and issues in real-time. 46% of customers expect a reply within 4 hours, a stat that will only increase for younger demographics. (If you’re on Shopify, take a look at the free official Shopify Inbox app!)

Provide clear contact information and support hours. You’ll also need eyes on your social media messages and comments.

Preparing your website for Black Friday 2023 isn’t for the faint hearted. It requires meticulous planning and thorough testing. By optimising site performance, ensuring security is top notch and providing an excellent user experience, you can make the most of the biggest shopping event of the year and keep your customers happy.