Introduction (3 mins)

• Marina introduces the episode, participants, and the topic.
• Brief mention of Golden Digital’s specialization in Ecommerce strategy, email marketing, paid media, and website optimization.
• Quick overview of why Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) is crucial for Ecommerce.

Segment 1: BFCM Preparation Strategies (7 mins)

• Marina: Discuss how to prepare from a strategic viewpoint:
• Importance of setting realistic goals and tracking KPIs.
• Aligning product offerings with market trends and optimizing inventory.
• Importance of website readiness (speed, mobile optimization, etc.).

Segment 2: Email Marketing Best Practices for BFCM (10 mins)

• Nicole: Dive into email strategies to maximize conversions:
• Pre-BFCM campaigns: building anticipation with teaser messaging and growing your audience prior to Black Friday .
• Gain new subscribers by updating messaging to include early access to black friday promos 
• Strategically time and execute a win back campaign to lapsed subscribers, moving them back into the funnel prior to Black Friday 
• Make sure you’re compliant with any sending requirements way before Black Friday to ensure your emails are being sent to the inbox. 
• Best practices for crafting compelling BFCM email messages (urgency, offers, subject lines).
• Drive urgency through subject lines to maximize open rates “ends tonight”, “final hours” 
• Be brief - keep it short, consumers have a ton of emails in the inbox at this time, be direct and compelling in as few words as possible in your subject lines and preheaders. 
• Use your preheader text for secondary offers like free shipping or free gift , subject line should showcase discount amount 
• Keep the emails short as well, this is not the time for long form emails, focus on “above the fold” and how to entice that click on first glance. 
• Bold graphic hero images 
• Keep the discount amount at the top and in the subject line 
• Black Friday / Cyber Monday landing pages 
• Make them shopable 
• Showcase discount 
• Post-sale follow-up emails to nurture relationships and generate loyalty.
• Plan product and messaging accordingly post Black Friday to give yourself the best messaging opportunities: 
• Drop an exciting new product between cyber Monday and Christmas cut off 
• Focus on brand building opportunities like a give back campaign 
• Update welcome series prior to Black Friday to position yourself in the best way possible to prepare for new subscribers: 
• New product drops 
• Latest brand news
• Compelling offer post Black Friday 

Segment 3: Paid Media Strategies for BFCM (10 mins)

• Devin: Focus on paid media tactics:
• 5 important time periods:
• Post election (Nov. 8th) - start promos
• Black Friday - best offer
• Cyber Monday - second best offer
• Xmas shipping cutoff
• Post shipping cutoff - sale on sale to move off of old inventory
• Coordinated marketing plan
• CPMs are more expensive in election year run up to November, so create a cohesive strategy with organic channels
• Ads should be synchronized with email, organic social, and on-site experience
• Ad creative - Creative messaging for BFCM ads and what works best to drive conversions.
• Leave evergreen ads running in tandem with BFCM focused ads 
• Static ads typically work better than video ads for promos
• Take a look at your best static and video ads, last 90 days and the last 180 days.
• For videos make some animated or static banners that preferably move and are dynamic and place them on top of your winners. For statics, add stickers and banners highlighting the sale + offer.
• Use promotion extensions in Google Ads, make sure promos are added to FB and IG shop
• Budgeting
• CPMs are at an annual high on BFCM
• Spending in October and early November at a lower CPM + ROAS will prime the pump for a big BFCM

Segment 4: Website Optimization for Conversion (10 mins)

• Marina & Nicole : Cover best practices for optimizing the website:
• Ensuring your site is fast and mobile-friendly.
• How to optimize checkout processes to reduce cart abandonment.
• A/B testing landing pages, product pages, and CTAs for maximum conversion.
• Highlight tools like heatmaps and analytics to monitor site performance.

Segment 5: Integrating Email, Paid Media, and Website for a Cohesive Strategy (5 mins)

• Nicole, Devin, and Marina: Discuss how all components (email, paid media, and website optimization) should work together for a seamless BFCM strategy.
• Example of how email lists can be used for paid ad targeting.
• Ensuring consistency between ad creative, emails, and website landing pages.
• Cross-channel remarketing to capture abandoned carts or users who haven’t purchased yet.

Segment 6: Real-Life BFCM Success Stories (5 mins)

• All Participants: Share quick case studies or real-life examples of brands that successfully executed BFCM strategies.
• What worked well and key takeaways.

Closing Remarks and Takeaways (5 mins)

• Final thoughts on key strategies to remember for BFCM success.
• Reminder of the importance of tracking data and continuously optimizing.
• Call to action: encourage listeners to get in touch for help with BFCM strategy.

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome to the inaugural episode of

the Good, Fast, or Cheap podcast.

3

My name is Devin Kincannon, and

I'm here with my colleagues,

4

Nicole Barber and Marina Shmilo.

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Today, we are going to be talking

about all things Black Friday,

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Cyber Monday, and just November

promotions for e commerce companies.

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We're bringing this to you from

our agency, Golden Digital.

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Marina: This is Golden Digital, we're an e

commerce agency specializing in e commerce

9

strategy, email marketing, paid media

advertisement, and website optimization.

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Devin: So this is our first podcast.

11

We're going to be doing

these on a regular basis.

12

We hope that you like it.

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It's a little awkward right now.

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We promise this is the

worst it'll ever be.

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Uh, all that said, we're really

excited to talk about Black

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Friday, Cyber Monday strategies.

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And now let's get into it.

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Marina: So today's episode is

about Black Friday, Cyber Monday,

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the holidays are almost here.

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So we wanted to share some of

our knowledge and hopefully help

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Some of you, um, when it comes

to driving sales this season.

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So before we dive in a quick overview,

why Black Friday, Cyber Monday is

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so crucial for e commerce, Nicole, I

feel like this is totally your zone.

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Nicole: It is Black Friday.

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Cyber Monday is a very important time.

26

Period.

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I mean, most sales usually for the

entire year are the vast majority come

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from the November, December time period.

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It's lead up to the holidays, obviously.

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And it's just a traditional

time for shopping.

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I think that that's definitely.

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Change over the last few years,

especially, whereas, you know,

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when we first started, uh, Black

Friday, Cyber Monday literally meant

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Black Friday, Cyber Monday, wait

until the night of Thanksgiving.

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I think now we're seeing things shift

into a longer time period, starting at

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the beginning of November, going all

the way through December in some cases.

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Exactly.

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Marina: Yeah, it certainly has changed,

especially in the post COVID world.

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I feel like it's completely

different for it used to be.

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And people are starting so

much sooner than they used to.

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It's no longer waiting for the 12 AM mark.

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People get going a week before that.

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But before we dive in into actual

strategies and how to help you optimize

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some of these things, Talk about the

importance of setting goals and making

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sure that you're ready for all of it.

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So starting with your inventory, you

have to keep in mind what you're pushing

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in those emails or paid media channels.

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What are you trying to sell

and do you have enough of

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it is anything out of stock?

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Like, are you ready for all of that

setting the goal of like, okay, well this

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year we would like to hit This number

and this is what we'd like to do is for

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sales conversions, things like that.

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So that, you know, setting a goal

is the first step to, to, to going

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exactly where you're trying to go.

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Devin: I think the one thing that

I would say is that if you're

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a newer business, just starting

out, like you don't really know.

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Where you're going to land in the next

couple of months, mature businesses

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that have been around a little bit.

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I mean, obviously you should be

forecasting your, your sales and

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your revenue every month based

around like all the activities

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you have going on promotions, new

products, launch, all that stuff.

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But yeah, I mean like this, these

couple of months in particular being

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that they're so critical for like your

whole year number, I think it makes

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a ton of sense to try to set like

some stretch goals as far as like.

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Sales, revenue, and that should

trickle down into your investment in

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your individual marketing channels.

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So we'll talk a little bit more about

that as we get into some of the different

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channels and the strategies there.

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If you want to do a big number

this month, you have to kind of

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put planning money and execution.

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Into all these different areas that

you expect it to kick off to the whole.

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Marina: Yeah.

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Yeah, absolutely And the biggest channel

right now is email marketing When it

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comes to this holiday season and can't

underestimate that Um at all and I know

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there's a lot of strategy when it comes

to putting the right content out there

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So nicole, let's talk about the pre

black friday cyber monday And what do

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you think the best strategy for that

time the two weeks the months leading up?

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You To the holiday.

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Nicole: I think it's much further along

and depending on the type of business,

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like Devin said, with product based

businesses, and especially if you're a

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mature business, you really should look

at almost a year in advance, what your.

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Um, promotions would be for black

Friday, because if you are actually

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buying into product for black Friday,

you obviously want to develop that and

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have that be at the lowest cost possible.

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That makes sense to drive margin.

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If you're doing something

like a loss leader.

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Door busters, things like that, that

we've seen work especially well, that's

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almost a year in advance planning

process to make sure that you're getting

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product at the right cost to be able to

sell that and to drive traffic overall.

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I think leading up into

Black Friday, Cyber Monday.

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Uh, your promotions should really

be solidified sometime around July,

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um, is usually what we recommend.

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Obviously that's not always possible

depending on the size of your

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business, um, where you are as a

business, number of different factors.

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When it comes to actually Implementing

even as early as September, um, when

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it comes to email and beyond that,

you're going to want to make sure, or

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before that you're going to want to

make sure that you have your sending

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requirements, obviously buttoned up any

sort of DNS records or anything that

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would hinder your ability to be sent.

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sent directly into the inbox, um,

especially over this time period where

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you're sending multiple emails, daily,

sometimes multiple emails, reminder

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emails, you should start to ramp up

even win back campaigns, um, which we

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usually suggest, uh, sometime beginning

of October, end of September as well.

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Anyone who's lapsed in

your subscriber list.

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So they haven't purchased in.

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Let's say, you know, depending on your.

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Again, type of business, but

somewhere around six months

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usually is what we would suggest.

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You start to incentivize people to

come back, re engage in your emails.

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So it could be sending them

some type of incentive.

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Doesn't have to be a straight

percentage off, but it could be

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something like free shipping.

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Could be a free gift.

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Um, could be, Early access to some kind

of product drop, something that is more

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enticing than a standard newsletter

email sometime around two, six weeks,

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two months out from actual black Friday.

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And then once you actually get into

October, updating your messaging

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to actually start directly speaking

to black Friday and cyber Monday.

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So your email capture,

your pop up, your email.

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Forms anywhere where you're capturing

email, um, speaking directly to

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early access to Black Friday,

first to know that type of thing.

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Um, that messaging really works well

to help grow email lists so that

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you're able to speak to customers

during that pivotal time of the year.

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Marina: When it comes to the

right message, what do you

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think is the best practice here?

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Is this, this stressing All over

again that, you know, we have the

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best sale coming up is, is the

like, Hey, inventory is running out.

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What are your thoughts on like the

best compelling message out there?

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Nicole: Well, pre black Friday,

it's really around early access.

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Um, because I think shoppers

are now conditioned.

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They understand that things

sell out, you know, like.

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Over this time period where

you're having, you know, so much

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traffic, um, inventory is limited.

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I think it's a mix of those types

of things around early access.

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We are going to sell out.

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We don't have that much inventory.

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You want to be the first to buy.

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That will help to, to build your

list going into black Friday.

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I

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Devin: mean, obviously we've

talked about, but it seems like.

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Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or just

the whole month of November really is

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fair game for being super promotional.

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And it's really turned

into an arms race, right?

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Where like, you know, retailers or

low to give up the margin by being so

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promotional all month, but at the same

time, if your competitors are all doing

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this and you're not, you know, likely

you're missing out on opportunity.

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What are some things that.

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People can potentially do short

of like the ubiquitous site

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wide percent off discount that

can still drum up anticipation.

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I mean, you know, how complicated

can these promotional strategies get?

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Nicole: I actually would keep it simple.

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Could be you use other types of, uh, It

doesn't have to be a straight percent

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off the entire site kind of situation,

though I do think that there's a

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place for that, especially on cyber

Monday for a shorter period of time.

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But if you're extending black Friday, I

would tear out the promotions even, or.

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Schedule them throughout the month.

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So you're having different types of

messages build up to black Friday.

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So, um, it could be, you know, maybe

in your first week, it's a free gift.

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I do think shipping

promotions layered on top of.

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Uh, some type of financial, you

know, promotion is a good way to go

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to mix up promotions, but I think

where you get into trouble is when

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you start to layer three, four or

five different types of promotions.

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And we start to see, we have seen people

do that thinking that it's going to drive.

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More volume, but you have to be quick.

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You have to be fast and you have to

grab somebody's attention right away.

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And if you've got, you know, an essay

and your copy, uh, promotion where

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you're having to explain multiple

different things, uh, you're not

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going to grab anyone's attention.

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So I mean, especially over black Friday

and cyber Monday, which I think we'll get

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into like creative best practices, but

keep it short, keep it short and simple.

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If you have a longer.

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Black Friday promotional time period.

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Schedule out your promotions

to build on top of each other

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and one and start another.

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Marina: Yeah, so when it comes to

the perfect email template for Black

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Friday, Cyber Monday, weeks leading

up to it, in short, what is your ideal

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template, starting with the headline?

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Nicole: With like subject line and

preheader, personalization, keep the offer

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in the subject line, in the preheader,

I often Recommend and have seen work

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a really straightforward, impactful

graphic at the top of the email says

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exactly what the promotion is because

you have to remember, you don't have

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to give away everything in the email.

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The point of the email is to get

visitors to click through and see

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more things like mystery discounts.

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We've seen work really well before

entices clicks, just a straightforward

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graphic at the top of the email.

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You know a dark background white text

you make a flash even Um, and then

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product below so, uh, I that's usually

what I recommend for black friday

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Something at the top that grabs the

attention and then a product grid below

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Of a straightforward product shots.

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Even you can mix those messages

in throughout the month, but your

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black Friday email that goes out

to announce that promotion, that's

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your time to incentivize the clicks.

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Marina: And in your opinion,

where should this email.

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Be going to, is this going to the

homepage, the product page, the collection

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page, or are we talking landing pages?

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Nicole: It depends on your type of

products and your type of business.

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So, um, if you are, let's say an

apparel business that has hundreds of

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SKUs, different types, tops, bottoms,

dresses, things like that, you might

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want to look into some type of.

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Landing page that, uh,

breaks out different types of

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categories, things like that.

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The only thing about landing

pages is that you really have to

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make sure that they're shoppable.

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And when we build out landing pages,

we make sure that we've got a mix of

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lifestyle, photography and product

carousels, product grids, add to cart

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directly from the page kind of thing.

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You don't want to add a lot of

clicks to get to add to cart.

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If you are a business that

has less products, drop them

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right into a shop all page.

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You know, if you've got 10 or less

products, drop them right into a category

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page, unless you have a product that needs

a lot of explanation, that type of thing,

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but you're already talking to people.

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Usually that at least from email, you're

already talking to people that have

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some base knowledge of your product.

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It could be different for ads.

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Marina: Yeah.

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And I can tell you from a consumer

standpoint, there's nothing that annoys

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me more if I get an email for sale

for black Friday, and there's an item

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there that maybe I am looking forward

to purchasing, and then you click on it

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and you get to like some kind of general

page that just has a whole lot of stuff.

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And it's not what I was, that's not

what was advertised in that email.

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So that's an immediate.

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Exit I'm out.

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I don't have time for this.

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We know how How little patience people

have right now to shopping online.

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So yeah, definitely people

have to keep this in mind

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Nicole: Yeah, and to devon's point earlier

too around inventory It is definitely

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a bounce if you're promoting any sort

of products, whether that be ads email,

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whatever else when someone clicks So I

think we've all this has happened to all

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of us where we've clicked on something

that has come up in an ad Clicked it.

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Oh, it's sold out.

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Oh, we just won You Get me to the site.

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I won't fall for that again.

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And I think a lot of consumers are that

way where it just leads to frustration.

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Marina: Yeah, for sure.

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And when it comes to that black Friday,

Cyber Monday sale, either one of them,

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once somebody has purchased something,

let's say I did open an email or maybe it

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was one of the ads and I bought something,

do you guys think there's a potential?

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To keep that going that momentum and

keep selling to that person or is this

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like a one and done and that's it is

there is there a way to continue that

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that relationship with the customer.

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Nicole: And you're going to definitely

want to be collecting email addresses.

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Like we mentioned, email is

still a really important channel.

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I think there's been a lot of

discussion about this in the last

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few years about whether or not email

is as important as it used to be.

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We definitely see through working with

our clients that this is one of the

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main channels, um, still to this day.

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And it's, it's a consistent way

to be able to talk to people,

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make sure that like when somebody.

251

Is making purchase over black, collect

an email address that they're signing

252

up for, uh, marketing emails and SMS.

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There are some strategies that you can

employ directly after black Friday too.

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Um, they're obviously going to

fall into your welcome series.

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That's one thing that you want to make

sure prior to black Friday as well, is

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that your welcome series is up to date.

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You've got the best photos in there.

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It's all still relevant.

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You've got a series, not just one

email, um, that drip out over time.

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That's really important having

something to talk about.

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And this is oftentimes what I

tell our clients to, like, if

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you have a new product drop.

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Or something, you know, maybe a

new color in a best selling style.

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I like to, to drop that directly

after Cyber Monday so that you

265

have something to talk about.

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No matter what you do,

you're going to see a slump.

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Post cyber Monday.

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It's just how bad is

that slump going to be?

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Um, and I think that there are things

that you can do, like making sure that

270

everybody is signed up for your email

list, that you're able to talk to

271

people in a variety of different ways.

272

Um, and then you have something to

talk about directly after black Friday.

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And it, it's not, you're

not going to see that.

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Volume through December, likely, unless

you have a major drop or something that

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people are really looking forward to.

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But, um, you can mitigate

some of the slump.

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Devin: You know, my favorite, uh, post

black Friday, cyber Monday, uh, promotion

278

is kill a couple of birds with one

stone sale on sale, baby, even cheaper.

279

Like you can, you can use it as a, as just

like a psychological driver to get people

280

to the site because people obviously love

deals, especially during this time of

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year, but also, I mean, if you were trying

to clear your books of old inventory,

282

that's just not moving at normal rates,

it's a great way to kind of like get off

283

of some old inventory, even if it's not at

the margin you were initially hoping for.

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But I mean that product just sitting

around gathering dust in your warehouse

285

isn't really helping anything.

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And Nicole, to your earlier point about

email and just like how important it is.

287

I can tell you, you know, being

more on like the paid ads and.

288

Or, you know, organic search side

of things that it's more important

289

than ever because we're seeing

just across the board, organic

290

traffic to websites go down.

291

Like it's, it's just

getting more competitive.

292

The Googles of the world are publicly

traded companies that like have investors

293

that they need to report profit to.

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They're not exponentially

growing the amount of people

295

that are using their products.

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So the only way that they can

report greater earnings every year.

297

is to make more money from

their existing audience base.

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That means that less

stuff happens for free.

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You're getting less, you know,

like clicks coming through in your

300

organic search traffic, you're

getting less organic, uh, social.

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Traffic to your site.

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And a lot of times you, you

can't buy your way to heaven.

303

I mean, as much as like, I love running

me some ads that we, we do a ton of

304

that over here at golden, you need like

a good multi channel mix of traffic to

305

be able to kind of get, be profitable.

306

Um, it's hard to do it with just

like one thing working really well.

307

Marina: Yeah.

308

And here's a warning to brands that

often do sales all the time, nonstop

309

throughout the year, because that's

maybe the best way you can sell your

310

product and you, well, maybe it's not

the best way, but you've got your goal.

311

Customer certainly hooked on doing sales.

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If you're constantly doing sales,

it's a sale because it's a Friday.

313

It's a sale because new

stuff dropped or whatever.

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You're going to have a harder time

getting people to purchase on the

315

black Friday set sale because it's

like, well, I just bought the sale.

316

So be careful with how much.

317

You promote products

on the discount basis.

318

Be careful with doing sales too often.

319

Save it for these occasions such

as Black Friday, Cyber Monday.

320

So you can really get people waiting

and anticipating for, Oh my God, there's

321

going to be a major sale on sale or

whatever else you got up your sleeve.

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Nicole: Absolutely.

323

Marina: Well, I mean, I think it's

important to understand that people

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That comes to your website for the

first time during black Friday.

325

It's a different segment than

those that are, they know your

326

brand, their loyal customer.

327

And oftentimes you have to speak

to these people differently.

328

So make sure you have the right segments.

329

You understand that these

were the holiday shoppers.

330

They just came in because

maybe they Googled a product.

331

They want, and they landed on your

website and you happen to have the

332

best sale and they purchased it.

333

So I agree with Nicole that having

that welcome series, having the

334

best conversation from that point

on and treating that person as

335

the new customer, you really

want to introduce your brand to.

336

is really important to,

to keep them longterm.

337

So totally, um, agree with you, but I'm

sure down paid media is tough around

338

the holiday season because everyone

is dropping money into promotions

339

and everyone wants their product

at the top and the most visible.

340

So, um, tell me, how do you handle

the, the competition around paid media?

341

Devin: Yeah, for sure.

342

That's a great question.

343

You know, CPM is definitely go up

as we get into this time of year

344

because everybody's kind of been

sandbagging their budgets a little bit.

345

Marina: And for people that don't

know what a CPM is, what is that?

346

Devin: Oh, sure.

347

CPM costs per thousand, right?

348

So like, you know, how much you pay

to get a thousand impressions, like

349

your ad in front of a thousand people.

350

Inventory is inventory.

351

Like there's a There's only so many

impressions that you can serve based

352

on the amount of times people are

hitting your site and the page views

353

they have, et cetera, all the potential

places that you can serve an ad,

354

especially, uh, in election years,

like we have going on right now.

355

Like you have the, the dual situation

of like one, we're getting into like the

356

most expensive time of year for people

to advertise, but additionally you're,

357

we're also duking it out with, you

know, every politician under the sun.

358

that wants to get their message in front

of people up until we get to the 5th of

359

November and hopefully, uh, put a fork

in this thing and move on with our lives.

360

Right.

361

I mean, to that end, outside of just like

the, the incremental costs that you're

362

likely going to see this year, the returns

are also incrementally better, especially

363

if you have a good promotional strategy.

364

And, and one of the most important

things I would say is making sure

365

that you That there's alignment

between all of your marketing channels

366

as far as like, all right, we have

this promotion going on this time.

367

We're going to set up the ads to run

from here to here, you know, or even

368

if you have evergreen ads running,

you're just changing the copy to

369

reflect that like, Hey, this promotion

is happening at the same time.

370

And I would say that evergreen

ads are good to keep around.

371

I think I talked about that a little

bit more in a couple of minutes,

372

but, um, yeah, there should be like

synchronization between what's happening

373

in email You're on site messaging and,

and all of your other different marketing

374

channels that you're, you're leveraging.

375

Marina: For sure.

376

I mean, you're probably, uh, well,

like Nicole said, you have to

377

start out so early when it comes

to black Friday, ideally in June.

378

What about paid media?

379

When do you start advertising?

380

Devin: For sure.

381

So, you know, we're, we're a little,

it's a little bit more easy on

382

the paid media side, just because.

383

Aside from like, you know, developing

creative, which can take some time, um,

384

and you're going to need assets from,

from clients, or you're going to need

385

to produce, you know, video photography,

whatever you're doing to kind of like

386

message these promotions, there's really

like Five important time periods that

387

we think about, you know, in this case,

anywhere from like the beginning of

388

the November to like the first week

or so of November seems to have become

389

like the de facto starting point for

like when people get promotional and

390

start talking about like, Hey, you

know, we've got incredible deals or

391

we're doing this or the other thing.

392

So like really that's when it starts.

393

And, and

394

Marina: don't do it before Halloween.

395

Devin: When do you want to, when do you

want to, um, Think that they're going

396

to make that jump to all of a sudden.

397

It's like middle of October is

fine to start talking about.

398

I

399

Marina: mean, there are Christmas

trees all over the stores, so I

400

don't even know what's early anymore.

401

Devin: Yeah.

402

Nicole: No, it's like the

meme going on right now.

403

It's like at midnight on the 31st.

404

So

405

Marina: yeah,

406

Devin: we're ready.

407

I mean, You know, whatever our clients

tell us to do, we're going to make it.

408

Oh, I

409

Marina: thought you mean

you have the tree up.

410

Okay, good.

411

No, not that.

412

I

413

Devin: love

414

Nicole: tomorrow.

415

There you go.

416

Devin: Um, so yeah, I mean like really

like November 1st, like all bets are off.

417

You are ready.

418

If you want to start getting promotional,

talking about holiday, I think you're

419

ready to do so to Nicole's earlier

point, like having kind of like a

420

promotional calendar where you're

like giving people things, but like

421

you're kind of saving your, the

best for last, that's typically the

422

strategy we see be the most successful.

423

Um, some people just elect to like.

424

Hey, we're going to do this discount.

425

We're going to run it for the whole month.

426

Um, I think you miss out on some

messaging opportunities with that

427

because like, once everybody sees that,

it's like, well, I can just buy this

428

anytime during the month, but yeah.

429

So anywhere up to black Friday running,

whatever, you know, promotions you have,

430

maybe it's like a buy one, get one, um,

you know, percent off of a category,

431

whatever, typically black Friday thing

that we've seen work best, just like a

432

Sitewide significant discount, right?

433

Like take, you know, 30 percent off

of all your purchases, whatever.

434

Cyber Monday.

435

Just to drum up activity, we'll

see like kind of the second best

436

offer that that's pretty common too.

437

Like you'll get something that's

good, but probably not as good of a

438

discount or offer as black Friday.

439

And then we've got the

Christmas shipping cutoff.

440

That's like another opportunity to

kind of like be promotional and kind

441

of drive urgency around like, Hey, you

know, you can only order this for so

442

much longer before it's not going to

get there in time for the holidays.

443

And then the final time period, uh,

and this is like in the, that doldrums,

444

like once you hit like the 14th or

15th of November, sometimes going up to

445

the 17th, 18th, like you, it's hard to

guarantee that your, your goods are going

446

to get there in time for the holiday.

447

So that's the time that a lot of

people elect to kind of do that sale

448

on sale, you know, just, it's, you're

not going to see the numbers that you

449

did before, but it's just a good way

to get people to the site and move

450

off of old inventory at a discount.

451

Marina: Yeah, keep trying.

452

Why not?

453

Um, well, I mean, Devin, you're in

paid media and it calls in an email.

454

Do you guys align your

strategies for this time?

455

Should you advertise the same Promotions

products or do you like target different

456

messaging for different channels?

457

How does it all work together?

458

Devin: There's definitely alignment.

459

We've seen people do like channel

specific strategies before but like

460

the general best practice is that like

all your channels are singing the same

461

song and kind of like You You know,

just being synergistic with each other.

462

So if somebody like clicks on email,

looks at something, doesn't buy, you know,

463

we've, we fired a bunch of events about

that person back into the ad platforms.

464

We know that they looked at this thing,

you know, we can hit them with, uh, just

465

any number of different campaigns that

are either going to show them that product

466

or have a message, you know, that's like,

Hey, we, we think this would be great.

467

Here's another reason why

you should think about it.

468

Thinking a little bit about creative.

469

Actually though, I'd love to like

segue into that if it's okay.

470

Yeah.

471

Yeah.

472

Marina: Yeah.

473

Give us some best practices there.

474

Devin: Sure.

475

So one thing that seems a little

bit counterintuitive, but actually

476

like works really well is just

leave your evergreen ads running.

477

Like if you have ads that are just top

performers, like for a long period of

478

time, you don't always have to just turn.

479

Everything that was working off and, you

know, start with fresh campaigns that

480

are strictly speaking, promotionally,

like what you can do is you can just

481

like update, copy, um, within the ads

or, or just make subtle changes that

482

talk about the promotion, you know,

not like completely start from scratch.

483

Because what ends up happening is,

is if you roll out like brand new

484

campaigns or brand new ads, you're

like resetting the clock on learning.

485

Like, you know, the ad platforms are

going to have to figure out, you know,

486

what this message is, who it resonates

with, who to serve impressions to.

487

And then really it'll take some

time to get that dialed in.

488

And that can be tough, especially when

some of these promotions that we're

489

talking about don't last a long time.

490

Like, you know, if you have a flash sale

going on that's like two or three days,

491

you won't even get a new campaign out

of like the learning period for that.

492

So it seems counterintuitive, but we

definitely suggest getting creative that

493

messages promotions out there, but it

should be in addition to not, you know,

494

in, Replacement of, if that makes sense.

495

Another thing that can be a

little counterintuitive, uh, but

496

specifically if you're doing ads

that are just messaging promotions,

497

like, Hey, we've got this big sale.

498

We see that we see that static

ads typically work better for

499

that than video a lot of times.

500

Um, you know,

501

Marina: isn't, isn't usually video.

502

Better performing.

503

I mean, we recommend

504

Devin: having a pretty good mix of

different creative within accounts.

505

And there's, it's hard to make

unilateral, like, Oh, this one thing

506

that works great for one account

might not work as well for another.

507

Right.

508

But like, you know, we're, we're always

like testing things and trying to

509

identify like, whether it's like, you

know, statics or video or different

510

hooks, you know, product features, social

proof, all like the tried and true ad

511

formats and hooks that work really well.

512

Um, but yeah, static ads where you

can just like kind of overlay some,

513

some tech, some graphics, text, and

dot wax onto, you know, like product

514

imagery or beautifully shot lifestyle.

515

Photography seems like it works really

well where you're just saying, Hey, like

516

30 percent off site wide, you know, cool

picture in the back as the background.

517

Um, and kind of you're off to the races.

518

And even when it comes to that, like

if you are going to do promotional

519

stuff and you haven't done.

520

Uh, like photography or video

specifically for the holiday season.

521

What we would tell you is, is look at

some of your best performing static

522

and video ads from the last, you know,

90 days, 180 days, and just create

523

a holiday version of that ad or like

a promotional version of that ad.

524

Uh, you know, you don't have to like,

kind of reinvent the wheel here.

525

Like things that have worked in the past

will work well, especially if you're kind

526

of adding a promotional element to them.

527

For videos, you can make some animated or

static batter or static banners and kind

528

of place them on top of some of those

like existing creatives that that have

529

worked well in the past, just like subtle

tweaks and not like reinventing the wheel.

530

Marina: That makes sense.

531

What about budget?

532

Do you just do as much as

you can as high as you can?

533

What's the best strategy?

534

Devin: I mean, this is a lot

easier if you've got historical

535

data to kind of draw on.

536

It's not that things are

always static in the world.

537

Right.

538

But like, obviously we love data to

kind of drive our decision making.

539

This year, I'm really curious to

see how things are going to do.

540

I mean, obviously anybody that's

worked in e commerce or even just

541

like, you know, is living in the

United States with the economy, like

542

as it is, you It's definitely been

a tough time for a lot of folks.

543

So, you know, you can make your best

assumptions based on data, but where

544

the rubber meets the road, we don't

really know what's going to happen.

545

So I think like, you know, you can

look at how much you spent last year,

546

what you returned on that spend.

547

And, you know, make a reasonable guess as

to what you should be spending this year

548

based on whatever you're forecasting.

549

Like, if you're forecasting, like,

how much you want to do in sales,

550

each one of your marketing channels

should have a number attached to

551

it that you expect it to kick up

based on last year's performance.

552

Right?

553

So, You know, that all the math has to

math and the numbers have to back out

554

to, all right, if I expect Facebook ads

to do a hundred K in sales this month.

555

then I know that I need to spend, you

know, maybe 25 or 30, 000 based on the

556

ROAS that we saw this time last year.

557

So that's, that's typically how we

think about budgeting is like starting

558

with data, understanding like what's

happening now, what's happened in the

559

past, and then making a best guess as

far as like, we need the channel to do X.

560

So we're going to supply it with Y.

561

And we feel good about that, but like

budgets are not, are never static.

562

I mean, like if you get to the, you

get to the middle of the month and

563

things are going really well, you know,

add, add budget, adjust accordingly.

564

If they're not, you know, you can,

you can pull back a little bit.

565

That's part of, of.

566

Having good active management within

your ads accounts is like somebody

567

should really be in there looking

at these things on a daily basis

568

Especially during this time of year

569

Marina: now, let's get into

a website optimization.

570

So I know a lot of our clients Don't

do any kind of work leading up to

571

the Black Friday cyber Monday because

you're afraid to mess anything up

572

People go into code freeze just to

make sure once things are perfect and

573

working, we just keep it this way.

574

And that's probably the best strategy.

575

But what I want to make sure everyone

understands is that if your website is not

576

specifically set for mobile conversion,

you're going to lose a lot of money during

577

this season because majority of people

are going to be shopping on their phones.

578

You're going to get the email, the SMS.

579

the ad served on Facebook or

Instagram, you're gonna go on your

580

phone and look at the product.

581

And it shocks me how many websites

still are not optimized properly,

582

are not responsive enough when

it comes to mobile devices.

583

Um, so yeah, make sure that you look

at that and your website is fast.

584

Go through all the collection

pages, go through navigations.

585

Things have to just, just

be seamless and flawless.

586

So that's probably the number one tip.

587

If I could give anyone and looking at your

checkout process, I think if it's not the

588

holiday season, um, people are adding a

lot of the upsells cross sells into your

589

checkout, your card and doing all of that.

590

But when you're already

doing a lot on the.

591

Promotional side all throughout your

website, your email, everywhere else.

592

People are doing quick buys because

maybe your offer has to do around urgency

593

and it's because inventory is running

out and you're trying to buy it fast.

594

Don't overwhelm your customer.

595

Don't do, don't put too much into

the cart when it comes to cross

596

sells, upsells, all that good stuff.

597

Keep it as simple as you

can to close that sale.

598

Um, Because again, we're shopping a lot.

599

You're probably not the only

brand I'm shopping with.

600

So that ease when it comes to

checkout is, is really important.

601

And ideally you started testing and

optimizing way before this point.

602

And maybe you've done

even some AB testing.

603

Maybe you know exactly what

works best for your customer,

604

but keeping an eye on that data.

605

As the sales start coming

in is also so important.

606

So, so you can adjust in that moment.

607

So ideally you have tools like hot jar

installed and you're looking at heat

608

maps and you're understanding if there's

any pain points and you're reducing and

609

removing in real time, because again,

this is not the time to just sit back.

610

This is the time to actively

monitor a track and optimize.

611

So make sure you're looking

at all of that data.

612

All around the holiday season and you know

website is really the final piece because

613

all these channels all roads You know,

they all lead to the, to that website

614

sale that we're trying to close so much.

615

And there's so many moving

pieces here between email and

616

paid and website optimization.

617

So if there was any advice we could

give somebody who's like, Oh my God,

618

this is my first year maybe doing

the Black Friday, Cyber Monday.

619

Where do I begin?

620

Do I start with the website?

621

Do I start with the paid?

622

Where do I start in order to

get the most out of the season?

623

Nicole: All of that.

624

Marina: What's number one?

625

Where do you, what do you do?

626

Do you

627

Nicole: have a good

place to drive traffic?

628

Yeah,

629

Marina: I agree.

630

I agree.

631

Cause if your website is not

optimized and you're driving

632

traffic to broken pages, things that

don't work, you're wasting money.

633

Devin: We have a lot of

conversations with people that are

634

looking for help with paid ads.

635

And like, Nicole Maria,

you can testify this.

636

I'll tell them like, I don't

think that's where you should be

637

putting your attention right now.

638

Unless you have a well designed,

functional, thought out website that

639

like reflects good branding and has

like, you know, compelling product and,

640

and at the right price point, all of

those things, then you're just going so

641

much of your spend will just be wasted.

642

If you had a better web experience,

it's going to just lead to better

643

outcomes For all of your marketing.

644

So, you know, especially for smaller

businesses and people that are just

645

starting out, they're like, Oh, they

think that they need traffic first.

646

And it's like, well, yeah, but you,

you probably to maximize the outcomes

647

of the traffic that you are getting.

648

You probably need to get your, your

website tuned up a little bit first

649

before it's ready for prime time.

650

Marina: Yeah, that was the answer I was

hoping for, because we, we know this time

651

and time again, we see people invest money

into channels and then, you know, worry

652

about why am I not getting the conversion?

653

I have to, I was hoping I get this

row as I was hoping this channel

654

does, but, but maybe the channels

would do better if they did.

655

Website was optimized to

actually close the sale.

656

So yeah, website is definitely.

657

I think is number one.

658

Nicole: Yeah, for sure.

659

I just wanted to touch on the code

freeze aspect that you mentioned earlier.

660

When I worked on the brand side, code

freeze is a reality while it be a

661

frustrating reality for a lot of people

that are like, Working in, in brands,

662

there are things that you can do.

663

Like there's definitely, you need to

have a plan going up to code freeze

664

of the major changes that you wanna

make because you don't wanna get

665

into a time when you're getting a lot

of traffic and something is broken.

666

But there are little changes

that you can make, especially

667

around merchandising navigation.

668

I would, I would definitely try

to get that done before, and I

669

want to emphasize navigation as

being one of the most important.

670

Aspects of your site.

671

You know, we've seen 80, 90 percent of

people usually go straight into navigation

672

more than clicking on homepage heroes.

673

And we see a lot over and over again,

in all my years I've seen people so

674

focused on what ends up on the homepage.

675

And while that's important, oftentimes

the navigation gets overlooked.

676

And that is one place that needs to

be buttoned up prior to black Friday.

677

But what you can do in, in

actual code freeze, you know,

678

when I worked on the brand side.

679

I would look at what was selling

every day during black Friday and

680

re merchandise pages based on that.

681

Cause it's really.

682

You know, oftentimes people look

for, Oh, what's the one thing I

683

can do that doesn't really exist.

684

It's cumulative, you know, of, of all

the things that, that you have to do

685

when it comes to a website in particular,

is there's so many different pages.

686

There's so many different aspects.

687

There are some things that

are more important than

688

others, like the navigation.

689

But it's a lot of little tiny things

and merchandising does sometimes get

690

overlooked as well because you've got

a lot of pages sometimes depending

691

on the type of business that you are.

692

But re merchandising those pages and

moving up products, making sure that

693

you don't have anything at the top

that's out of stock, that kind of thing.

694

Um, there are tools that you can, that you

can use to help, you know, way products

695

in different ways and that kind of thing.

696

But oftentimes things change

so quickly over black Friday.

697

I found it's old fashioned way

pulling that report every day

698

of like what actually sold.

699

Oh, it was this, let me move this up.

700

Let me move this down that kind of thing.

701

Like, cause you, you never

know what's going to happen.

702

Marina: Yeah.

703

Another thing, speaking of things that

are overlooked is the post purchase

704

experience during the holiday season.

705

Once you've closed the sale,

don't forget about that.

706

Thank you page and utilizing it as well

because you could add additional like

707

Devon said, sale on sale on top of it.

708

You can do a limited time offer.

709

So right as somebody is getting

that order confirmation, thank you.

710

You can add here's Within the

next five minutes, you can get

711

this product for half the price.

712

If it's an easy add on to your

order, people will buy it.

713

So post purchase, that's also a

super overlooked strategy, and if

714

you utilize this correctly, you

can maximize your profits for sure.

715

Nicole: I mean, we've seen that the order

confirmation email is oftentimes one

716

of the top performing triggered emails.

717

People come back.

718

There you go.

719

Marina: Yeah, I

720

Nicole: wouldn't think

that it is the truth.

721

Marina: Yeah.

722

I read a study on this that they say

the easiest way to close somebody

723

is right after you just closed it.

724

So right after somebody just purchased

is the easiest to sell to them again.

725

Um, they're keep that momentum going.

726

So yeah, agree.

727

Nicole: Yeah.

728

Update your triggers.

729

All your trigger e mails.

730

Marina: For sure.

731

Cool.

732

Well, good talk.

733

Is there any real life success stories

that we can share for any of our clients?

734

Devin: Not speaking directly to, to

client work, but I can remember like

735

when I was on the brand side, probably

like the coolest night I had on Black

736

Friday, uh, it was when I was working

at Free People and we had, um, done a

737

ton of work leading up to Black Friday.

738

We had a really great discount.

739

And I remember I like went with my manager

that night and we just like got a six pack

740

and put like real time analytics on his TV

just to like see like once the promo like

741

opened up like the traffic and it was just

like, you know, tens and tens of thousands

742

of people hitting the site at once.

743

And we just sat there and like

watch the numbers tick up until

744

we did a million dollar day.

745

And it was the first million dollar

day that we did at the brand.

746

And it was just like, you know,

I had a little buzz go and

747

it was, it was pretty cool.

748

We love seeing the same types of

things for our clients, uh, without

749

like, you know, divulging anything to.

750

Yeah,

751

Marina: I kind of miss those days when

the sale only happened at the 12 a.

752

m.

753

mark

754

Devin: and

755

Marina: nobody was

doing sales before that.

756

So you really got a front seat to the

virtual doors opening up and people

757

starting to come in and purchase and

you're looking at all the data and

758

there's so much, and like that chaos,

um, I feel like was a lot more intense.

759

before COVID where people were a lot

more, you know, careful and patient,

760

um, versus now where it's just

kind of a slow, slow burn approach.

761

And you're, you're, you're doing

sales the week before that.

762

I

763

Nicole: think some kind of trends that

I've seen over my years, all my black

764

Fridays and cyber Mondays doorbusters

tend to work well, uh, save them,

765

save them for actual black Friday,

release those, you know, if you're,

766

uh, Uh, product based business, like

buy into those way ahead of time.

767

Like we mentioned earlier, those really

do work, you know, more than one.

768

I would say those help to

drive traffic a lot in general.

769

You can use those in all your

different marketing channels.

770

They tend to not just buy door busters.

771

I know that's often a concern.

772

I think another concern that we

often see too, is businesses are

773

concerned about the lead up of.

774

Discount and the change in discounts

and how their customer sentiment is

775

sort of like, are they going to be

scared that, or are they going to be

776

upset that cyber Monday was better

than black Friday kind of thing, which

777

oftentimes we do see a better cyber

Monday than black Friday discount.

778

And that is oftentimes shorter

than black Friday and you have

779

less inventory to choose from.

780

So it's really a trade off.

781

And I have not seen as much as

we've seen concern about that.

782

I have not seen any sort of

widespread negative customer

783

sentiment about a better cyber

Monday deal than a black Friday deal.

784

And we tend to hear that over

and over that concern from, from

785

leaders at different brands.

786

But I think customers are used

to that and there's a trade off.

787

Like I said, if you're in the

month, the discount's not as good.

788

You're getting a better choice of product.

789

Once you get into a better discount.

790

You have less choices.

791

It's it's it's an age old trade off

people are we really used to it now

792

Marina: Yeah, that's correct.

793

That's true.

794

Well some final thoughts as we wrap

it up, um starting with the website

795

Don't forget to optimize it for mobile.

796

That's one takeaway I can give you

make sure that your pages are not just

797

awkwardly responding to my device size

and the blocks are long and weird and

798

the text is somewhere down the bottom

have designed that specifically for the

799

mobile and have it look just as good as

on desktop because like I said expect

800

all those sales to be coming in through

the mobile devices and it's just a

801

Basically desktop is going out every year.

802

We see this less, less and less until

it's just going to be gone one day.

803

So just put all your efforts into

making the website as optimized as

804

you possibly can for our phones.

805

Devin: I think on the paid ad

side, I would stress the importance

806

of data and using it to kind

of guide your decision making.

807

If you don't have data from this

time last year, look at your, your.

808

Couple of last recent months, get an

understanding of how things are going.

809

And also make sure that you're

capturing that data to use next year.

810

Right?

811

So like that means like adding

UTM tags to your platforms, making

812

sure things are tagged up and that

just doesn't apply to paid ads.

813

That's on the email side.

814

That's on affiliates, all

of your other channels.

815

And then finally, you know, double

down on the things that are working.

816

Like you don't have to

completely reinvent the wheel.

817

If you're a bigger, more established

brand and you're going to go out and do a

818

very cool like photo shoot and get great

photography or video done, that's great.

819

But if you're not like, you know,

and you have some ads that have

820

worked for you in the past, Just

update them with like promotional

821

messaging, you know, things like that.

822

And you're off to the races.

823

Nicole: I would say for email, look

at your full ecosystem of emails.

824

We mentioned welcome series.

825

We wouldn't mentioned transactional

triggers, things like that.

826

Even your shipping confirmation, email,

those things take time to update.

827

So.

828

Email, you really need to get

started sometime in September.

829

So updating your messaging, like I

mentioned earlier, taking a look at every

830

single opportunity when it comes to the

type, the emails that you're actually

831

sending out, update your photography to

be fresh, update your messaging and think

832

about it from a new customer standpoint,

because hopefully you'll have many,

833

many new customers signing up for email.

834

Marina: And if you have any questions or

issues with any of what we just talked

835

about, don't hesitate to reach out.

836

We are golden digital.

837

co.

838

We do all of the things

we just talked about.

839

So if you need help here to help for sure.

840

Thank you guys so much.

841

I think this was a good discussion,

especially for our first podcast slash

842

webinar, and I hope if you're still

watching, you found this valuable.

843

Don't forget to like subscribe.

844

We have a lot more coming up.

845

We have a lot more

knowledge to share with you.

846

So yeah, stay tuned.

847

Devin: Good, fast, or cheap podcast, baby.