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Black Friday is just around the corner, and with the promise of great sales in the air, many consumers have their shopping lists ready and are prepared to spend more than they normally would in the year because of the value Black Friday presents to shoppers. Not to mention the fact that Black Friday signals the start of the holiday shopping season.
For ecommerce brands, Black Friday and the following Cyber Monday pose as an opportunity to sell more—given the right strategy, that is. With other brands competing on the market, your strategy will make all the difference when the dust settles after the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend, and the key is in prepping early.
So, what’s an effective way to prepare for Black Friday? Creating a pre-launch page and strategy.
A successful Black Friday sale begins before the sale is even launched by stoking a sense of anticipation in your potential buyers, priming them to shop with your brand even before the big day arrives. This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th, and right now is the perfect time to be cooking up a strategy.
In this article, we talk about how to build a great pre-launch page and strategy that will have your products flying off the shelf on Black Friday.
Note that you can incorporate pre-launch sale elements into your website’s homepage. Updating your homepage to reflect your Black Friday sale is the norm for many brands, and you can include a pre-launch update so visitors can begin to anticipate your event.
Below we go into the details and elements of what you should include when launching a pre-launch campaign on your website.
Let’s get started.
Get ready for the holiday shopping season by checking out our Black Friday Checklist for Online Businesses (BFCM 2024)
1. Start with a Compelling Headline
When it comes to brand marketing, it always starts with some solid and powerful marketing copy. Your pre-sale website needs a headline that captures your audience’s attention. It also needs to be precise and effective, getting the message across: The Biggest Black Friday Sale is Coming!”
Your headline is going to be the first thing visitors see when they land on your pre-launch page, so make it count! It should be attention-grabbing, short, and to the point while communicating the value of your coming Black Friday sale.
Make sure to emphasize the time-limited nature of the sale to create a sense of urgency. A powerful headline, executed correctly, draws visitors in and encourages them to anticipate what your brand is putting up on offer when Black Friday finally rolls around.
2. Create a Clear Call to Action (CTA)
Call to action or CTA goes hand in hand with a compelling headline. You have your appealing headling, now you need a call to action button right underneath or beside it to guide shoppers to the next step, leading them to complete the desired action, whether it’s to sign up for early sale access or to join your newsletter.
Keep CTAs clear, simple, and actionable. For instance, “Sign Up for Early Access” is direct and powerful, especially when you couple it with a strong and enticing headline that will prompt your audience to click through.
Expert tip: Keep your CTA buttons prominent and easy to click, ensuring they easily stand out on the page.
3. Collect Emails with a Lead Capture Form
A pre-launch page wouldn’t be effective without lead capture. You need a way to capture emails so that you can contact and notify shoppers as soon as your Black Friday sale finally goes live.
On the pre-launch page, make sure you include an email capturing feature—a simple lead form shoppers can fill out, providing their contact details. In return, offer them something of value, like:
- Exclusive Early Access: Let subscribers shop your deals before anyone else.
- Special Discounts: Offer a discount code in exchange for their email.
- A Free Gift: Sweeten the deal with a bonus gift for signing up.
Be sure to emphasize the benefits of subscribing. These add-ons, like free gifts and special discounts for those who sign up, should entice potential shoppers to come back when your sale goes live, boosting your Black Friday sales bottom line.
EcomSend Pop Ups, Email Popups by Channelwill is an excellent Shopify App for email lead capture to try.
4. Tease Your Offers
Pre-sale marketing is about teasing what is to come. Create excitement by promoting some of the deals and products that will be available during your Black Friday sale. Use phrases like “Up to 50% off selected items” or “Limited-time by-one-take-one available” to build anticipation. Elements like product images or countdown timers can also generate buzz and give customers a sneak peek into what’s coming.
But remember, don’t give away all the details—leave some mystery to keep customers eager to check back, and leave a trail of hints to boost excitement.
5. Use a Countdown Timer
Another tried-and-true feature of a stellar pre-launch page is a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency and anticipation. Your countdown timer should count to the day and hour of your sale launch, displaying exactly how much time is left until the sale begins.
This not only builds excitement but also serves as a visual reminder that time is ticking. When customers see the clock running down, they’re more likely to act quickly and be prepared to shop once your sale is live.
View the Essential Countdown Timer Bar app on Shopify if you are on the market for an effective countown timer to build anticipation.
6. Incorporate Social Proof
You cannot go wrong incorporating social proof across your website, and this is also true for your pre-launch page.
Displaying social proof can be strategically utilized and placed, as you showcase testimonials, reviews, or any media mentions—you can even include imagery of a brand ambassador if you have one. What this accomplishes is credibility and trust, as shoppers today tend to trust the experiences of previous buyers and even influencers.
Adding a tasteful display of social proof on your pre-launch page reassures potential buyers that your offers are worth it and encourages them to sign up for early access.
7. Optimize for Mobile
Given that many shoppers browse and shop on their mobile devices, your pre-launch page must be fully optimized for mobile use.
Last year, as much as 72% of global e-commerce sales transactions took place on mobile, so it is crucial to ensure that your website and its pre-launch page are more streamlined for the mobile shopper. Ensure that your forms, images, and CTAs are all responsive and look great on smaller screens. While you’re at it, it may be also time to go over the rest of your website with the goal of creating a more mobile-friendly experience.
A seamless mobile experience can significantly impact how many sign-ups and sales you get.
8. Leverage Social Media
Your pre-launch page should be part of a broader Black Friday marketing strategy, and social media is an excellent traffic source. You can incentivize customers to share your social media post online, promoting your pre-launch sale page for a special gift or discount, leveraging free marketing with the help of your customers.
Use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms to tease your offers, direct people to your pre-launch page, and engage with your audience. You can also use paid ads to target your ideal customer with a direct link to your page.
Your sale does not need to start or even end with BFCM. In fact, many brands have an early sale or extended sale period. Many brands launch their sales as early as October and continue throughout the holiday season, keeping customers engaged and in their virtual stores even before the Black Friday sale, maxing out your revenue opportunities.
By starting early, you can also capture the attention of shoppers who want to avoid the rush—and many consumers just aren’t one for the rush of BFCM weekend, preferring to take a more relaxed approach to holiday shopping.
With an extended sale, you can maintain consumer interest during the holiday season with additional deals and promotions. It’s a great way to stay top-of-mind for customers and boost overall sales.
9. Consider an Extended Sale-Period
Your sale does not need to start or even end with BFCM. In fact, many brands have an early sale or extended sale period. Many brands launch their sales as early as October and continue throughout the holiday season, keeping customers engaged and in their virtual stores even before the Black Friday sale, maxing out your revenue opportunities.
By starting early, you can also capture the attention of shoppers who want to avoid the rush—and many consumers just aren’t one for the rush of BFCM weekend, preferring to take a more relaxed approach to holiday shopping.
With an extended sale, you can maintain consumer interest during the holiday season with additional deals and promotions. It’s a great way to stay top-of-mind for customers and boost overall sales.
10. Track and Analyze Results
As with every campaign that we launch for our brand, monitoring the results are crucial. How else will we measure success and learn from the experience?
Monitoring the success of sales and marketing events will allow your brand to fine-tune its operations for the future, making you better at what you do. You can use tools like Google Analytics or Shopify’s built-in analytics to track your performance to measure how many visitors land on your page, how many sign up, and how long they stay.
With this data, you can take informed actions in adjusting your strategy, whether it’s tweaking your headling or improving your CTA, and so on. The data you gather can help you refine your strategy not just for Black Friday but for future campaigns as well.
Don’t miss out on Black Friday 2024! Let Ecommerce Pro—Shopify Expert Agency, help you craft a winning strategy. Contact us today.
Conclusion
There you have it, we’ve given you 10 tips on how to launch a pre-launch campaign, from crafting a compelling headline to staying on top of analytics.
A well-crafted pre-launch page can be the key to a successful Black Friday sale, building excitement, capturing leads, and engaging with your audience before the big day. You’ll be setting your business up for a major sales boost, and we hope that your inventory is stocked and ready for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend.
Don’t forget to check out Ecommerce Pro’s Black Friday Checklist for Online Businesses (BFCM 2024) before the shopping holiday rolls around and start creating your pre-launch sale strategy today.
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At Ecommerce Pro – Shopify Migration Agency, we help entrepreneurs and business owners build better and more successful Shopify businesses. Have a question or a project in mind? Get in touch with us today!