Preparing for Black Friday: How e-commerce businesses can optimize for success

With the holiday season right around the corner, Black Friday presents a golden opportunity for e-commerce businesses to boost their sales dramatically.

Here’s why you should be excited:

• Last year, US online sales on Black Friday soared to $9.8 billion, marking a 7.5% increase from the previous year.
• Projections suggest online Black Friday sales will hit $10 billion this year.
• A remarkable 64% of online shoppers are gearing up to purchase this Black Friday.

But with great opportunity comes fierce competition. To stand out and capture shoppers' attention, e-commerce leaders need to optimize their sites and marketing strategies well in advance, especially if they plan to implement a freeze period (more on that later).

So, to help you gear up for Black Friday, we're diving into how cutting-edge technology, like Quin AI, can empower e-commerce businesses to optimize their websites to boost sales and make the most of this holiday.

There's lots to discuss, so let's dive in!

Understanding the Black Friday freeze period

Understanding the Black Friday freeze period is crucial for e-commerce companies. It’s common practice to hold off from making any changes to their live website for at least two weeks before high-traffic events like Black Friday.

This includes introducing new technology or making significant updates. This period, often referred to as a 'freeze period,' is a precautionary measure to prevent disruptions or downtime caused by new updates, which could be catastrophic during peak shopping days.

However, this approach has a major drawback: Businesses can’t respond to changing customer behaviors, resulting in missed opportunities for meaningful engagement and, ultimately, lost sales.

The traditional approach to preparing for the Black Friday freeze

If you're going to prepare for the Black Friday freeze period without the help of generative AI, you need to manually ensure everything on your website is optimized for sales.

Begin by analyzing historical data to understand past customer behaviors, preferences, and sales patterns. Use this information to identify key audience segments, such as frequent buyers, bargain hunters, or those likely to abandon their carts, and tailor your marketing strategies to address their needs effectively.

Pre-schedule your promotional content, such as banners, emails, and social media posts, to align with the anticipated shopping behaviors based on the above historical insights.

Since you won't have the advantage of real-time adjustments, it's crucial to set up broad and adaptable campaigns that can appeal to a wide range of shoppers, anticipating changes in consumer habits during Black Friday.

If this seems like a lot of work (with some potential to miss the mark) - you're right. It is. Thankfully, there's a more streamlined and reliable option that enables you to optimize your site based on real-time data and adapt (even during the freeze period) to the dynamic shopping behaviors of Black Friday customers.

Let's take a look at the alternative:

How Quin AI helps you prepare ahead of time

Given the constraints that come with a "freeze period," it’s crucial for e-commerce brands to optimize their websites and customer experience ahead of time.

This is where Quin AI comes into play…

Leverage real-time data for pre-Black Friday optimization

One of Quin AI’s most valuable features is its ability to analyze visitors' active session data (browsing patterns, clicks, time spent looking at different web page elements, etc.) to predict in-the-moment motivations and behavioral shifts to get an understanding of how likely a visitor is to make a purchase.

For example, Quin AI can help you pinpoint key audience segments—such as likely buyers, casual browsers, or those at risk of abandoning their carts. With these insights, you can customize your marketing strategies and website content to better meet each group's needs.

This means that when the freeze period begins, your site will be optimized to maximize sales on Black Friday.

Precise audience targeting

Building on the above, another significant advantage of Quin AI is its ability to segment your audience into granular categories and target them with custom content.

Traditional personalization methods rely on historical, demographic, or third-party data, which can miss the mark during peak shopping events like Black Friday. This is not least because it's not uncommon for people's consumer habits to change during peak shopping days.

For example, because of the savings associated with Black Friday, people often buy gifts or treat themselves to something out of the ordinary. As such, historical data might not reflect these sudden shifts in behavior or preferences, and as a result, your website content, promotions, pricing strategies, etc., won’t match their interests.

In contrast, Quin AI’s deep learning algorithms analyze visitor behavior in real time. This enables us to provide the shopper with a personalized experience based on what they’re doing at that very moment. For instance, Quin AI can distinguish between different types of customers, such as price-sensitive shoppers, and those more likely to make impulse purchases. This level of segmentation allows you to craft laser-targeted campaigns that speak directly to each visitor, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Automated personalization during the freeze

As we've already mentioned, one of the biggest challenges during the freeze period is the inability to manually adjust your site to respond to fluctuating customer demands.

This is where Quin AI’s automated personalization is a life-saver. This feature continues to work behind the scenes, even when no changes can be made to the site. For example, Quin AI can automatically trigger personalized interactions, such as pop-ups, offers or other dynamic content based on real-time visitor behavior.

By providing the right message to the right customer at the right time, you can reduce cart abandonment and boost average order value (AOV), ensuring your site is continuously optimized, even when you can’t make direct changes during the critical lead-up to Black Friday.

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Real-world success stories

To illustrate the power of Quin AI in action, let’s examine a couple of real-world examples of how Quin AI has helped e-commerce businesses significantly improve their performance

Case study 1: Tommy Hilfiger - Boosting average order value (AOV) by 3.04X with free delivery incentives

Objective

Tommy Hilfiger aimed to increase the average order value (AOV) on their e-commerce website during a key sales period without introducing additional discounts. The goal was to encourage customers to increase their cart size to qualify for existing free delivery offers.

Strategy

Using Quin AI, Tommy Hilfiger identified buyers with cart values between £35 and £60 (just below the threshold for free delivery).

Quin AI then strategically reminded these customers about the free delivery offer for orders over £70 when customers were most likely to consider adding more items to their cart.

Results

This targeted approach increased AOV by 3.04X compared to those who didn't receive the reminder, effectively boosting overall revenue without additional discounts.

This demonstrates the power of Quin AI’s precision targeting to drive significant financial outcomes during peak shopping events like Black Friday​.

Case Study 2: Kiehl's - Increasing conversions by 1.64X from underperforming traffic channels

Objective

Kiehl’s sought to improve conversion rates from their underperforming traffic channels, particularly those with high abandonment rates. The primary goal was to engage visitors who were likely to leave the site without making a purchase and convert them into buyers.

Strategy

Quin AI analyzed visitor behavior in real time, identifying users from low-conversion traffic sources.

Kiehl’s then used Quin AI to offer exclusive, tailored incentives to potential website abandoners at the critical moment before they left the site.

Results

Quin AI’s targeted engagement strategy led to a remarkable 1.64X increase in conversion rates compared to the control group.

This success highlights how Quin AI can successfully deliver personalized incentives to enhance performance from otherwise underperforming traffic channels. Needless to say, such an approach could be vital for driving more sales during sales events like Black Friday.

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The ROI of optimizing your online store before Black Friday using Quin AI

Implementing Quin AI before Black Friday is a smart move because it delivers results quickly. You should start seeing measurable results in just 15 days, making it an ideal solution for businesses looking to optimize their sites before the crucial pre-holiday freeze period.

Not only that, but while we’re on the subject of ROI, it’s worth emphasizing that the impact of Quin AI is measurable and significant (as demonstrated by the case studies illustrated above).

Businesses implementing Quin AI have reported increases in conversion rates, AOV, revenue, and overall profitability. Using real-time data to inform decisions and personalize the shopping experience, Quin AI helps ensure that every visitor to your site is given the best possible chance to convert into a paying customer.

Lastly, it's also worth mentioning that Quin AI is a scalable solution. Whether you’re a smaller operation with 150,000 monthly visitors or a larger enterprise with millions of monthly page views, Quin AI's pricing model is designed to scale with your business, ensuring you get the most value from the investment.

Time to act

As Black Friday approaches, smart e-commerce businesses are gearing up to capitalize on this lucrative shopping season.

With Quin AI, you can harness the power of real-time data and advanced behavioral insights to boost your site’s performance ahead of this critical sales period - before your freeze period.

Now is the time to act to ensure your site is fully optimized to capture every potential sale during Black Friday.

Don’t leave your success to chance—invest in the right tools to secure a profitable Black Friday for your business.

Want to learn how Quin AI can set you up for success? Book a demo with the Quin AI team today, and let’s make this Black Friday your best one yet!