Black Friday has rapidly become one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the UK. It’s the key date in the diary for consumers looking to bag the best deals and offers in time for Christmas.
Although it might not feel like it, Black Friday is a relatively new kid on the block in the UK. As American as cowboy boots and baseball, Black Friday has only really been a thing on this side of the pond for the last ten years or so.
Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving in the US and signals the onset of the festive shopping season. Most American children and adults get the day off school, college or work and so have free time to hit the shops and get ahead for Christmas.
The term Black Friday emerged in the 1960s and it’s generally believed that it relates to the fact that the huge amount of sales generated on the day brings retail businesses out of the red and back into the black.
The first retailer to bring the concept to this side of the Atlantic was Amazon. The online shopping giant first introduced Black Friday deals back in 2010 and thanks to instant and huge success, other retailers soon followed suit and the UK had embraced Black Friday as its own.
In fact, the UK is one of the biggest advocates of Black Friday today. In 2021 the UK accounted for 10 percent of global Black Friday online searches, meaning that businesses simply can’t afford to miss out on maximising on the potential that Black Friday – and its cousin Cyber Monday – offers financially.
Make the Most of Black Friday with SMS
It’s vital to get ready for Black Friday early. You should begin to plan your marketing campaigns in advance and think about how you can get ahead and stand out from the hundreds of other businesses vying for consumers’ business during this time.
SMS marketing is a great way to cut past the competition and make sure your offers and deals are seen. With a 93% open rate, SMS messages are rarely ignored; you can reach your customers effectively and directly, while your competition’s emails sit unopened in the inbox.
Make sure your website is mobile friendly
Optimising your website for mobile is essential when using SMS marketing. There’s no point sending a message to a customer’s mobile device directing them to a website that doesn’t open properly or display links correctly. According to trulyexperiences.com, almost 43% of Black Friday sales in 2021 happened through mobile phones and 37% of digital sales on Cyber Monday were made on mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile optimised, your SMS database will struggle to navigate your site effectively and will likely just head somewhere else for a bargain.
At Esendex, we help businesses prepare effective SMS marketing strategies that increase customer engagement and boost revenue.
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