A staggering 130 million shoppers shopped online during Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2023. Think about that for a second. This year too, ecommerce stores like you, will be fighting for a share of their wallet. So how do you attract customers on Black Friday and ensure they convert? You do this via a thoughtful designed discount pricing strategy. In this article, we’ll share with you 15 Black Friday promotion ideas that leverage Shopify discounts. Let’s dive in.
BFCM Discount Pricing Strategies
From a shopper’s perspective, Black Friday = Discounts. As customers get flooded with discount promotions, it's crucial to offer your target audience a compelling reason to pick your deal over the competition. A meticulously planned discount pricing strategy can drive conversions, increase AOV, boost loyalty, and increase CLTV.
As per a recent report by Tapcart on BFCM consumer trends 2024, percentage discounts are the most preferred type of Black Friday promotion idea, followed by BOGO deals. Gen Z preferred discounts in the 20%-35% range. A discount at the lower end of this range would move the needle for older generations.
As per Queue It, average discount rates in 2023 touched 29% percent across industries, globally. However, some industries held the baton for the highest discount rates They were skincare (33%), makeup (38%), general apparel (33%), and active apparel (32%)
As per Klaviyo, when it comes to Black Friday promotion ideas, higher discounts do not mean higher conversion rates. That’s good news because you don’t want discounts to put a dent into your profit margins. A 20-29% discount worked well for home & garden, jewelry, hardware, sporting goods andhome improvement. Deep discounts worked extremely well for food & beverages (80-89%), toys (60-69%) and electronics (50-59%).
If you build brand loyalty, your Black Friday Promotions can work on lower discount ranges.
Basic Types of eCommerce Discounts
Before we move ahead, let's just clear the two basic types of discounts. Percentage value discounts are a discount pricing strategy where you give a certain percentage off to customers. E.g. 10% off on select products. A dollar value discount is a promotion that offers a certain amount as a price-off. E.g. $50 off on select product
Of course, there are other types of deals and offers you can run for Black Friday, apart from discounts. We have covered this in our blog here.
13 Black Friday Promotion Ideas that use Discounts
1. Volume Discounts
How do you build customer loyalty while also increasing AOV? Through volume discounts- the most versatile Black Friday promotion idea. It's a discount pricing strategy where you incentivize customers to buy more products in a single purchase. Note that, it’s the number of items that matters here versus the total cart value in tiered discounts.
As per Adobe Digital Insights, volume discounts increase customer loyalty. There is a 20% higher likelihood of repeat purchases by customers who took a brand upon this discount.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Segment and target customers who demonstrate infrequent purchase behavior
Analyze historical data and identify products purchased in quantities more than one, in a single transaction. Select products facing stuck inventory issues and last season items.
Build your discount tiers. For example, if customers buy 3 quantities of a product, start your base tier at 4 items.
Display the regular price and the discounted price for each tier. Include progress bars in your side cart and final cart to indicate progress to the next tier.
There are two types of volume discounts you can create for BFCM:
Simple Volume Discount- E.g. $50 off the purchase of 12 Packs of Meowlish Tuna
Tiered Volume Discount- E.g. Buy 2 for $20, Buy 3 for $25 and Buy 4 for $30
Buy Friendly, a Skai Lama customer, created a volume discount on their detox drink. The brand prominently displayed the volume discount widget on its product page with a radial button for customers to pick their options. Additionally, they recommended a cross-sell product, a juicing cup for an add-on discount. This promotion was created using the Kite App, the only app you need for creating popular such as volume discounts or any highly customized discounts, on your Shopify store.
Rockwear
Rockwear, an Australian gym wear brand offered a limited-time-only offer where every additional tight, above two tights, could be purchased for $ 50. Customers lapped up the offer as it was such a steal, resulting in more tights being sold in the shortest period.
2. Goal Based Discount (Multi-Reward Discount)
Have you ever faced this problem? Having multiple Black Friday offers and wondering how to deliver it to customers? For example, free samples on purchases of $30, free shipping on purchases of $50, and 20% on purchases of $80 & above. How do you bring these offers together in a seamless manner and create a unified progress bar for these? Say hello to goal-based discounts. We aren’t surprised if you haven’t come across such a Black Friday promotional idea before. We have recently introduced this feature in the Kite App, the only Shopify discount app you will need this Black Friday. Let us break it down for you.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Design your tiers. Ideally, your AOV across segments should be your base tier. Three or more tiers are ideal.
Assign rewards to each tier. For example, the first tier could be free shipping, the second a free gift, and the third a discount.
Use an app like Kite to create the discount. Customize the branding as per your brand guidelines.
Goal Based Discount Example
Goal-Based Discount- True Classic
True Classic, the respected player in the DTC space, created a goal-based discount offer. It enabled them to seamlessly mix all their offers and present them to customers. Their cart page featured a goal-based progress bar. Customers could unlock free shipping, a free boxer, and a free active tee as they crossed the relevant thresholds.
3. Tiered Discounts
Want to increase your AOV this Black Friday for a particular customer segment? Tiered discounts are a direct way to do this. Tiered discounts are a discount pricing strategy where the discount percentage increases with the amount customers spend.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Choose the customer segment you wish to target for BFCM. You can shortlist segments whose average order value you want to push up. Make them the centre of your Black Friday marketing strategy.
Decide your base tier- ideally, it should be your AOV. Build tiers over it. This is where customer segmentation comes into play. For example, if your AOV for a segment is $70, make it your base tier a little higher. Offer 10% discount up to $80; 20% discount up to $100 and 30% above $ 100
Optimize your cart and checkout to feature the tiered discount. Progress bars make for great visual cues and encourage customers to add more to their cart to reach a certain tier.
Communicate the offer clearly with all the conditions and disclaimers.
Tiered Discount Example
Progressive Tiered Discount- Troovy
Troovy launched a make-your-own combo promotion where customers were offered a selection of discounted products. But here’s the twist. The brand offered an additional tiered discount where customers got an extra 15% off on purchases above INR 290 and a 30% discount for purchases above INR 540. A progress bar at the bottom of the page guided customers through this tiered discount, unlocking a new tier as soon as the customer crossed one.
This innovative tier discount execution was done using Easy Bundles- the most comprehensive bundle builder for Shopify.
Double Tier -Emotiva
Emotiva , the audio electronics brand, kept it simple with a double-tiered discount. The brand communicated the minimum purchase amount for each tier, starting at $1000 for 15% off. Since their speakers are in the $300 to $600 range, they kept the minimum amount at $1000 to bump up their AOV during BFCM.
Triple Tier- Big Blanket
Big Blanket offered a dollar value discount on every tier. This is an alternative way to communicate your tiered discount, to help customers easily perceive the value being delivered by the deal.
Buy One Get One is a discount pricing strategy where you offer customers a second item free or at a deep discount, usually 50% off. BOGO is the second most preferred discount, after percentage discounts, as per Tapcart. It is used during Black Friday to clear inventory and increase AOV.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
BOGOs can be structured in multiple ways.
Buy One, Get One Free- Use this when you have expiring stock or sufficient margins.
Buy One, Get One at X% off 50% is the most common number. If you are a luxury brand, keeping the discount below 50% works as customers know the value of your products.
Buy One, Get One at $ X off- This gives you better control of your budget. Make sure the amount is enticing enough.
Buy 2 and get 1 Free- Perfect for pushing your AOV.
BOGO Discount Examples
KOH Living
KOH Living launched a Buy One Get 50% Off campaign. The brand communicated the promo via an attractive widget, on the product page. Customers had to click to claim and the promo was automatically applied as soon as the product was added to the cart. In the cart, the discounted item was highlighted with a strike-off price.
Incidentally, this BOGO by KOH was powered by the Kite App. Using Kite, you can create highly customized widgets for BOGO that are designed to convert.
Fillipo Loreti
Filippo Loreti, a watch brand, surprised shoppers with a seemingly generous BOGO. They offered two watches on the purchase of one. But the catch : the 2nd and 3rd watches were at 30% discount. This offer worked well for VIPs though, who were targeted with the communication. Since they were already power users of the brand, they lapped up the 3 product deal from Filippo Loreti. For the brand, it was probably a clearance sale.
RAW
RAW is a health supplement and nutraceutical brand. The brand offered a 63% off on their BOGO deal. 63% is a unique number and is bound to make customers take notice. It stands out more than the typical 50% BOGO deal. The brand creates a sense of urgency and scarcity by stating that its sales are almost over and that its new items will be out of stock
Bundle discount is a pricing strategy where you offer customers product bundles at a discount. It’s an effective tool to increase your average order value as customers have to purchase a group of items to be eligible for the discount.
You can use discounted bundles to clear old stock or even introduce new products by pairing them with popular items.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Pure Bundles/Pre-curated Bundles - These are perfect gifting solutions for Black Friday. You can create holiday bundles that different customer needs. E.g. a body care bundle at 30% off.
Frequently Bought Together Bundles- Dig through data to find items that are regularly purchased together. Combine them with an additional item to further drive up AOV. E.g. Sports bra and matching leggings for 40% off.
Buy X products for $YY- This is a build-your-own bundle promotion where customers can select X products from a selection and pay a fixed price for it. E.g. Buy 3 for $100
Mix and Match Bundle - This is an exciting bundle option where customers can select X products from each category. You can apply rules like the need to select at least 2 products from each category etc. E.g. a truffle bundle where customers create their box of holiday truffles, sold at 30% off.
Bundle Discount Examples
Brillare- Fixed Price Build your Own Bundle
Brillare launched a fixed-price pre-curated bundle - 3 products for INR 899. A countdown timer right at top created a sense of urgency- essential for Black Friday. Customers were guided through the bundle-building process where they could select items from a collection of 70 items. The brand launched this promotion to increase AOV and also induce trials for their niche products. Powered by Easy Bundles.
Taylor Chip- Mix & Match Bundle
Taylor Chip launched a mix-and-match bundle where customers could select the cookie type and quantity to create their 12-cookie box. The brand showcased a close-up photo of each cookie to make the experience as real to life as possible.
Sunflower Motherhood- Pre-Curated Gift Bundles
Sunflower Motherhood created occasion-based bundles for their target segment. They pre-curated bundles for every stage of motherhood. Such bundles make for convenient gifting solutions during Black Friday. This was powered by the Fly App. Fly is a highly customizable bundle builder that lets you create bundles with no-limits variants and product selection.
6. Subscription Discount
Subscription discounts are a discount pricing strategy where a price reduction is offered to customers who commit to recurring purchases. These discounts, which can be a percentage, fixed amount, or set price, incentivize customers to choose subscription plans over one-time purchases.
Subscription discounts during Black Friday help to retain newly acquired customers beyond the BFCM season. Thus increasing the CLTV. They lock in customers for months to come and improve cash flow.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Identify the products for subscription. Look at your last 24-month data to recognize products that are purchased monthly. After this, create your subscription plan:
Discount on Single Product Subscription: Offer percentage discount, fixed price discount or set price discount on a single product subscription. Works well for large packs such as a month’s supply of flour, cat litter, or shampoo.
Discount on Bundle Subscription: Offer percentage discount, fixed price discount or set price discount on a single product subscription. You can use strategies stated in the bundle section above to create innovative offers.
Discount for X months: Decide on the duration that the discount is applicable. Discount on the first month is the most common type, but consider 2-3 months to lock in customers. Some brands offer a discount during the entire subscription period.
Gift a Subscription: Enable a gifting mechanism for your subscription offer to capitalize on Black Friday gift shopping.
Loyalty Rewards: Sweeten the subscription deal with a loyalty point for every month customers are associated with you. These points can be redeemed to purchase other products from your site.
Remember to clearly state the terms & conditions of the subscription and ask customers to acknowledge them.
Subscription Discount Example
Kind Science by Ellen DeGeneres - Single Product Subscription
Kind Science by Ellen DeGeneres, a Skai Lama client, created a 2 monthly subscription to their hydration cream. You can decide the frequency of your subscription depending on your product category and use this as a strategy to lock in customers post-Black Friday.
This subscription discount was created using the Kite App.
In this Black Friday promotion idea, you offer an exclusive discount only at checkout and nowhere else on the site. This is an effective way to upsell or cross-sell products. It induces customers to act immediately as there is a sense of urgency created.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Recommend products that go well with the items in the checkout cart list. These could be products from the same category or related products.
Don't select very high-value products. They should cost a fraction of the products in the customer’s checkout.
Ensure it is not a completed product that requires customers to go to their product page. You don't want to break the customer’s purchase flow.
Make it time-bound. Use phrases such as ‘available for a limited time’ or ‘this is a checkout exclusive discount.
Checkout Exclusive Discount Example
Discounted Product Recommendation at Checkout - Mellow Fellow
Mellow Fellow recommended a gummy bundle for a discounted price at checkout. This offer wasn't available anywhere else on their site and was meant to tap into the customer’s impulses. They also offered a battery at a discount only at checkout.
This checkout exclusive discount was created using Skai Lama’s Checkout Wiz app. It is the only app you need to leverage the full potential of checkout extensions. Check it out here.
8. Referral Discounts
A referral discount is a discount pricing strategy where you offer discounts to your existing customers for referring their friends and family. It's a cost-effective method of new customer acquisition for Black Friday.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Run your referral discount campaign ahead of time so that you can acquire new customers and begin warming them up for BFCM.
Offer a BFCM discount code to both, the referral giver and the one being referred. Free gifts are another option.
Run a tiered referral program to incentivize customers to refer more friends. For every new customer a referral brings in, the original customer receives a BFCM discount. If they refer 3 friends, they get 15% off, and if they refer 5, they unlock a 30% discount. This turns your customers into active promoters and expands your customer base.
Loop in influencers on your referral program. Create a separate campaign for referrals generated via their channel. Incentivise them monetarily. Give them exclusive discount codes that they can share with their fans on their DM.
Where do you ask for referrals? Pop-up on website, checkout page, thank you page, emails and sms.
Referral Discounts Example
Love Bonito Referral Discount
Love, Bonito, a clothing brand ran a referral program in late October to boost their organic customer acquisition. They sent an email message to current customers asking them to refer a friend. The brand promised a $10 cashback plus a bump in their loyalty points. The loyalty winnings were structured as a competition. Meaning, top 20 referral givers were given points. A $10 cashback was also offered to the friend who was referred. The competition was timed with a clear end date. Overall, a win for all.
Girlfriend Collective
Girlfriend Collective launched its Referral Rewards. Every new referral got the referring customer a free pair of leggings. The referred friend received a 30% discount which could be claimed via a special link. Importantly, the referring customer only gets incentivized once their friends make a legitimate purchase. The brand achieved 10,000 orders via this offer on its promotion launch day.
9. Sitewide Discounts
A sitewide discount is a promotional offer that applies to all products on the website. They are highly effective hooks to attract customers during Black Friday.
Sitewide discounts are easy to communicate. They help draw traffic to your site via paid and organic channels. From a customer’s perspective, it is seen as an unconditional discount. This is because they can choose any product of any value and still avail of the discount.
Sitewide discounts are recommended for highly seasonal product categories such as fashion. It helps brands clear their inventory while providing exceptional value to Black Friday shoppers.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Disable Existing Discounts- Review existing discounts on your site and disable them before implementing site-wide promotions. If maintaining existing discounts, finalize the sitewide discount percentage in a manner that doesn't cost you more than you intend it to. See Stay AI’s example here.
Refresh Sitewide Discounts Daily- Basis the competitive scenario, consider increasing or decreasing discounts for your site-wide promotion. Increasing discounts help you gauge your Black Friday performance and then correct the course. For example, 15% off on Friday, 20% off on Saturday, and 25% off on Cyber Monday.
Decreasing discounts creates a sense of urgency. The quicker customers log in to shop, the higher discounts they get. Advertise decreasing discounts.
Automatically Apply Discounts at Checkout- Since it’s a site-wide sale, eliminate the need for customers to enter coupon codes. This improves customer experience multifold.
Sitewide Discount Example
Princess Polly’s home page is a perfect example of a sitewide discount execution. They created a ribbon banner on top of their page communicating the sitewide deal next to the code and a countdown timer. The timer induced a sense of urgency. The page banner communicated ‘30% off everything’, an innovative way to convey a sitewide discount. They created an additional ‘final hours’ band on the banner as they were in the last 21 hours of their sale.
10. First Order Discount
A first-time customer discount is a powerful incentive to attract new customers and encourage their first purchase. You can offer your newly acquired customers a price off, a percentage discount or free shipping. Also known as first-purchase discounts, they help you create a positive experience for customers and support retention.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Offer the First Order Discount as a Bonus- Structure the discount such that they get is as an additional deal over and above regular Black Friday deals. Remember, these are customers at the top of your funnel. You need to do all you can, to make them convert.
Create a Pop-Up on your Black Friday Landing Page- You will likely be directing customers coming through paid ad campaigns to your Black Friday landing page. Create a first-order pop-up on this page for quick email ID collection, enabling you to retarget to this cohort. It also makes the discount, hard to miss.
11. Mystery Discounts
Mystery discount is a discount pricing strategy where you don’t reveal the discount outright. In this Black Friday promotion idea, you instill a sense of anticipation and excitement by asking customers to unlock their discounts.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Use mystery discounts to increase engagement rates and traffic to the website. Human brains are designed to complete a pattern or solve a problem. A mystery discount urges customers to at least unlock the discount.
Make the discount discovery exciting. Some ideas- Provide a scratch card, email them a mystery discount unlock code, or use a spin-the-wheel mechanism.
Promote the discount via email, sms, organic, and paid marketing channels.
Ensure your discount % matches the level of excitement you create. Don't over-promise and under-deliver. You don't want customers to be disappointed.
Mystery Discount Example
Carrot & Stick - Mystery Gift with Purchase
Carrot & Stick, a client of Skai Lama created a mystery gift offer. The customer was shown a minimum purchase threshold in the side cart. Reaching the threshold unlocked a mystery gift such as a toner. It was a clever spin on the conventional mystery discount. This promotion was created using the Kite App.
Furlly She- Extra Discount as a Mystery
Furlly She, a clothing brand converted their extra discount into a mystery. It was a fun way to drive traffic to their website by making clients anticipate what the extra discount would be.
Hank’s Leather Goods- Unveiling the Discount
Hanks Leather Goods had a fun way of unveiling their mystery discount. In exchange they asked for the customer’s email address. This was to encourage new visitors to share their email. In step 2, customers had to pick a belt and discover the discount behind it.
12. VIP Discounts
VIP discounts are offers created for your high-value segment of customers. This Black Friday promotion idea is designed to draw your power users into your BFCM sale and reward them too.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Segmentation- Segment your customers basis their purchase behavior to identify your VIP. How do you do this? Filter out customers with the highest purchase frequency, highest AOV and most recent purchases.
Bonus Discount- If inviting VIPs during the regular Black Friday sale period, reward them with a bonus discount over and above the BFCM discount.
Early Exclusive Access- Start your Black Friday sale a day or two earlier, for your VIPs. Let them unlock the discounts with a special code. An exclusive sale creates a sense of urgency and scarcity, nudging them to convert.
VIP Discount Example
Angara, a jewelry brand, invited their VIPs to a private sale. At the outset, a 12% discount may seem less. But since their products are priced between $500- $2500, this translated into significant savings for their VIPs. To sweeten the deal, they offered free jewelry on every order. The perceived value of the free gift was high as customers could easily see the usual price of jewelry in their catalog.
13. Influencer Discounts
Influencer discounts are special discount codes created to be distributed by during an influencer marketing campaign. These codes are unique to each influencer so you can attribute conversions to a particular influencer when they occur.
Structuring the Black Friday Promotion
Start your influencer search and shortlist early. Decide between a few top influencers or multiple mico-influencers.
Commission UGC via these influencers to pre-promote your Black Friday campaign and build buzz
Create unique discount codes for each influencer. This helps with attribution ( to see which influencers worked for your brand) and also to track commissions if any.
Create shippable posts along with the influencers to enable direct purchase from social media
Influencer discounts are bonus discounts over and above your Black Friday promotion discount
Influencer Discount Example
Sunseeker, an Australian swimwear brand launched an exclusive discount influencer campaign. The influencers published reels in which they styled and showcased the brand’s products. They also shared their unique discount codes so that customers could enjoy an extra 20% off sitewide.
Conclusion
A meticulously planned Black Friday promotion idea should be the key focus element of your BFCM event. You can innovatively discount pricing strategies to create promotion ideas that drive conversion, increase AOV, and help you achieve other focus metrics. From volume discounts and tiered discounts to VIP discounts & mystery discounts- we hope our ideas and examples have inspired you to create differentiated yet effective Black Friday deals.
FAQ
What does BFCM mean?
BFCM stands for Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is an industry acronym for the major shopping event. Black Friday has been a classic shopping event for a long time. Due to the rising popularity of Cyber Monday, brands began to club the events together to create a multi-day shopping campaign and call it BFCM.
How do businesses promote their Black Friday deals?
Once businesses have their Black Friday promotion plan in place, they create a 360-degree marketing plan to promote their Black Friday deals. Businesses need to decide their target audience and find out where best to find them. Typically, medium-scale e-commerce companies opt for a media & organic plan that spans email, SMS, social media, paid ad campaigns, and influencer marketing. Larger brands can afford TV, outdoor advertising, and more. Cross promotion with other brands is another effective way for businesses to promote their Black Friday deals.
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Neetika M
Neetika is the founder of Skai Lama. Passionate about building SaaS, Product Development, and Marketing, she talks about eCommerce Growth, Product Bundling, Gifting, Retention, and Shopify.
Increases Sales this BFCM!
Step up your Black Friday and Cyber Monday game with our essential BFCM Toolkit.
Unlock the secrets to a successful BFCM with our exclusive Toolkit. From marketing strategies to conversion optimisation, we've got you covered. Visit the BFCM Toolkit now and turn this shopping season into your biggest win yet!
Unlock the secrets to a successful BFCM with our exclusive Toolkit. From marketing strategies to conversion optimisation, we've got you covered. Visit the BFCM Toolkit now and turn this shopping season into your biggest win yet!
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