By Joe Roman, Managing Director at Stellar Search

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I’ve spent more years than I’ll admit helping e-commerce and DTC companies refine their Black Friday strategies. Of course we all know how intense and important this promotional window is. The key to a successful strategy is holistic and incorporates a variety of elements, from strategic planning to data-driven decisions, audience targeting to realistic offers, and a clear understanding of consumer behaviour. Here’s my take on the key strategies I’ve seen our clients use in order to get success during BFCM.

1. Think Carefully About Your Promotion Length

Brands need to think carefully about the length of an offer. Long promotions dilute urgency, one of the primary drivers of Black Friday success. If you give them all the time in the world, your customers may postpone their purchases which can lead to decreased sales velocity and missed opportunities.

The other thing is that the incremental value of extended promotions becomes questionable. What do I mean? Data suggests that sales during elongated campaigns are often pulled forward from future periods, leading to minimal net growth. Again - a lot of this is to do with your customers’ psychology. To maximise impact as a brand, focus on a shorter, high-intensity promotion period that encourages immediate action. We know that Black Friday is no longer a one-day event, but brands need to strike a balance with length of promotion in order to maximise impact and the chance of audiences discovering their offer.

2. Be Real and Consistent About Your Discounts

I’ve noticed that brands achieve the best results during Black Friday when they avoid overcomplicated or exaggerated discounts. I mean, if you reduce your product by 80% when in reality only a handful of products are discounted to that extent, do you stand to just disengage your audience? The key is to get a right balance between credibility and opportunism. 

For example, promoting "sitewide 20% off" often drives better results than highly variable offers like “Up to 50% off” or “Flash Sales” that depend on fine print or specific conditions. A consistent offer simplifies the decision-making process for your consumers, driving higher conversions.

I know how tempting it is to have daily or dynamic deals, but often these appeal to loyal customers already in your database, and fail to generate incremental sales or attract new audiences. My personal advice would be to focus on offers that cater to broader, first-time buyers without alienating existing customers. 

3. Track and Manage Data Latency

Data latency is a common and often overlooked challenge during the Black Friday period. It can be difficult to navigate, and different verticals see different latency. It can cause significant delays in conversion attribution, with daily reported conversions sometimes growing by over 300%. And then of course there’s the knock on effect, as the lag can significantly impact real-time budget optimisation and performance evaluation.

My advice is to look the enemy squarely in the face - the more you can understand data latency, the more you can mitigate the risk of underestimating campaign performance, potentially pulling back on budgets or shifting strategies prematurely. Track performance and go back to review previous days to observe how many more sales are coming.

Finally, use predictive models to estimate conversion trends based on historical data. This can help maintain confidence in campaigns, even when attribution lags. A well-structured data latency strategy enables far better decision making when optimising campaigns.

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