7 Digital Marketers Share Their Black Friday 2023 Experiences

From targeted campaigns to multi-channel strategies, seven digital marketers, including managers and CEOs, share their Black Friday 2023 experiences. They discuss everything from strategic promotions that drove success to the consumer behaviors that shaped this year’s shopping extravaganza. Dive into the insights ranging from targeted campaigns and B2B challenges to a multi-channel strategy attracting value seekers to uncover the dynamics of this retail milestone.

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Targeted Campaigns and B2B Challenges

Early engagement with decision-makers through targeted teasers and educational content. Our segmented email campaigns emphasized urgent cybersecurity upgrades, referring to a case study relevant to their domain. For a select few accounts (ABM), we offered free pilots and POCs.

Offering free threat exposure (audit) reports: Through email and landing page campaigns, we offered free threat exposure (audit) reports to the first few pilot opt-ins.

Black Friday 2023 experience and Challenges included navigating the complexity of B2B decision-making processes and ensuring that our messaging resonated with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Secondly, the internet was flooded with Black Friday offers, but we thought of not categorizing or listing them under “Black Friday Offer.” Instead, we rolled them out as offers that are focused on specific accounts.

Sanket Wagh, Sr. Marketing Manager, Sequretek

Black Friday 2023 Experiences Strategic Promotions Drive Success

Black Friday went really well for us this year. We made sure we had a schedule for when we were sending out emails, SMS, and posting on social media. We also made sure to post it in our Facebook groups to really get the word out there. 

We offered a sitewide sale as well as a free gift when you spent over a certain amount. Customers really liked that we offered a free gift for this black Friday 2023 experiences, and they took advantage of it too.

Black friday 2023 experience, we try to prepare as much as we can by talking about when to schedule emails and when to send out text messages. We also talk about how many to send out and when to segment our messages.

Madison T, Ecommerce Manager, My Supplement Store

Sales Up, Margins Down Post-Black Friday

Our three businesses were down about 20% through November this year, which was concerning. However, beginning around black friday 2023 experience, we saw an immediate increase versus last year in total sales. 

The only downside to this is that our margins were down because we felt compelled to offer bigger discounts than in previous years. The results to date have been an increase of about 30% in total sales, but again, margins were down 8% on average. We are going to continue to ride this wave, though, and offer discounts through Christmas.

Jeff Michael, Ecommerce Business Owner, Supplement Warehouse

Demand Surges Amid Successful Promotions

The Black Friday 2023 experience was a huge success for our e-commerce business this year. We saw a 30% increase in sales over last year, and the growth is continuing into Cyber Monday.

The biggest challenge we faced was keeping up with demand on black friday 2023 experience, which we managed to do by hiring more staff and putting them on rotating shifts. We also hired extra people to help with fulfillment, but there were still some orders that didn’t get shipped out in time for delivery before Christmas.

Successful promotions included our “Buy One, Get One 50% Off” deal and our “Free Shipping on Everything” coupon code. Both of these promotions drove sales up by about 15%.

We also noticed that many customers were looking for deals on Amazon Alexa devices—a trend that’s likely to continue into next year as more people discover the benefits of voice-activated shopping through smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Mac Steer, Owner and Director, Simify

Steady Sales Despite Economic Headwinds

Our black friday 2023 experience sales this year were about the same as last year; however, our margins were a little bit worse as we upped our sale, gave away a free gift on purchases over $250, and had two deals running together which customers could stack. Overall, I’m happy with our results. 

Inflation has been rough, consumers are struggling, and from what most economists and banks have been telling us, consumers were going to be tapped out by summer. So the fact that we put up good numbers is something I’m pleased with.

I will say I’m surprised at the numbers they’re throwing out, i.e., 7% better than any previous Black Friday, whereas I expected it to be worse than last year. What was interesting about last year was that inflation was running at 9%, but sales were supposedly up 2%. The way I see it, if the same people went out and bought the same things, I’d expect sales to be up a minimum of 9%, more than 9% to truly be growth. So last year’s 2.3% increase was actually a 6.7% decrease.

John Frigo, Ecommerce Manager, Best Price Nutrition

Lessons in Email Frequency for Sales

In this black friday 2023 experience, our approach was to prioritize customer experience by minimizing email outreach. We sent just a single email to our customer base, aiming to avoid the common practice of multiple reminders. 

However, the outcome taught us a valuable lesson about striking the right balance in marketing communication. It turns out a certain level of persistence is necessary to cut through the noise during such a competitive time. This experience has highlighted the importance of frequency in communication, especially during key sales periods, and we’ll be using these insights to refine our strategies for future campaigns.

Justin Silverman, Founder and CEO, Merchynt

Multi-Channel Strategy Attracts Value Seekers

This black Friday 2023 experience, we focused on a multi-channel approach, integrating email, social media, and our website. 

The strategy was to create a cohesive narrative across all platforms, offering exclusive deals and sneak peeks on social media, followed by email reminders. A significant challenge was the increased competition for consumer attention, which we countered with personalized email campaigns based on past purchase behavior and browsing history. 

One successful campaign involved early access to sales for our email subscribers, which not only boosted our sales but also increased our email engagement rates. A noteworthy trend was the consumer preference for value-driven purchases over impulsive buys, indicating a shift toward more thoughtful spending.

Einav Biri, CEO, FARUZO

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