Should You Offer A Black Friday Deal?

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping events of the year and businesses across the globe capitalize on it. If you’ve never offered a Black Friday deal before, you might be wondering if it’s worth it for your business. Here’s a look at some of the pros and cons to help you make a decision.

Reasons to Offer a Black Friday Deal

Increased Sales:

This is the obvious one but it’s worth mentioning because it’s the whole point of offering a deal in the first place! With so many people looking for deals on Black Friday, if you have a great offer, you’re likely to see an uptick in sales if the offer is right. Remember, at this time of year people are thinking about the festive season and a new year just a few weeks ahead so the most popular options are likely to be related to that. Having said that, in the tech space Black Friday is a great day for deals so it realistically can work for any industry. The key is ensuring that whatever you’ve decided to fits in with the feel of the occasion, you may have a whole lot of summer goods to shift but aside from those heading off to sunnier climates for Christmas or being organised for next year’s holidays, people will spot this isn’t necessarily an offer designed with the customer in mind.

Increased Exposure:

Along with increased sales, you’ll also get increased exposure for your business. If your offer is enticing enough, people who might not have heard of your business before will be interested in checking it out. This is a great way to reach new customers. And, if you’re organised you might also put your business forward for listings in places you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as many local business organisations and media outlets compile lists of great local deals available to encourage us all to spend locally, you just need to see where you might be in a position to add your name.

Builds Goodwill:

Offering a Black Friday deal can also help build goodwill with your existing customers. They’ll appreciate that you’re offering them a great deal and they’ll be more likely to think of you when they need your product or service in the future. When it comes to special offers or deals it’s frequently new sign-ups that get the best offers over an event like this, particularly when it’s a service business. However, your existing customers deserve something for their loyalty and if you come up with the right option that might be something along the lines of the discount new customers get for just one month, well you’ll stand out because you’d be among the few who remember that loyalty matters!

Attract New Customers:

If you offer a great deal on Black Friday, it may encourage people who have never shopped with you before to give your business a try. And once they’ve had a positive experience with your company, there’s a good chance they’ll be back for more—even when it’s not Black Friday. You do need to remember though, that you should set expectations in terms of what might be available at a later date. If somebody gets a Black Friday deal of €20 for an appointment with you when the normal price is €100, well that’s going to seem exceptionally expensive should they choose to re-book.

Reasons Not to Offer a Black Friday Deal

It’s Outside Your Budget:

One of the main reasons not to offer a Black Friday deal is if it’s outside of your budget. You don’t want to go into debt or put yourself in a difficult financial position just to offer a deal. Make sure you can afford it before moving forward. I would recommend that in particular, where an offer is going to cost you time in the future that you choose very carefully what terms are going to work for your business as you don’t want to sell lots of great deals on Black Friday but spend January turning down higher paying customers to process them!

It Doesn’t Fit Your Business Model:

Another reason not to offer a Black Friday deal is if it doesn’t fit with your business model. For example, if you run a luxury boutique, offering steep discounts might not make sense because it would devalue your brand. It’s important to make sure any deals you offer are in line with your brand identity. In a situation like this you might opt to include an extra instead of taking something away because chances are with a customer who is interested in a high-end brand, price isn’t really the deciding factor anyway is it?

It’s Not Worth Your Time:

Another reason not to offer a Black Friday deal is if you don’t think it’s worth your time. If you don’t think you can generate enough sales or reach enough new customers, it might not be worth the effort involved in putting together an offer.  You know your business best so use your judgement to decide if it’s worth offering a Black Friday deal or not. Remember, the deal isn’t just a matter of updating price labels on products and point of sale systems, it’s also the associated email marketing or social media posts and changing it all back after the event too.

Creates Unrealistic Expectations:

One more downside of offering a Black Friday deal is that it can create unrealistic expectations among your customer base. If they know they can get 50% off everything in your store on Black Friday, they may start to expect those same deep discounts at other times of the year—even when it’s not feasible for your business to offer them. A great example of how this can work against you would be if you think of the discount-type sites where you buy a voucher for a service available at a significant discount? There are certain business types that feature on some of the more well-known of these discount sites and once you realise you can get a particular service there pretty much all the time anyway, why would you buy it?

Not All Customers Are Right For Your Business:

Finally, while offering a Black Friday deal can attract new customers, it’s important to remember that not all new customers are good customers. Some people may take advantage of your promotions and then never come back again (a phenomenon known as “deal hunting”). Others may only be interested in buying from you because they think they’re getting a bargain—not because they actually value what you’re selling. As such, it’s important to think about the types of new customers your Black Friday deal is likely to attract, if you’re looking for long-term repeat business they might not be a fit – on the other hand if you impress you might convert them yet. Ultimately though, don’t make it a numbers game. Yes you want cash in the till but try not to lose sight of who your ideal customer ordinarily is when you’re thinking of those sales.

Offering a Black Friday deal can be beneficial for lots of businesses but there are also some drawbacks to consider and you need to determine if it’s right for you rather than go with what everybody else seems to be doing. It’s important to think about whether or not it makes sense for your business this year and for the longer term too as chances are if you offer a deal this year it will be expected next year too.

Ultimately, only you can decide if offering a Black Friday deal is right for you and your business goals.