Black Friday: How to Set Up a Countdown for Your Online Store

Black Friday is right around the corner. It’s one of the most important days in the retail calendar and a lucrative opportunity for dropshippers to jump on the holiday shopping boom. If you’re taking part in the ultimate sale of the year, you want your customers to know about it. A countdown on your website lets your customers know that you’re taking part in Black Friday and helps to build up the hype around your upcoming sale.

In 2019, 93.2 million shoppers were buying online, with online Black Friday sales hitting $7.4 billion. Black Friday is when most people kickstart their holiday shopping with the average adult spending $400 during the day. Setting up a Black Friday countdown on your e-commerce store helps to create excitement for your upcoming sale.

At Doba, we’re the leading dropshipping website for entrepreneurs looking to start their dropshipping journey. Our website allows integration with the most popular platforms and marketplaces, including Amazon and Shopify. Black Friday is one of the most profitable days of the year for any dropshipping website and you want to make sure you’re prepared with a countdown on your website.

Why You Should Set Up a Black Friday Countdown

When the clock starts ticking, the excitement starts building. Whether it’s concert tickets, a music video release, or a product launch, we’ve all set eagerly waiting at our computers for a countdown to end.

A countdown creates the perception of a ‘be there or miss out’ moment, making shoppers feel like they need to be online as soon as the countdown ends. When you have a countdown on your dropshipping websites, it creates the perception that there are limited-time deals that might quickly sell out.

How to Set Up Your Black Friday Countdown

Black Friday requires weeks – and months – of planning. It’s one time of the year when marketing will make or break the success of your dropshipping website. Every website from Amazon to Apple and BestBuy will be bombarding their customers with exclusive deals and offers to entice them to start their holiday shopping. 

We’re rounding up the best ways to set up different types of Black Friday countdowns for your website. If you want to maximize your Black Friday sales, we recommend incorporating a mixture of these countdowns on your dropshipping website.

1.       Add a countdown timer in your newsletter emails

Newsletters are essential for every dropshipping website. They’re a unique marketing tool that allows you to target your message at the most engaged demographic within your target audience. Your newsletter subscribers are customers who have previously shopped on your dropshipping website or who are interested in making a future purchase.

If you’re sending marketing emails in the days and weeks before Black Friday, you want to include a Black Friday countdown timer. You’ll also want to send another email as soon as your Black Friday sale starts. For the best results, incorporate this countdown at the start and end of your email to reinforce the message. You can keep your email brief to drive home the importance of the countdown and you can even create a calendar reminder for customers to utilize.

2.      Place a Black Friday countdown on every product page

Have you ever thought of buying a product but decided to wait for it to go on sale? We’ve all been there – especially when holiday shopping. When you add a countdown timer to a product page, you’re helping shoppers plan their Black Friday purchases by letting them know which items are going to appear in the sale. A countdown is a way to motivate customers to return to the product on Black Friday or miss out on a deal.

When Black Friday hits, the countdown also creates a sense of urgency for shoppers. They need to get all their desired items into their basket and checkout before the countdown ends. One thing to consider when using this approach is that it can make your product pages look cluttered. You can choose a minimalistic design for your countdown or use a pop-up plug-in on the side of the website to keep the product page static.

One feature you want to incorporate on the product page is a price comparison, including stating the regular product price and the Black Friday discount. You want to show your customers just how good your Black Friday deals are.

3.      Add a timer countdown banner

Most websites choose to put most of their products on sale during Black Friday, even if it’s a small discount like 10% or a free shipping offer. If you’re discounting most of your products, a countdown banner can be the easiest option to keep your website from looking overcrowded.

Your countdown banner can let visitors know how long is left of a particular deal, including site-wide sales or promo codes. If you’re planning to also jump on the ‘Cyber Monday’ sales, a countdown banner can be easily changed to promote different sales and offers during Black Friday weekend.

4.     Offer time-sensitive Black Friday discount codes

Alongside your countdown timer, you can promote time-sensitive discount codes that make Black Friday shopping easy for your customers. With millions of deals and offers to choose from, you want to make Black Friday shopping as streamlined as possible. No one wants to be digging through emails and social media posts for discounts does.

You can offer site-wide discount codes or promos for an additional percentage off for qualifying purchases over a specified value. Similarly, free shipping promo codes are an easy way to encourage your Black Friday shoppers to spend a certain amount with every order.

To get the most out of your time-sensitive discount codes, you want to display a countdown timer to let shoppers know how much longer is left to take advantage of this deal.

About Doba

Doba is a platform for the next generation of dropshippers. Our website allows you to seamlessly add products to your dropshipping store and sync your orders with suppliers to create an efficient supply chain. You can start your dropshipping journey today by finding out more about Doba here.