Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the two biggest shopping days of the year, and these days, more of this shopping than ever is done online.
If your company is offering an online Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, you already know you need to create advertisements and other promotional materials that reach as many people as possible.
But, reaching these potential customers is only half the battle — you’ll also need to ensure these visitors convert into actual customers.
The best way to increase online conversions and sales during Black Friday weekend is with a dedicated Black Friday/Cyber Monday landing page.
Below, we’ll discuss the importance of having a dedicated landing page and the elements that make up a good and effective landing page.
What Are Black Friday & Cyber Monday?
As soon as Thanksgiving ends, people across the nation flock to the stores and begin their holiday shopping.
Many people begin shopping for the holidays as soon as the day after Thanksgiving, collectively known as “Black Friday.”
Black Friday falls on the last Friday of November each year. The 2022 date for Black Friday is November 25th.
Most stores offer special deals and discounts to early bird shoppers on this day, which is widely considered the beginning of the holiday shopping season.
Black Friday has been an important part of American holiday culture since the 1950s. Over the years, however, it’s expanded significantly.
With the rise of the internet, many online companies have begun to celebrate something known as “Cyber Monday” as well.
Cyber Monday is essentially the same thing as Black Friday. However, it happens entirely online.
Online retailers offer special online-only sales and deals on the Monday following Thanksgiving weekend. After Black Friday, it’s the second biggest shopping day of the year.
This year, Cyber Monday will be celebrated on November 28th, 2022.
What Is a Landing Page?
In preparation for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many companies create dedicated “landing pages” for the deals they’ll offer throughout the weekend.
Doing so is often a great way to increase conversions and draw more visitors to your website, where hopefully, they’ll take advantage of the deals your store is offering.
But, what exactly is a landing page?
A landing page is a standalone web page, which may or may not be a part of your main website, where visitors will “land” after clicking an ad or a link in a newsletter.
The best landing pages are dedicated to one specific deal and usually include very few internal links to keep the visitor’s attention on the discount the page is promoting.
Landing pages are created with a single focus or call-to-action. When done right, they can be a great tool to get as many sales on a particular product or deal as possible.
The Importance of a Good Landing Page
When you create a clickable ad, you may simply direct users to your website’s homepage.
But, if the advertisement offers a specific deal, visitors may get confused or frustrated looking for the advertised item, leading them to click off your website before they even find what they’re looking for.
A landing page takes all the guesswork out of the equation. When a visitor clicks an ad for a product, it will bring them directly to the page where they can get all the information they need.
Because landing pages offer all the information potential customers could need without any external or internal links, they shorten the buying journey.
Potential customers can read all the details to quickly decide if they want to buy the product, then take all the steps necessary to do so on a single page.
Landing pages are different from your typical web page. They offer significantly more information on a specific product or promotion and are solely dedicated to closing the deal.
What Makes a Landing Page Good?
Every company approaches landing pages differently. There is a lot of creative direction involved in creating the perfect landing page, but the ones that convert well all do so because of one reason — they stick to a persuasive structure.
The number one thing a good landing page will do is convince readers to take the next step in the buying journey.
To do this successfully, your landing page should include the following:
- Clear messaging
- Mobile-friendly design
- Clean design elements
- A sense of urgency
- An appeal to the fear of missing out
- A call-to-action
Below, we’ll discuss how you can incorporate these six elements into your Black Friday landing page and why they’re so important.
Clear Messaging
A unique selling proposition, or USP, is an important part of any landing page. Your USP will answer the question, “what makes this offer special?”
Overall, your landing page should let visitors know how your product or service is better than the rest and why they should choose to buy from your company rather than another.
How can this be done? With clear, compelling headlines and copy.
Your headline should be short but informative to grab your visitors’ attention. It’s the first thing potential customers will see when they click on your page, so it’s essential to get it right.
In your headline, explain exactly what it is that you’re offering. Then, use supporting headlines to offer supplemental information about the promotion and lead into your call-to-action.
All headlines should be consistent with any advertisements or promotional materials that led your visitors to the landing page, as well as your business’s overall branding.
Any copy you write should be specific, easy to understand, and based on your business goals.
Put yourself in the reader’s mind, and write your copy based on the advantages that would convince you to purchase from your company.
Mobile-Friendly Design
Today more than ever, people are doing the majority of their shopping on smartphones and tablets.
While ensuring your landing page is responsive on all web browsers is a given, ensuring it reads and functions well on mobile devices may be even more important.
Before launching your landing page, test it out and check its responsiveness on all platforms, including:
- Web
- Mobile
- Tablet
Each link should work seamlessly, and all forms should be easy to complete, no matter what device the user is browsing with.
Clean Design Elements
When it comes to landing pages, simplicity is key. The design should be consistent with the rest of your site, and you should always include your logo at the top of the screen.
Use color combinations that make sense with the rest of your site, and ensure all fonts are easy to read.
As a general rule, all your landing page should do is entice the reader to continue the buying journey with a strong call-to-action, then guide them through the specific steps needed to take advantage of your offer.
Limit the navigation options on the page, as any side menus or links to other pages or products could lead them away from the featured deal.
As we discussed above, the copy you use should have a conversational tone and match your brand’s established voice.
As far as images go, clean-looking, high-quality images of your products are better than stock images.
A Sense of Urgency
The idea of limited-time discounts and perks is the main factor that draws people toward Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. They know this deal won’t be around for long, meaning they need to take advantage now or miss out.
For this reason, one of the best ways to increase conversions with a landing page is to create a sense of urgency.
Make sure all visitors know when this deal begins when it ends, and how long they have to make their purchase.
One way to really show your potential customers how fast they need to move to get this deal is by adding a countdown timer to your landing page.
This will tell people exactly how much time they have left to make a decision, and watching the clock run out in real time could help push some customers toward the next step!
Common Ninja’s Countdown Bar Widget is a great plugin to incorporate into your Black Friday or Cyber Monday landing page.
It’s free to use, and all you need to do is enter the end date and time, then paste the code into your page.
An Appeal to the Fear of Missing Out
Similar to the point above, the fear of missing out, or “FOMO,” is one of the biggest reasons people shop during Black Friday weekend.
They know they won’t be able to get these special deals at any other time, and they don’t want to miss out on the fun!
One of the best ways to appeal to people’s FOMO is by adding customer testimonials to your website.
With Common Ninja’s Testimonials Widget, you can add reviews from satisfied customers directly to your landing page.
Not only will this improve your credibility among potential customers, but when visitors see how happy others have been to work with you in the past, they’re more likely to do so themselves — they don’t want to miss out on a similar experience!
A Call-to-Action
Your call-to-action is the single most important part of your Black Friday or Cyber Monday landing page.
Without a clickable link that brings visitors to the next step of their journey, there’s no guarantee that they’ll take the steps to actually make a purchase.
After making your case with a compelling headline and persuasive copy, create a clickable button with your call-to-action.
This link should always direct people to a sign-up page, cart checkout, or any other purchase page.
Avoid linking your CTA to product pages or search results, as this leaves more room for visitors to get distracted and not complete the buying journey.
Examples of Good Black Friday & Cyber Monday Landing Pages
LearnWorlds
LearnWorlds offers various tools to help you create, sell, and promote your online courses.
Their Black Friday landing page features all the key elements for success. The headline tells you what LearnWorlds can help with, and the subheading tells you exactly what deal you’re looking at.
The copy is short but persuasive, and underneath, LearnWorlds uses a countdown widget to create a sense of urgency.
When you click “Save 39% Today,” you’re brought directly to the sign-up page, where you’ll take advantage of this limited-time deal.
Paramount+
Paramount+, a streaming service owned by Paramount, is another example of a website that uses landing pages effectively.
Videos available on Paramount+ play in the background, giving visitors a taste of what they can expect when they sign-up. The headline reads “Get 50% Off for Black Friday,” enticing users at first glance and letting them know exactly what deal they’re looking at.
In the short copy, Paramount+ lets readers know that this offer is only available until November 27th, creating a sense of urgency and fear of missing out.
When you press “Redeem Now,” you’re brought to a sign-up page where you can take advantage of 50% off an annual subscription.
MasterClass
MasterClass offers virtual courses taught by experts in their industry, and their 2-for-1 special is the perfect example of a simple but effective landing page.
The colors and fonts used on the page are consistent with MasterClass’s overall branding, and the headline tells you exactly what they’re offering. While they don’t give a definite end date for the promotion, they do let readers know there’s not much time left to sign-up.
Pressing the “Sign Up” call-to-action button will bring you to the sign-up page, where you’ll get two MasterClass accounts for the price of one.
If you go further down the page, you’ll find even more compelling information on MasterClass, including customer testimonials and featured instructors.
Conclusion
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the two biggest shopping days of the year, so you must reach as many people as possible during this weekend and convert more leads into actual sales.
With a high-quality, dedicated Black Friday/Cyber Monday landing page, you can increase your holiday sales more than ever.
Remember the above points when creating your landing page, and when in doubt, keep it simple, compelling, and always include a call-to-action.