Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2024 Unpacked

Insights to Guide Your Q1 Strategy

By Lukas Snelling 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 shattered records, offering a goldmine of data.

But numbers are just the starting point. What can we learn from this year’s trends—and how can you apply those insights in Q1?

Prioritizing Mobile

Cyber Monday sales reached $13.3 billion, with 57% of purchases made on mobile devices, accounting for $7.6 billion in revenue. If mobile isn’t a top priority in your strategy, you’re likely missing out.

Key takeaways for mobile-first optimization:

• Conduct weekly usability tests to identify friction points in navigation or checkout.

  • When was the last time you clicked on your own ads and looked at the experience as a new customer?

• Optimize visuals for small screens to maintain clarity and engagement.

  • Still using “sliders” on your homepage? With text-overlay? They probably are distracting and don’t communicate well to mobile users.

• Leverage heatmaps to analyze user behavior and streamline your funnel.

  • This is a great way to find “scroll-stoppers” like false bottoms - believe me, they can determine if 50% of your users see 50% of the page, or just 25% of the page.

Action Item: Perform a full audit of your mobile user experience. How easy is it to find products, check out, or seek help? Every delay translates to lost revenue. In fact, a one-second delay in mobile load times can impact conversion rates by up to 20%.

Real World Insight: One example we see constantly is overlapping welcome windows when users land on your mobile site. Think a cookie popup, followed by an email popup, followed by a customer service widget. This experience is terrible for the user - 2 out of 3 of those experiences can be deferred to deeper into the journey when they are actually relevant.

AI Tools Are No Longer Optional

AI tools, like chatbots and product recommendations, drove a 1,950% surge in traffic compared to 2023, showcasing just how central personalization has become to how customers shop.

How AI is transforming customer experiences:

• Real-time recommendations: Tailored suggestions based on live browsing data.

• Proactive support: Anticipating issues and solving them before customers even notice.

• Smart bundling: Offering complementary products that feel intuitive, not forced.

Action Item: Evaluate your AI tools. Do they genuinely enhance the shopping experience, or are they just flashy extras? Focus on solving real customer pain points.

Real World Insights:

• Have you setup your customer service bot yet? They’ve gotten really good and can help dramatically reduce customer service inbound volume. They do come at a cost, but far less than servicing common WISMO type requests.

• Are you using product recommendations and have you A/B tested them? AI product recommendation tools are all the rage these days, but just because they exist doesn’t mean they actually drive revenue. We HIGHLY recommend A/B testing their presence on the site. They typically give themselves very generous attribution and may not be as additive to the customer experience as they want you to believe. And since they aren’t inexpensive, it makes sense to make them prove their worth before you invest for the long term.

TikTok Means Business

TikTok influencers outperformed other platforms, converting shoppers six times better than traditional social media. The shift? TikTok Shop, where low-priced products paired with relatable influencers thrived.

Winning strategies for TikTok:

• Partner with niche influencers who deeply understand their audience.

• Prioritize authenticity over broad reach—engagement drives sales.

• Test impulse-buy products on TikTok Shop to identify top performers.

Action Item: Launch targeted TikTok campaigns that feel organic. Use influencers to showcase relatable use cases for your products and keep experimenting to refine your approach.

Real World Insight: To be successful on TikTok Shop generally requires a mix of substantial influencer outreach and sampling, a low priced product, and a willingness to invest in ads supporting this activity. It’s not an easy recipe, and it isn’t right for every brand. We’re not seeing brands with high AOVs doing very well on TikTok. We’re really seeing brands $100 AOV and below having a shot, and you need to be willing to invest for a while in influencers to get the recipe right. The success of each influencer ranges massively, so you need to stick it out for a while. Thinking, “Let’s try this with a test budget” won’t likely get you there if you don’t stick with it and invest for the long run.

Turn One-Time Buyers Into Repeat Customers

Black Friday brought a surge of first-time customers, offering a prime opportunity to foster long-term relationships and keep the momentum alive post-purchase.

How to retain your new customers:

• Extend post-BFCM deals to incentivize repeat purchases.

• Use personalized email campaigns to offer tailored product recommendations.

• Create loyalty programs that reward early engagement and repeat visits.

Action Item: Segment new customers and create tailored retention campaigns using their first purchase data. Given that acquiring a new customer costs five times more than retaining one, focusing on retention is both cost-effective and profitable.

Real World Insight: Consider offering all holiday buyers an expiring offer to be redeemed by the end of January. This will help juice your Q1 numbers and bring the holiday cohort back quickly. Ideally showcase products that are complimentary to your top sellers in the holiday period.

The Power of Buy Now, Pay Later

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) reached $991 million in Cyber Monday sales, with 75% of transactions happening on mobile devices—a payment model that appeals to younger, mobile-savvy consumers looking for flexibility.

How to capitalize on BNPL trends:

• Promote BNPL options prominently at checkout to reduce friction.

• Highlight BNPL in marketing campaigns for high-ticket items.

• Use post-purchase follow-ups to encourage BNPL users to explore complementary products.

Action Item: If you’re not already offering BNPL, now’s the time to evaluate its potential. For those who are, refine your messaging to emphasize convenience and accessibility.

Black Friday Cyber Monday 2024 reinforced the importance of mobile-first strategies, AI-driven personalization, and platform-specific tactics like TikTok.

The challenge now? Translating these insights into a sustainable Q1 strategy. As always, we’re here to help.

Joke of the Week:

What’s Santa’s favorite candy?

Jolly Ranchers.