How much should you discount for Black Friday?

So you want to hop on the Black Friday eCommerce bandwagon, eh?

Then you’ve come to the right place!

We all know how Black Friday is literally one of THE most important sales events of the year.

It’s when consumers get into high gear, shopping for Christmas presents, spending money on others and themselves (we can only imagine).

It’s a time of year when millions upon millions of dollars are spent, and made!

So as an eCommerce brand, if you’re not capitalizing on this special occasion, you’re missing out on a HUUUUUGE chunk of change!

Now we’ve covered Black Friday ad examples, and all sorts of other Black Friday ad tips and tricks in the past…

But what are some recent trends that you can use to amp up your sales and maximize your revenues this Black Friday?

Well, lucky for you, we’ve dug through a mountain of data from advertisers on Meta.

And below, we’re diving into not one, not two, but FOUR great insights that can help you optimize your brand’s Black Friday deals this upcoming season!

#1 - What is the most popular discount offered for Black Friday?

When it comes to selling stuff, value can be defined by monetary value, or perceived value.

Monetary value is most often associated with money.

So discounts like saving $5 or getting 20% off on a product.

Whereas, perceived value is much more subtle, defined as a customer’s perception of a product or service’s desirability, and not necessarily anything to do with money.

For example, the look and feel, or the benefits of using a certain product can be perceived as value.

Regardless, it’s important to know that consumers are always more willing to spend significant amounts of money when they sense a great deal of value.

And that’s why we’ve often seen that the bigger the discount, the more impressions an ad will get.

And, throughout Black Month, discounts worded as “up to 50% off” are by far the most popular.

Now, knocking 50% off the price of your inventory isn’t something that all retailers are capable of doing.

And you can still generate significant hype around your deals by marking them as 20% or 30% off.

As an advertiser, it’s your task to determine what works best for your brand and your target audience.

So don’t take this as meaning that you MUST run a 50% sale.

Still, from the data, we can see that the magnitude of a discount can often be a strong motivator when it comes to getting people to notice your Black Friday ads.

#2 - What type of discounts offer the best Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)?

When advertising on Facebook or Instagram, you obviously want to get the best bang for your buck in terms of a positive Return On Ad Spend.

After all, if your ROAS is negative, then it’s probably not worth advertising.

So what type of discounts get you the best returns?

Not surprisingly, we’ve found that it’s bigger savings that net the highest Returns On Ad Spend.

There is, obviously, nothing wrong with running smaller 10% to 40% discounts.

But, as you can see, the biggest discounts between 60% and 70% net the highest returns.

Of course, this shrinks your profit margin since you’ll be earning less per sale.

The key here is that these big savings encourage more people to click on your ads and buy your products.

But before offering all your products at 70% off, it’s important to gauge whether or not such discounts are feasible for your brand.

Sure, attracting potential customers is important.

But if a 60% or 70% discount eats too much into your profit margin, then you might want to avoid these types of big savings.

The only exception is if you’re thinking long term.

Sometimes, it will be worth running aggressive discounts just to get the initially customer acquisition.

Essentially, you’ll be sacrificing your profit margin initially, but if it gains you a longer-term repeat customer, then it’s well worth it!

#3 - Being part of Black Friday or Black Month isn’t good enough!

Almost everybody starts shopping for deals during Black Month.

And they expect to find deals!

We’ve actually found that just being part of Black Friday isn’t enough to get people interested in your brand.

Sure, you can use all the right Black Friday colors and designs, but if you’re not offering any type of special deal, you’re not going to reap any of the benefits of Black Friday.

And, more importantly, your ROAS will be about 10% lower!

We’ve consistently found that Black Friday ads that don’t show any specific type of discount or savings have a 10% lower Return on Ad Spend.

The key here is that expectations are high!

People are hunting for GREAT, not good, not OK deals…

So if you really want to maximize your ROAS, be sure to offer some type of special savings throughout Black Month.

And, as we’ve seen, the bigger the savings, the better your return!

#4 - The B-word is your best friend!

From potential customers to your competitors, almost everyone is thinking about savings throughout Black Month .

And if you sell any type of products or services, it’s one of THE best times of the year to make some extra dough!

In fact, we’ve often seen brands earn 2 months worth of sales in a single day!

So don’t miss out on this upcoming Black Month!

And don’t forget to mention the word “Black” in your ads!

Last year, on Black Friday 2022, more than 50% of all ad impressions mentioned the word “Black.”

As you can see, “Black Week” and “Black Friday” racked up the most impressions.

But advertisers kicked off November by mentioning “Black Month” to help get customers ready for big savings ahead.

So whether it was Black Month, Black Week, or Black Friday, this insight proves that mentioning the word “Black” can seriously help you get more impressions on your ads!

The buzz is big around Black Month

From Black Friday colors to optimizing your ad bodies for Black Friday sales, there’s truly a ton of different ways you can maximize your brand’s earning potential this upcoming holiday season!

But what have we learned today?

(up to) 50% off is THE most popular savings during Black Month.
Big savings (+60% off) have the highest Return on Ad Spend.
Black Friday ads without specific savings have a 10% lower ROAS.
On Black Friday 2022m more than 50% of all impressions mentioned the word “Black.”

So there you have it, four more great ways you can tweak and optimize your ads for this upcoming Black Month!

You can learn more great Black Friday advertising tips here: