Black Fri-Yay & The Theory of Reciprocity

Can’t Give Lower Prices? Give Higher Value!

Black Friday is, of course, one of the most famous sales across many countries both in stores and online.

Of course there are many benefits to running promotions during the black friday period: boosting traffic, boosting sales, increasing brand awareness and with 30% of Christmas Shopping being completed before the end of October it is a really great opportunity for stores.

Peak or Slope?

Black Friday is, of course, on the last Friday of November.

Despite this Google has dubbed the weekend before as ‘Fake Friday’ due to the sheer amount of searches relating to Black Friday the weekend before.

Look at the below graph, this shows the level of searches relating to black friday over the month.

Since the period of time is significantly longer than just a day, we recommend running the promotion for the month!

Having said this, we are aware that not everyone has the margins for a price slash for an entire month, but that shouldn’t be a reason to miss out on the searches – so let’s look at the other opportunities!

Theory Of Reciprocity

The theory of reciprocity can be applied to marketing tactics worldwide and it is certainly a beneficial way of approaching a sale.

When broken down to its simplest form the theory is – ‘we pay back equal to what we received’ a sort of, give what you get theory.

In relation to Black Friday, if you cannot offer money off or a price drop then why not offer something extra?

Depending on your business it could be anything from short-dated stock or excess stock, promotional items, or even ‘next purchase discounts’ or refer a friend offers to try and get them to come back to your store.

Take a look at the statistics from Google Trends 2022:

⭐71% of consumers expect shipping to be 2 days or less (Google IPSOS, 2021)
⭐79% of consumers expect free shipping (Google IPSOS, 2021)
⭐72% of consumers expect easy returns (Ipsos x Google, 2021)
⭐Having three or more payment options can increase conversion rate by by up to 30% (ACI Worldwide, 2022)

With this in mind, why not reward your loyal consumers and leave a lasting positive impression to new users by reciprocating their sale with free shipping for the month, a free gift with every order or maybe 20% off their following order!

To learn more about reciprocity theory and how it could be applied to your Black Friday month, contact us!

Reference List

ACI Worldwide: What Is the Link Between Payment Methods and Conversion Rates? (2022)
Google IPSOS: Holiday Shopping Survey (2021)
Salesforce: Holiday Shopping Season Report (2022)
Ipsos x Google: Peak Retail Study (2021)

References:

Social influence tactics in e-commerce onboarding: The role of social proof and reciprocity in affecting user registrations (Roethke et al 2020)

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Cialdini, 2018)

Business Insider: Apple Made A Simple Design Choice In 2001 That Sent It Into The Stratosphere (Weller, 2016) 

Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information (Schindler, et al, 2001)

How online product reviews affect retail sales: a meta-analysis (Floyd et al, 2014) 

Examining the moderating effect of inconsistent reviews and their gender differences on consumers’ online shopping decisions (Zhang et al., 2014)

Gender differences in consumers’ perception of online consumer reviews (Bae & Lee 2011)

Psychology Today: The 6 Principles of Persuasion – Tips from the leading expert on social influence (T.Kendrick, 2012) 

Sprout Social: 41 of the most important social media marketing statistics for 2022 (Barnhart, 2022)

Sprout Social: Social proof: How to use psychology in digital marketing (West, 2021)

Social Proof: What, Why & How Yieldify (2020)

How To Prepare For The Golden Quarter During The Cost-Of-Living Crisis (Pawandeep Kaur, 2022)