Black Friday without improvisation requires technology checklist and marketing to ensure high conversion

Black Friday has been the main date of the Brazilian digital retail calendar for years, but turning traffic growth into effective sales requires more than aggressive discounts: it demands detailed planning, rigorous technical testing and consistent customer relationship strategies.

For Melissa Pio, CEO and founder of TEC4U, agency specialized in digital performance, the process should begin long before November. In segments such as import, goods take up to 90 days to arrive, which forces retailers to prepare months before. Already in sectors such as sports shoes, negotiations can happen up to a year in advance.

“There is no right time to start: the sooner the better. Improvisation on Black Friday is expensive, whether it is in margin loss, operating failures or problems with the” customer experience, says Melissa.

Lack of preparation can compromise both billing and brand reputation. Among the most frequent mistakes are burning fast-moving products just to participate in the action, reacting immediately to competitors' prices and failing to review the data structure and integrations. “When the company does not plan, it does not surf the wave, it is carried by it. This generates instability on the site, delays in deliveries and loss of valuable performance information”, explains Melissa.

Ensuring stability and integration is critical to deal with increased access and requests. The technology checklist should include validating scripts and events on the site, reviewing integrations with ERP, CRM and e-commerce platforms, and testing infrastructure in stress scenarios. “It is essential to also warn service providers about the expectation of increased flow, so they can scale their operations. Black Friday is not the time to discover failures: everything needs to be tested before”, highlights the CEO of TEC4U.

Another crucial point is the anticipation of marketing and relationship strategies. Capturing leads before Black Friday, nurturing this audience with relevant content and activating it at the time of the offers increases the chances of conversion. “There is a dispute over the limited client portfolio. Who starts before, arrives more prepared. The conversion funnel needs to be thought of as a marathon, not a 100 meter dash, says Melissa.

Easy site navigation can be crucial to keep the customer. Streamlined purchase flows, fast loading and optimized checkout reduce friction and increase conversion rate.“Any friction, such as excessive forms or payment instability, is an invitation for the consumer to migrate to the competitor. Black Friday requires a clean and fluid purchase journey”, Melissa reinforces.

Cart recovery tools are also decisive. A high-performance checkout should be combined with direct contact solutions, such as automatic messages via WhatsApp.“Time is a key factor.The faster the store contacts after cart abandonment, the greater the chance of converting.If it is possible to use artificial intelligence already trained with store data, the process becomes even more efficient”, advises the CEO of TEC4U.

For companies that will face the first Black Friday with their own store, the recommendation is clear: plan, test and learn. This includes organizing the stock, investing in early lead generation and using the event as a strategic laboratory.“O Black Friday is more than a promotional date: it is a digital maturity test. Those who enter prepared leave strengthened for the following year”, concludes Melissa.