Black Friday is not just for e-commerce

The Black Friday phenomenon is no longer unknown to anyone: every year, after Thanksgiving Day, the most relevant online sales event of the year takes place. Brands from all areas that work with e-commerce launch the best discounts of the year during this festive season.

With a public already looking forward to the date and predisposed to buy, Black Friday reaches peaks of inquiries and breaks sales records every November. In recent years, more than $200 billion dollars have been recorded around the globe in virtual transactions on Black Friday alone. 

This event originated in the United States, but the reality is that as a virtual phenomenon, it quickly spread around the world. The countries that currently take most advantage of its benefits are the United States, Australia, Brazil and Mexico, with a very strong upward trend in Latin countries such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

It is important to clarify that Black Friday is no longer just a "friday": for some years now, the season of offers and discounts extends throughout the weekend, even until the following Monday, which was baptized as Cyber Monday.

The truth is that Black Friday continues to grow, and brands can no longer be left behind. That is why, during the months of October and November, they work more than ever to reinforce their online strategies to boost sales and disseminate the best deals of the year.

Email marketing and social media campaigns are protagonists, but more and more brands are betting on conversational AI to strengthen these strategies, offer unique experiences to customers and take advantage of Black Friday opportunities to the maximum possible.

Related article: Black Friday: How to sell more with conversational AI

Who can benefit from Black Friday?

The short answer is that any business that sells products online can take advantage of it. That's true, but it's just the beginning of who can take advantage of Black Friday.

Black Friday encompasses more than a single day, more than a single country and much more than a single industry. The great impact it has on the e-commerce industry has naturally led to other industries such as banks, telecommunications companies, educational institutions and much more benefiting from it. Let's take a look at some examples.

Financial industry and banks

The financial industry plays a key role in Black Friday. During this season of high online transactions, the possible scenarios for banks and credit cards are many. From requests to increase available limits to chargeback disclosures, on Black Friday, the flow of customer inquiries increases like at no other time of the year. Conversational AI is the ideal tool to manage this over-demand efficiently and make the most of Black Friday in the financial industry.

Additionally, with Conversational AI, banks can participate in Black Friday in an anticipatory manner by sending proactive notifications to their customers with information such as:

• Notices of exclusive discounts with their cards.
• Notices of available limit increases
• Notices of exclusive loans available
• Exclusive plans and financing available during Black Friday
• New product offers from the bank

On the other hand, with an integrated conversational platform, banks can provide immediate and intelligent responses to user queries. For example, users will be able to find out in an instant what their account balance is, what their statement due date is, and what their available purchase limit is. 

Black Friday is an opportunity to grow any brand in the financial industry. With Conversational AI, they can benefit:

• Banks
• Fintechs
• Investment Funds
• Credit institutions
• Insurance companies

Find out more about how to automate financial processes and offer secure transactions.

Telecommunications

Black Friday is an excellent sales opportunity for the telecommunications industry. Internet and cell phone services find on these dates the perfect opportunity to offer unique discounts and promotions in the year. Of course, it is no secret that inquiries and requests increase exponentially at this time of year. Users look for changes, plan upgrades, check their balance, inquire about current promotions and available payment methods.

As in all others, in the telecommunications industry, customer experience is critical. With a Conversational AI platform, it is possible to deliver seamless and responsive experiences through natural conversations with customers 24/7. The conversational engine streamlines self-management by answering queries and providing round-the-clock support. In addition, it has the ability to automatically escalate users to a live chat with a human agent when more complex queries or cases need to be resolved.

On Black Friday, due to the higher volume of queries, it is essential to offer smooth and responsive experiences in order to increase sales of any telecommunications service.

Learn more about how to elevate the customer experience in the telecommunications industry.

Educational Institutions

What could be better than taking advantage of Black Friday to encourage enrollment in courses and careers? The education industry finds in these dates an excellent opportunity to add students and spread their proposals. Some ways in which the education sector can join Black Friday:

• Through discounts on new careers or courses
• Offering 2-for-1 discounts on enrollments
• By offering limited-time enrollment discounts
• Adding special payment plans
• Generating discount coupons for the payment of fees, tuition or enrollment.
• Putting together course combos

Universities, schools and institutes can also guarantee record numbers during Black Friday with solid strategies. Fundamental to this is having a strong online presence, and offering modern, responsive interactions.

With a Conversational AI platform, educational institutions can provide personalized responses automatically. Prospective students can request course or career information and receive it instantly, without having to wait for a person to respond manually. The Conversational AI engine provides natural responses and understands the intentions behind each query, regardless of how each sentence is worded.

Requests about curriculums, admissions, scholarships, fees, payment methods and much more can be answered automatically by the platform, and that is a fundamental detail: in times of high demand such as Black Friday, time is a crucial factor and can be the difference between getting a new enrollment to the institution or not.

In addition, they can also generate leads automatically with forms integrated into their CRM or student management platform. This way, they collect information from interested students and streamline enrollment processes.

Find out how to engage new students and deliver modern experiences.

A date to leverage all industries

As we have already seen, Black Friday is not just for online stores, nor is it just for offering discounts on physical products. There are many services that can find their opportunity for growth in this global event. By 2022, it is predicted that consumers will start looking for deals and making their purchases even before Friday, November 25.

Users are increasingly willing to make purchases on these dates and expect to encounter two fundamental aspects: good deals and good experiences. 

Personalized, responsive and frictionless customer service is the secret to a successful Black Friday in any industry.

If you're ready to automate customer experiences, book a demo with out team and start turning strangers into happy customers with conversational AI.