8 website fixes to nail before Black Friday (and the festive rush!)
It’s that time of year again. Somewhere out there, Michael Bublé is slowly defrosting, Last Christmas is echoing through every shop in the country, and the mince pies are already on the shelves! But, before you get swept up in the madness, now’s the perfect time to give your website a little autumn TLC. After all, the run-up to Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for online shopping, especially with Black Friday just around the corner, and if your site isn’t up to scratch, you could be losing sales before the season even begins.
Here at 21Digital, we’ve helped countless clients prepare for peak trading periods, and we’ve seen firsthand how a bit of smart preparation can make all the difference. So before the big rush begins, grab a brew and work your way through our autumn/winter checklist. These are the essentials to tick off before the year-end shopping frenzy.
1. Make sure you’ve got quality hosting
Let’s start with the foundations – your hosting. It’s not the most exciting part of running a website, but it’s the bedrock that keeps everything running smoothly. If your hosting isn’t up to the job, a big spike in visitors could cause your site to slow down or, worse, crash altogether. That’s the last thing you want when people are lining up to grab your offers.
Before Black Friday hits, check in with your hosting provider to make sure your package can handle increased traffic. Ask about server speed, uptime guarantees, and whether you can scale your resources if needed. If you’re on a shared hosting plan, it might be worth upgrading to a cloud-based or dedicated option for peace of mind, especially if you are expecting a significant uptick in traffic. Think of it as putting winter tyres on your car, but for your website!
2. Speed, speed, speed
A slow website is a conversion killer. It frustrates your customers and sends them clicking straight to your competitors. It also makes Google’s crawlers lose interest faster than you can say “404 error.” Every extra second your pages take to load can cost you visitors and sales, especially when shoppers are in a hurry to snap up deals.
There are loads of little tweaks that can make a big difference. Compress and resize your images so they’re optimised for the web. Review your plugins and ditch anything outdated or unnecessary. Check your code, tidy up messy scripts, and consider using a content delivery network (CDN) to boost performance. Even shaving one or two seconds off your load time can mean a smoother experience for your customers and a nice boost in your rankings, too.
3. Get your user experience spot on
If you want people to buy from your site, make it as easy as possible for them to do so. That means a clean, intuitive user experience from start to finish. If your navigation is confusing or your checkout process feels like a chore, visitors will quickly lose patience and move on to someone else.
Start by reviewing your main menus and product categories. Are they logical and easy to browse? Check your product filters and make sure they work properly on both desktop and mobile. Then test your checkout. How many steps does it take to complete an order? Can someone pay quickly using their preferred method? A simple, friction-free journey can make all the difference between a lost sale and a loyal customer who comes back again and again.
4. Set up abandoned cart emails
Here’s the thing: people get distracted. They add items to their cart, then something pulls them away before they hit “buy now.” Maybe they were comparing prices, or the dog barked, or their phone buzzed. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t mean those sales are gone for good. That’s where abandoned cart emails come in.
These gentle reminders can work wonders for recovering lost sales. A quick “Hey, you left something behind!” with a friendly tone and maybe a small incentive can often tempt customers back to finish what they started. The key is timing; you’ll want to make sure you send the email within a few hours, while your brand is still fresh in their mind. Set them up now so they’re ready to trigger automatically when the busy season begins.
5. Prep your email promotions
Email marketing is one of your most powerful tools during the festive rush, but it only works if you’re prepared. Don’t wait until the last minute to plan your campaigns. Think about what offers you’ll be running, when you’ll send them, and who you’ll send them to. Your subscribers are your most engaged audience, so make the most of that direct line to their inbox.
Before you do anything, give your email list a little clean-up. Delete anyone who hasn’t opened your emails in the last 12–24 months. It might seem counterintuitive to remove people, but it actually helps your emails land in real inboxes instead of junk folders.
Segment your lists so you can tailor your messages to different groups: loyal customers, new sign-ups, or lapsed buyers. Write some strong subject lines that grab attention, and make sure your emails look great when you’re viewing on phones, too. And of course, double-check that all your links and discount codes work before you hit send. A well-timed, well-crafted email campaign can drive serious traffic and conversions during Black Friday week.
6. Get your remarketing campaigns ready
Even the best websites don’t convert every visitor on the first try, but that’s where remarketing comes into play. It’s your second chance to capture those almost-customers who showed interest but didn’t quite make it over the finish line. Setting up remarketing ads reminds them of what they’re missing and brings them back to your site at just the right moment.
Platforms like Google Ads and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) let you use your customer lists or site visitors to show targeted ads to people who already know your brand. You can highlight specific offers, show them the products they viewed, or even promote a special “welcome back” deal. Done right, it feels helpful and personal, not pushy, and it can make a real difference to your conversion rates.
7. Fix any broken links
There’s nothing worse than clicking on a link and ending up on a “page not found” message. Broken links can frustrate your customers, and they don’t do your SEO any favours either. They waste your crawl budget, confuse Google’s bots, and create a poor impression of your site’s reliability.
Run a quick scan for broken links and fix them before the traffic surge. If pages have been removed, set up proper redirects to relevant alternatives so customers don’t hit dead ends. While you’re at it, check for any outdated URLs or redirect chains that could be slowing things down. A clean, functional link structure keeps everyone happy – search engines and shoppers alike.
8. Add clear promo banners
Once your Black Friday deals are live, make sure people can actually see them! Adding clear, well-designed banners across your homepage and key product pages helps guide customers straight to the good stuff. This isn’t the time to be subtle. If you’ve got an offer running, shout about it.
Keep your banners simple, eye-catching, and on-brand. Make sure they’re mobile-friendly and don’t slow your site down. You can even update them throughout the weekend to highlight different deals or countdowns. Think of them as your digital shop window. The clearer and more inviting they are, the more people will come inside.
Black Friday and the festive rush can be chaotic, but they’re also full of golden opportunities. If you take the time now to tidy up your site, optimise your performance, and prepare your marketing, you’ll set yourself up for a smooth, successful season.
And if all this feels like a lot to juggle, that’s where we can help. At 21Digital, our team of web designers, web development, SEO, Google Ads, digital consultancy, social media marketing, and email marketing pros know exactly what it takes to get your site performing at its peak. We can’t stop the same ten Christmas songs from following you everywhere or Michael Bublé from emerging once more, but we can make sure your business hits all the right notes this festive season – so get in touch!
