The lowdown on your Black Friday sales
Black Friday is over, but was it truly a success for your business? Did you bumble into it without much or hardly any planning? Or did you have big goals to beat last year?
Whatever your position the main thing is how well did it actually do and what can you learn from it? One of the things I love about Black Friday is it allows you to get results fast! If you’re trying something new or wanting a read on what’s most popular or…how people shop and what your conversion metrics look like then BFCM sends a whole load of traffic to test all of that out.
But what metrics should you be looking at? Now’s the time to dig into your numbers and figure out if all that effort paid off. In this blog I’m going to walk you through some key metrics to analyse so you can confidently judge your results. Only then will you be able to apply your learnings to your marketing activity in 2027.
And, if you’re reading this thinking of I’ll look at that next year when I need it, I wouldn’t advise it. It’s always best to look now whilst it’s fresh in your mind and you can make notes about what happened and ideas you have for next time.
Here’s 5 areas to pay attention to:
1. Overall revenue and margin vs. last year
First up, your total revenue. Seems obvious right, but it’s not always what it first appears as - your margin matters and so does your profit. You might have taken more revenue this year for instance but far less profit and at the end of the day that’s what matters.
If you run a profit and loss you should be able to get a direct view of this.
Looking at your margin like this is often referred to as your ‘realised margin’ as it takes into account what actually happens over a period of time. For example you buy in at margin X% and you buy X no. of units - how many do you sell at full price and how many do you sell at discount - this is your realised margin.
Some other things to consider when looking at your revenue:
Did your promotional period differ this year to last? For example, if you ran a 3 day promo this year but a week long sale last year.
Add context with margin. Like I’ve said above, revenue alone doesn’t tell the full story. Compare your margin (post discount) to last year. Did changes in product mix or costs affect your profit? Did you sell more of one thing this year than last?
Cash margin matters too. If your prices have increased, your cash margin might look stronger even if percentage margins stayed the same. Once again cash in the bank is most important here.
One more thing on this - if you don’t already run a profit and loss for your business every month I would highly advise you do. It allows you to manage the profit in your business much more tightly.
2. Returning customer revenue vs. new
Here’s a stat I love digging into: Where’s your revenue coming from? Split it into new customers and returning customers.
You want to be able to clearly see what your event did for customer recruitment as new customer recruitment is a metric you always want to keep an eye on. It’s an important one as it can signal and guide how well your next launch/event/season might do because the more people you bring into the business the more people will come back to buy again next time.
New Customers: So how strong was your recruitment? Converting new customers during Black Friday is so important because they can represent future revenue opportunities.
Returning Customers: Are your existing customers still loyal? Growth here is always a good sign (hello, lifetime value).
3. Number of orders and customer split
Quantity matters! Take a look at how many orders you received and how that compares to last year. Black Friday is an event where you want as many people ‘through the door’ as possible.
Less orders, more revenue? If your average order value (AOV) increased (more about this in the next point), you might have fewer orders but higher total revenue. This can be a sign that customers were spending more per transaction. Or it could be that you did less orders because your offers weren’t as strong. Or, you may have recruited at a lesser rate than you did last year. There’s lots to consider here but generally the number of orders signal intent and you can’t ignore that sign.
New vs. Returning: How many of those orders came from new customers vs. returning ones? Break it down further to see the average spend per group. This differs from point no.2 which looks at revenue alone, you also need to see quantity of orders per group.
4. Average Order Value (AOV)
A higher AOV is ideal during a promotional period and it’s typically what you can expect, but it’s not always guaranteed. Ask yourself:
Did your AOV increase compared to last year?
Did you actively upsell, cross-sell, or bundle products to encourage higher spending? What was the success of that activity?
Splitting this by new vs. returning customers once again can give you insights into buying behaviour.
5. Email metrics: Your secret weapon
Black Friday is noisy, and email campaigns are critical for cutting through the chaos. A lot of BFCM success relies on email alone so dive into these metrics:
Open rates
Click-through rates
Revenue per email
Overall revenue from email
How did your email performance compare to last year? Did specific subject lines or offers resonate more? Learn from what worked (and what didn’t) to refine your strategy for next time and also for events between now and then.
Your next steps
Analysing your Black Friday sales isn’t just about looking back, it’s about using the data to plan for what’s next. Strong new customer acquisition? That’s great for the next quarter. Higher AOV? A sign your bundling strategy might be working.
Take a moment to dive into your figures, identify the wins, and spot areas to improve. I would set some time aside to have a good look at all this and to make some rough notes about what you would do differently next time. You’ll be grateful next year, I promise you.