Key Takeaways
Audit the buying journey before increasing spend. More traffic will also bring more people to any problems in your basket and checkout.
Show costs and delivery options early. Shoppers should understand the offer before they reach payment.
Make the promotion work as promised. Discounts, stock information and collection options need to be as clear on the site as they are in the advert.
The Black Friday marketing playbook is familiar by now: start earlier, warm up audiences, automate remarketing and increase spend when demand peaks.
But when someone is ready to buy, another question matters: can they complete the purchase without a reason to pause?
A delivery fee appears at the final step. The discount needs a code they can’t find. Their size is unavailable. Checkout asks them to create an account. Your advertising has brought them this far, but the buying journey gives them a reason to leave.
The Black Friday “Impulse” May Have Been Weeks in the Making
A Black Friday order can look spontaneous in a sales report. For the shopper, it may be the end of weeks of comparing products, checking prices and waiting for the right offer.
In YouGov’s research into British festive shoppers, 59% of those surveyed said the items they bought in sales were mostly things they would eventually have purchased at full price. More recent YouGov research on UK Black Friday shopping found that misleading discounts were the most common reason given by people whose interest in major sales had declined. The price and the path to purchase both need to hold up when a shopper looks closely.
Before You Increase Your Black Friday Budget, Fix the Buying Friction
A 10-Point Black Friday Buying-Friction Audit
Before increasing spend, try to buy your own products on a phone. Test popular items, different basket values and every delivery option you plan to promote.
1. Show an estimated delivered total early
Put the product price, discount and estimated delivery cost on the product page and in the basket. If delivery depends on a postcode, let shoppers check the exact cost easily.
2. Test whether subsidised delivery pays off
Free delivery won’t work for every order. Test a threshold or a partial subsidy where the margin supports it. Compare the cost with what you would otherwise spend bringing a shopper back after they leave.
Judge the result using profit per visitor after fulfilment, alongside conversion rate and average order value.
3. Give shoppers an arrival date
“Standard delivery” doesn’t tell someone when their order will arrive. Show an estimated date and clear choices, including collection where available.
Delivery choice matters to UK shoppers: DHL’s 2025 UK ecommerce research reported that 80% would abandon a basket when their preferred delivery option was missing.
4. Apply eligible discounts automatically
If a product qualifies for your Black Friday offer, show the saving without making shoppers search for a code. Keep the original price, offer price and final basket total easy to understand.
5. Make stock visible before someone commits
Show available sizes and colours immediately. If you offer collection, let shoppers check local store stock before they reach checkout. Keep product ads aligned with availability wherever possible.
6. Put useful information near the product
Sizing guidance, customer photos, gift options and returns terms belong where people make the decision. A shopper shouldn’t need to leave the product page to answer a basic question.
7. Make guest checkout obvious
Let people buy without creating an account, and make that option easy to spot. If you offer a fast-delivery membership, keep joining optional and explain any benefit that applies to this order.
8. Check payment choices and error messages
Offer the payment methods your customers use. Then test what happens when a payment fails: can the shopper see the problem and try again without entering everything twice?
9. Remove unnecessary checkout fields
Ask only for what you need to fulfil the order. Use address lookup and autofill where they help, particularly on mobile.
10. Make collection work in practice
Check that store stock is accurate, the ready time is honest, signage is clear and the pickup queue can cope. A convenient option on the website needs to be convenient at the handover.
How One Day Agency Can Help
At One Day Agency, we look at the buying journey alongside the ecommerce advertising that brings shoppers to it. Before recommending more spend, we want to understand what happens after someone clicks: is the offer clear, is the product available and can they complete the order?
“We build campaigns around how customers actually shop. The Black Friday impulse is often the brief moment when a purchase considered for weeks becomes action. Make that moment easy to complete.” - Ricardo Seixas, CEO, One Day Agency
References
Sendcloud: UK shoppers and delivery-related basket abandonment
YouGov: Britain’s appetite for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
YouGov: What British festive shoppers buy in the sales
DHL: UK ecommerce trends and delivery expectations
FAQs
What is buying friction in ecommerce?
Buying friction is anything that makes a purchase harder to complete, such as an unexpected delivery charge, unclear stock, a long form or a payment error that doesn’t explain what to do next.
Should UK retailers offer free delivery on Black Friday?
It depends on the product margin, basket value and fulfilment cost. Test free or partly subsidised delivery, then measure profit per visitor after fulfilment. A higher conversion rate alone doesn’t show whether the offer pays off.
When should a Black Friday checkout audit happen?
Run it before increasing campaign spend and repeat it when promotions go live. Test the full journey on mobile, from the advertised offer through to payment and order confirmation.
