A Black Friday landing page that's honest, short and easy to take down
A sale page has a short life and one job: tell people what's discounted, by how much, until when, and let them buy. Keep it honest, because sale rules in many places and customers' patience both punish fake urgency. Build it ahead, publish it for the campaign, and when it ends, restore the earlier version of your site so nobody lands on an expired offer.
Three facts at the top
Most sale pages bury the offer under a banner and a slogan. Put these three things where they're the first thing read on a phone:
- What's on sale: everything, one range, or named products.
- The actual discount: "30% off all prints" or the old and new price side by side. "Huge savings" tells nobody anything.
- When it ends: a date, a time and a time zone. "Ends Monday 1 December at midnight UK time."
Then one buy route. A site has one payment link, so if the sale covers several products, point it at a product list or multi-item checkout at your payment provider and say on each product which option to pick.
Honesty is a rule, not just good manners
In many countries, consumer law restricts misleading price comparisons and false urgency. A "was" price usually has to be one you actually charged for a meaningful period, and a deadline has to be real. Rules differ by country, so check the guidance that applies where you sell. A few practices to avoid regardless:
| Habit | The problem |
|---|---|
| A "was" price you never charged | Misleading in many jurisdictions, and customers check |
| A deadline that quietly extends | Teaches customers your deadlines mean nothing |
| "Only 2 left" when it isn't true | False scarcity; often a breach of consumer rules |
| Countdown timers that reset per visitor | Fake urgency, easily spotted |
| Discounts that only apply after sign-up, not said up front | Feels like a bait and switch |
Before, during and after the campaign
- A week before
- Build the page, set up the sale prices or a discount code in your payment provider, and test a purchase.
- The day it starts
- Publish. Send your email and post the link, pointing each at the sale page rather than your home page.
- During
- Check page views by source to see which channel is working. Fix any confusing wording the first customers ask about.
- The moment it ends
- Restore your normal site, switch off the discount in your provider, and remove the sale from social posts you can edit.
- A week after
- Note what sold and which source sent buyers, for next year's page.
Building it with Anticode
Describe the offer: "a Black Friday landing page for our print shop, 30% off all A3 prints, ending Monday at midnight UK time, with six prints and a buy button". The Architect plans the page before building. Every buy button opens the account's one checkout link, from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop; make it a product list at the sale prices, because the discount itself lives in your provider. Upload product photos, and the model sees and places them. The design gate refuses to publish a page with empty links or placeholder text, which catches a forgotten button, though it doesn't check that the outside checkout links work, so test each one.
Version history is what makes a short campaign tidy. Your site's recent saves are kept as versions (the most recent ones, up to your plan's number), so when the sale ends you can preview the pre-sale version and restore it, rather than editing the sale out by hand at midnight. Page views per site per day, by source, show in the dashboard, counted without cookies, so you can tell whether email or social sent the traffic. The campaign landing pages workflow and the limited product drop workflow cover related campaigns.
Limits
- No countdown timers. Design-engine pages run no scripts; state the end date and time in words instead, which is clearer anyway.
- No scheduled publish or automatic end. Restore the earlier version yourself when the sale finishes.
- No discount codes, cart or stock handling in Anticode. Set discounts and limits in your payment provider.
- No A/B testing of headlines or offers.
- No conversion tracking. Page views by source come from Anticode; sales figures come from your payment provider.
Questions people ask
Should the sale page be separate from the home page?
For a big campaign, yes: a dedicated page matches your emails and ads. For a small shop, a sale section at the top of the home page is often enough.
Is a countdown timer worth it?
A clear end date in words does the same job without the risk of looking manipulative. Anticode's pages don't run timers.
Can I reuse the page next year?
Yes. Restore the sale version, update dates and prices, check every link, and publish again.