Black Friday is fast approaching, and for digital and ecommerce leaders, it’s a day that can make or break your entire year. With the code freeze looming, typically around November 4th, pressure is on to ensure your website or app is ready for the biggest online shopping event of the year. But are you truly prepared to handle the surge in traffic, transactions, and sky-high customer expectations?
Lessons from last year’s Black Friday
Last year, we worked with a major consumer goods ecommerce brand that believed they were all set for Black Friday. However, during our pre-code freeze audit, we uncovered multiple overlooked critical issues. On the day itself, these gaps caused significant problems, including broken checkout flows and downtime during peak shopping hours.
The consequences weren’t just technical – frustration rippled through their development, marketing, and customer service teams, ultimately leading to lost revenue and missed opportunities.
The takeaway? Pre-code freeze testing is non-negotiable. It’s not just about discovering bugs; it’s about preventing disaster. And even if you find issues you can’t fix before the freeze, knowing what you’re up against gives you a crucial advantage. That knowledge empowers you to plan, mitigate risks, and keep your Black Friday operations on track.
The pre-code freeze checklist
To avoid the same pitfalls many businesses faced last year, here’s a comprehensive checklist of essential actions. Make sure to tick these off to ensure your ecommerce platform is fully prepared for Black Friday.
Have you set and communicated the code freeze date?
- Timing – Have you scheduled the freeze at least 2 weeks before Black Friday?
- Team Notification – Have you clearly communicated this date to all relevant teams – dev, QA, product management, and marketing?
Have you defined the scope of the freeze?
- Critical systems – Is the freeze focused on key areas like checkout, payment gateways, and inventory management?
- Feature cut-off – Have you stopped all new feature development, allowing only critical bug fixes and performance tweaks?
- Non-critical systems – Are non-essential updates being deferred until after Black Friday?
Is your release & deployment strategy in place?
- Staggered releases – Are you deploying updates in small, manageable chunks leading up to Black Friday to catch any issues early?
- Rollback plan – Have you prepared rollback strategies for every deployment in case things go wrong?
- Final deployment deadline – Have you scheduled a last deployment for non-critical updates several days before the event?
Have you conducted thorough pre-freeze testing?
- End-to-end testing – Have you completed end-to-end testing for all critical functions, including checkout, payment, and inventory?
- Stress and load testing – Have you simulated Black Friday traffic to see how your site handles high volumes of visitors?
- Security testing: Have you conducted a comprehensive security audit to ensure all gateways are safe and compliant?
Worried about hidden issues going into code freeze?
We’re offering a complimentary Black Friday Readiness Audit that takes our crowdtesters just 2 hours to complete.
The audit will rapidly assess your site or app, identifying critical issues that could affect your Black Friday sales. It’s fast, easy to start, and can help you prioritise fixes before the code freeze.
Do you have emergency procedures for post-freeze?
- Critical bug criteria – Have you defined what qualifies as a “critical” bug that can bypass the freeze with senior approval?
- Hotfix pipeline – Have you prepared a tested hotfix pipeline to deploy emergency patches quickly and smoothly?
- Emergency team – Is there a cross-functional team ready to respond to urgent issues post-freeze?
Is real-time monitoring and observability set up?
- Monitoring tools – Are you tracking critical systems like servers, databases, and APIs in real time, with alerts set for abnormalities?
- Detailed logging – Do you have detailed logging, particularly around checkout and payment areas, to catch any early warning signs?
- Business metrics – Are you monitoring key metrics like conversion rates and cart abandonment to identify potential issues in real time?
Are stakeholders aligned with a communication plan?
- Daily updates – Are you providing daily updates to key stakeholders, especially in the final week leading up to Black Friday?
- Escalation matrix – Is there a clear plan for escalating critical issues, with key personnel identified for fast decision-making?
Have you prepared for rollbacks and downtime?
- Backup plans – Are your backup and restore mechanisms ready and tested to ensure a quick return to a stable version if needed?
- Downtime communication – Have you prepared messaging for customers in case of downtime, such as banners or social media updates?
Will you conduct a post-Black Friday evaluation?
- Post-event review – Do you have plans for a post-event review to assess system performance, identify issues, and capture lessons for future events?
- Bug resolution – Will any remaining bugs or performance problems be resolved ahead of Cyber Monday, Christmas and the holiday season?
Is your documentation and audit trail complete?
- Version control – Have you maintained strict version control to document all changes made post-freeze?
- Audit trail – Is there a detailed record of deployments, tests, and monitoring outcomes for accountability and future reference?
The bottom line
Following this checklist is your best bet for avoiding last-minute disasters and ensuring your site is ready to handle the Black Friday rush. Early testing and a well-planned code freeze will help you prevent issues that could harm your Black Friday performance.
To give your ecommerce platform the best chance of success, take advantage of our free Black Friday readiness audit. Even if you discover issues that can’t be fixed before the code freeze, you’ll have the knowledge to prepare and make informed decisions.
