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We’re wrapping up 2022 as a team of 22. We’ve designed stuff, developed stuff, even won some stuff. Some of us managed to meet up for the first time, too.

From the brands we’ve collabed with to the people we’ve met, there’s one thing we can all agree on – 2022, you’ve been a blast.

It’s been a busy year for go-lives. We’ve designed, dev’ed and launched a total of 24 sites in the last 12 months – the most we’ve ever done. Go team!

6 visual identities and 11 brand voice projects

We tackled everything from total reinventions to quick nip and tucks, collaborating with teams in California, London, and plenty of places in between.

First up, Bobbie (our first full-time copywriter), then Project Manager, Jack, and designers, Ellie and Dylan. Dom joined our dev team and then we welcomed Design Director, Simon. And, last but not least, Jaxon joined the gang (and the world) on 10th November 2022.

’ for our very own Series Eight site. Big shout out to all our clients – and the entire team – for making us look good.

We went back to basics to rediscover what makes us, us. After a few months of hard graft, we went live with our new brand identity back in February. Go check out 

We had our biggest and best team retreat ever

In September, we all headed to Europe’s Surf Mecca to hang out IRL. Four days of fun in the sun and more Portuguese custard tarts than we could manage. Read the 

2022 in numbers

Last week, we set statuses to ‘out of office’ and met in the terracotta-topped city of Lisbon for our annual team retreat. It’s not often we all get together—and since we’ve recently welcomed a tonne of new faces to the team, this year was all about eating, drinking and just hanging out IRL.

One by one, we made ourselves at home at Lisbon’s Mama Shelter—a super sassy urban hangout that we love for its foosball tables and family-style feasting. For some of us, it was a case of a quick coach ride to the capital. But for others (sorry, Cyprus crew), it was a late-night arrival after various layovers and lost luggage drama. Plus, there was a last-minute detour for Jasmine, who, after feeling very smug with her early arrival at Gatwick, ended up making a mad dash to Heathrow (the airport she was actually meant to be flying from…)

Despite the bleary eyes, the next day started strong with the first of our activities: a pastel de nata masterclass. Working under the watchful eye of the pros at Nat'elier, we hand-crafted and baked our very own versions of the Portuguese classic. Why yes, we did make our own pastry.

That evening, the voyage of gastronomy continued as we took to the streets of the city for a tuk-tuk food tour. We sampled everything from local cheeses and vino verde to the city’s famous pork bifanas. We even sat down to the traditional salted cod dish, bacalhau à brás, with a side of Fado guitar. All of this was rounded off with a freshly baked pastel de nata chaser—yes, more pastries.

For our final night, we tore around the city armed with tablets as we took part in an outdoor escape hunt. Turns out nothing makes us more competitive than a Time Cops-themed backstory, cryptic clues, and a 90-minute countdown clock. But after crowning the winners, it was onwards to Sumaya for our final meal together: Lebanese mezze followed by a birthday cake for a 

 surprised Soraia, who turned 28 while we were away.

The theme of this year’s retreat was all about getting together—so we made plenty of time to do just that. We explored museums, wandered around botanic gardens, and scaled those deceptively steep streets of the old town. We drank port and tonic in Alfama, did karaoke in Bairro Alto, and each night, claimed the hotel terrace as ours for beers and cocktails.

We reconnected with people we hadn’t seen in real life for a while—and, for the first time this year, almost all of us were together in person (shout out to Andreas, Alex and Simon who were with us in spirit). But best of all, we came away with a tonne of new memories and Slack memes, feeling hyped about what the future has in store for the S8 fam.

 love to Fran and Mario for treating us to three incredible days out of the office. It’s safe to say we loved every second.

S8 Team trip 2024: Lisbon

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Whether you love them or hate them, it’s safe to say that most consumers still can’t resist them. So with some of the biggest sales events of the calendar year just around the corner, how can you make sure you’re doing everything you can to get in on the action?

Here’s our 9-step Black Friday prep plan for e-commerce brands.

1. Decide on your offer. And make it a good one.

Your customers won’t settle for the kinds of discounts you get for simply signing up to a mailing list. They’ll be holding out for big things when it comes to Black Friday. They may even have their favourites list and basket filled up already. So make sure it’s an enticing enough offer that will cut through the noise and convince them to part with their cash in the first few hours.

A lot of time is spent focusing on the front end of your site—but it pays to give a bit of love to the checkout, too. How seamless is the cart journey on mobile? Are there features you could be utilising to increase the average cart value, like upsell or cross-selling tools? Is it worth adding buy now, pay later options or shortcuts like Shop Pay? If it makes the purchase journey easier, then it’s worth considering (and testing) ahead of time.

3. Prep your store for an influx of traffic.

If you’re using a managed platform like Shopify then relax—everything’s handled for you. But if your website is on a self-hosted tool such as WordPress or Craft, then it’s a good idea to know how to monitor your server resources. If you need to scale up your hosting to deal with additional demand, there are caching and CDN tools like Cloudflare and Fastly. But, if you’re expecting a huge surge in traffic, you could always look into implementing a virtual waiting room using Cloudflare, Akamai or AWS to prevent any overloading.

By that, we mean go back to basics and make sure your tactics align with every consumer you might encounter throughout the sales period.

Broad, top-level targeting that intros your brand to new audiences with messaging around deals and promos.

Middle of the funnel: the consideration phase

If users have shown an interest, retarget them with content such as reviews, testimonials and limited-time offers.

Bottom of the funnel: the conversion phase

Now’s the time to drive urgency with countdown timers, reminders and exclusive discounts for last-minute shoppers.

Over the next 3-7 days, encourage repeat purchases with personalised follow-up orders and upsells.

Figure all of this out ahead of time and trust us, your strategy will be foolproof.

If you’re continuously capturing leads via a newsletter sign-up, then ramp things up in the run-up to Black Friday. Creating a landing page that captures email and phone numbers in exchange for early access to the sale is an easy win. Or, you could supercharge your subscriber sign-ups by throwing additional things like discounts, free gifts or mystery sign-up offers into the mix.

6. Be ready with your email campaigns and flows.

Of course, you’re going to need a fully-fledged email plan that targets your subscribers with your Black Friday offer. But think about revamping all your existing flows, too. Feature Black Friday messaging in your welcome flows during the Black Friday period, and optimise any automated flows like your abandoned cart journey, too. It’s simple tactics like this that can be done well in advance but are super effective.

7. Create ad campaigns that stand out from the crowd.

Catchy creative is one thing, but delivering the right message to the right people at the right time is where you’ll really see results. Make sure you’re considering Meta ads for targeting and retargeting specific audiences, utilising assets such as customer testimonials to build trust. Plus, be sure to roll out broad audience targeting with personalised dynamic ads, too.

8. Have a plan in place for community management.

Managing your social media community is important throughout the year, but during peak sales periods like Black Friday, the stakes are even higher due to the massive influx of engagement. As more users will be interacting with your ad content, it’s vital you have a plan in place for monitoring comments and inboxes. As a minimum, make sure you:

Prepare a set of pre-written responses for common queries to save time and make sure your voice is consistent.

Prioritise comments that are most visible or influential, like those on popular posts or those that get engagement, fast.

Automatically filter and hide comments with offensive words, phrases, or spam.

Have a plan for how to quickly escalate more complex issues, like a dedicated Slack channel with your customer support team.

Keep interactions authentic to ensure genuine connections with customers.

9. Get prepped with your post-purchase activity, too.

Black Friday is just the beginning. With the right kind of post-purchase activity, you could have a new wave of brand-lovers on your hands. So get ready with those post-purchase email flows and campaigns so you can start engaging with your new buyers right away.

2022 in numbers

20+ go-lives

11 rebrands

8 new teamies

2 awards

1 internal rebrand

And a team trip to Ericeira

S8 Team trip 2024: Lisbon

Our 9-step Black Friday prep plan for e-commerce brands

Let us take you further than you’ve ever been

2022 in numbers

20+ go-lives

11 rebrands

8 new teamies

2 awards

1 internal rebrand

And a team trip to Ericeira

S8 Team trip 2024: Lisbon

Our 9-step Black Friday prep plan for e-commerce brands

Let us take you further than you’ve ever been SCHEDULE A CALL

Let us take you further than you’ve ever been