Black Friday is one of the biggest consumer shopping days of the year. While the holiday season seems to start earlier every year, a great Black Friday email marketing campaign can set up your business for year-end sales success.
Before we get into the details of how to maximize sales using Black Friday email marketing, let’s understand why it’s important to have an email marketing strategy in the first place.
According to Adobe, the total spending on Black Friday 2021 was $8.9 billion in the US alone.
Image Credit: Adobe
The combined spending on Thanksgiving 2021 and the entire Black Friday weekend (extended through Cyber Monday) totaled a whopping $33.9 billion.
This is too big of an opportunity to miss, which is why you should have a strategy in place ASAP.
We know, it may be a little late in the game for this year, but don’t worry. These Black Friday email marketing tips are here to help you score some great sales at the last minute.
Why it’s important to have a Black Friday email strategy
Having a clear plan is important for any marketing campaign, not just for Black Friday email marketing. A well-defined and research-backed Black Friday email strategy can help you get better results and ROI.
How?
First, having a clear strategy sets the direction for your campaign. You’ll know what your goals are, who you’re targeting, and how to best engage with your target audience. It also helps you customize your campaigns.
Second, your strategy will define everything that needs to be done, by whom, and by what time. It also helps you identify the triggers and set rules for your automated email campaigns. This streamlines the process and reduces the scope for error on or before Black Friday.
You can’t shoot arrows in the dark, you need to aim to hit the target. The same applies to running a Black Friday campaign as well.
Now that you understand the importance of having a solid plan and strategy, let’s discuss why email marketing is an important part of your marketing mix.
The value of email marketing
While you may spread the information on multiple platforms about your upcoming sale, emails provide you a direct way to contact your subscribers.
Email marketing also helps you connect with people who’ve had past interactions with your brand and previous customers are easier to convert than winning new customers.
You can, for example, use social media to attract new customers and email marketing to get repeat customers.
Email marketing helps across all stages of a buyer’s journey and can be used to attract, nurture, and convert leads. So, make sure that you have a Balck Friday email marketing strategy in place before the holiday season begins.
7 Black Friday email marketing tips
In this section, we will give you some expert Black Friday email tips to get the best revenue boost this holiday season.
You’ll also find ideas and examples to inspire your next campaign for this holiday shopping season.
So, let’s get started with our list of tips and ideas.
1. Build your email list in advance
If you plan to run a email campaign for Black Friday, you need to start building your email list months in advance. And if you already have an email list, you should boost it further to get the most out of Black Friday sales.
Here are some tips to capture your target audience’s email information and boost your email list:
- Use gated content to capture your site visitors’ email information in exchange for a valuable resource.
- Add exit-intent pop-ups to collect email information of prospects who are leaving your online store in exchange for a great deal or discount.
- Create a newsletter sign-up form and place it at strategic locations on your website. Also, make sure that you mention what benefits the subscribers will get by joining your mailing list.
2. Start your Black Friday email campaign early
Your Black Friday email marketing campaign should not start 2 days before Black Friday, but weeks in advance.
That’s because a single email is never enough to build momentum or generate enough leads to make a difference. You need to send a sequence of emails to introduce people to your Black Friday deals, pique their interest, and encourage them to take action.
Here’s an example of an email sequence that you can use for your Black Friday campaign:
- 3 Weeks Prior to the Event - An early promotion email giving a teaser of what’s to come and getting people excited about the upcoming Black Friday Sale. You can do this as soon as Halloween is over.
- 1 Week Before the Event - Send an email to reveal the Black Friday deals and offers and ask prospects to start adding products to their carts.
- When the Sale Starts: Send an email to inform people that your Black Friday sale is live. Also, clearly disclose offers on various categories and products and add direct links to different category/product pages.
- Before the Sale Ends: Send a FOMO email creating a sense of urgency that if someone doesn’t act now, they’ll miss out on the exclusive deals.
You can also start the sale early like MunchPak has done in the following example.
Image Credit: MunchPak
3. Create a sense of urgency in your emails
This is one of the Black Friday email marketing tips that expert marketers use to drive more clicks from their emails.
If you tell someone that they’ll miss out on some amazing deals if they don’t act right now, they are bound to get curious and at least check out the deals.
Creating a sense of urgency in your emails is one of the best ways to get more clicks from your emails and get people to your website. Whether they make a purchase will then depend on how good your deals are.
Here are some tips and ideas to create a sense of urgency in your emails:
- Clearly mention that the deals are only for a limited period of time and disclose exactly when the sale starts and ends.
- Use a countdown timer to give that feeling of urgency that people need to take an action before the time runs out.
- Mention that the stocks are limited for discounted products and if someone doesn’t buy right away, their favorite products might go out of stock.
- Use clever messaging that conveys the urgency of a limited-period offer, as shown in the example below.
Image Credit: Lou & Grey
4. Use visual & interactive elements
If you think you’re the only one running a lucrative Black Friday email campaign, you’re wrong. In reality, your target customers are bombarded with emails from every brand they’ve ever been associated with.
So, what can you do to attract their attention?
Use stunning visuals and interactive elements to make your emails stand out and get more engagement from your Black Friday email marketing campaign.
Here are some Black Friday email campaign ideas to create fun, engaging, and interactive emails:
- Use scratch cards or spin wheels to offer different deals to different customers. Incorporate these interactive elements into your email.
- Use GIFs to make your emails stand out and look visually appealing.
- Add a product catalog with direct purchase links to allow prospects to click on the products they like and directly go ahead and purchase them.
- Use bright colors and stunning product pictures to draw attention and make people want to buy your products.
Of course, keep your brand in mind. You don’t want to ruin your brand's reputation by creating all too crazy creatives during the campaign. Figure out how far you can go to catch attention within the boundaries of your brand's (visual) identity.
5. Reward your loyal customers
One of the most important Black Friday email marketing tips anyone will give you is rewarding your loyal customers. Yes, your Black Friday deals are for everyone, but you still need to find a way to make your loyal customers feel extra special.
How can you do that?
Here are a few Black Friday email ideas to reward your loyal customers:
- Offer them early access to your sale and give them the first shot at choosing their favorite products.
- Create and share special discount codes, over and above the existing offers, to your most loyal customers.
- Allow your loyalty program members to redeem their points or get that member discount, over and above the current offers.
- Send a freebie with every order for some select customers.
Design your email strategy in a way that offers something extra to loyal customers.
6. Extend your Black Friday email campaign until Cyber Monday
A good Black Friday strategy should always include Cyber Monday.
In fact, most people just refer to it as Black Week instead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and you should treat it the same.
Here are some reasons why your plan should include Cyber Monday as well:
- People have more time to shop over the Black Friday weekend, so you’ll get more Black Friday sales if you extend the sale till Monday.
- Some people who may have missed your Black Friday deal can still take advantage of the extended Cyber Monday sale.
Don’t forget to promote your extended sale with equal zest. Here’s an example from Kenneth Cole announcing their extended sale via email.
Image Credit: Kenneth Cole
7. Track and monitor your campaign performance
One of the most important Black Friday email marketing tips is to track and analyze your campaign performance.
Why?
Because that will help you draw insights on what went well and what didn’t. You can use these insights to prepare next year’s Black Friday email strategy and optimize your future Black Friday email campaigns.
You can use a tool like Funnel to collect all your Black Friday email marketing data and analyze it using a simple and intuitive dashboard. It also allows you to visualize your data and makes it easy to draw insights and find areas of improvement.
Whatever insights you draw from your current Black Friday email campaign will fuel your work next year.
3 Black Friday email examples
Need some real-life examples to inspire your creativity?
Here are three Black Friday email examples from different brands, along with reasons why they’re effective. Check these out and get inspired to optimize your Black Friday strategy.
Black Friday email example #1 - ZAGG (building anticipation)
Image Credit: SmartrMail
Why it Works: It creates anticipation in readers by starting a countdown to the sale without revealing too much information. The early offer also encourages people to buy products at a discounted price before the sale goes live and products get out of stock. This plays on people’s FOMO and can drive some sales even before the sale starts.
How to Replicate It: Use a countdown timer to announce the sale and create a buzz around your upcoming campaign. Give teasers of upcoming deals or simply mention that it’s going to be the biggest sale of the year. Provide early-bird discounts for people who don’t want to take a chance and wait till the sale begins.
Black Friday email example #2 - The Fabulous (simple design with clear messaging)
Image Credit: The Fabulous
Why it Works: It provides a clear value proposition, one that is lucrative enough for people to take action. The design is also simple and the CTA is the focus of the email.
How to Replicate It: Instead of creating clutter by offering too many types of deals, keep things simple and offer a flat discount sitewide. Clearly mention that this is a limited-period offer, one that won’t be available again, or not until next year. Use Black Friday email templates with a minimal design.
Black Friday email example #3 - Forever 21 (interactive scratch cards)
Image Credit: Forever 21
Why it Works: It creates a sense of mystery and curiosity in your prospects. People want to scratch the card and reveal the offer that is exclusive to them. This plays on people’s psyche as no one can resist the fun of scratching a coupon to get a mystery reward.
How to Replicate It: Use scratch cards or fortune wheels to provide different types of discounts to different customers. This gamification of your Black Friday email campaign will help you drive more engagement and generate more leads.
Ready to get the best results from your Black Friday email campaigns?
Use the tips, ideas, and examples in this post to plan and run a successful Black Friday email marketing campaign. You can choose one or more of these Black Friday email marketing ideas to design your campaign.
Just ensure that you don’t rely only on a single email and create a drip email marketing campaign that runs for at least two weeks. Also, write attention-grabbing Black Friday subject lines to make your emails stand out in your email subscribers’ inboxes.
So, what are you waiting for?
Start planning your Black Friday email campaign right now. All the best!