In 2019, the generous sales season starts on November 29. This means that the time when every marketer wants to break his/her last year’s record in sales and the time when subscribers want to buy products at incredibly low prices, is coming. The closer it is to November, the more difficult yet more interesting the “hunting prospects” game gets.
Here are the 15 tips you should consider when starting your Black Friday email campaign.
1. Create the holiday gift guide
Gift guides have a higher conversion rate than average promo emails.
You can base your gift ideas on categories, gender, age, geolocation, etc.
Banana Republic even categorizes gifts by prices.
When it comes to loyal customers, you can also create special offers based on their previous purchases.
2. Segment your contact base
We are not talking about regular segmentation by gender or preferences as it goes without saying. You can also segment emails by recipients' behavior.
Normally, brands send one sale announcement email to all users.
But now that you know what category your prospects clicked on and what products they are interested in, you may segment your contact base.
This will make your Black Friday emails more relevant; hence, it will have a positive impact on your conversion.
3. Create a series of Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails
You cannot just send one Black Friday and Cyber Monday email and hope for high ROI.
It should be a well-thought-through series of holiday emails.
The first email is to announce the start of your Black Friday sale, the second one is to let recipients know how long it will last.
You can either write the dates and just highlight them or add a countdown timer in your holiday emails.
Please be advised: you can build and design countdown timers for emails directly in Stripo.
The third email is to notify subscribers that your holiday sale is coming to its end.
Then the Cyber Monday sale starts…
You need this series, first of all, to notify customers you are in the game and that they will have a chance to buy their favorite products at lower prices. Second of all, it is important to keep customers updated— you need to constantly remind them about your brand.
4. Make a special offer to staunch customers
Why not inform your staunch customers about the exact dates of the sale and discount amount beforehand? Or why not start a pre-sale a day or two before the holiday and invite loyal consumers only?
Let them be the first to shop with you this Black Friday.
You will need to segment your contact base: active and inactive users. This is another approach to segmentation.
5. Spend some time on Black Friday email design
Definitely, your subscribers receive many more emails during the holiday season than they usually do. And all emails contain generous offers. Then how can you grab consumers’ attention? A holiday design comes to the rescue.
Be creative, implement your unusual bold ideas.
Of course, the same concerns the Cyber Monday email design.
6. Offer free shipping
During the holiday season, people tend to spend a fair amount of money on numerous Christmas gifts to all their family, friends, and colleagues.
Hence, they will appreciate free shipping, which is one of the most converting options that you can provide.
Make sure your “free shipping” notification is pretty noticeable.
7. Build a contact list for this particular newsletter
Build a contact list for this particular email campaign. For instance, add one more subscription form, which is dedicated to Black Friday and Cyber Monday only, to the website.
You can even offer an additional discount to newbies.
Be sure to provide the details of how to get an additional discount in your Black Friday or Cyber Monday email.
This may be a good start of your long-term relations with these newcomers.
8. Announce Black Friday sale beforehand
Why would you do that? To prepare prospects for your Black Friday sale.
They need to know what value proposition you have for them this year. If they like it, they will cetainly look forward to getting another email from you where you say “The Sale has started”.
This simple thing will prevent your next email from going unnoticed in recipients’ inboxes as those who are interested in your offer will anticipate the next email.
9. Promote your offer across social media
Despite the fact that email marketing remains the most effective channel for communicating with customers, you are supposed to announce Black Friday sales across all media channels.
A combination of these two channels will bring even more benefits.
10. Offer gift cards
Even though in paragraph 1 we suggested that you create “Gift Guides”, some recipients might not have time to look through them or they might not be familiar enough with the preferences of the person whom they are going to buy a present to. Offer gift cards.
Announce it in your Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails.
11. Be sure to present new products
The holiday season is a good time to present new products.
No matter how much customers love your current assortment, they will definitely like to see something new in your emails.
12. Combine two holidays in one email
Black Friday and Cyber Monday go together. Feel free to combine them in one single email.
13. Pay close attention to CTA design
No matter how bright your design is, or how generous your value proposition is, pay close attention to the CTA button design. It has to be noticeable or contrast to your email design.
During the holiday season, people spend even less time viewing our emails. This is why bright CTAs are of great use here.
If you like, you can apply CSS-animation to buttons, to make your Black Friday emails more festive.
14. Remind customers Christmas is around the corner
According to NRF research, 40% of Christmas gifts are bought during the 5-day shopping weekend.
Remind the rest of your recipients that Christmas is coming; if they buy presents now — they will not have to worry and look for last-minute gifts on December 24.
Help them please their close friends and family with good presents this year.
15. Write a powerful subject line
It is a well-known fact that 35% of recipients open emails judging by the subject line alone. Let it be clear, concise and, of course, catchy.
Avoid exclamation marks, avoid text in ALL caps in subject lines.
If your Black Friday sale is coming to its end, mention in your email subject line. You offer free shipping — notify customers about it.
Black Friday subject line examples:
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Herschel Supply Co. — Black Friday Starts Today;
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Monica Vinader — Black Friday | Up to 50% off | 24 hours only! ⏰;
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Scuderia Ferrari Online Store — The special Black Friday weekend has arrived;
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F21 Exclusives — Up to 80%OFF ? Early Access Black Friday;
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Adidas — Get a jump on Black Friday;
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Maybelline New York — Our Guide To The Best Black Friday (Makeup) Finds! ;
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Photobucket — We couldn’t wait—Black Friday starts NOW;
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Build Asign — HOURS LEFT ❄ 25% OFF ❄ Black Friday Ends Soon! ;
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Rosetta Stone — Save more ? | OVER 65% off;
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West Ham United — Black Friday Best Sellers;
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Chubbies — Black Friday is CANCELLED
Cyber Monday subject line examples:
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Chubbies — Thighber Monday;
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Adidas — Think fast. Cyber Monday is our biggest sale ?;
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Gap — LAST. CALL. You must redeem code CYBER by tonight (no exclusions!) ;
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Danielle — Not another holiday sale email;
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Northern Tool Equipment — Last Call: Cyber Monday Savings + Free Gift Card! ;
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Jomashop — ⚡ TODAY ONLY: Tissot Ladies Watch 75% off | Eberhard and Co. 84% off | Ray Ban Sunglasses $55;
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Smart Furniture — Extended Cyber Monday deals END TODAY;
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Vistaprint — Missed Cyber Monday? Cyber Week starts NOW;
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Rugs USA — ?This. Is. Huge! Cyber Monday Deals Expire TONIGHT! 60% Off + A Special Holiday Gift ? .
As you can see, you are welcome to use emojis in subject lines.
Please be advised: you can set subject line (with emojis if you like) and preheader text to your emails with Stripo.
Examples of the best Black Friday & Cyber Monday email marketing campaigns
Searching for the Cyber Monday or the Black Friday email examples? Search no more! We hope you'll love our compilation of the best, in our opinion, examples.
Example 1. Black Friday sale
The best feature of this email by Loft is the animated banner. Seems like it invites recipients to go to the website saying, “Wanna know how huge your discount will be? — Visit us!”
Example 2. Black Friday sale
Old Navy decorated its newsletter with bright colors and happy people.
The vast majority of Black Friday emails are faceless — they just present product items or illustrate the discount amount. But I miss seeing people :)
Example 3. Black Friday sale
The key element of this email is the simple yet stylish banner with no distracting elements. You see it —you go shopping right away.
The fact that sale ends soon urges customers to make up their minds faster.
Example 4. Cyber Monday Sale
This email attracts with its copy, which is simple yet brilliant. In fact, all email geeks were discussing this email by Chubbies last year.
And this Cyber Monday email design complements the copy and the subject line.
Example 5. Cyber Monday Sale
This Cyber Monday email is awesome. The company listed the product items which are on sale. See the desired one — hurry up to click “Shop Cyber Monday”.
All details on shipping are specified right in the email header.
Final words
- create a series of Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails;
- pay close attention to subject lines;
- provide free shipping;
- announce sales before the start of the Holiday season.
Stripo offers a fair amount of ready-to-use Black Friday email templates and Cyber Monday email templates.
Pick any you like. May your holiday campaigns be effective!
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