5 Winning Black Friday Email Campaign Tactics

The (not-so-secret) formula to e-commerce success is: send the right message to the right prospects at the right time. But in the run-up to Black Friday, when everyone is doing the same thing; how can you stand out from the crowd of the oversubscribed inbox? We’ve cherry-picked some eye-catching Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BF/CM) email campaigns and the tactics they’ve used to give you some inspiration.

Build your Black Friday list now

Email is still a staple of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales generation, so you must be strategic about when to send your promotional emails and to whom. Segmented and highly targeted emails will result in higher open rates and higher click-through rates. This will ultimately increase the revenue per recipient.

If you haven’t already begun to build your Black Friday email list then now is the time to do so. In the weeks coming up to Black Friday (November 29th), you should create an on-site campaign targeting potential Black Friday customers that are interested in Black Friday deals. Regal Rose encourages users to avoid tears by signing up early to get exclusive early access. Remember with the right amount of engaged subscribers and well-crafted emails, your business can have a very profitable Black Friday/ Cyber Monday.

Random offer codes

So why would a potential customer want to open your email over the hundreds of other Black Friday emails? Most Black Friday email campaigns will offer the same sort of deals like “X%” Off, or “£X Off” everything in-store, or a selected line. Death Wish Coffee grabbed their subscribers interest with a curiosity-evoking subject line that reads “Here’s your random gift code.”

Gamify the experience

People love suspense. It creates a “curiosity gap” which is a gap between what your subscriber knows and the answer to their curiosity. This campaign by Forever 21 creates suspense with a virtual scratch card. Subscribers could “scratch-off” each area to reveal prizes or discounts. If the user takes action they are immediately rewarded with an offer discount, so they are more enticed to take further action.

The key for a successful gamification email is to make it easy, winnable and trackable. Having a simple scratch to win CTA is straightforward, it is quick and requires no further explanation. Easy games like this are more likely to be played until completion. The game must be winnable, in the case of a virtual scratch card every circle will contain a prize of some sort. If the user can’t win they may be discouraged and end up shopping elsewhere. Lastly, trackability is very important too. You can see how much progress the user has made and where/ if they drop off. This data will inform how to get them to reach the next milestone for your next campaign.

Experiment with timing

Timing is everything when it comes to sending emails, especially around BF/CM. Many businesses opt to act early with their Black Friday campaigns, sending sale emails a couple of days before the competition. However, furniture retailers, Article have opted to target the latecomers by telling them not to buy furniture over the Black Friday weekend. According to Finder, 37% of Brits have deferred dropping pounds on clothing, electronics, major appliances and furniture until the release of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. So waiting a few more days to find the perfect deal on a big purchase like a sofa isn’t likely to bother a shopper. In fact, it entices them to hold out in the hopes of grabbing the perfect deal.

Offer more than just discounts

Everyone is expecting huge discounts on Black Friday, so what can you do that is different? Black Friday is a great chance to offer your customers added benefits like free shipping, exclusive gifts or loyalty benefits. Estee Lauder goes one step further by offering their loyal customers double loyalty points, free shipping and returns. This is a great strategy because, according to a benchmark report by Klaviyo, highly segmented emails that go out to VIPs, even if that is just 3-5% of your overall list, will way outperform the rest of the customers in your database.

What a VIP means is different for every business. It could be based on the number of times someone has ordered or the total amount they have spent with your store. Of course, whatever makes someone a VIP customer for you, each of the offers and messages should be tailored to the segment.

““Highly segmented emails that go out to VIPs, even if that is just 3-5% of your overall list, will way outperform the rest of the customers in your database.””

Are you ready for Black Friday?

Ready or not, Black Friday is coming. Incorporate some of these winning tactics into your Black Friday email campaigns to stand out from your competition this year. Get in touch to discuss your Black Friday and Cyber Monday digital strategy to see how we can help maximize your success this holiday season.