Your Black Friday Email Marketing Blueprint
The Black Friday sale weekend is one (if not THE) most important event in the retail calendar. Online retailers know almost half of their annual revenue is generated between October & December with more than 15% of all orders taking place in November alone!
We’re constantly told to build an email list, why? Because your email audience are engaged with your brand, they’ve asked to hear from you so the chances of converting them are much higher (and cost effective) than a cold list.
Even if you’re not participating in Black Friday, you can still apply the email marketing methods used by the big players in Australian eComm to accelerate your sales any time of year.
1️⃣ Bring the pre-hype
Black Friday is the one time of year brands go all in which is why it’s so important to build excitement in the lead up to the main event. Strategise the ways you can use the lead up to Black Friday to add value without undermining the main event. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:
👉🏿 Give VIP’s early sale access before anyone else
👉🏿 High value customers (who haven’t reached VIP status) could also be sent the VIP offer plus a value-add reward for purchasing before Black Friday
👉🏿 Send new subscribers or customers who only purchase once a year an email with a sale sneak peak or ‘save the date’ with a countdown timer to build momentum
👉🏿 Encourage customers to fill their carts ahead of the sale start date (If your storefront supports it) to make their life easier and maximise your sales opportunities
2️⃣ Pimp your creative
If you’ve been scraping by with DIY design, Black Friday is the one time of year to invest in the help of an experienced digital designer.
Compelling email design will set you apart from your competition and give you an edge when it comes to who customers decide to purchase from. Try incorporating animated GIF’s to create excitement and bring headlines to life.
Need some inspo? Check these out -
✅ MECCA do an amazing job of their holiday campaign emails each year, bursting into inbox using movement, textured creative and immaculate design which sets them apart from competitors.
✅ Skillshare emails stand out thanks to the vibrant colours, background images and live text read the case study by Really Good Emails.
3️⃣ Consistency is key
You’ll be sending multiple emails in support of Black Friday so make sure your creative execution is consistent for every single send.
No need to reinvent the wheel each time, instead carry the same creative lockup across each touchpoint but use colour, copy, sash/banners to differentiate call outs like promotion end times, extensions or new styles added.
4️⃣ Get your emails opened
Inbox display is KING! Inbox display refers to the three key areas readers see first:
💌 Sender name (your business name)
💌 Subject line (the pitch that gets your email opened)
💌 Pre-header text (hidden text visible on mobile devices and most email clients)
With over 70% of emails now being read on mobile devices, nailing these three elements will mean your beautifully designed emails will actually be seen and not put in the trash. Pro-tip: your sender name is your brand identity so avoid gimmicks that trick readers into opening.
Subject lines should be between 35-50 characters long, use personalisation where possible and create curiosity (remember to test and optimise). Pre-header text is essentially hidden text within the email itself yet it displays within the inbox preview beneath the subject line. Treat this as prime real estate and use it to compliment (not repeat) your subject line with key messages and calls to action. Also use emoji’s (sparingly) in your subject line or pre-header since these usually improve open rates.
5️⃣ How much is too much?
If you’re worried you’ll peeve customers off by sending too many emails, think again. There’s a huge amount of research quantifying the link between increased email frequency and increased revenue (not to mention improved deliverability) so ditch the fear!
Look at your key customer groups and past response rates to decide the appropriate level of contact. It’s not uncommon for brands to send two or three emails per day over the Black Friday weekend however these should not be blasts to your entire database. Create an engagement plan that’s suited to the behavior and preferences of each segment to give customers a unique and relevant experience.
6️⃣ Let data decide
Allow your data to inform your email content (not the other way round). Your database contains a goldmine of information and while making sense of it all can be overwhelming, even the most basic level of grouping can make a huge difference.
Your customer’s lifetime spend should be available and this can be used to group your top spenders as VIP’s and then work your way back to Non-Purchasers.
Another model to consider is RFM (Recency Frequency Monetary). Your data will contain date, order and spend information and these three data points can be combined to calculate a score for each customer, allowing you to tailor messages to suit. Also keep in mind a large percentage of customers are buying for gifts for others over Black Friday so consider seasonality when deciding on product/message call outs.
7️⃣ When to send it?
To cut a long story short the answer is: 10am for eCommerce but - there’s a BIG but!
Optimal email send times differ vastly between audiences and industries. The only way you will truly know is by testing or having technology work it out for you. Sendinblue reported the following times yielded the best open rates per industry:
🕙 Ecommerce: 10AM
🕓 Marketing Services: 4PM
🕗 Professional Services: 8- 10AM
🕒 Not For Profits: 3-4PM
🕑 Software/SaaS: 2-3PM
🕗 Offline Retail / Hospitality: 8-10AM
🕙 OVERALL: 10AM or 3PM
To learn more about the best times of day or week to send, read this article.
Some email platforms now include technology which determines your subscribers optimal open time based on past engagement. This means when you hit send, customers will receive their email at a time they are most likely to open it. Mailchimp offers this on their Standard and Premium packages, view their plans and prices here.
8️⃣ Abandon cart
If you don’t have an abandon cart automation set up, you absolutely must get this in place for Black Friday. Customers will be shopping around for the best deals and filling their carts for purchasing at a later time.
Cart abandonment emails have enormous conversion rates (20%+ generally speaking) so there’s no doubt they work. If you don’t have a program in place, you’re missing a huge opportunity especially over Black Friday. An abandon cart automation can be as simple as a three part email series which triggers at specific times after a cart is abandoned e.g. email 1: 30 minutes, email 2: 24 hours and email 3: 48 hours. Make sure you have rules set up to ensure customers can only ever receive these emails a certain number of times in a week or year.
9️⃣ Print it out - write it out - make it visible!
Put your Black Friday comms plans into a visual calendar and have it open on your desktop (or print it out, write it on a whiteboard - whatever works for you). This may sound basic but it works. This will help you to quickly eye what type of email you’re sending, who you’re sending to and when. If plans change you’ll quickly be able to identify gaps or overlaps in plans.
There’s a ton of free digital calendars available which you can adapt to suit your own working style, check these out.
🔟 Have a Plan B
Were you prepped for Black Friday months ago and now you’re just waiting to pull the trigger? Being on the front foot is just as important when it comes to a successful campaign roll out, as is being agile and knowing when to pivot.
Keep a close eye on campaign performance in the hours following an email send so if open and conversion rates aren’t where they need to be, look to optimise results by resending to non-openers with a different subject line or try using another channel such as SMS (if you have consent).
💫 Final thoughts
Once the Black Friday marathon is over, don’t forget to crunch the numbers and do a thorough post analyse on your campaign. If you’re not tracking campaign success you won’t where you’ve had wins or where you need to improve. Many businesses overlook this step however key learnings and insights are crucial for future campaign optimisation and success. It will also allow you to compare year on year Black Friday results to show improvements and help determine where to invest your marketing budget.
If you need help with your next campaign, get in touch today: 📧 amanda@justsenditmarketing.com.au | 📱 0432 926 782