Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be just as stressful for e-commerce merchants. But with lots of planning and preparation, and you can turn one of the biggest annual sales events into a huge success for your business.

In this guide I’ll teach you how to do just that…

1) Pre-Black Friday Hype and Preparation

Black Friday shoppers are starting to choose to shop online, rather than lining up in front of bricks and mortar stores. I definitely get it. I wouldn’t want to get up early, brave the cold, or deal with big queues and vicious doorbusters in the hope of picking up a few bargains either.

Yikes.

This is where you come in as an e-commerce merchant – Black Friday shoppers can sit in the comfort of their own homes and take advantage of your online sales. But to make this event as smooth as possible (both for you and your store’s customers), there are some housekeeping things you need to take care of well in advance.

Tip 1: Prepare for a huge spike in sales

Black Friday is one of the biggest e-commerce events of the year, and it’s important that your e-commerce store is able to handle a massive increase in traffic and sales.

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Firstly, this involves making sure your site is stable enough to handle a massive amount of traffic. Start testing now! This is especially important for Cyber Monday (more on that later). The last thing you want is for your website to crash during one of your busiest trading periods of the year.

You’re obviously going to miss out on a lot of potential sales, but you might also get a lot of angry emails, messages and Tweets from shoppers (remember: Black Friday makes people a little crazy), damaging your brand and customer lifetime value.

You should also make 100% sure that you have enough stock. It might even be a good idea to overstock; it’s better to be safe than sorry. You also need to worry about whether you have enough people on hand to handle customer enquiries, whether you are able to handle shipping, and so on. All of these things need to be looked after months in advance.

Tip 2: Start hyping your offers with email and social media marketing

Before you start sending out a bunch of emails, tweets and Facebook posts, you need to plan out what you’re actually going to advertise. In other words: what will you be offering your customers on Black Friday?

Some options include offer codes, sales on specific products, free gifts and free shipping. It’s also important to clearly state the conditions of your special offers: When will the offer expire? Do customers need to spend a certain amount of money? Are there any conditions to get a free gift?

Once you have planned this out, you can start creating a content calendar, and schedule your social media posts and emails. This is something you can start doing now.
Your email and social media marketing should start 2 months before Black Friday.

You can starting sending out emails and posts about once a week to pique people’s interest. Start asking them to sign up to your email list, or to follow your social media accounts so that they can stay up to date with (and stay interested in) your sales.

What I like about this email: The call to action is really clear throughout – I need to follow their social media accounts to stay up to date with their sales. This is also reflected in their use of colour, which draws attention to the backlinks and social media icons.

What could be improved: For consistency, they could have also included a backlink to their Pinterest account in the body of their email. I would’ve also emphasized the timeline of their sale, as well as their free shipping offer – Mabel’s Labels could’ve included these details in the eye-catching graphic.

For more tips on how to grow your email list in preparation for Black Friday, read here: 5 Steps to Supercharge Your Store’s Email List Growth.

As people begin to subscribe to your email list, it’s also a good idea to avoid spamming those that aren’t actively engaging with your emails. Simply segment your active and inactive subscribers, based on those who have engaged with your previous email campaigns. Send 2-3 emails per week to active customers, but inactive customers should only continue to receive a maximum of 1 per week.

By not overloading your inactive subscribers’ inboxes with emails, you won’t be ruining your store’s email deliverability as you send out a large volume of emails over this period. This has a number of disadvantages for your e-commerce store.

Firstly, there is a negative impact on your email open rate, which will drop as customers become less likely to read your newsletters. As these unopened emails build up, you risk having ISPs sending your emails straight to your subscribers spam folders, or having them blocked altogether. Alternately, subscribers could start marking your emails as spam by themselves if they are receiving too many irrelevant emails. Your emails will therefore be unread, meaning that click-through and conversion rates will drop as well.

This means that it’s extremely important to send personalized content. Since you know what offers you’re going to have or what products you’re going to have on sale, segment your email list based on their purchase history – for example, those who have purchased cameras or camera equipment from your store.

To read more about email segmentation on SmartrMail, read here: 6 Ways You Can Segment Your Email List with SmartrMail.

In late October, about a month away from the big day, start sending members of this segment emails showcasing your sales offers on tripods, lenses, and other related items they might be interested in buying on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

What I like about this email: The objective of of this email is really straightforward, with a clear call to action.

What could be improved: For a company known for their product recommendations, they could have found a way to include a few to personalize this email.

What I like about this email: Zagg does a great job at creating hype for their Black Friday sale. By including a timer counting down to the big day, this helps to generate anticipation for their sales event. They also attempt to combat the pre-Black Friday sales slump by throwing an early sale two weeks out from the actual date.

What could be improved: This email splits focus between their current pre-Black Friday sale, and their actual Black Friday sale. It might have been better had they focused solely on one, and created a separate email that markets the other sale.

A week before Black Friday, you can increase your email and post frequency yet again. Send 3-4 emails this week to engaged subscribers, but again keep unengaged subscribers frequency capped at once per week.

What I like about this email: Again, the inclusion of a countdown works to get subscribers excited in anticipation of the sale.

What could be improved: Vistaprint could have included a few extra things in this email. Firstly, there aren’t any specific details on what their offers are. It might have helped to generate more excitement had they included what discounts Black Friday shoppers can expect. The email simply asks subscribers to visit their site at the start of the sale; Vistaprint could have made their call to action to visit their site now, so that customers can browse their products beforehand.

2) The Day of Black Friday

Tip 1: Allow top customers in on a special pre-sale

Sending out an exclusive email to your high-value customers, giving them early access to your special offers, can do wonders for customer lifetime value. To do so, send out an email to the aforementioned segment of those who actively engage with your emails a day or so before your official sale has been scheduled.

What I like about this email: The text in the body of the email reads as genuine – Victoire seems to really appreciate their high-value customers.

What could be improved: This email is really unclear about what their specific deals are. They also don’t include a button to easily click through to their website. As such, I don’t really feel inclined to take advantage of their Black Friday sales (whatever they may be). And as much as I love Oprah, the inclusion of a Christmas-themed picture seems a little irrelevant to this email, and their brand in general.

What I like about this email: The deals and conditions are crystal clear in this email from Urban Outfitters. The call to action is also really clear, and the inclusion of a button at the bottom of the bottom makes it easy for shoppers to click through and start buying.

What could be improved: It would have been nice if they had shown more appreciation for their high-value customers; a quick message to thank Urban On Members somewhere in the email would have done the trick.

Tip 2: Send frequently to engaged customers

Send out your big email at the very start of your sale – the one that lets everyone know that your sale is live. Make sure again to clearly state the conditions of your sale (when the offer ends, minimum purchase, etc.) and the offer code, if you have opted for that.

What I like about this email: The discounts, conditions, offer code and call to action are all really clear. And not to be shallow, but I really like the design of the email as well.

What could be improved: Although they include the time frame of their offer in the fine print, Bonobos could have included some sort of time-sensitive element in the body of the email. This would have increased the sense of urgency.

What I like about this email: I like how CanvasPop really emphasizes their huge 40% off discount throughout the email – not only by repeating it several times, but making use of font size and colour to draw attention to their offer.

What could be improved: Again, they have included several subtle time-sensitive elements (“Last chance” in the body of the email, and the offer expiration time and date in fine print). However, a stronger emphasis on the limited time frame of their offer would have increased a sense of urgency.

Don’t hesitate to schedule a few emails and posts on social media during the course of Black Friday. As mentioned before, just make sure you’re emailing your most engaged subscribers. For unengaged subscribers, it might be worthwhile sending out a quick reminder of your sales anyway (they might have been busy with Thanksgiving or actually attended Black Friday sales in person).

It could be a good idea to include some time-sensitivity to your emails and social media posts, increasing a sense of urgency. This can be either letting customers know how long is left to go on your sale, or letting customers know that some of your items are running out of stock.

What I like about this email: The inclusion of “Hurry, ends Sunday!” increases the sense of urgency with this email. Tradesy’s Black Friday offer is also really clear, with the inclusion of conditions in fine print as well.

What could be improved: Their choice of balloons as the centerpiece of this email is confusing, and irrelevant to their brand. As such, I think the inclusion of personalized product recommendations (or at least a few products from their website) would have improved the relevance of this email.

What I like about this email: The timer counting down to the end of Diamond Store’s sale really increases the sense of urgency.

What could be improved: Diamond Store could have clarified what their offers specifically are, rather than just including a general “All items reduced” statement. And while they have included links to specific parts of their website underneath the logo, including another button at the bottom of the email would have strengthened the call the action.

3) Cyber Monday

People often view Cyber Monday as less important than Black Friday. Don’t be one of those people.

Hear me out.

If other e-commerce stores ignore Cyber Monday, there’s less competition for you. Additionally, many Black Friday doorbusters continue the tradition of lining up at bricks and mortar stores (although this trend is decreasing slowly over time), so pay less attention to online sales, whereas Cyber Monday is purely an online event.

Therefore, you have so much to gain from giving as much attention to your Cyber Monday marketing efforts. In fact, online sales figures from 2016 show that shoppers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday, compared to $3.34 billion on Black Friday.

While there isn’t a big difference between the two when marketing your sales for these events, there are some things you can do to make the most of Cyber Monday.

Tip 1: Make use of paid advertisement

Cyber Monday is a good opportunity to make use of paid advertising platforms, like Google AdWords or Facebook Dynamic Product Ads. Because the marketplace is less crowded in comparison to Black Friday, your ads are much more likely to be seen.

However, cost per click (CPC) costs tend to skyrocket during the holiday period, as lots of advertisers make use of these platforms to market their own sales. Bigger companies spend more money, meaning that the CPC is increased for everyone else too.

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Facebook CPC too spikes during this period. In fact, CPC for Facebook advertising saw a 24% increase from the third to the fourth quarter last year.

We don’t recommend that small to medium businesses attempt to outbid massive companies, like Walmart and Amazon, in an attempt to acquire new customers through these channels. However, a much more effective strategy to implement over this busy period is retargeting customers.

To get the most out of Facebook advertising, use Custom Audiences for your ads. Create a Custom Audience to target those who have engaged with your website. By doing this, you are ensuring that you are delivering ads to only those who are interested in your products (since they have viewed these products from your store, or purchased from you already).

This makes using these paid advertising platforms during Black Friday and Cyber much more cost effective, given that repeat customers generate the majority of e-commerce revenue.

Tip 2: Abandoned cart emails

If you don’t use abandoned cart emails, Cyber Monday is probably the best opportunity to start integrating this into your e-commerce marketing.

You can target the many shoppers that abandoned their carts on Black Friday for whatever reason, and convert them by reminding them of the products they were interested in, or offering an incentive.

For more information on abandoned cart emails, read here: How to Get More Sales with Abandoned Cart Emails in 2022.

4) Extension into Cyber Week

If your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales went successfully, you may decide to extend your sales into Cyber Week.

If you choose to do so, it would be a good idea to reduce your email and social media post frequency. By this stage, if a transaction was to have happened, it would have happened already among all the Black Friday/Cyber Monday hysteria.

Flooding your customers’ inboxes and social media feeds will just annoy them, especially if they have already spent a lot of money over the weekend. Limit your Cyber Week emails and social campaigns to customers who didn’t purchase over the weekend, rather than targeting customers who’ve just forked up hundred (if not thousands) of dollars on sales.

Continue to make use of segmentation (both with email and on Facebook) to ensure that the offers and product newsletters you send to your customers are relevant to them.

As Cyber Week dies down, start analyzing your data – which marketing tactics and channels worked best for you over this period? Which ones weren’t as successful? What improvements can you make to your email and social media marketing for better conversion results? All of this is really important, so that you’re better prepared for future e-commerce events.

The final step: sit back and relax. But not for too long, Christmas and Boxing Day are just around the corner!

The post The 2024 Guide to Black Friday E-Commerce Email Marketing appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

And if there’s one thing you can bet on merchants doing every Black Friday in addition to heavily discounting their products, it’s that they’ll be sending plenty of emails. 

Whether they be your traditional brick and mortar store or colossus ecommerce website, every good retailer will be perfecting their Black Friday email campaigns to maximize sales. 

While email marketing is the most profitable marketing channel, you’ll never be up against more competition in making your email marketing campaigns stand out in subscribers’ inboxes.

With so much pressure, we’ve decided to lend a helping hand by showcasing these 10 great Black Friday email examples.

Feel free to use these as your Black Friday email inspiration when coming up with your own design and copy!

Black Friday Email Examples

Carhartt’s Animated Black Friday Email

Carhartt’s Black Friday email design includes a simple gif that’s attention grabbing and provides a clever way of announcing that their sale has started.

What’s one firesure way to make your emails stand out? Add an animation to them. 

The only thing missing is any mention of what discounts and specials they’re offering. 

This is important information when it comes to enticing people to click through. At least they have two clear CTA buttons at the bottom of the email to help with clicks.

Key takeaway:

• When most emails only include static images, a simple gif can go a long way to making your emails stand out.
  

Forever 21’s Anticipation Building Email Design

People love to reveal what’s hidden on scratch cards. That’s what makes this email design from Forever 21 so great (even if they went bankrupt).

By taking advantage of the compulsion to scratch these cards, they’ve effectively ensured that people will click through to see what their additional two offers are. 

Unlike other Black Friday emails, this one also includes a customer support phone number and links to FAQs, store locator and mobile apps. This helps to remove any barriers between a customer and their purchase.

Key takeaway:
Thinking outside the box when coming up with Black Friday email ideas will help you create a clever and unique design

ModCloth’s Colorful Black Friday Email

What’s the most common theme between Black Friday emails? The use of black.

That means making your emails stand out can be as easy as just using some color. 

ModCloth certainly dials the use of color up to the max, which they can get away with as it matches their brand. Even if your brand doesn’t lend itself to using the full rainbow, experiment with adding a few colors in your email design. 

Like every good Black Friday email, this example also states their offer and includes a clear CTA button through to their online store.

Though technically a Cyber Monday email, this design works as both a Black Friday and Cyber Monday email.

Key takeaway:

• Just because it’s Black Friday it doesn’t mean you need to go heavy with the black, experiment with other colors as apart of your Black Friday email strategy.

Casper’s Snooze Through Black Friday Email

Casper has always been creative with its email campaigns, and this Black Friday email promoting their gift promo code is no different. 

The pleasant image with gift boxes and pillows in the background is visually aesthetic. Product photography works fine for any situation, and Casper has leveraged it. 

The imagery is enriched with a smart copy which proclaims ‘Sleep as a gift”. Along with the copy they are announcing a gift code with an expiry date – which certainly creates an urgency to shop in the user. 

Key takeaway:

• The clever use of imagery that aligns perfectly with Casper’s business makes this a great Black Friday email.

Christopher and Banks Creates A Sense of Urgency

A few things stand out about this Black Friday email design. 

First, there’s no black in the design. The use of green and red helps tie it into the broader holiday season and Christmas. 

Second, the countdown timer at the top of the email beneath the words “FINAL HOURS” creates a sense of urgency which is a great strategy to get people to convert from your emails. Without it, you run the risk of people opening your email and then forgetting about your sales when they don’t head to your online store straightaway. 

However this is not the part of the email that immediately grabs your attention. Instead it’s the $19 figure that captures people’s attention by being so large. Whether it’s better for the Black Friday offer or the timer to be most prominent depends on the offer.

Either way, the CTA buttons at the bottom of the email should definitely be made to stand out more. With the design above they disappear into the background of the email, likely reducing click-through rates.

Key takeaway:

• Including a timer creates a sense of urgency that’ll get more people clicking through your email.

Peel’s Black Friday Sneak Peek Email

A great Black Friday email marketing strategy is to reward your loyal customers with a sneak peek of your offer. 

That’s exactly what this email from Peel does.

The sense of exclusivity also helps to make the email stand out from other Black Friday emails while also enticing the subscriber to click through and see what the offer is. 

Key takeaway:

• Making your loyal customers feel valued by offering them an exclusive sneak peek of your Black Friday offer is sure to boost email engagement.

Pretty Little Thing’s Colorful Black Friday Email

We’ve saved the most striking Black Friday email for last. 

There’s no denying that this email will definitely grab people’s attention when they open it. It’s not only the pink color that stands out compared to the usual black, but also the font choice and imagery. 

This email example incorporates a lot of the great elements of others on this list. Such as the clear CTA buttons, explicitly stating their offers and including a countdown timer.

The inclusion of a discount code helps to make their subscribers feel that this is an exclusive offer just for them too. 

While your brand might not be suited to such a striking design, it still goes to show that Black Friday emails don’t all have to look alike. 

Key takeaway: 

• Creating a unique email design will capture your subscribers’ attention when they open your email. 

Baggu Black Friday offer early announcement email

There are two things that capture your or any user’s attention right off the bat. First, the copy that says “This weekend won’t laster forever.” Next, the prominent clouds announcing the discount offers. 

Baggu has also experimented with three fonts across the email. We don’t recommend doing the same, because it might hamper the user experience. 

Key takeaway:

Mixing a combination of two fonts is recommended, any more could make the design appear cluttered.

Brooklinen’s bundle offers and referral deal

Black Friday offers two opportunities – one, to sell more to existing customers, second, to win new customers. Bundle deals and referrals are a great way to achieve both.

Brooklinen’s email announces a combination of several bundles on which specific deals are available.

Further, their final CTA banner is announcing a referral deal wherein existing customers referring new customers get a $15 discount for themselves and their friend. 

Key takeaways:

• If you have a product portfolio which has an opportunity for cross-selling, do consider bundling them together as a bundle.
• Announce holiday-specific referral deals that will build your existing customer base without incurring exorbitant marketing costs.

Tinker’s urgency-inducing countdown email

Of course, it is a watch brand. So using a catchphrase relevant to watches is obvious, and Tinker Watches has used a simple copy along with an abstract image of the watch for the email.

The visual is definitely captivating and relatable for the target audience who could be vying for exotic luxury watches with character. 

Key takeaways:

• Write copy and select visuals that are aligned to your product and brand.
• An announcement email prior to announcing the product launch or offer could create some excitement and garner customer attention.

Google’s last chance Black Friday Emails

Google’s Black Friday email announces hefty discounts in its hardware products. The copy is straightforward and announces the discount amount on each product.

The CTA which says ‘Save now’ is definitely persuasive and can help increase conversions. The email banner has a CTA that directs users to the page where all offers are listed. 

Key takeaways:

• If you have multiple offers that cannot be listed in a single email, create a landing page of offers and direct users from the email.
• Copy that announces the deal directly without making the users make sense of it is the best.

Adidas Black Friday email that announces free expedited shipping

There are two offers that tis Black Friday email from Adidas is spotlight on. Their massive 50% discount and free expedited shipping.

It is a very simple email with hardly three scrolls that contains all the possible information that a user might need. 

The carousel beneath the CTA with all their product categories takes care of helping users reach the right page where the product they’re looking for is available.

Key takeaways:

• Minimal emails do work out well, provided all necessary information is packaged properly.
• Use dynamic content blocks to personalize the content to make it suitable for the target audience.

Grammarly’s premium plan comparison email

Grammarly is one of the most widely writing tools and their free plan is perhaps the most popular one as well.

Their Black friday email announces an attractive 55% discount on the premium plan. To convert existing ree users, they are also showcasing the differences with a table. 

Since the email is targeting existing free users. This minimal email with relevant information works well.

Key takeaway:

• Black Friday emails can convert freemium customers into premium paid customers, if they are provided the right information aligned with a good discount.

Article announcing the biggest sale of the year

Article makes a splash with its email that uses gif to showcase its product. Further, they are announcing a 45% discount along with free shipping above a minimum order restricted to a deadline. 

User’s attention is captured, interest is won, and urgency is created with the simple copy.

Key takeaways:

• Static images are great, but animations and GIFs do have their own potential to impress recipients. Don’t shy away from experimenting.
• Arrange offers in a logical fashion that follows the user’s thought process, capture attention, sustain it, create urgency.

Postable’s madness Black Friday email

Postable calls its Black Friday offer the ‘Black Friday madness’. It is a quirky way to announce an offer along with a promo code. There is also a CTA button that takes users to the homepage where all offers are listed.

Key takeaways:

• Use a quirky theme or copy to announce the offer.
• Use emojis in the subject line.

United By Blue altruistic Black Friday Email

United By Blue’s email announces a 25% sitewide discount and free shopping on all orders. The messaging is loud and clear to existing customers who might have been buying at higher prices and were incurring shipping fees on low-value orders.

Further, there is also a second part of the newsletter where dedicated sections for gifts, new arrivals, women, men and products are provided for quick accessibility.

Key takeaways:

If your store has been charging for shipping or has been premium price for its products, maybe this format would be a good choice to announce the offers.

Encircled – an email with a difference

If being ‘candid’ was an email, Encircled owns it. Their copy seems to be reaching out to you and talking in person. It is personal, but, with a certain marketing angle to it that is characteristic to all Black Friday emails.

This particular email is an announcement of the upcoming Black Friday & Cyber Monday emails. It is giving up a gentle heads-up of the deluge of emails that are to follow and is offering users the option to opt out if required. Quite a contrarian approach compared to what other brands are doing. And that is exactly what captures the attention of some users as well.

Key takeaways:

Be wary of the user’s inbox. Don’t bombard them with emails. Do provide the option to opt out voluntarily. It will help the brand retain only those users who are really keen on receiving emails.

Sonos – Simple and straight-forward with no frills

Sonos is an premium audio equipment brand and any offers from them is well-received by users. This Black Friday email from Sono is focusing only on two major products – their home theater and their speaker set.

Sono is pretty clear about the discount being offered and its validity. There is no loud marketing copy or sales pitches. A simple and straightforward announcement, which should resonate well with its intended target audience of audiophiles.

Key takeaways:

Simple and straight-forward email communications trumps every other form of marketing pitches, especially for premium products.

Hill-Side – promo codes for the win

There are two things at play here. First, Hill-side is announcing the 30% discount prominently for Black Friday. 

However, it can be claimed only using the discount code “BLACKFRIDAY”. Promo codes are widely used by brands for holiday season sales. First, it helps keep a track of revenue the specific campaign has generated. Also, it becomes easier to toggle on and off a promo code once its validity expires. 

Key takeaways:

If you have the necessary tech stack, a promo code is the simplest and easiest way to provide discounts to customers.

Yoco – show’n’tell email for new customers

Some products are not readily accepted by customers. They need a little bit of content help to set context to sell better. Yoco is taking that route. 

The first scroll of the email prominently announces the Black Friday discount and when the sale is going live.

The second part of the email explains the product features and why customers have chosen it. It is a way of showcasing social proof to win new customers. 

Key takeaways:

For products with sophisticated target audience, it is ideal to set context with content. Showcase social proof that will create awareness and help them take a conscious decision.

GoPro’s email with stunning product imagery

When the world’s best action camera goes on discounted sale, it will sell like hotcakes. 

But, even a brand GoPro has to up its email marketing game to win new customers. 

This particular email is visually pleasing and goes on to showcase the bundle – including the camera and essential accessories.  Further, the sub-text before the CTA highlights unlimited cloud storage and replacement guarantee, all of which are highly persuasive for the adventure camera enthusiasts.

Key takeaways:

When text cannot describe an entire story, use images to showcase product value. Bundling products together based on most-purchased items is a good way to sell more to new and existing customers.

Creating Your Own Black Friday Email Campaign

Now that we’ve gone through 20 Black Friday email examples, it’s time to think about your own campaigns.

Hopefully now you have a good idea of what to include in your email copy as well as some inspiration for your email design.  

The truth is however that creating a great Black Friday email is only half of the challenge. 

Without a great subject line that entices people to click on, most of your subscribers won’t even open your email. Meaning that all that effort you went through for your email isn’t properly realized. 

Luckily we have a list of great Black Friday email subject lines that you can use.  

In addition we also have plenty of other Black Friday resources to help you create your best Black Friday email campaign ever. 

Looking for even more Black Friday email examples? Check out Really Good Emails.

The post 20+ Best Black Friday Email Examples to Spark Your Inspiration appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

But with the frenzy of consumers looking for the best deals, also comes merchants trying to one up their competitors and capture as many sales as possible. Whether that’s by offering a bigger discount, throwing in free gifts or ramping up their marketing budget to the max.

With over $90 billion expected to be spent this year, the level of competition during the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend is intense to say the least. 

But you likely already know that. Instead if you’re reading this post you’re fully aware of the importance of this time of year and are looking for Black Friday campaign ideas to take full advantage of the holiday shopping.

If this is you, then you’ve come to the right place. 

To give you the best chance at making the most of Black Friday, we’ve asked 18 marketing experts for their top Black Friday campaign ideas.

Here’s what they came up with.

Don’t Leave It To The Last Minute

A common response among experts we asked for their Black Friday marketing ideas was that merchants shouldn’t wait until Black Friday to launch their campaign.

1) Felix Süllwold

Felix Süllwold is a digital marketing veteran. He suggests warming up your marketing communications in the lead up to Black Friday.

BFCM – It’s not a 4-day activity. Counting down the days to Black Friday and then shooting all your marketing cannons will likely lead to your promotions just bouncing off. 

Warm up the communications channels you will be using for your BFCM marketing. The easiest way to do so is by building hype: Announce the big deals that are coming, when the promotions start, or send content that prepares potential buyers for making a purchase: such as how-tos, testimonials, or product hacks.

2) Steve Wilson 

Steve Wilson suggests beginning to offer your Black Friday deals from early November. 

Set up a form where people can sign up for early bird specials in the beginning of November so it has some time to collect email addresses. Then send out emails to these people (as well as you list you already have) about your early bird specials for Black Friday/Cyber Monday the week before. 

Also make sure you have Retargeted ads running to capture more sales. 

3) Jon Tabbernor

Jon Tabbernor also recommends getting your Black Friday campaigns up and running well before the week arrives.

It’s all about building a buzz around your sale. By building a buzz around your Black Friday sale beforehand you can ensure that people know your sale is coming to achieve maximum traffic. 

For example by signing people up to an exclusive Black Friday email list to ensure people don’t miss out you can ensure people are engaged with your sale beforehand. 

4) David Bridburg

David Bridburg is wise to point out that you shouldn’t be just starting to collect email addresses for Black Friday even a month out. 

Marketing is a yearly event. I collect many email addresses from the public and the Sunday afternoon before Cyber Monday, I email out my best sale of the year. Making the day my most successful of the year.

5) Jennifer Moore

While it may be a good idea to be prepared and launch your Black Friday campaigns early in November, Jennifer Moore, a marketing specialist, cautions against being too early. Instead suggests sending out your first Black Friday email two weeks in advance. 

Send targeted emails two weeks before your sales begin. 

In the past, we’ve tried a month prior, but we’ve found that as our world gets inundated with flashy tech, consumers are remembering less and less after a certain period of time. 

The two week mark before Black Friday is perfect because, by that time, consumers are already thinking of what they’d like to purchase. They’re making budgets and will be sure to include your product on their list. 

Depending on when you’re reading this, the ship may have already set sail on launching your campaigns in early November. But that doesn’t mean it’s too late to collect email address to boost sales.

The Power of Email Marketing During Black Friday

As a lot of the suggestions have already alluded to, email marketing is a powerful tool to increase sales.

This is especially true given that email is responsible for driving a fifth of all online sales during the holiday season.

6) Julianna Weiss-Roessler

If you don’t have to time to properly set up email flows in preparation for Black Friday this year, don’t worry. Julianna Weiss-Roessler points out that you can still use email marketing now in a way to also set yourself up for success next year.

Set yourself up for success in 2023. Take advantage of the bump in traffic by asking people for their email in exchange for the Black Friday deal. For example, you can offer, “Sign up for our email newsletter to get our killer Black Friday deal!” That way, you have the opportunity to turn a one-time buyer into a repeat client.

7) Igor Cerjan

Igor Cerjan from Perceptiv Digital recommends setting up an email campaign to build excitement for your Black Friday offer.

Email is still king.

Prepare a drip campaign driving awareness and excitement about your promotion starting 3-5 days before Black Friday to give people time to think through their potential purchases and kick off Black Friday with a custom template that drives urgency. 

Countdowns work best and make sure you put together a compelling offer! 

You’ll find people window shopping during the days leading up to the sale and then purchasing on the day. Re-target everyone who opened your email on Facebook leading up to the sale and on the day with a separate campaign (this will be cheap since its a specific warm audience). With short attention spans, getting their attention of Facebook will increase your conversions and sales on the day. 

8) George Hartley

Email marketing has multiple features that you can use to make more sales, such as personalized product recommendations. But if there’s one type of email you definitely should set up it’s abandoned cart emails.

These are emails that are automatically sent to customers who add items to their carts, but fail to checkout.

George Hartley recommends fully utilizing these emails during the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. 

Abandoned cart emails are a great tool to recover otherwise lost sales regardless of the time of year, but they’re especially useful on Black Friday.

Your customers are going to be doing a lot of shopping across a lot of different sites meaning they’re inevitably going to lose track of that’s in their carts. That’s why abandoned cart reminder emails are useful at prompting them to go back and checkout.

The problem however is that your competitors are also going to be sending the same people more emails than usual, leading to very crowded inboxes. 

The key to making abandoned cart emails work during Black Friday is then increasing the frequency of the follow up emails so that you send them all within the 24 hour sales period. 

Other abandoned cart best practices like including increasingly better discount codes in your second and subsequent follow ups still apply. 

9) Wei Tan

To help make your emails stand out in people’s inboxes, Wei Tan from The Orchard Agency recommends people use structured data.

To make your email campaigns really stand out, consider using structured data to generate more visibility and engagement with your Gmail audience. 

Structured data can create a more visually impactful presence in Gmail inboxes, by allowing you to customise and promote your own image, coupon code, and promotional offer before they open up your email. 

With approximately 40% of B2C databases consisting of Gmail addresses, the application of Structured Data will give you the competitive advantage for a significant portion of your audience/database. 

Black Friday Retargeting Campaigns

Retargeting campaigns are another highly effective Black Friday marketing strategy.  They also make a great addition to your email campaigns as you can often use your email list for your list of people retarget. 

10) Matthew Post

This is exactly what Matthew Post from MatthewPost.com recommends.

I would recommend going heavy on retargeting ads and remarketing emails. It is easier and more cost-effective to engage previous clients to have them purchase. Plus, shopping cart solutions, such as BigCommerce and WooCommerce, have plugins available where shoppers can receive an additional discount by sharing your store on social media. Combining these two strategies will turn past clients into evangelists.

11) Raúl Galera

When most merchants are trying to acquire new customers, Raúl Galera from ReferralCandy is wise to point out that your efforts are often best directed toward your existing customers.

When we think about BFCM we tend to think about how to attract new customers to our store: heavy discounts, free shipping, and so on. But are these really valuable to your store?

BFCM is the time for the deal hunters and impulse buys. Most of the customers that will be landing on your store for the first time are probably just going to be looking at the numbers before the “%” sign. And that’s okay. But the real value is what happens after that new customer makes their first purchase at your store.

It’s 6-7 times cheaper to persuade a customer to return than to acquire a new customer. You’ve done all the hard work — don’t let them go now! After their first visit, you should take the opportunity to start educating those customers about the brand, why you are different from other competitors and encourage them to come back for more. An email campaign is the best way to pique their interest.

Once these new customers start using your product and can see for themselves the value that you offer (say, a week after they’ve received your product), you can hit them with another email – now with an invitation to join your referral program. Once they’ve had enough time to use your product they’ll be able to pitch it to their friends and family more efficiently and generate more referral sales for your store.

Black Friday Social Media Campaigns

Of course, when it comes to online retailing we can’t forget about social media. Here are some of the expert Black Friday campaign ideas for social media.

12) Andrei Vasilescu 

Andrei Vasilescu from DontPayFull recommends starting your social media campaigns at least two weeks before Black Friday arrives.

Today everyone keeps an eye on social media to know what’s happening. 

Run a full scale social media campaign for your retail business highlighting your special discounts coupons or Black Friday special deals. Keep surfacing in popular social networks as many times as possible in a day and start campaigning from at least 15 days before Black Friday.

 This continuous and recurring appearance in the social networks will fetch people towards your retail store in the Black Friday to get your discount offers.

13) Syed Ali Hasan

For Syed from Film Jackets you just can’t forget about Facebook. 

Promote your products/services via Facebook Ads.

Everyone is using Facebook, and it is also a great platform to do online shopping. Users are more moving towards social networks so why not take advantage of such platforms? Facebook Advertising gives us the opportunity to target the right audiences that would take an interest in our products. 

During Black Friday, increase your ad spend because everyone will be competing for your target audience. In order to reach them, you can increase the budget but in the end, this will maximize your ROI. 

Offering a Free Gift to Black Friday Shoppers

Email marketing, social media and retargeting are all great ideas, but if you’ve been involved with online retail for a while now, you likely have these channels covered. 

A more unique Black Friday strategy, a couple of experts have advised offering free gifts to shoppers.

14) Shelley Grieshop

Shelley Grieshop from Totally Promotional recommends placing your logo on the free gifts for added brand exposure.

The best way to draw customers to brick and mortar or online stores for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday is to offer free stuff. Advertise via social media, on your website and other more traditional ways that customers will receive a free gift with every purchase. 

Choose affordable and useful customized gifts such as drawstring bags, chip clips or can coolers with your logo. Now you’ve created happy, loyal customers who will be exposing your logo to other potential clients wherever they take your gifts.

15) Becky Beach

Becky Beach from MomBeach.com suggests making your free gifts a Black Friday exclusive offer. 

What I have done last year and plan to do this year is to give a free item with a $30 or more purchase. This free item is exclusive and has never been sold on the site before. The only way my customers can get the item is if they spend $30. After the sale, the item goes away to never be sold again. 

Dealing with Shipping

A turn off potential customers often encounter with online shopping is shipping costs. While free shipping will prevent this from becoming an issue, not all stores can offer it. For these stores, there are some other solutions.

16) Cara Hebert

Cara Hebert from Wistia recommending using upsell and cross-sell promotions to offset shipping costs.

Shoppers have come to expect free shipping these days, but not every business can swing that on every order. To get around this, we suggest offering free shipping over a certain order value coupled with intelligent upsell and cross-sell promotions so that your business can stay competitive and raise the average order value (AOV) to help offset shipping costs. 

By pairing a free-shipping threshold with an automated cross-sell promotion, you can show visitors items within a certain price range that would raise their cart total to meet the free shipping minimum. 

In doing so, you reduce the chance of cart abandonment due to shipping costs and also increase your average order value by encouraging visitors to purchase more. 

If a free shipping threshold is still too expensive to apply nationwide, try geo-targeting the free shipping offer to a radius that makes more fiscal sense for your business.

Make Purchasing As Easy As Possible

In addition to running Black Friday campaigns, one of the best things you can do in preparation of Black Friday is making sure your online store is properly optimized. 

17) Pete Boyle

Pete Boyle recommends ensuring that it’s as easy as possible for your customers to checkout. 

During the BFCM weekend your potential customers are bombarded with offers, ads, deals, and communication. However, a lot of brands will fall foul of a simple rule. They still insist on implementing an unnecessarily complex purchase journey. 

They’ll connect with customers through ads or email, then redirect them to a different site where the customer has to navigate a 5+ step purchase journey.  

The result is a huge drop-off at every stage. 

You can tackle this by making the purchase journey as streamlined as possible. In particular, assessing user intent and formatting your checkout process to best mimic that intent. 

A user on social media is not necessarily intent on buying. They’re looking for a social distraction. Aligning your purchase journey with that intent will increase conversions.

Not All Black Friday Campaigns Need to be Digital

There’s no denying that online retail has taken off over the past decade, however that doesn’t mean all your Black Friday campaigns need to be digital.

18) Nick Titus

Nick Titus from Minuteman Press International suggests sending postcards to your potential customers. 

For independent retailers, it is vital to get Black Friday messaging out via multiple touchpoints such as cross-media marketing and direct mail. 

The USPS has a popular program called Every Door Direct Mail that allows retailers to send unaddressed mailings at a fraction of the cost. We have a program called Dynamic Direct Mail that links physical mailings to online marketing efforts. Retailers can mail a postcard to consumers who will then see online ads relating to that postcard.

Making This Your Best Black Friday Yet

Hopefully these Black Friday campaign ideas have given you some inspiration for your own marketing strategies. By taking on board this expert advice, you’re setting yourself and your store up for success this Black Friday. 

To help you maximize your sales, we also have plenty of other Black Friday resources. These include blog posts on great Black Friday email examples as well as over 100 Black Friday subject lines that’ll entice subscribers to open your emails. 

So no matter how little time there is left until Black Friday, there’s plenty of things you can do to make the most of the shopping holiday! 

The post 18 Experts Share Their Top Black Friday Campaign Ideas appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

And if there’s one thing that’s more certain than merchants offering massive discounts it’s that they’ll be sending plenty of Black Friday email campaigns. And for good reason too. 

Email campaigns are directly responsible for a fifth of all online store visits over the holiday and consumers who convert through email spend 138% more compared to those who through different channels. 

None of which is particularly surprising seeing as email is the most profitable and effective marketing channel.

So with merchants understanding the clear importance of sending emails this Black Friday, the only thing standing in their way is creating the actual emails. 

How email templates can help

Designing and composing emails can take time. Especially when you’re creating them from scratch. 

Email templates, however, significantly reduce the time and amount of work you need to put in to get emails out.  

Templates provide the structure and layout for your email along with some generic imagery to improve the design of the email. From there, all you have to do is add your own content to customize them how you’d like. 

SmartrMail’s free Black Friday templates take it a step further

The downside to most email templates you download online is that you’re usually only given a PDF or Photoshop file that you then need to try to get to work with your email app. 

The difference with the email templates below, however, is that you don’t need to download anything.

Instead, you just enter your store’s domain and branded Black Friday templates are automatically generated based on your online store’s design. 

If you then connect your store with SmartrMail, you can then customize the templates with products from your store by looking them up and adding them with a single click. You can then tweak the design however you like and add additional images and text to your heart’s content. 

Send emails to your customers right away

Because you’re doing all of this in SmartrMail, you don’t have to worry about whether the templates are compatible with your email service provider or not. 

When you first connect your store with SmartrMail, you’ll automatically begin a 15-day free trial. During this time you can send emails to your entire email list, so if you connect SmartrMail now, you’ll be covered for your Black Friday email campaigns. 

The trial is also 100% commitment-free and you don’t have to add any credit card details. 

This means you can connect SmartrMail now, quickly and easily customize the templates below and add your own products in a single click stress-free. 

Black Friday email templates you can send right now

So what are these templates you can take advantage of right now? 

Well at the moment there are 6 Black Friday and Cyber Monday email templates you can use: 

1) All-purpose Black Friday template

This is a good general, all-purpose Black Friday template to get you started. 

After you connect SmartrMail, your store’s logo will automatically be added to the top of the template and the fonts will reflect your current site’s design (as will be the case with all the templates on this list).  

Of course, you can customize and change the images and text however you want. 

You can get the template here.

2) White Black Friday template

Most Black Friday templates tend to be quite dark (it is Black Friday, after all). 

For stores where the dark vibe doesn’t suit them all that well, there’s this brighter, more minimalist version of the general, all-purpose template.

You can get the template here.

3) Fashionista style template 

Of course, things aren’t all black and white. 

This fashionista style template is a good in-between option that’s warmer and well suited for fashion and apparel brands. 

Black Friday email design shouldn’t be all monotone. 

You can get the template here.

4) Fitspo Black Friday template

If you sell anything related to fitness, this fitspo inspired template is the way to go with your Black Friday sale emails. 

You can, of course, add your own products directly from your store in a single click complete with description, price, and link to buy once you’ve connected SmartrMail. 

You can get the template here.

5) Cyber Monday sale email template

Cyber Monday also demands its own email campaign, which you can get out quickly with this template. 

Again, like with all the templates on this list, once you connect SmartrMail with your store, your logo will be added to the template automatically and fonts will change to match your store’s design. 

You can get the template here.

6) Cyber Week template

What started off as a single day of sales on Black Friday morphed into a 4-day weekend event with Cyber Monday. Now merchants are increasingly holding week-long sales dubbing it “Cyber Week”. 

If you want to get in on the Cyber Week action too, then this template is a good starting point. 

You can get the template here.

More templates are also available 

The above are templates designed specifically for Black Friday and Cyber Week sales. 

However, SmartrMail has plenty of other templates you can use as well. Below are a few examples of them. 

Start sending now

With Black Friday approaching quickly, there’s no time to waste in getting your email campaigns out into people’s inboxes. 

The sooner your customers receive your emails with your sale offers, the sooner they’ll decide to shop with you instead of with one of your competitors. 

By connecting your store with SmartrMail and starting your 15-day free trial, you’ll be able to use these templates to get your emails out faster than ever before. 

You can connect your store with SmartrMail and get the templates here.

What’s the catch? 

Free Black Friday email templates? Free trial to send them to all your entire email list in time for Black Friday? It might seem too good to be true. 

There is no catch. 

The free trial is just that: free. Completely free. There’s no requirement to continue using SmartrMail after the 15 days nor do you have to upload any sort of payment details that we’d sneakily charge if you didn’t cancel after your trial expires. 

After your trial, it’s up to you whether you actively decide to continue on a paid plan (read: you have to actively upgrade to a paid plan yourself). 

If you have fewer than 1,000 subscribers, you’ll also have the option of continuing on our free plan as well. Albeit with slightly fewer features and no live chat support. 

The only thing close to a catch is that we currently only integrate with Shopify, Bigcommerce, Neto, PrestaShop, and Woocommerce stores. 

So if your store’s on any of these platforms, there’s no reason not to start a free trial to get these templates now! 

Additional Black Friday resources

Black Friday templates aren’t the only resource we have to make your job easier. 

To help inspire you further, we also have a collection of Black Friday emails along with examples of Black Friday subject lines which will be very useful in terms of getting people to open your email. 

We’ve also got plenty of other resources including past webinars and guides for Cyber Monday. You can check them all out in our Black Friday email marketing hub here.

The post The Best Black Friday Email Templates You Can Use Right Now appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

And when it comes to sales events, few compare with Black Friday. 

Not only is it one of the biggest single days for sales, but it also kick starts the holiday shopping season. The time of the year where retailers and merchants roll out their biggest marketing campaigns.

This gives rise to some of the most creative, well executed campaigns you’ll see all year round. 

So whether you’re just curious to check out some of the very best Black Friday marketing campaigns of all time or are looking for inspiration for own campaigns, we’ve put together this list.

The All Time Best Black Friday Email Campaigns

It’s no surprise that some of the greatest marketing campaigns for previous Black Fridays involve email. According to Shopify, email marketing is the highest converting channel for Black Friday promotions with an average conversion rate of 4.29%. 

Email also gives you plenty of scope in terms of marketing automation, making it an incredibly easy channel to succeed with. 

As far as inspiration for your own email campaigns, look no further than the examples below. 

Apple

The genius behind Apple’s email marketing is how they’ve staggered out their emails in the lead up to Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. 

Instead of just blasting out an email campaign on Friday morning, they started early letting them build anticipation. 

This started with an email announcing (or teasing) their sale a couple of weeks before the sales weekend. As the date approached, a second email highlighting Apple’s exact offering was sent a week in advance.

By advertising their offer in advance, Apple is able to capture a greater share of consumers’ wallet before they decide to spend their money on other purchases. 

If you’re looking at running your own Black Friday email marketing, this is a strategy you can easily adopt too. For more tips on running email campaigns at this time of year, check out our Black Friday sale email tips here.

Steve Madden

Email marketing isn’t that useful if you don’t have anyone on your email list. 

Even though we doubt that Steve Madden’s email list was that small to begin with, they killed two birds with one stone with their early access email campaign. 

Offering people early access to your deals and offers makes them feel important and a part of an exclusive club. It also creates a sense of urgency as people want to take advantage of the opportunity before the offers are opened up to the public. 

On Steve Madden’s end, they’re growing their email list which lets them establish a long term relationship with their Black Friday shoppers. As opposed to just making a quick sale from them and not engaging with them again. 

The All Time Best Black Friday Social Media Campaigns

As Black Friday shoppers increasingly ditch bricks and mortar stores for the convenience of online shopping, it’s no surprise that retailers are also increasingly turning to social media. 

This has led to some incredible social media campaigns.

Kohl’s

Social media is intrinsically a two-way medium. 

Unlike with traditional media, you aren’t just broadcasting your message to your target audience. Instead your audience is able to respond back to you and interact with your brand. 

Smart social media marketers understand this and use it to their advantage. Just like Kohl’s Black Friday campaign. 

By asking their audience questions across their social accounts in the lead up to and during Black Friday, Kohl’s earned plenty of social media engagement. 

Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter love engagement on your posts. It increases the organic reach of their posts and lowers costs for any paid reach they may have been getting. 

If you follow in the lead of Kohl’s, just make sure you adquently monetize the attention by placing some clear calls to action in your posts. At the end of the day, you want to be converting people into customers after all. 

Pieminister

You don’t need a large social media following to run a successful social media campaign that reaches plenty of people.

Pieminister decided to team up with a well-known homeless charity to give away pies to shelters on Black Friday. 

By partnering with a much larger organization with a greater social following, Pieminister was able to expand the reach of their posts without spending big on advertising. This is particularly valuable when your competitors are likely bidding big over the holiday shopping season. 

The fact that Pieminister also found a heartwarming and worthwhile cause also helped with gaining organic traction on social. 

The All Time Best Black Friday Video Ads

Video ads are still a popular medium for running marketing campaigns during Black Friday, especially for larger retailers.

Even though you might not have the budget to execute your own video ads, these ads are still worth a watch.

AussieBum

By ripping off famous production house logos including 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Marvel, AussieBum has created a fun and attention grabbing ad. 

It also helps that the ad is well and truly on brand and will resonate with their target audience.

Kohl’s

Being Kohl’s second entry on this list, it’s fair to say they do a great job with their Black Friday marketing.

This time they’ve created a parody of Rebecca Black’s Friday complete with their own offers.

There’s no denying that this is an old ad now, but that shouldn’t detract from how great it was when it ran. 

Rebecca Black’s Friday is an incredibly easy song to get stuck in your head, something that Kohl’s was aiming for with their ad too. By capitalizing on a social media phenomenon at the time, the ad also has a decent amount of shareability.

The All Time Best Anti-Black Friday Campaigns

Are you already sick of seeing so many Black Friday ads? Well we’ve got bad news for you: you’ll be seeing plenty more of them as November 24th draws closer. 

Good news is that these anti-Black Friday campaigns will serve as a good antidote. 

These are campaigns from retailers who are going against the grain of trying to maximize profits over the shopping holiday. 

Whether it’s to raise awareness of ethical consumption, a charitable cause or just to make a mockery of Black Friday, here are the greatest ant-Black Friday campaigns.

Patagonia

Patagonia is a brand that’s already well known for its emphasis on ethical consumption, and their Black Friday campaigns more than live up to this reputation. 

In 2011 they launched one of the first ever anti-Black Friday campaigns with their “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad in the New York Times and online.

This wasn’t a one off either. 

In 2016 Patagonia donated 100% of its sales on Black Friday to nonprofit environmental groups around the world. 

Cards Against Humanity

Making a mockery of Black Friday has become a habit for Cards Against Humanity. 

Last year they held 99% off sale on a range of items from a Sony 4K TV to a bust of President Obama. They even sold cold hard cash letting you score a $100 bill for just $1. 

As you’d expect, supplies were severely limited on all the items, but the sale was real! 

In 2014 they even took down their entire product range from their online store and offered just one product instead: literal poop. 

But for all their pranks, their best is perhaps when they increased their prices by $5. 

What might seem like commercial suicide, actually increased sales compared to Black Friday the year before. 

Creating Your Own Black Friday Campaigns

We’re not going to lie. It’s going to be hard to match the creativity of these Black Friday campaigns. 

If you are now planning to go and create your own campaigns, you should at least have some inspiration. If you’re still struggling to come up with some ideas, check out what 18 experts came up with when we asked for their top Black Friday campaign ideas. 

As far as your email campaigns go, we also have plenty of other resources to help you including examples of great Black Friday emails and a list of subject lines you can use. 

We’ve placed all of these resources in our Black Friday/Cyber Monday hub that you can access below. 

Best of luck with your Black Friday campaigns!

The post The Best Black Friday Marketing Campaigns Ever appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

The significance of this shopping event extends far beyond just a single day; it kicks off the holiday shopping season, driving a surge in consumer spending that often determines a brand’s annual success. With billions of dollars at stake, the competition among eCommerce brands to capture shoppers’ attention is fiercer than ever.

In such a high-stakes environment, the effectiveness of your email marketing can make or break your Black Friday campaign. 

One of the most critical elements of any email campaign is the subject line—it’s the first thing your audience sees, and it often determines whether they open the email or scroll past it. 

 A compelling subject line not only boosts open rates but also sets the tone for the entire customer experience, guiding them from inbox to checkout.

Crafting Black Friday email subject lines for e-commerce success

Crafting the right Black Friday subject lines is more than just a creative exercise; it’s a strategic move that can significantly impact your holiday season revenue. By leveraging urgency, personalization, and clear value propositions, you can cut through the noise of crowded inboxes and drive engagement. 

Ultimately, the success of your Black Friday email campaign hinges on your ability to connect with your audience from the moment they see your subject line, setting the stage for a successful shopping season.

That said, there are certain traits of an effective Black Friday subject line. 

Traits of an effective Black Friday Subject Line

There are specific traits that make a Black Friday email work — it would make the recipient open the email, consume the information in it and take appropriate action.

Here is a round-up of the traits for your reference while crafting Black Friday email subject lines.

It creates urgency and scarcity

Urgency and scarcity are powerful motivators that compel customers to act quickly before they miss out on a limited-time offer. By emphasizing deadlines or low stock, you can create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) that drives immediate action.

Example: “Last Chance! Black Friday Deals End Tonight!”

It uses customer data to personalize subject lines

Personalization enhances relevance of the subject line by using customer data. These could default or custom fields such as first names of the recipient or info about their past purchases. 

This personal touch increases the likelihood of the email being opened, as it feels more directly addressed to the recipient.

Example: “John, Your Exclusive Black Friday Deal Inside!”

It provides clarity and value

A clear and straightforward subject line that communicates the core offer or benefit will quickly grab attention. Shoppers appreciate knowing exactly what they’re getting, whether it’s a discount, free shipping, or a special bundle.

Example: “50% Off Everything—Black Friday Mega Sale!”

It piques interest

Curiosity-driven subject lines tease the content without giving it all away, encouraging the recipient to open the email to learn more. By sparking interest, these subject lines entice customers to engage with the email and explore the offers further.
Example: “You Won’t Believe These Black Friday Deals…”

The Ultimate List of 225 Black Friday Email Subject Lines for every imaginable scenario

We know writing subject lines from scratch is going to cost you endless hours of time and burning midnight oil. 

You should ideally use that time focusing on how to improve sales for your e-commerce store during the holiday season. 

Here is a comprehensive list of Black Friday email subject lines organized into various categories based on the timing, type, and unique traits of the email. 

a. Pre-Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Build anticipation, offer sneak peeks, or give early access to loyal customers.

1. Ready for Black Friday? Get a Sneak Peek Now!
2. Early Access: Shop Black Friday Deals Before Everyone Else!
3. Black Friday Preview: Unmissable Deals Inside!
4. Get a Head Start: Black Friday Savings Start Now!
5. Shh… Our Black Friday Sale Is Coming Soon!
6. Unlock Early Bird Deals Before Black Friday!
7. VIPs Only: Pre-Black Friday Access Starts Now!
8. Exclusive: Pre-Black Friday Prices Revealed!
9. Be the First to Shop Our Black Friday Collection!
10. Black Friday is Coming—Are You Ready?
11. It’s Almost Here: Black Friday Deals You’ll Love!
12. Countdown Begins: Get Ready for Black Friday!
13. Early Black Friday Deals Just for You!
14. Mark Your Calendar: Black Friday Starts Soon!
15. Something Big is Coming: Black Friday Preview!
16. Don’t Wait! Early Black Friday Savings Inside!
17. Black Friday Teaser: Get Ready to Shop!
18. Pre-Black Friday Deals: Shop Before the Rush!
19. Sneak Peek: Our Best Black Friday Deals!
20. Get Ready: Black Friday is Just Around the Corner!
21. It’s Coming: Early Black Friday Access Inside!
22. Get Excited! Black Friday Preview Sale Starts Now!
23. Prepare Yourself: Black Friday is Almost Here!
24. VIP Early Access: Black Friday Deals Revealed!
25. Don’t Miss Out: Pre-Black Friday Sale Starts Soon!

b. Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Announce the sale, highlight major discounts, and drive immediate action.

26. It’s Here: Our Biggest Black Friday Sale Ever!
27. Black Friday Starts Now: Save Up to 70%!
28. Shop Black Friday: Deals You Can’t Miss!
29. The Black Friday Event You’ve Been Waiting For!
30. Black Friday Blowout: Everything Must Go!
31. Your Ultimate Black Friday Shopping Guide Inside!
32. Don’t Miss Out: Black Friday Deals Live Now!
33. Black Friday Starts Now—Shop Before It’s Too Late!
34. This Black Friday: Shop More, Save More!
35. Our Best Black Friday Deals Are Live—Shop Now!
36. Black Friday Frenzy: Deals You’ll Love!
37. Ready, Set, Shop! Black Friday Deals Are Here!
38. Black Friday Special: Up to 50% Off Everything!
39. Black Friday Extravaganza: Huge Savings Inside!
40. Black Friday Madness: Deals You Can’t Ignore!
41. Black Friday Bonanza: Unbeatable Prices!
42. Your Black Friday Wishlist Just Got Better!
43. Don’t Miss the Hottest Deals This Black Friday!
44. Black Friday Mega Sale: Up to 80% Off!
45. It’s Finally Here: Black Friday Deals Await!
46. Shop Now: Black Friday Deals Won’t Last!
47. This Black Friday: Grab the Best Deals Before They’re Gone!
48. Black Friday is Live: Start Saving Now!
49. The Wait is Over: Black Friday Sale Starts Today!
50. Black Friday Price Drops: Shop and Save Big!

c. VIP Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Exclusive deals, early access, and personalized offers for VIP or loyal customers.

51. VIP Access: Your Exclusive Black Friday Deal Inside!
52. As a VIP, You Get Early Access to Our Black Friday Sale!
53. For Our VIPs Only: Black Friday Just Got Better!
54. Your Black Friday VIP Pass: Extra Savings Await!
55. VIPs Get More! Extra 20% Off This Black Friday!
56. Exclusive VIP Offer: Early Access to Black Friday!
57. Because You’re Special: VIP Black Friday Deals Inside!
58. VIP Treatment: Shop Black Friday First!
59. You’re a VIP! Enjoy Early Black Friday Savings!
60. VIP Access Granted: Black Friday Deals Await!
61. VIP Preview: Get a Head Start on Black Friday Savings!
62. Early VIP Access: Unlock Black Friday Deals Now!
63. Just for VIPs: Black Friday Early Bird Discounts!
64. VIP Only: Get the Best Black Friday Deals Before Everyone Else!
65. Your VIP Status Means Extra Black Friday Savings!
66. VIP Black Friday Exclusive: Shop Before the Crowd!
67. Special Access: VIP Black Friday Deals Inside!
68. Black Friday VIP Sale: Sneak Peek Just for You!
69. VIP Offer: Save Big with Early Black Friday Access!
70. Your VIP Black Friday Pass: Shop Early and Save More!
71. Exclusive VIP Black Friday Deals You Don’t Want to Miss!
72. VIPs Get the First Look at Black Friday Discounts!
73. Enjoy VIP-Only Black Friday Offers—Shop Now!
74. As a VIP, You Get Extra Black Friday Perks!
75. VIP Early Access: Black Friday Deals are Live!

d. Extended Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Encourage additional purchases by extending the sale period, often with a sense of urgency.

76. Black Friday Extended: More Time, More Savings!
77. Missed Black Friday? We’ve Extended the Sale!
78. Good News: Our Black Friday Sale Has Been Extended!
79. Can’t Get Enough? Black Friday Extended Just for You!
80. One More Chance: Black Friday Deals Extended!
81. Extended by Popular Demand: Black Friday Continues!
82. Black Friday Isn’t Over Yet—Shop the Extended Sale!
83. We’ve Extended Black Friday—More Deals, More Time!
84. Extended! Keep Shopping Our Black Friday Sale!
85. It’s Not Too Late: Black Friday Deals Extended!
86. Extended Sale: Black Friday Prices Still Available!
87. More Time to Save: Black Friday Extended!
88. Black Friday Extended—Don’t Miss Out!
89. Extended Black Friday Sale: Shop and Save More!
90. Good News: Black Friday Sale Extended for Extra Savings!
91. Keep Shopping: Black Friday Extended for a Limited Time!
92. Black Friday Extended: Grab Your Deals Before They’re Gone!
93. Last Chance to Shop: Black Friday Extended!
94. Extended Black Friday Sale: More Deals Just for You!
95. Black Friday Isn’t Over—Extra Savings Available Now!
96. Black Friday Sale Extended: Your Savings Continue!
97. Shop Extended Black Friday Deals—More Time to Save!
98. Extended by Popular Demand: Black Friday Savings Continue!
99. Don’t Miss the Extended Black Friday Sale—Shop Now!
100. Extended Sale Alert: Black Friday Deals Still Going Strong!

e. Last Chance Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Final reminder to create urgency, emphasizing that time is running out.

101. Last Call: Black Friday Deals End Tonight!
102. Hurry! Last Chance to Save This Black Friday!
103. Final Hours: Don’t Miss Out on Black Friday Savings!
104. Last Chance for Black Friday Deals—Act Now!
105. This Is It! Last Day to Shop Black Friday Deals!
106. Don’t Miss Out: Final Hours of Black Friday!
107. Last Chance! Black Friday Ends at Midnight!
108. Time’s Running Out: Last Chance for Black Friday Deals!
109. Final Reminder: Black Friday Sale Ends Soon!
110. Last Chance to Score Black Friday Savings!
111. Act Fast: Black Friday Ends in Hours!
112. Last Minute Deals: Black Friday Sale Ending Soon!
113. Don’t Wait: Last Chance to Grab Black Friday Deals!
114. Final Countdown: Black Friday Deals Ending Soon!
115. Last Chance Alert: Black Friday Savings Disappearing!
116. Final Call: Shop Black Friday Deals Before They’re Gone!
117. Last Chance for Huge Black Friday Discounts!
118. Black Friday Ends Soon—Shop Now or Miss Out!
119. Last Opportunity: Black Friday Sale Ends Today!
120. Time’s Almost Up: Final Black Friday Deals Inside!
121. Last Chance! Don’t Miss Our Black Friday Deals!
122. Act Now: Last Hours of Black Friday Savings!
123. Hurry Up! Black Friday Deals End in a Few Hours!
124. Final Hours to Save Big This Black Friday!
125. Last Chance to Shop Black Friday—Don’t Miss Out!

f. Post-Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Capitalize on momentum by encouraging shoppers to take advantage of remaining deals.

126. It’s Not Over Yet! Shop Our Black Friday Leftovers!
127. Black Friday’s Over, But the Deals Aren’t!
128. Missed Black Friday? Here’s One Last Deal!
129. After Black Friday: Extra Savings Just for You!
130. Black Friday May Be Over, But the Savings Continue!
131. Missed Out? Grab These Post-Black Friday Deals!
132. Still Shopping? Post-Black Friday Deals Inside!
133. One More Shot: Post-Black Friday Sale Starts Now!
134. Post-Black Friday Savings—Don’t Miss Out!
135. Black Friday’s Done, But We’ve Got More Deals for You!
136. Keep the Savings Going: Post-Black Friday Sale!
137. Black Friday Over? Enjoy Extra Discounts Inside!
138. Post-Black Friday Sale: Shop the Deals You Missed!
139. Didn’t Get Enough? Post-Black Friday Offers Await!
140. Last Chance: Post-Black Friday Deals Ending Soon!
141. Don’t Miss Our Post-Black Friday Clearance Sale!
142. Continue the Savings: Post-Black Friday Offers Live Now!
143. Shop Our Post-Black Friday Sale Before It Ends!
144. Black Friday May Be Over, But We’ve Got More Deals!
145. Still Here: Post-Black Friday Discounts Just for You!
146. Wrap Up Your Shopping with Post-Black Friday Deals!
147. Extra Savings Inside: Post-Black Friday Sale!
148. Shop Now: Post-Black Friday Deals Still Available!
149. Your Post-Black Friday Savings Are Waiting!
150. Missed Black Friday? Enjoy Extended Deals Now!

g. Urgency-Driven Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Use time-sensitive language to create a strong sense of urgency and drive immediate action.

151. Act Fast! Black Friday Deals Won’t Last!
152. Hurry! Limited Time Black Friday Offers Inside!
153. Only a Few Hours Left—Shop Black Friday Now!
154. Last-Minute Black Friday Deals—Don’t Miss Out!
155. Limited Stock! Black Friday Deals Going Fast!
156. Time’s Almost Up! Black Friday Ends Tonight!
157. Tick-Tock! Black Friday Savings Won’t Last!
158. Only a Few Left! Black Friday Items Selling Out!
159. Don’t Wait! Black Friday Deals Disappearing Soon!
160. Final Hours! Last Chance to Save This Black Friday!
161. Rush In! Black Friday Prices End Soon!
162. Last Call: Black Friday Deals Ending in Hours!
163. Don’t Delay! Black Friday Sale Ends Soon!
164. Almost Over: Black Friday Discounts Ending Tonight!
165. Hurry! Limited Time to Get Your Black Friday Savings!
166. Act Now: Black Friday Deals Ending Fast!
167. Final Countdown: Black Friday Savings Ending Soon!
168. Shop Now or Miss Out: Black Friday Deals Ending!
169. Urgent: Last Chance to Get Black Friday Discounts!
170. Ending Soon: Don’t Miss Out on Black Friday Deals!
171. Last Few Hours: Black Friday Sale Ending Soon!
172. Final Opportunity: Black Friday Prices Will Rise!
173. Ending Soon! Grab Your Black Friday Deals Now!
174. Time’s Running Out: Last Chance for Black Friday Offers!
175. Final Hours to Score Big Black Friday Savings!

h. Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines with Emojis

Traits: Use of emojis to capture attention and add a visual element to the subject line.

176. It’s Here: Our Biggest Black Friday Sale Ever!
177. Black Friday Alert: Save Up to 60%!
178. Hot Deals: Black Friday Starts Now!
179. Time’s Running Out: Black Friday Ends Tonight!
180. Black Friday Gift Guide: Deals Inside!
181. Black Friday Blowout: Up to 70% Off!
182. Don’t Miss Out: Black Friday Sale Going Fast!
183. Get Ready for Black Friday: Deals Await!
184. Flash Sale: Black Friday Starts Now!
185. Shop Our Best Black Friday Deals—Hurry!
186. Black Friday Frenzy: Discounts You’ll Love!
187. It’s Here: Black Friday Mega Sale!
188. Shop Now: Black Friday Deals Up to 50% Off!
189. Black Friday Special: Unwrap Huge Savings!
190. Black Friday Madness: Don’t Miss These Deals!
191. Get Ready to Save Big This Black Friday!
192. Black Friday Savings Are Live—Shop Now!
193. Hurry Up: Black Friday Prices Won’t Last!
194. Exclusive Black Friday Deals Just for You!
195. Black Friday Sale: Shop Before It’s Gone!
196. Huge Discounts Inside: Black Friday Event!
197. Last Chance: Black Friday Deals Ending Soon!
198. Black Friday Blowout: Extra Savings Await!
199. Hot Black Friday Deals: Shop and Save Big!
200. Black Friday Alert: Don’t Miss These Offers!

i. Specific Offer-Based Black Friday Sale Email Subject Lines

Traits: Highlight specific types of offers such as discounts, BOGO (Buy One, Get One), or free shipping.

201. Black Friday Exclusive: 50% Off All Items!
202. Buy One, Get One Free—Black Friday Only!
203. Save $100 on Orders Over $500 This Black Friday!
204. 25% Off Your First Purchase—Black Friday Special!
205. Extra 20% Off Sale Items This Black Friday!
206. Black Friday Deal: Free Shipping on All Orders!
207. Black Friday Flash Sale: Up to 60% Off!
208. 30% Off Everything—Black Friday Deal Ends Soon!
209. Buy 2, Get 1 Free—Black Friday Offer!
210. Save 40% on Bestsellers This Black Friday!
211. Black Friday Only: 15% Off Sitewide!
212. Limited Time: $50 Off Orders Over $200!
213. Black Friday Deal: 10% Off New Arrivals!
214. Buy One, Get 50% Off Your Second Item!
215. 20% Off All Electronics—Black Friday Special!
216. Flash Deal: 40% Off Select Categories!
217. Save Up to 70% on Clearance Items This Black Friday!
218. Black Friday Special: Free Gift with Purchase!
219. Extra 25% Off Sale Items—Today Only!
220. 50% Off All Shoes—Black Friday Only!
221. Get $20 Off Your Purchase of $100 or More!
222. Exclusive Offer: 35% Off Sitewide for Black Friday!
223. Black Friday Steals: Save 30% on Home Goods!
224. Special Deal: 45% Off All Accessories!
225. Black Friday Sale: 10% Off All New Arrivals!

Best Practices for Crafting Black Friday Email Subject Lines

Keep It Short and Sweet

Short and concise subject lines are crucial for capturing attention quickly. Aim for 40-50 characters to ensure your subject line is fully visible on most devices. 

Brevity helps convey your message clearly and immediately, increasing the likelihood of your email being opened.

Optimal Length for Mobile Devices

With a significant portion of emails read on mobile devices, it’s important to consider how your subject line appears on smaller screens. 

Keep your subject lines within 30-40 characters to ensure they display properly and grab attention even on mobile.

Include Actionable Words

Using actionable words in your subject lines encourages recipients to take immediate action. Words like “Shop,” “Discover,” “Save,” and “Get” create a sense of urgency and motivate readers to open your email and engage with your content.

Using Verbs That Drive Action

Verbs that inspire action can significantly impact your open rates. Strong, action-oriented verbs such as “Unlock,” “Claim,” and “Snag” push recipients to act quickly and take advantage of the offer or content in your email.

Conduct A/B Testing to Find Successful Variants

A/B testing different subject lines is essential for optimizing email performance. By testing variations, you can determine which subject lines resonate best with your audience, leading to higher open rates and more effective email campaigns. Regularly perform A/B testing to refine your approach and improve results.

Plan to Avoid Spam Triggers

Certain words and phrases can trigger spam filters, causing your emails to end up in the junk folder. Avoid using excessive punctuation, all caps, or spammy phrases like “Free,” “100%,” or “No Cost” to ensure your emails reach your recipients’ inboxes.

Highlight Exclusive Offers

During Black Friday, emphasize the exclusivity of your deals to stand out. Subject lines that mention “Exclusive,” “Limited Time,” or “VIP Access” create a sense of urgency and specialness, motivating recipients to open your email to discover the unique offers.

Use Urgency to Persuade action

Black Friday is a high-pressure shopping event, so your subject lines should reflect urgency. Phrases like “Ends Soon,” “Last Chance,” and “Final Hours” can drive immediate action and create a sense of urgency that compels recipients to act quickly before the deals are gone.

Personalize for Better Engagement

Personalization can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your Black Friday emails. Use data such as past purchase behavior or browsing history to tailor subject lines with personalized offers, making the email more relevant and appealing to the recipient.

Emphasize Time-Sensitive Offers

Black Friday is all about limited-time deals, so make sure your subject lines reflect this urgency. Highlighting the limited availability of offers or mentioning specific deadlines (e.g., “Today Only” or “While Supplies Last”) can drive quicker actions from recipients.

Now That You Have Plenty of Black Friday Email Subject Line Ideas… 

By now you should have plenty of Black Friday subject line ideas to choose from or get inspired by.

You might even find that now the problem isn’t coming up with ideas for subject lines, but rather choosing between multiple ones you want to use. 

Thankfully, SmartrMail has A/B testing tools so you can try out different subject lines and see which delivers the best open rates. This is available to all users and we have a comprehensive guide on A/B testing too.

We also have a guide on writing subject lines that includes more general best practice tips to writing subject lines that compel subscribers to open the email such as including a call to action. 

The only thing that’s left is to actually create your email design and get it sent to your list!

PS: Wanting to get a head start on your Christmas email marketing? Check out our list of Christmas email subject lines.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Black Friday Email Subject Lines

The post 225 Best Black Friday Email Subject Lines to Skyrocket Your Holiday Sales appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

With sales projected to reach $10 billion, 2024 is truly a year for e-commerce business owners wanting to cash in on the Black Friday event frenzy.

Even if you feel confident with your existing email marketing strategy, Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails represent a different beast entirely. At no other time during the year will as many merchants be sending as many emails vying for a share of your subscribers’ limited attention.

Optimizing your Black Friday sale emails will therefore require you take a slightly different approach to your email marketing than you usually would. Especially when it comes to when and how often you send your Black Friday email campaigns.

In this post, we’ll cover what you should do differently with your Black Friday sale emails and how to space them out in the lead up to and during the weekend. 

First, let’s understand black Friday email campaigns in detail before getting into the finer details.

Understanding Black Friday Email Campaigns

Black Friday email campaigns are specialized marketing efforts designed to engage your customers and drive sales. These campaigns typically consist of a series of emails, each strategically crafted to guide customers through the purchase funnel, from awareness to conversion. 

Here’s a closer look at the different types of Black Friday emails:

Teaser Emails

Teaser emails are sent in the weeks leading up to Black Friday to build anticipation and excitement among customers. They aim to create a buzz around your upcoming deals and encourage subscribers to keep an eye out for your Black Friday offers.

What do they contain?

• Sneak peeks of upcoming discounts and promotions.
• Visual elements like countdown timers to highlight the time left until the sale.
• Calls to action encouraging customers to sign up for early access or VIP lists.

Countdown Emails

Countdown emails are designed to remind customers of the approaching Black Friday event and create a sense of urgency. These emails aim to keep your brand top-of-mind as customers plan their shopping.

What do they contain:

• Prominent countdown timers showing the days, hours, or minutes left until the sale begins.
• Highlights of key deals or offers that will be available.
• Reminders to take advantage of early shopping opportunities or set reminders for the sale.

Early Access Emails

Early access emails provide select customers, such as loyal subscribers or VIP members, with the opportunity to shop the Black Friday deals before the general public. This rewards loyalty and helps drive early sales.

What do they contain:

• Exclusive links or codes that unlock the sale early.
• Messaging that emphasizes the exclusivity of the offer and the benefits of early shopping.
• A focus on limited-time offers or deals that may not last until the public sale.

Black Friday Day Emails

These emails are sent on the actual day of Black Friday and are designed to drive immediate action. They capitalize on the heightened shopping activity and encourage customers to take advantage of the best deals.

What do they contain?

• Strong, clear calls to action, such as “Shop Now” or “Don’t Miss Out.”
• Feature the biggest and most attractive deals available on that day.
• Use urgency-driven elements like limited-time offers or stock alerts to prompt quick decisions.

Last-Chance Emails

Last-chance emails, as the name indicates, target customers towards the end of Black Friday or leading into Cyber Monday. They aim to prompt any undecided or procrastinating shoppers to make a purchase before the deals expire.

What do they contain:

• Urgent language with phrases like “Last Chance” or “Final Hours.”
• Countdown timers showing the limited time remaining to shop.
• Summaries of the most popular deals, with a reminder of benefits like free shipping or exclusive discounts.

Cyber Monday Transition Emails

These emails serve as a bridge between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, maintaining momentum and encouraging continued shopping. They help to smoothly transition customers into the next wave of deals.

What do they contain: 

• Teasers for Cyber Monday offers that may differ from Black Friday deals.
• Messaging that keeps the excitement alive and encourages customers to continue shopping.
• Highlight additional discounts or special offers exclusive to Cyber Monday.

Best time to send Black Friday Emails — Why Timing Matters

Sending emails at the right time can significantly impact your campaign’s performance, influencing key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. Here’s how timing plays a role:

Open Rates

Sending an email when your audience is most likely to be checking their inbox can increase the likelihood that your message will be seen and opened.

Considerations:

• Time of Day: Early morning or late evening might be optimal, depending on your audience’s habits.
• Day of the Week: Research shows that certain days, like Tuesday or Thursday, may have higher open rates.
• Personalization: Consider the time zones of your audience and personalize send times to match when they are most active.

Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Even if your email is opened, it needs to be engaging enough for the recipient to click through to your website or landing page. The timing of your email can affect the recipient’s readiness to engage with the content.

Considerations:

• Shopping Mindset: Send emails during times when customers are likely to be in a shopping mindset, such as during lunch breaks or after work.
• Follow-up Timing: Consider sending follow-up emails shortly after the initial send to capture additional clicks.
• Frequency: Avoid sending too many emails at once to prevent overwhelming your audience and decreasing CTR.

Conversions

The ultimate goal of your Black Friday email campaigns is to convert opens and clicks into sales. Proper timing can ensure that your emails reach customers when they are most likely to make a purchase.

Considerations:

• Urgency: Send last-chance emails at the end of the day to create a sense of urgency and drive final conversions.
• Promotion Timing: Align your email sends with peak shopping times to maximize conversions.
• Segmenting: Consider segmenting your audience based on behavior and past purchasing patterns to time emails for when each segment is most likely to convert.

Avoiding Email Fatigue

Sending too many emails at the wrong times can lead to email fatigue, where customers become overwhelmed and start ignoring your emails or unsubscribing altogether. Effective timing helps maintain engagement without overwhelming your audience.

Considerations:

• Strategic Spacing: Space out your emails to avoid overwhelming your subscribers.
• Relevance: Ensure each email has a clear, relevant purpose to keep the audience engaged.

Monitoring Metrics: Keep an eye on open and unsubscribe rates to adjust timing as needed to prevent fatigue.

Here’s a quick reference table outlining the types of Black Friday emails and the best times to send them:

Starting Early: Send Multiple Emails during the Pre-Black Friday week

This might seem obvious, but when it comes to Black Friday, you shouldn’t stop at just one email. 

Ideally you’ll be sending multiple emails spaced out over a few weeks in the lead up to and during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. 

If you only send one email, especially on the day of Black Friday, most of your subscribers will miss it and never know about your sale.

By spreading out multiple emails, you’re also able to tailor your messaging in each email based on when you send it. For example your first sale announcement email can be an early-bird offer whereas on Black Friday you can play with creating a sense of urgency. 

You can also tailor your emails to different segments of your email list. 

This lets you, for instance, reward your loyal customers with a free gift or target shoppers from last Black Friday with special offers. 

So exactly what emails should you be sending and when? Well it depends on what kind of offer you have, but the emails below are a good starting point.

Black Friday Sale Teaser Email

Whatever your Black Friday offer, you should get your first email out at the very least a week in advance, preferably at least two.  

If you still haven’t finalized your Black Friday offer, no worries. A teaser without all the details makes for a great first Black Friday email. Just like this example from Apple.

Apple’s marketing is world renown, yet all they’ve done is simply teased that their Black Friday sale is coming. This builds anticipation and excitement as people wait to find out what their offers are. 

This is an incredibly easy and quick email to get out, so there’s no excuse not to send it a couple of weeks before Black Friday.

Black Friday Sale Announcement Email

Just because you got ahead of your competition and sent your teaser email out early doesn’t mean you can wait until Black Friday to announce more details of your sale. 

The second email you send should include your actual offers and be sent ideally at least a week before Black Friday. This builds on your sale teaser email by generating further anticipation

Which is exactly what Apple did. 

As announcing offers early is a tactic many retailers are now employing, shoppers now plan their purchases well in advance. So by advertising your Black Friday sale in advance you have a better chance at capturing a greater share of customers’ wallets. 

Getting your first couple of emails out early also has another advantage: you have plenty of time to resend it to people who didn’t open it. 

By using a tool like SmartrMail’s Send Boost, you can easily resend the email campaign only to those who haven’t opened it. When doing this, it’s best to change the subject line (in case that’s why it wasn’t opened the first time round) and the email content slightly to help with engagement. 

Black Friday Sneak Peek Email

When it comes to announcing your sale a couple of weeks in advance, one twist you can put on it is to offer “an exclusive sneak peek” to your customers. Such as like the email from Peel below. 

This is a great way to make your loyal customers feel valued and grab the reader’s attention. 

Of course, you don’t have to only send this email to your loyal customers. There’s no reason you can’t also offer a “sneak peek” to one time purchasers or even people on your email list who have never purchased. 

That said, you’ll want to tweak the email copy slightly for the different audiences. 

Saying that you’re offering a subscriber “an exclusive sneak peek at our Black Friday offers as our way of saying thanks for being a regular customer” will seem weird if they’ve never made a purchase. 

For actual loyal customers you’ll want to use this kind of wording. Otherwise your email will just seem like an ordinary Black Friday sneak peek offer without the feeling of exclusivity. 

To further create a sense of exclusivity you can experiment with creating a password protected landing page and give your loyal customers the password in the email. Seemingly random coupon codes with strings of letters and digits like “12FI993” also works.

Of course, what defines a loyal customer will vary depending on factors like your average order value (AOV) and average purchase frequency for your online store. 

If your AOV is $100 you may want to consider anyone with an AOV of above $150 as a loyal customer. Likewise, if customers average a purchase every 4 months, anyone purchasing more than twice in the last 3 months could be considered loyal.

Black Friday Sale Reminder Emails

Don’t go overboard and send emails rehashing the same message about your Black Friday sale every day of November, but a couple of reminders are okay. 

There’s no ultimate best time or day to send your Black Friday email, but if your sale starts on Friday, then you’ll probably want to send a reminder on the Thursday. Just like in the example below. 

Whether you want to send any additional reminder emails earlier depends on how early you got your sale announcement email out. 

If you only announced your sale through email on the Wednesday before Black Friday (certainly not recommended), then there’s not really time to send an additional reminder. 

If however you’re better prepared and sent your Black Friday sale announcement email a week in advance, then reminders on the following Tuesday and Thursday should be fine. 

Black Friday Email

Once the big day arrives, you’ll definitely want to send another email reiterating your Black Friday offer in the morning.

The goal of this email is to get people to take action and purchase from your store without delay. Just like the email below.

Creating a sense of urgency here can be hugely effective. Especially later in the day as your sale is nearing its end.

Whether it’s by activating people’s FOMO (fear of missing out) or by including a countdown timer to when your sale ends like in the email below from Christopher and Banks.

If your sale is ending on Friday night, then by all means send a few reminder emails on Black Friday. This is probably the only day of the year that you’ll be able to get away with sending multiple emails on the same day.

If your sale lasts until the end of Cyber Monday, you’ll want to space your emails out over the weekend instead of cramming them all into Friday. Leaving the urgent final reminder emails until the Monday. 

Last-minute shoppers: Cyber Monday Email

It’s up to you whether you decide to have your sale exclusively on Black Friday or have it last the whole 4 day weekend. 

Another option however is to have two separate sales: a Black Friday sale and a Cyber Monday sale. Doing so gives people who didn’t make a purchase on Black Friday one final chance to grab a bargain. 

If you didn’t create a sense of urgency with your Black Friday sale emails, you definitely should with your Cyber Monday emails. 

Simply including a countdown timer in your email design along with some copy such as “Today Only” or “Last Chance” can easily achieve this. Like how Dr. Martens did with their Cyber Monday email.

Another thing you can do to increase the sense of urgency is to make your Cyber Monday sale less generous than your Black Friday sale. That way people realize that the offer is vanishing and unless they want to pay full price, they need to act straight away. 

For those who still something: Cyber Tuesday Email

If you’re desperate to clear remaining stock or squeeze as many dollars out of people as you can, you could even try sending a ‘Cyber Tuesday’ email. 

While not many retailers will do this, it might be something you want to experiment with. Just don’t create a ‘Cyber Wednesday’ email or you’ll really start to annoy your customers!

Some practical Tips for Scheduling Black Friday Emails

We now know the best time and to send Black friday emails. Even if you get the timing right, if you miss out on other vital checks, your mail Black Friday campaigns could still decline in performance. 

Below are some practical tips to ensure that your emails are not only sent at the right time but also reach your audience effectively.

When scheduling Black Friday emails, it’s important to consider the diverse time zones of your global audience. Sending an email at the optimal time in one region might mean that another region receives it at a less favorable time. Here’s how to adjust your email send times for different time zones:

• Segment Your Audience by Time Zone: If your email list includes subscribers from multiple time zones, consider segmenting your audience based on their geographical location. This allows you to send emails at a time that aligns with their local time zone, increasing the likelihood of engagement.
• Use Time Zone Data in Automation: Many email marketing platforms allow you to use time zone data to schedule emails automatically. This feature ensures that each segment of your audience receives emails at the optimal time for their region without the need for manual adjustments.
• Test and Analyze: Conduct A/B testing to determine the best send times for different regions. Analyze the open and click-through rates to fine-tune your email scheduling strategy. Over time, you’ll gather valuable insights into when your global audience is most likely to engage.

Setting Up Automated Workflows for BFCM Campaigns:

Create a Series of Emails: Plan and automate a series of emails that cover all stages of your Black Friday campaign, from teasers and countdowns to early access and last-chance emails. Each email should be triggered at a specific time based on customer behavior or pre-set dates.

Use Behavioral Triggers: Set up automation that triggers emails based on customer actions, such as opening a teaser email or clicking on a countdown timer. This ensures that each subscriber receives emails that are relevant to their engagement level.

Monitor and Adjust in Real-Time: Most automation tools allow you to monitor the performance of your email workflows in real-time. Use this data to make on-the-fly adjustments, such as resending emails to non-openers or adjusting the send times for different segments.

Handling High Traffic and Volume

The increased volume of emails during Black Friday can put a strain on your email infrastructure. To ensure that your emails are delivered on time and without issues, consider the following tips:

Ensure Your Email Infrastructure is Scalable:

• Use a Reliable Email Service Provider (ESP): Choose an ESP that can handle high volumes of email sends without delays or downtime. Providers like SendGrid, Amazon SES, and Mailgun are known for their scalability and reliability.
• Test Your Infrastructure Before the Event: Conduct load testing in the weeks leading up to Black Friday to ensure your email infrastructure can handle the increased volume. This includes testing for email deliverability, server capacity, and send speeds.
• Monitor for Deliverability Issues: Keep an eye on deliverability rates during your Black Friday campaign. High traffic can sometimes lead to issues like emails being marked as spam or delayed deliveries. Be prepared to make adjustments if needed, such as throttling email sends or adjusting your sending domain.

Automation Tools to Optimize Send Times

Automation tools are essential for optimizing your Black Friday email campaigns, especially when managing multiple emails across different time zones.

SmartrMail offers automation workflows specifically designed for e-commerce businesses, making it an excellent choice for Black Friday campaigns. Its smart segmentation and personalized product recommendations can boost conversions.

Final Thoughts

Your Black Friday email campaign should be unique not only in what you’re offering, but also how you space out your emails in the lead up to the shopping holiday. 

The suggested frequency and times above are a good template to follow, but remember that there’s no single best time to send your Black Friday sales email.

This is not something you can easily hack at the last minute and do well. 

Start sending your emails early, build anticipation and as you start increasing the frequency as Black Friday draws closer, turn that anticipation into urgency. 

For more resources to nail this year’s Black Friday email campaign, check out our collection of great Black Friday email examples and our list of Black Friday email subject lines. 

If you want to expand your Black Friday strategy with an affiliate program, make sure to check UpPromote which is offering 20% OFF for all new users who install UpPromote here.

Good luck!

The post When To Send Your Black Friday Sale Emails – the best times and other best practices appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

The post Black Friday Emergency Checklist appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

Last year’s sales hit a record $7.9B, an increase of nearly 20%. Making it one of the biggest shopping events of the year. 

Taking advantage of this sales holiday now requires you have dedicated Cyber Monday email campaigns. 

To help with these emails, we’ve already put together a list of great Cyber Monday email examples and tips for automating your emails in the lead up to and during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. But creating an amazing email design and sending your emails at the right time isn’t going to drive sales if your subscribers’ aren’t opening them. 

When it comes to improving your open rate your subject line is one of the most important factors. For a third of your subscribers, it’s the sole determining factor in whether they’re going to open the email or not. 

Problem is that it can be difficult to come up with subject lines that stand out in people’s inboxes. Ones that people can’t help but click.

That’s why we’ve come up with this list of 100 subject lines for Cyber Monday.

Feel free to use any of these yourself, or simply as inspiration for coming up with your own subject lines. 

General Cyber Monday Email Subject Lines

• Black Friday Done, Bring On Cyber Monday
• Missed Our Black Friday Sale? Don’t Worry! Cyber Monday Sale Starts Now
• This Sale Will Break The Internet
• Cyber Monday Madness 
• Cyber Deals All Day Long
• Missed Out On Black Friday? This Is Your Chance
• Cyber Monday SURPRISE! 
• Pssst… It’s Our Cyber Monday Secret Sale.
• Cyber and chill?
• Our Biggest Cyber Monday Sale Ever
• All Stock Must Go This Monday
• Cyber Monday? How About Cyber Week?
• Our Cyber Deals Have Arrived
• Why Stop Shopping Now? 
• Inside: Your Exclusive Cyber Monday Offer!
• The Wait Is Over. Monday Is Here! 
• It’s Officially The Best Monday Of The Year
• Cyber Monday Sale Starts Right Now
• Get a head start on our Cyber Monday specials
• Cyber Monday Has Begun! 
• Cyber Monday SALE Starts in 1 Hour
• It’s Our Biggest Shopping Event of the Year
• Cyber Monday Starts Now!
• Start Your Week Off Right With These Deals
• Our Cyber Deals Are Here! Why Wait Until Monday?
• Can’t Wait Until Monday?
• Cure your Mondayitis with these Cyber Deals
• It’s Cyber Monday All Week Here
• Online Only Deals For One Day Only
• Wake Up! It’s Cyber Monday!

Last Minute Subject Lines for Cyber Monday

• This Is Your Last Chance To Save 
• Last Call! Cyber Monday ends in 5 hours
• Black Friday extended for one last day! 
• Last Chance to Save This Cyber Weekend
• Hurry! These Deals End Midnight Tonight! 
• It’s The Final Stretch! Last Hours To Save Big
• Don’t Miss Out On These Incredible Deals
• The Sun’s Setting On Our Cyber Monday Sale
• Cyber Monday Sale… 24 HOURS ONLY
• Stop What You’re Doing! The Sale Is Almost Over! 
• Don’t Wait Until Next Year For A Deal Like This Again
• Cyber Monday Countdown: 3 Hours Left
• We’re Down To The Last Few Hours Left On Our Sale
• You’ll regret not taking advantage of these offers…
• Our Once-In-A-Year Sale Is Almost Over!

Subject Lines Mentioning Cyber Monday Sales

• Cyber Monday Sales – Up to 70% Off! 
• Save an extra 10% this Monday only
• Your Early Access: 20% Off Storewide.
• Save 30% With “CM30”. Today Only
• 50% Off Storewide! #CyberMonday
• Wake Up! Our Sale Continues with 25% Off
• Black Friday Sale + An Extra 10% Off = Best Monday Ever
• Cyber Monday Sale Starts Today! | 35% Off Site Wide
• Get a Head Start on Cyber Monday – Up To 60% OFF
• 20% OFF CYBER MONDAY! Ready for this?
• INSIDE: Our Cyber Monday Offer
• 24 Hours. 24% Off Store Wide
• Our BFCM Deal: 35% Off All Sale Items
• $10 Flat Shipping Nation Wide!
• Free Gift With Every Order
• Buy 2 Or More & Get 60% Off All
• Look Inside for some Sweet Deals
• Up to 70% Off. One Day Only.
• Don’t Forget: Cyber Monday Sale 40% Off
• Save up to 70% this weekend

Subject Lines Mentioning Free Shipping

• Free Shipping Extended For This Monday Only
• Enjoyed Black Friday? We’re Throwing in Free Shipping For Cyber Monday
• Get Your Purchases Shipped For Free. Today Only
• FREE SHIPPING: It’s How We Do BFCM
• Still Not Enticed? How About We Throw In Free Shipping!
• Free Shipping. Monday Only.
• Enjoy Overnight Shipping On Us. Monday Only.
• Free Shipping Nation Wide
• 50% Off, Free Shipping? It Must Be Cyber Monday
• Celebrate Cyber Monday with Free Shipping!
• Free Shipping Starts Now! Ends Midnight
• All Purchases This Cyber Monday Ship Free
• How Does FREE SHIPPING Sound?
• Who Still Charges For Shipping? We Don’t! 
• Didn’t Think It Could Get Any Better? Let’s Throw In Free Shipping Too

Subject Lines With Emojis

• Finally! A decent reason to wake up early on Monday
• Cyber Monday Starts Now ?
• ?Just Announced: Our Cyber Monday Deals
• Cyber Monday Sale: Refresh Your Wardrobe ?
• ?We’ve Got You Covered This Cyber Monday
• The Biggest Day For Online Shopping Has Arrived ?
• A free gift for you ? Because Cyber Monday
• Get Your Cyber Monday Bargains Shipped Free ?
• Monday + Online Deals ?
• Rise + Shine Don’t Miss Out On These Deals
• ? Monday Has Arrived. Start Shopping Now! 
• ? Cyber Monday Flash Sale ?
• Time’s Running Out On Our Cyber Monday Sale
• Cure your Mondayitis with these travel deals
• Check Out These Hot Entertainment Deals ?
• Cyber Monday Sale – Get 60% Off Your Second Pair ?
• Save BIG This Monday ?
• 10% Off All Jewelry ? Monday Only
• Get Your Sporting Goods Delivered Free
• Celebrate! It’s Cyber Monday! ?

Next Steps For Your Cyber Monday Email Marketing 

Now that you have plenty of inspiration for the subject line to use with your Cyber Monday emails, there might be a couple that you want to try out. 

Luckily enough, SmartrMail has A/B testing tools so you can test different subject lines and see which delivers the best open rates. This is available to all users and we have a guide on A/B testing too.

If you’re still yet to create the email, check out our Cyber Monday email examples. 

Still haven’t sent your Black Friday email? You can also check out our list of subject lines for Black Friday here and grab our free Black Friday email templates to get your emails out quickly. 

There’s also plenty more resources for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday email marketing campaigns in our hub below. 

Best of luck for the holiday shopping season!

The post 100 Cyber Monday Subject Lines You Can Use appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.

We hope you already have your Black Friday Email Templates ready, but now it’s time to turn your attention to Cyber Monday. Whether your online store is running the same sale over the entire week or you’re doing a separate Cyber Monday sale, we hope you’ll find some email design inspiration for one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Cyber Monday Email Examples

1) Herschel Supply Co. Cyber Monday Email

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Herschel Supply Co. keeps the Black Friday theme with an all black template. Their email clearly states the offers and has a single call to action making it easy for subscribers to start shopping on their site.

However for each order value tranche, they choose to offer a different discount code. It would be a better experience for shoppers if Herschel chose instead to have a single discount code that would auto apply the offer based on the cart value.

2) GFDA Cyber Monday Email

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After crafting half a dozen or more Black Friday emails you’re likely feeling pretty lazy when it comes to preparing more email marketing campaigns for Cyber Monday. 

GDFA does a playful take on this lazy feeling by striking out their Black Friday email design and adding their Cyber Monday sale on top. The email design is simple but witty and has a clear offer that’s easy to understand.

One small change that GDFA could have made would be to make their call to action and discount code a bit stronger as it gets lost behind the black overlay.

3) P.F. Candle Co. Cyber Monday Email

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If you have beautifully designed products you should take every opportunity to showcase them in your emails.

That’s exactly what P.F Candle Co do with their image heavy email. With their product images looking very similar, they do a great job of implementing in a couple in situ photos to break up the email and make the design more exciting.
Rather than use a discount code, they’ve also chosen to apply the discounts directly to all their products. If you can’t give a flat discount across all your products this is a great strategy to get involved in Cyber Monday without having to lose out on margins.

One thing we’d improve on this email is the lack of a bold call to action. While the arm at the bottom is well designed, swapping it out for a button is likely to make it easier for shoppers.

4) Tanner Goods Cyber Monday Email

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Clear offer, popular products, bold imagery – Tanner Goods checks all the boxes with their Cyber Monday email campaign. 

While featuring products in your sale emails tends to distract from the offer if everything is on sale, having your popular products when you’re only putting select collections on sale is a good idea. Remember to keep the products limited to 6 items and in different collections if possible. You want shoppers shopping on your site without distractions rather than in their inbox.

5) Everlane Anti Cyber Monday Email

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Not every brand can offer Cyber Monday deals, either your margins are too small or you don’t want customers holding out on purchases until your next sale. That’s okay – but you shouldn’t stay silent during Cyber Monday. Your customers expect to hear from you and they have money to spend. 

Everlane do a great job by restating the value they offer all year long. However if discounts aren’t an option, you should consider alternatives for your store. Options include free shipping, including a free gift for orders over a certain threshold, or limiting the sale to VIP customers.
One thing Everlane could do better is to segment their campaign by gender. This would significantly reduce the number of call to action buttons, and also keep the products and imagery targeted. With marketers finding that implementing segmented email campaigns can result in an increase of 760% in revenue – it’s a no brainer to segment your email list!

6) Dr. Martens Cyber Monday Email

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Almost every Black Friday Cyber Monday email will be black and white. Dr. Martens breaks the mold and uses a bold yellow to have their email campaign stand out in inboxes. It has a clear offer, limited call to actions, and visible discount code. The use of a countdown timer also creates a sense of urgency.

They could probably avoid the sneak preview section at the end of the email, but the rest of the email is so good that we’ll let this one slip!

Next Steps

Now that your Black Friday email is out of the way, it’s time to take inspiration from these email examples and nail Cyber Monday!

Once you have your email ready, you’ll need a great Cyber Monday subject line to ensure that it gets opened and read.

If your Black Friday email isn’t ready yet, you can also check out our list of Black Friday email examples to help generate some ideas. We also have a list of Black Friday subject lines for when you have the email ready to go.

The post The 6 Best Cyber Monday Email Examples appeared first on SmartrMail Email Marketing Blog.