The busiest time of year for all retail and ecommerce companies is about to arrive. The end of November marks the beginning of a prolonged holiday season that professional marketers can use to bring the most revenue for their brands. One of the top events in this period is Black Friday, which is highly anticipated by both businesses that plan promotions and customers who seek to secure the best deals. The secret to success is creating a Black Friday campaign for 2024 that stands out from the sea of other emails. To help you with the task, we prepared top Black Friday email ideas and examples that will help you maximize your performance throughout the holiday season.
Black Friday Email Marketing in 2024
The future of Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping is online! That said, if there’s anything to do as an ecommerce business besides just offering discounts, it is to send high-quality emails. Last year’s Black Friday email marketing statistics show the rising efficiency of promotions.
In 2023, online Black Friday sales reached an impressive $9.8 billion, a 7.5% increase from the previous year, as reported by Adobe Analytics. Cyber Monday also broke previous records, bringing in $12.4 billion, reflecting a 9.6% growth over 2022’s numbers. During the entire five-day shopping period, commonly known as the “Cyber 5,” total online sales surpassed $38 billion, marking a 7.8% rise from 2022.
This only proves that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the two most important shopping days of the year, and sending your Black Friday email campaigns can be a huge opportunity to increase your bottom line.
How to Prepare Black Friday Email Marketing Strategy
One of the most significant retail email marketing calendar occasions is Black Friday campaigns and automation. It’s a critical time for businesses to boost sales and draw in new clients. A well-thought-out Black Friday strategy can significantly impact your holiday performance, making this the most prosperous quarter of the year.
Make sure you have a plan for how you will go and your goals before you begin your Black Friday strategy. Spend some time learning about the best ways to conduct a successful Black Friday campaign strategy and considering how your ecommerce firm might benefit from them.
We’ve included some of the essential components for effective Black Friday email marketing below.
Black Friday Email List Segmentation
Emails on Black Friday will be sent by countless businesses. By communicating with your subscribers directly and targeting a specific audience, you can break through the clutter. When you segment your lists, that becomes simple.
Your Black Friday email segments can be made for:
- VIP clients
Offer special Black Friday deals to your devoted consumers as a way to thank them for their loyalty. These are the clients who you should prioritize because they are regular buyers.
- High AOV (Average Order Value) Clients
Make special bundles or offers that optimize the spending of consumers who have a history of making larger-value purchases.
- Early Bird vs. Last-Minute Shoppers
Segment based on shopping behavior. Send out early-bird specials to entice buyers to buy now, and last-minute offers to tempt buyers to buy later.
- Based on Preferences for Product Categories
Divide your audience into groups according to their online surfing habits or past purchases. Suggest Black Friday offers that suit their needs.
- Active Clients
Customers who have interacted with your emails or website within the last several months are your target audience or engaged subscribers. Their likelihood of responding to your Black Friday promotions is higher.
- Sorted by Email Engagement
Find the people who consistently read your emails but haven’t bought anything. Create enticing offerings to win them over as clients.
Review Black Friday Email Campaign Calendar
The first and most crucial step is to create the email marketing calendar. Plan all of your holiday emails well in advance so that you have time for scheduling, final setup, and any necessary updates. This covers a wide range of topics, such as the number of emails you want to send during Black Friday email promotions, their main objective, topic, type, A/B testing, and more. We have a guide ready if you’re at a loss for ideas for your November email campaigns.
Create Email Campaigns for Black Friday
When your email marketing schedule is established, it’s time to begin designing your Black Friday campaigns for 2024. Since this is a complex task with multiple steps, it’s important to follow the established process of campaign and content creation. Here are some major stages and points that you need to focus your effort on.
- Campaign Strategy and Content Creation
To begin, come up with ideas for each campaign and create engaging content. Think about the main points, deals, and calls to action that your target audience will find compelling. Make sure the voice and values of your brand are reflected in your messaging.
- Email Design
Provide aesthetically appealing and responsive email templates that work well for BFCM campaigns, your items, and your brand’s aesthetics. Continue using an eye-catching and unified design theme for all of your BFCM initiatives.
- Setting up Automation
Configure the email flow by using your email marketing solution to set up email automation. For your BFCM emails, arrange them logically, considering automation, timing, and trigger events. This guarantees that the optimal time to send emails to your audience is at their peak engagement.
- Segmentation
Divide your email list into groups according to a range of factors, such as previous purchasing patterns, degree of interaction, region, and more. For the highest level of relevance and interaction, customize your BFCM messaging for various segments.
- Testing and QA
Test your BFCM email campaigns before deploying them. Make sure everything is checked thoroughly for problems with design, rendering, links, and responsiveness on various email clients and devices. Consider if your Black Friday emails follow best practices for the industry.
It is extremely important to prepare in advance since you won’t send just one email. You most likely want to have at least three emails and start at least one week before Black Friday.
And here the question arises: how do you create the best Black Friday email campaigns? Let’s go over this in the next section.
Black Friday Email Campaign Ideas
We’ve already discussed how crucial it is to work out a successful strategy and execute it correctly. What if you have no clue how to do it right? Here are some Black Friday email marketing ideas that you can use as inspiration for your promotions.
Black Friday Email Gift Guides
Gift recommendations, such as the ones below, are a fantastic concept for Black Friday email promotions. The first benefit of sending out gift guides is that you can compose them based on the purchase, view history, engagement, and other available data on each individual client. High levels of personalization and targeted campaigns greatly increase conversions. They are also effective because they add a visual component to your email marketing, which is likely to grab readers’ attention and pique their interest.
Black Friday Campaigns with Live Sales
Live sales is a great Black Friday email marketing idea to add some spice. These are social media-based live events where attendees can directly purchase discounted merchandise. Customers find these live sales to be very entertaining and engaging because they can receive a discount when they attend the live event. Of course, you should use your email marketing campaign to promote any event you intend to conduct on your social media channels.
Black Friday Gift Cards
Probably the most common kind of email advertising for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is gift cards. For Black Friday, gift cards are being sent out by every store on the earth, therefore your customers will expect you to do the same. Nonetheless, we felt these few gift card campaign examples were fascinating. We found these commercials appealing because they mostly use GIFs, which are more engaging and dynamic than still photos.
Anti-Black Friday emails
Unexpectedly, promoting against the event is also a great Black Friday campaign idea that more firms ought to use. Especially, if your brand stands for sustainability and values an eco-friendly approach, slow fashion, and other similar concepts, you can use this strategy to promote your products in a non-assertive way.
In the example below, the brand took the time to make it more instructional so that its clients could learn more about their offerings. To encourage their clients to consider their decisions rather than making impulsive purchases they could later regret, they decided to provide discounts throughout the entire season instead of only on Black Friday. During their marketing campaigns, they urged people to purchase their goods out of want rather than in response to sales offers.
Giving Back Black Friday Campaign
Here’s an additional idea for an unconventional Black Friday campaign that an increasing number of firms are including in their marketing plans. This campaign is similar to an inverted Black Friday sale in that the participating brands are donating a portion of their earnings to charitable causes rather than holding a deal on their goods. Sharing the results of your philanthropic contributions with the community on Black Friday is a terrific idea.
Text-based Black Friday Email Ideas
Not all emails in your promotions have to have intricate designs with an abundance of illustrations to convey your offers. As an effective Black Friday email idea, we suggest you send one or two text-based emails, including them in your promotional plan for the holiday. This strategy is especially effective when your BFCM promotional schedule is prolonged and includes many content-heavy messages. This kind of email can effectively communicate the message and fulfill its function as a component of larger email campaigns, even in the absence of unique style and visuals.
Mystery Deals Black Friday Campaign
Adding a sprinkle of secrecy and mystery to your promotions is one of the best Black Friday email marketing ideas that intrigue the audience and encourage engagement. This is a “mystery offer,” where the discount code is concealed in an email with a GIF. The customer must visit the website and go to the checkout page to find out how much of a percentage off they can receive. They eventually determine the amount of the discount after entering the coupon code they got in the email.
Black Friday VIP Emails
The VIP campaign is another trend in Black Friday email marketing. The campaign’s objective is to persuade the subscribers to sign up for an exclusive email or SMS list before Black Friday, so they may be the VIPs who get the best offers, discounts, and gift cards.
Our Tips for Black Friday Email Design and Content
After choosing the strategy you want to implement, it’s time for you to start working on the Black Friday email design and its copy. Creating a proper campaign is a challenging task, so our design professionals share some tips and proven methods to help you.
- Brief and Direct Promotions
The way you compose your email heavily impacts important campaign results like click-through rates, conversion, and overall revenue. If you get too specific with a long text, you run the danger of boring the readers. If you provide too little information, though, your target audience won’t understand what your offers are about or how to take advantage of them.
- Creative Black Friday Email Copy
When crafting the content of your Black Friday email, make sure it’s concise, memorable, and unique. Hence, make an impression with a compelling brand voice and offers that are packaged in an eye-catching, simple-to-read email.
- Adding FOMO
Then, as the big day approaches, you may begin to increase the urgency with more concise, snappier information. Inform your clients when “time is running out” or “the sale is over.” Your sales will remain steady throughout the day if you can configure processes to guarantee that those emails are received by recipients at the precise time.
- Highlighted Offer
Start by using a large, eye-catching banner to draw attention to your primary offer. Then, add a few short columns with further explanations of the deals.
- Strategically Placed CTAs
Always make sure there are CTAs strategically placed throughout your Black Friday email design. This will make it easy for your readers to navigate directly to the offers on your website that most interest them.
- Brand Consistency
When crafting your Black Friday email copy, keep your brand identity in mind.
The image of your brand should inform the style of your Black Friday email content. Therefore, speak in a voice that your customers will recognize, utilize the colors that they have come to associate with you, and add the imagery that best symbolizes your products. Additionally, you can use features like font selection, creative subject lines, and distinctive design components to convey your brand identity.
Black Friday Email Marketing Examples by Flowium
Flowium is an experienced email marketing service provider with a great deal of successful promotions on our track record. Through the years of working with different brands, we gathered many efficient practices that we now can share to help you with your campaigns. Here you can find our Black Friday sale email examples, and see how we design, organize and manage promotions for our clients. We also disclose the results of each campaign so you can see their performance.
Early Bird Sale Black Friday Email for X-Pole
Goal: Present subscribers with a special Black Friday deal, showcase products
Subject Line: You’ve Got Access To Our Early Bird Sale
This email serves as an excellent illustration of how to appropriately notify customers about a special deal while upholding brand consistency. The designers at Flowium employed strategic components to effectively promote the offer and the items, in addition to keeping the design consistent with the company’s style.
The main headline draws attention to the deal’s VIP access, which increases users’ sense of value. Personalization is further enhanced by utilizing a client’s first name in the copy. Customers are incentivized to shop by the well-placed CTAs and the promo coupon that is highlighted. The “We think you’ll like these” recommendation section is essentially a dynamic block that is created based on the information that is available from each recipient (buy history, recently viewed, and added to cart products). This component enabled Flowium to design a campaign that was more precisely targeted.
Results: Thanks to the use of the best practices, this Black Friday email had good KPIs. Here are the results that were reported:
- Open rate: 54.4% (7,114 recipients);
- Click rate: 2.8% (367 recipients);
- Place order rate: 0.1% (18 recipients).
Black Friday Email Example: Early Bird Sale Last Chance
Goal: Warn subscribers about the end of the Early Bird sale offer before the start of the main event, encourage them to complete purchases
Subject Line: Save Before The Madness Begins
As part of the multichannel approach, this BFCM email example was delivered to supplement the SMS campaign’s efforts. In an attempt to persuade subscribers to act, the main title highlights the Early Bird deal’s time constraints. Additionally, by employing expressions like “The only chance you’ll get” or “Last call to shop,” the copy highlights the impending finish. ‘Before the stocks run out’ conveys a sense of urgency to subscribers, prompting them to take immediate action. All subscribers will be shopping once the BFCM sale begins, so they must act quickly to take advantage of the chance. All things considered, the tinge of FOMO serves to emphasize how exclusive the X-POLE deal is.
Results: This was the best-performing Early Bird sale campaign. Here are some of the achieved performance metrics:
- Open rate: 61.9% (22,275 recipients);
- Click rate: 2.2% (803 recipients);
- Placed order rate: 0.2%(72 recipients).
Black Friday VIP Campaign Example
Goal: Notify subscribers about the beginning of the sale, introduce a special BFCM deal with its requirements
Subject Line: Exclusive VIP Sale: 48 Hours Only!
The purpose of this BFCM email was to inform the list’s customers and prospects about a unique offer that Lulalu had put together. The marketers at Flowium decided to highlight the offer’s exclusivity right away by mentioning the time constraints in the subject line. Excellent open rates in the campaign’s outcomes attest to the fact that this strategy captures the recipient’s interest even before they open the email. Additionally, the email design was made to emphasize exclusivity. The title makes it clear from the outset that the company is only offering VIP access, which may draw in new subscribers. GIFs are used in the hero picture to attract attention and highlight some of the merchandise. To prevent confusion, the email copy contains clear calls to action (CTAs) together with all the deal specifics. A “Thank you” email was also sent by the marketers to individuals who chose to receive VIP access; this was a component of Flowium’s effective brand-focused marketing campaign (BFCM).
Results: This campaign was the highest revenue campaign of the year, with excellent KPIs. Here are some of the achieved performance metrics:
- Open rate: 60.4% (7.730 recipients);
- Click rate: 3% (384 recipients);
- Placed order rate: 1% (126 recipients).
Black Friday Email Subject Lines
It’s crucial to pay attention to your subject lines because they have a significant impact on email open rates. To provide you with more context, let’s see how well-known businesses execute the creation of their subject lines for BFCM promotions. We’ll also share some more interesting ideas that you can use as your Black Friday email subject.
Some brands excel at email marketing, starting with compelling Black Friday subject lines.
Here are some effective subject lines from famous brands with strong marketing teams:
– “Best. Black. Friday. Ever. Just got even better!” – Ulta Beauty
– “Don’t stress: 25% off for Black Friday” – Madewell
– “$10, $20, $30. Which will you pick?” – Dr. Axe
– “Be ready, the Black Friday Sale is Coming…” – Diesel
– “You were chosen for our early Black Friday flyer!” – Dell
– “3 Words: 1 Black. 2 Friday. 3 Deals. More Coupons Enclosed” – Bed Bath & Beyond
– “Time is Running Out//Black Friday Early Access” – Ray-Ban
Here are some more examples that share one key feature: they compel readers to click and open the email.
- “🎉 It’s Here! Black Friday Mega Deals Inside 🎉”
- “🕒 Tick-Tock… Black Friday Steals Won’t Last! ⏳”
- “🔥 Black Friday’s Hottest Deals Are Here! 🔥”
- “🎁 Black Friday Gifts Await – Unwrap Yours Now! 🎁”
- “💸 Save Big! Black Friday Blowout Sale Ends Soon 💸”
- “🚨 Don’t Miss Out: Black Friday Only Comes Once! 🚨”
FAQ
When should I send Black Friday emails?
Black Friday is a crazy shopping day, and if you’re planning to send an email campaign, it’s essential to start early. You should start sending your Black Friday email campaign at least one week in advance, or even two. Sending out your first Black Friday email should be your goal at least a week ahead of the sale. Send the initial email two weeks in advance, if at all possible, to give folks enough time to make plans to accept your offer.
By the end of October, you can even send out your very first email. People are getting more and more organized for Black Friday. There is so much competition that you have to move fast to become noticed.
What is the best time of the day to send a Black Friday email?
When sending this email, timing is important. Keep in mind that on Black Friday, people wake up early to shop. For optimal outcomes, send your email between 4 and 8 a.m.
You may need to adjust the timing somewhat if your sale is going to go live at a different time. To prepare customers for the big bargain, you may send out your final Black Friday email the night before at 11 p.m., for example, if your sale starts at exactly midnight.
You must consider your unique offer and delivery schedule when determining when to send emails on Black Friday. If your Black Friday sale begins at 10 a.m. instead of midnight, your schedule will change.
How many emails should I send on Black Friday?
You need to send out a whole email campaign on Black Friday—sending only one email is insufficient. A week before Black Friday, send out three to five emails at the very least.
Final Thoughts
Black Friday doesn’t have to be as stressful as it sometimes feels. We hope you’ll have no problem with launching your own campaign after exploring our Black Friday email marketing ideas. To begin creating those high-converting messages, plan your email calendar, look at successful campaigns for inspiration, and get started with setting up campaigns and flows in top email marketing software, like Klaviyo. If you’re searching for a professional team to manage these complicated tasks for you, don’t hesitate to contact Flowium to receive top-notch assistance and services.
