#120. Black Friday & Cyber Monday Campaigns Calendar | Podcast

Vira: 0:41

Hello. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Flowium podcast. I’m an email marketeer at an agency called Flowium. And here at Flowium, we are very passionate about marketing. And because we love what we do, we want to share our insights with you. And today I’m joined by my colleague by a very special email marketing person and email marketing geek. I mean, we all are. Andrea Pahlman. Say hi, Andrea.

Andrea: 1:05

Hi. How’s it going? I’m so excited to do this today.

Vira: 1:09

Good. We’re excited to have you here. I was just explaining to Andrea why we decided to got her on this podcast. I mean, Andrea is probably like the most fun person to talk to on this, like, weekly meetings. So we have this, like informal weekly coffee houses meetings. And your stories are always the craziest, Andrea.

Andrea: 1:27

Yeah, I. I love telling a good story. I. That’s. That’s what I like for a good story. Yeah, exactly.

Vira: 1:34

Yeah, for sure. Before we get to discuss all of the juicy stuff, by the way, today we will be talking about Black Friday Cyber Monday content, you guys. But before we go and discuss all of the serious stuff, Andrea, we want to get to know you better. So I’m going to ask you a bunch of this or that questions. Just like, answer with the first thing that comes into your mind.

Andrea: 1:54

Okay, I’m ready.

Vira: 1:55

Cool. Let’s do this. Okay. Texting or calling?

Andrea: 1:59

Texting.

Vira: 2:00

Yay.

Andrea: 2:01

100%.

Vira: 2:02

100%. Same here. Online shopping or offline shopping.

Andrea: 2:06

Oh, I think offline, actually. I’m obsessed with like discount stores and like flea markets. So, like, I feel I have to say offline.

Vira: 2:17

Okay, okay. Okay. This one is kind of weird. Living in 1969 or in 2069.

Andrea: 2:25

Oh, 2069 for sure.

Vira: 2:28

I feel like I go back to like 70s and 60s, you know, I would totally go.

Andrea: 2:32

I feel like in theory, yes, but in practice, like, there was a lot of stuff happening to women at that time that I’m like, I don’t know if I want to be involved in that.

Vira: 2:41

That’s true though. That’s. That’s a good point. Okay. Cake or piece?

Andrea: 2:46

Cake. Easy. I love icing. I feel like cake by itself. If it was just Cake by itself with no icing. I would probably say pie, but I feel like icing really, like, adds to it for me. Like, that’s what makes it cake.

Vira: 2:58

Cake. Okay, cool. Gummy worms or gummy bears.

Andrea: 3:02

Ooh. Are they sour or are they regular gummy worms?

Vira: 3:06

I don’t know. That’s just an Internet question I found, like, on a random website.

Andrea: 3:10

I don’t know.

Vira: 3:11

You decide.

Andrea: 3:12

I think. I think I’ll go with gummy worms because it’s, like, more bang for your buck, you know? Like, it’s a. It’s a larger piece of candy.

Vira: 3:19

Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. Do you guys usually give them for, like, holidays? For, like, Halloween? So do you, like, give them to kids? Is that a norm here? Or do people usually give chocolate candy? I’m asking because I’ve never trick or treated ever.

Andrea: 3:34

I think, like, gummy worms. Gummy worms are not really a trick or treat item for the most part, because they’re. Their packaging is kind of weird. So, like, most trick or treat stuff is like, something that’s packaged individually. And gummy worms are usually like a big package of gummy worms because I’ve

Vira: 3:51

seen that somewhere, like on Pinterest. But they think it was more like a holiday snack or something. Like. Yeah, like a snack with gummy worm.

Andrea: 3:58

Yeah, I feel like a snack. Yes. But not necessarily like a trick or treat scenario.

Vira: 4:03

Yeah. Cool. Okay, the last one. If you had a theme song playing every time you entered the room, what would it be?

Andrea: 4:10

Oh, okay. This is like a many level answer. But my initial. My instinct says that don’t impress me much by Shania Twain.

Vira: 4:20

Okay.

Andrea: 4:20

Because I just think that that song is, like, wild and so good. But then my other instinct is like, eye of the tiger. Just, like, for drama.

Vira: 4:27

For drama. Yes, yes. We’re all here for drama, Andrea.

Andrea: 4:31

You know what I mean? Like, I’m like, ooh, the drama of, like, you walk into a room and that’s the song that plays. I feel like that, for me, would be, like, really great. Like, every day. I would feel good about that.

Vira: 4:41

The mix of two, that’s probably what you’re going for. Okay, awesome. Cool. Well, that was fun, Andrea. Thank you so much. So, yeah, let’s. Let’s discuss some juicy stuff. Let’s discuss Black Friday Cyber Monday and what to send around the holidays. Because that’s, like, the problem that I had when I first started working with Flowium. I was like, okay, we’re going to send Black Friday email one and done. Well, no, it’s much more complex than that. It may actually be hard to believe, but Black Friday Cyber Monday is now not just like a weekend, right? A lot of brands are extending it into like the months of November or even the months of October. Some brands who are selling like, bigger items starting as soon as, like, summer, I kid you not. Some, like mattress companies, they had Black Friday Cyber Monday promise, like back in freaking July. But that’s just like an interesting tendency, right? And I read this number on the Internet that last year, the total sales during the cyber weekend, meaning than giving through Cyber Monday, they dropped by 1.4%. And in 2020, they dropped 1.3%. Yet the week. Or, sorry, yet the months of November was up compared to like the last years. Which means that people don’t only shop during that weekend anymore, but they start much, much sooner. Partially because all of the issues that we have with stock, right? All of the issues that we have with like, delivery and stuff. But I do my Black Friday Cyber Monday shopping as soon as September probably. Like, seriously, do you usually shop for Black Friday or before?

Andrea: 6:25

I actually made a purchase last week in a Black Friday sale, but it wasn’t like a large purchase. It was something that I wanted anyway. So I bought a pair of, you know those tights that like, they’re like, indestructible.

Vira: 6:37

What’s the name of that? Sheertax.

Andrea: 6:40

Sheer Tax.

Vira: 6:40

Sheer Tax, Yes. I see. I keep seeing this Instagram everywhere, this Instagram ad.

Andrea: 6:45

That’s what happened to me. I kept seeing the advertisement. I haven’t gotten them yet. I bought them this past weekend, but a friend of mine bought hers last Black Friday and she’s the one who texted me about it, actually. And then it started appearing in my algorithm, but she was like, yeah, I bought a black pair and like, they actually are indestructible and we both have like a similar sized dog. And she was like, yeah, like, the dog will jump on them, like claws and all. And they don’t rip, though. And I’m like, that’s what I need.

Vira: 7:16

Putting it on my Christmas list. By the way, guys, we are not affiliated. Neither we nor dogs are affiliated with sheertax. But sheertex, if you are listening to this podcast, please sponsor us.

Andrea: 7:27

We would love to send us some tights.

Vira: 7:29

Send them some ties. Yes, that’s the thing. Okay, cool, cool. So they’ve started their promotions already? Yeah, that’s.

Andrea: 7:37

They actually, they’re. Their messaging is something to do with, like, early Black Friday sale, like, ends soon. So I think what. What they’re doing is like essentially adding a second kind of set of urgency to be like, oh, like you can get the Black Friday deal now or you have to wait until Black Friday. So it’s gonna, it’s gonna start and then stop and then start again. Which I think is an interesting tactic.

Vira: 7:59

That’s interesting. And I actually, I will be doing it for my own clients as well. So, so we are kind of give or kind of going to give the early access to our VAP people for a short amount of time and then we’re going to open the sale to everyone. But yeah, let’s, let’s talk about the different types of the content to send around the holidays. Let’s start from the very beginning. Tell us about the campaigns that you will be sending this year.

Andrea: 8:26

So the first thing that I always think that is important is doing like a teaser email prior to Black Friday. So kind of like what we were just talking about. Whereas, like, yes, everyone knows that Black Friday is coming, but there’s something to be said for people reserving space in their wallet for you. So it’s this idea of like, and there’s drawbacks to it as well because like, you don’t want people to be like, oh, well, I’m not going to purchase it all this week because I’m waiting for the end of the week. But it’s still like, I would rather them do that than not purchase from us at all because someone else has sent a teaser email. So it’s this idea of like, something big is coming. Like, here’s a preview of what the promo is going to be. And like that kind of gives us that, oh, I know that this brand is going to have a good deal on Friday. So I want to make sure that I’m checking my emails and waiting for that offer to come through when it starts. Great example of this is Apple. Apple, again, not affiliated, but if they want to send me a MacBook, I’m happy to have it. But they stagger their emails and instead of just blasting out an email campaign on Friday morning, they know that they have a bigger ticket item that they’re selling because it’s not like they’re selling anything that’s super inexpensive. Say that they’re probably the lowest cost Apple item I’ve ever purchased is probably like still$100. Oh yeah. Which in the scheme of things is low for their product line, but it’s still like $100 for a mouse. And so like when they start, when they start early, they kind of are letting people Kind of prepare for that like high ticket item purchase. So they’ll do like, like an email that announces that their sale is going to happen in a couple weeks and then a second email, like exactly what the offer is going to be. And then doing that allows them to say like, oh, people who are going to buy a computer during Black Friday now know what our offer is going to be and so they can like plan for what that purchase is going to be instead of shopping around. And I think that that’s a really good way to kind of like capture that sale before necessarily your customer is really even thinking about it.

Vira: 10:23

Yeah. But to me it sounded almost like counterintuitive. Why would you like discourage people from buying now? Right. It’s almost like this. Emails are telling them, don’t buy anything today, but come back in like two weeks and purchase. But also at the same time, it kind of creates that like excitement for the sale. Right. So especially.

Andrea: 10:43

And I also think like, the reality is that if you think about like the cultural phenomenon of Black Friday Cyber Monday, it’s like nobody is making a high, high ticket purchase two weeks before anyway because they know that that’s coming. So if they can wait, like, if they’re the type of person who is able to wait those two weeks, it’s really about like they’re going to make it, make that purchase in two weeks regardless. Because they know that a sale is coming.

Vira: 11:06

Yeah.

Andrea: 11:07

Whether they know what it is or not.

Vira: 11:08

That’s a good point.

Andrea: 11:09

And especially like in the case of like a laptop, for example, like you are, there’s two reasons to buy a laptop. You’re upgrading. Right. Because like your current laptop works, but you just want something new or you’re in urgent need. Like your laptop has stopped working. Right. So the people who are in urgent need are not going to wait the two weeks regardless. Right. So they’re kind of like, you take them out of the picture and then you look at the people who are like planning to buy and you’re like, they’re going to buy that weekend. We just want to get to them before someone else does.

Vira: 11:38

Right. And it also makes sense to do this teaser emails, just like you mentioned to the more expensive products just because the life cycle of that customer is longer. Right. I mean, I do less research when I buy socks compared to when I’m buying the phone because that’s a bigger commitment. So sending an email like this even like few weeks or even a month before the sale so people can like mark their calendar. I think it’s a really good Idea. No, I love it, Andrea. I love it. That’s a really good one.

Andrea: 12:09

Yeah, 100%. It’s a good one.

Vira: 12:10

Yeah. Who would you send it to though? Would you send it to like an entire list or would you send it to some specific segments?

Andrea: 12:17

I think it kind of depends on who is on your list. But I would say like this is the type of thing I would send to all engaged customers. That’s a good one. Yeah. I think there is the argument to be made that you could send it to everyone because you’re not actually necessarily in this email looking for clicks or purchases. So if you sent it to your unengaged customers, it’s not like it’s not going to devastate you. But I think sending it to engaged customers because you know that they have been engaging with email so maybe they’ve been planning that bigger purchase for a longer time. I think that that’s the strategy I would use.

Vira: 13:13

Yeah, the engagement is good, especially before the holidays, to make sure, just like, make sure that you don’t damage your sending reputation. Because when you’re sending to like a bigger segment that is like unengaged or to your master list and your open rates are low, your click through rates are low, it means that all this like platforms like Google and Yahoo will see you as not a legit sender. You know what I mean? And you don’t want that to happen to you, especially before the holidays.

Andrea: 13:38

Yeah, that’s like the one week that you don’t want that happening.

Vira: 13:40

Exactly, exactly. So in preparation for the holidays, make sure to segment your campaigns really, really well. So your deliverability is high. So your all of your metrics are high. Click through rate, open rate. That’s very important you guys. I mean the second time I would also say. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

Andrea: 13:57

I would also say in that same note, like don’t be over spamming people that week. Like don’t send too many emails that week because you don’t want people to be sick of you.

Vira: 14:05

Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. That being said, I’ve noticed with all of my clients that unsubscribe rates are usually higher around the holidays, around Black Friday, Cyber Monday. And that’s totally okay. You guys, don’t freak out if you’ve noticed that some of your campaigns have higher unsubscribe rates than say October campaigns or September campaigns that just basically because your customers are being like bombarded with like thousands of emails from like different brands and yours is one of them. So to avoid that of course you can segment your list, you can deliver relevant information to your customer, but even if you do the best of the best of the job, it still will happen to you. So that’s a normal part of the process in November. Yeah. Cool. The second type of the emails that we are sending and it’s actually kind of similar to what you, Andrea was telling us about. You were talking more about the teaser email. So basically like a preview of the sale. Well, there is a second type and it’s like a sneak peek of the email. So you can basically let the customer know you can’t contain your excitement regarding the amazing offer and you can give them the sneak peek of exactly what to expect on Black Friday. So Apple reminder example that you’ve used, they are kind of not telling what to expect in the first email, but the second email is where they give the details and that’s what this sneak peek email is about. So basically some brands, what they are doing instead of just like telling about the promotion, they are kind of like opening the sale to like a specific segment of customers. Just like we discussed it with you and with that like mattress company that I mentioned. And actually speaking of like mattress companies, one, one mattress company, they’ve done this promotion in like September where they offered up to$400 off select mattresses. And basically that campaign got a really high open rate, click through rate and really get conversion as well. Just because that campaign was not competing with other offers that people usually sent during the holidays. So who to send it? I mean it’s kind of, kind of depends on your strategy. Engaged customers is always a good segment or if you want to narrow it down even more, especially if your deliverability good, you can send it to combination of smaller engaged segment and returned customers. So you know that these people, they want to hear from you, they love you, they love your brand or they just like engage and love your email. So depending on your strategy and depending on your deliverability, you might go with engaged or you might narrow it down a bit. When to send it again comes down all to your overall strategy. Monday before Black Friday is a good idea for the sneak peek email. Or if you’re selling like a bigger or more expensive items, maybe you can, maybe you want to give your customers a bit more of a time to decide. So yeah, so that’s the sneak peek emails and I love them actually. I, I’m guilty of shopping way before the holidays myself. So that’s why I think it’s a good idea to capture people like me during the holidays.

Andrea: 17:19

Oh, 100%. I also think it’s. This is like a great example of like, planning because, like, I, I don’t know, my sister and I are both big shoppers. We love shopping and we always have been like that. And one of the things that, like, I love more than anything is finding a deal. Like you. I find a deal and I’m like, excited for days. I’m so happy. I feel like this kind of like preempts that, like, it gives you. It gives people that excitement like a couple days before so that they’re like actively like waiting to get that deal. Do you know what I mean?

Vira: 17:48

Yeah. And it’s a very North American thing of you to say too. It’s like Americans and Canadians, they’re like all about deals. Like, I come from Europe. We never have this crazy, insane discount. You know, we were watching this, like, videos from Black Friday, Cyber Monday. You know those videos when like the mall opens and like gazillion of people start packing into it. Oh my goodness. I, like, couldn’t believe that this is real. I thought it was some sort of a joke or something. And there’s like people carrying like four TVs and stuff like that. I mean, it’s different probably now. Do people still go to malls, like, physically, like in the morning? Is that a still?

Andrea: 18:22

I think, yeah. I mean, okay, so as I mentioned earlier, like, I’m an in person shopper. I don’t do it as much for Black Friday because in my experience, Black Friday historically, like when I used to shop more, I guess, was really about electronics. So it was like, you’re talking about those four TVs, whatever. And I was like, I don’t need that, like, whatever. So I never would go. But I distinctly remember, like, the Boxing Day version of that. It’s a Canadian thing, right? Yeah, that’s a Canadian thing. And it’s like the day after Christmas. And it’s similar to Black Friday in the sense that like theirs is, I guess, the day before Thanksgiving or after Thanksgiving or however it falls. I’m not really sure.

Vira: 18:56

I think Thanksgiving Day and like, yeah, Boxing Day, it’s like the day after Christmas. And Black Friday is the day after American Thanksgiving. Right? Yeah, I think.

Andrea: 19:05

Yeah. So it’s like same same, but different. And I remember we would go to the mall for like, we get there at 6am and it would open at 7. Well, like my sister, again, my sister and I love shopping, right? And so this is what we would do. And Christmas Day is actually her birthday. So it was Kind of like a thing we would do because it was like a birthday activity as well in certain sense. But yeah, I still kind of do that. Like I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it, I guess. But again, I like shopping in person. Yeah.

Vira: 19:30

But I think it’s changing too. Just because it’s not a one day event anymore. Right. So you don’t have to be there at like six in the morning anymore. You can go the next day, you can go the day before that. But I still kind of train to expect the better deals on Black Friday even when brand is sending me the message and like this is the best deal that we’re going to have. Don’t wait until Black Friday. I’m like, like, no, I’m still gonna wait because maybe you guys will. Maybe you will have something else for me.

Andrea: 20:01

100%. Although I will say so. The next email that I wanted to talk about or like the next email that I like sending as, as like an email marketer is the early bird sale. So it’s the same kind of concept of like I’m the first person in the store, so I’m gonna get the best deals. And like there’s that like that door buster kind of energy where it’s like, you know, the first hundred people who show up get this, this is kind of like that, but not really. So it’s like you’re thanking like your VIPs so you do like an early bird. Like, hey, you could actually make this purchase on Thursday or Wednesday or whatever it makes sense. Like depending on what your strategy is, like even to a certain extent, you could start it on Monday and be like, you guys get access four days before our regular customers because you’re a vip. And I think that that kind of is a good way to create even more brand loyalty.

Vira: 20:51

Right.

Andrea: 20:51

Because we’re driving sales. Like the reality of Black Friday Cyber Monday is like you’re driving sales. That’s the whole point. Like, we’re all aware of what that is, but the other part of marketing is also creating that brand relationship. And I think doing something like an early bird sale or like giving people early access. And like that’s a really good idea in terms of like just building that kind of, you know, continuing to build that, that relationship in your brand. And there’s other ways to do it. It could be exclusive offers. It could be like, oh, like limited edition swag that like you only get because you’re a VIP and you’re buying early. Or it can be, you know, anything like that. Like, depending on what your brand is. There’s so many different ways that you could do it. I used to work for a cosmetics company and one of the things that we implemented was that we would sell limited edition colors to our VIPs before anyone else.

Vira: 21:39

That’s fun. That’s fun, right?

Andrea: 21:41

And, and it’s, and so sometimes depending on shipping, those VIPs would receive that product before it was even on sale.

Vira: 21:50

Oh wow, that’s amazing. And that’s like that feeling of exclusivity, right?

Andrea: 21:56

100%. And it also like from a brand perspective like allows you to gather that UGC or those reviews before the product goes live to everybody or the sale goes live to everybody. And I think that that’s like a really important part of kind of a more like integrated marketing strategy. And then in addition to that, that user generated content that you’re getting from those VIPs, you can use that in your emails. If you’re like kind of in need of that content or you want more of that like really high converting content. I think that that’s like an important thing to do, right? Yeah, like a few days early, even like I would say up to a month before.

Vira: 22:34

Oh yeah.

Andrea: 22:34

Just to give yourself time like again depending on what the, what the type of ticket is. And also like this is a good way to bolster your email list as well. Like if you wanted to do different versions of this where you say like oh if you sign up for sms, like you’ll also be added to these exclusive offers or you know, whatever that might be and that, that kind of gives you that more well rounded like oh, this is how we’re getting people onto these lists and how we’re segmenting them and the offers that we’re offering.

Vira: 23:00

Yeah, I kind of like that you mentioned that sometimes we treat SMS subscribers as VIPs. Like no matter their previous purchasing history, no matter if they’ve placed an order with you or not, they have a high intent of purchasing just because they gave you their SMS or their mobile phone information, which is a bit more of a personal mean of communication. Right. So it makes sense giving them that like extra care or extra deals. I also like that you mentioned that it don’t, it doesn’t have to be a discount. Right. You can do different things. You can do exclusive bundles, exclusive products. One of our clients few years ago, they’ve done this like holiday themed wrapping paper, like a brand specific, you know, they were like adding it to. Yeah, I love it too. And it’s so unique too and it doesn’t cost you much, you know, to offer that like wrapping paper, especially if you’re selling that like more expensive stuff. That brand though, they don’t, they don’t offer any like discounts. So they usually come up with some other type of incentives, either like exclusive stock or gift paper or like some brand merch or something like that, which is also like a good strategy to use. Right?

Andrea: 24:14

100%. I think that the variation of those incentives also like when we talked earlier about like, you’re going to see a higher unsubscribe rate at this time of year, setting yourself apart by like, we’re not just throwing a percentage discount at you. It also like makes those emails more interesting, makes people want to keep checking them and keep receiving them. Right. Like, I think, I think kind of varying the incentives you’re doing, like, discounts are great now, everyone loves them and that’s what they expect. But doing that in combination with a different type of incentive I think is a really good strategy for like creating again, more excitement surrounding the brand.

Vira: 24:46

A hundred percent, 100%. It doesn’t always have to be a discount code and you don’t want to train your customers to expect it. Right. Because in the long run it’s a bet. It’s a bad practice, basically. Okay, cool. So when it comes to Black Friday, what do you send? Well, we have this big launch email that pretty much is going to be sent to everyone on your list, to all of your engaged, unengaged people who purchased from you months ago, people who purchased from you like 60 months ago, whatever. This email will go to everyone. And that’s not the practice that we usually recommend to do during the year, but Black Friday once a year. It’s just the email to send. And the email messaging can be something where you are like introducing the promotion, where you’re given all of the details of the promotion. So what the promotion is the deadline, the discount code, basically all of the information the subscribers need to know about your promotion to use it. But also maybe it’s a good idea just to remind in a sentence or to who your brand is and why your customers should be excited about your product, products. Just because as I already mentioned, you will send this email to a big, big segment pretty much to everyone on your list, minus the people who have recently purchased or who purchased 48 hours ago or a week ago or something. So that’s why it’s a good idea to remind your customers about who you are and what they will get. I would also include maybe some best Selling product blocks. So even if they don’t know where to start, so you kind of give them like a recommendation or something. When to send. Now this is tricky. You can either send it Thursday before Black Friday and a lot of brands are doing that. Yet there are some brands who want to stay away from that specific Thursday just because it’s family day. It’s like Thanksgiving. People usually spend time with family and you don’t want to be too intrusive. So it depends on who you are sending to. So there are like some brands that I work with and they are for like all their people for like people in their like 60s or 50s. So we usually stay away from messaging those people just because they are not too, too excited about receiving an email during the family dinner. When you work with like younger people, like 20s or like 30s, they are totally cool with like checking their email the night before the sale. Like, I mean I, I wouldn’t mind receiving an email. To me it doesn’t sound like too, too intrusive. You know another thing that you can send before Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even if you’re like having the Black Friday promotion, maybe you can send it a day early but just change the copy a bit. So instead of just talking about the promotion, maybe you can, I don’t know, maybe you can thank do some sort of like a Thanksgiving themed email where you’re kind of thanking your customers for their loyalty when you’re thanking them for being with your brand. Kind of like from our family to yours kind of email. And those emails, I’ve seen big success with them. Especially when we are using some like team picture or like a picture of people who are working on our brand with their kids or with their families. It just gives that, it just puts that human face onto the brand and that’s something that we love doing with all of those emails. Well, anyways, Black Friday email. So we usually send two emails but the first one usually goes either in the a.m. hour or like a day before that. But listen, just like we discussed with Andrea, you don’t have to send the discount only. So there is this brand and I don’t know how to pronounce them correctly, but I think it’s stork. It’s like store with queue. So instead of giving the discount code last year, what they did, they basically gave the free black tank top to all of the people who ordered over$75 worth, who’ve placed over $75 worth of purchase. And basically you’ve just had it to add to the discount. Code Thanksgiving. And I think it’s very smart because they’re giving tanks up. Right. So I mean you don’t have to necessarily give discount codes. Some brands are taking it another even like step further. And I remember that Black in back in 2021, one of the fashion brand, it’s called Reburn. They basically their concept is that they are not selling the fast, fast fashion and they, they basically selling the pieces that are in circulation and people are like using them for a longer time and they are against this like retail waste. They’re against the fast fashion. So basically what they’ve done on Black Friday they pretty much closed their online store so you could not purchase anything from them on that weekend. But instead they sent all of their traffic to another line of closing called Responsible. Basically this is like a. I think it’s like a buy bag. Some sort of like a buy bag brand or somewhere where you can.

Andrea: 29:57

Some sort of like thrift type item where it’s like things that are pre owned or.

Vira: 30:01

And I think it’s a cute idea. And yeah, they don’t rely as much on holiday sales. Right. But it’s a cute idea to communicate your message. If you’re against fast brand, fast fashion, if you’re against all those like cheap stuff that don’t last you long, Black Friday is a good day to communicate that. Right.

Andrea: 30:20

Even any like sustainable brand. I feel like one of, one of the things that we talk about in conjunction with Black Friday is like the level of consumption. Right. Like when we talk about like oh I saw these videos of these guys leaving with four TVs and it’s like no one needs four TVs. Like no one needs to be making that purchase. So like I mean maybe they do. I don’t know. I don’t know what their life is. But it’s this idea that like as a sustainable brand you’re like oh well, reducing consumption is a way to be more sustainable. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be like specific to fast fashion. It can be anything like that. But it’s kind of like the anti Black Friday.

Vira: 30:52

Yeah.

Andrea: 30:53

Which isn’t. Isn’t going to drive sales like obviously as we as you just mentioned. But it is, it is something that again builds that kind of like brand story. Which is still good.

Vira: 31:03

I agree.

Andrea: 31:03

Yeah.

Vira: 31:04

Cool.

Andrea: 31:04

I mean then there’s the next part of that day. Right? Right. So like we said that morning one or the one the night before which I love a night before email because I’m a doom scroller before bed scroll. Right. Through my inbox, read it all. But, but the same thing happens the next night, right? Like at the end of your day, you’re like, oh, I’ve had a good Friday and now time to read my emails again. And a good time to send kind of that reminder email that you’re like, hey, not everyone has like, engaged that first email. Like, okay, that’s fine. There’s. They’ve been a lot of things. So, like, let’s send the next, like another one later in the night to people who didn’t open or click that first email. Because, like, as you mentioned, everyone’s bombarded with like hundreds of emails that day, right? Anything you’ve ever purchased is sending you an email that day. So that second email is something that not all brands know to do, but if you target it correctly to people who are engaged, but people who clicked and didn’t purchase earlier in the day or didn’t open earlier in the day, that resending it in a kind of different tone is a good idea. Because again, part of this, part of email marketing is like, you have real estate in someone’s inbox and once they open it is when you have control over like, what, what, what they’re seeing from your brand. So trying to get them to open it is really the challenge, right? So if we can send that second email, we have double the chances of them opening it and therefore better chance of them actually reading the content, better chance of them clicking through, better chance of them making that purchase.

Vira: 32:30

That’s true. That’s a good one. And I always send 1pm reminder at least some brands who are a bit more like, aggressive with their messaging, they even send a few, few reminders per day, which, honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about them. So if you are sending some sort of reminder, try to combine it with some sort of value as well. For example, the holiday Gift guide. And that’s normally the email that we’re sending on Saturday after Black Friday, if you are extending your sale past Friday. So basically the email messaging can be like, here, we put together the holiday gift guide for you. Here is what you can, can buy from our brand. Maybe you can even do some sort of like, recommendations from other brands if you don’t have many products. But basically this way you will be able to maximize your customer experience. And gift guides can be different. You can basically split your products by price, saying, like, if you’re shopping and your budget is like under 50 bucks, you’re like looking for some stocking stuffers. Here are the ABC that you can purchase from our brand. Here is like the more expensive one or, or here’s the VAP or like top of the line gifts or something like that. Or you can basically have various categories for shoppers. So I working with this like brand that are selling wellness teas and I remember that for Mother’s Day we kind of created this campaign like wellness tea for every kind of like mom in your life or something like that. I forgot the copy of it. But basically we had the tea for like active mom for like a busy mom for or mom that is always on the go. So basically we like grouped customers based on their lifestyle, I would say. And then we offered different gift guides. You can use all kinds of categories. You can use different clever categories that are very specific to your audience. And usually we send this email to the engaged and people who have placed zero orders since you’ve started your Black Friday Cyber Monday promotion. Normally probably like Sunday or Saturday morning is a good time when to send it. You can also send it on Sunday depending on how many emails you are sending per day and stuff like that. But gift guides, they are always fun. They add a bit of a value and I know that I love them myself and I rely on them heavily. I like love Sephora’s gift guides. They even have this like separate section for like the gifts for the holidays with like a little stocking stuffers and with little products that are like common gifts. I love that stuff.

Andrea: 35:16

Or the trial stuff. They’ll do like bundles of different trial sizes. That’s like the best gift to give people if there’s a product. I love Sephora specifically, I, I buy a lot of makeup, but Sephora specifically, like if I love a product and I’m like, oh, I think my friend would love this product. And then there’s a gift set, that mini one. I’m like, oh, this is perfect. That’s the perfect purchase.

Vira: 35:36

That’s a good one. And it’s also a good time to push your bundles if you have any bundles on your website. Because sometimes you can buy like a bundle of like five different products and then you can give it to like five different people. You know, like to give this like little products from the bundle to like different people or like to put them in five different Christmas stockings or something. So big time. Yeah, it’s a good time to push your bundles as well.

Andrea: 36:01

I also feel like the holiday gift guide is a good email to have in your back pocket going into December.

Vira: 36:06

Yes.

Andrea: 36:07

Like so building it out for this purpose and then you Know, re upping it and using it again later. It’s like a great idea for people, especially for people who, frankly, like, you’re a solo entrepreneur and you’re, you know, trying to do your emails and there’s so much content to create. Right? Especially now.

Vira: 36:22

Yeah, yeah, that’s a good one.

Andrea: 36:24

And I think after sending that, it’s obviously like, if you’re sending that on Sunday, the next thing you want to send is that Cyber Monday email. Like, as you mentioned before, the Cyber Monday kind of was born out of the idea that Black Friday is for brick and mortar and what do online retailers do? And I think it’s like, it’s like Black Friday’s, like, really aggressive younger brother. It’s out here, like, you know, hey, did you miss your. Did you miss the sale on Friday? Don’t worry, I got a better deal for you. Or maybe it’s not a better deal, but you want to position it that way, whatever it might be. I think, think. I think that to me, the best possible strategy is to do a different promo than you had done on the Friday. Because then you get to say, like, oh, you missed, like, that deal that we gave you on Friday, like, here’s a new one. And it creates that sense of urgency where, like, oh, you missed this thing. Don’t miss this as well. Right. I think that that’s like a. That’s a good strategy, in my opinion. Just like, from a sales perspective, but from an email perspective, it’s like, you know, you send this in the morning on Monday or at night on Sunday, similar to when you’re announcing that Black Friday, you know, sale initially. And I would say for this one, I would send it to people who have placed zero orders over the weekend because you don’t want someone who has bought something yesterday to then receive an email. That’s like a different deal because that’s the worst. But I think a good example of this, a brand called Chubby’s, they offered like a new gift every hour, right? Like, so when we talked about these different incentives where it’s not just a discount discount code. And this is what I mean about, like, the aggressive younger brother. It’s like they’re doing, like, this wild stuff where every hour they’re like, here’s a new, like, branded item, like a new, like a duffel bag or a blanket or a hat. And every hour they sent a new email.

Vira: 38:12

Like, it’s a bit so cool.

Andrea: 38:13

Aggressive. It’s so cool. But it’s. It’s like you have to Again, you have to know your audience really well and, like, understand what your own brand and your strategy is. Because again, a brand with, like, an older demographic, right. They’re like, why am I getting all these emails?

Vira: 38:27

I agree. Right.

Andrea: 38:28

But if. If I received those emails, I’d be like, ooh, I love this. Or like, I. I’m also the type of person who I’m like, should I hedge my bet? Like, should I wait? Should I see what the next hour is gonna bring?

Vira: 38:39

And, like, there’s no way of experience. Right. It makes it a bit more fun. Yeah. And their emails are very fun, too. I mean, just like, just the way they write it. It’s hilarious. And even though I don’t buy, like, men short shirts for myself, obviously I’m still subscribed to their emails because I love them. I love how funny they are, how witty they are, and their emails are the treat. Yeah.

Andrea: 39:03

Well, the other thing is, if you do have that, like, if you have a concern about deliverability or open rate, a strategy like that could actually help you in the long run. Because if you are sending an email every hour, and every email has a new offer, a new value, a new gift, I’m more likely to open every single one of those emails.

Vira: 39:23

That’s true. True. That’s true. Yeah. But you have to be very careful with the discount codes, and you do have to expire them, like, every hour.

Andrea: 39:30

Yeah.

Vira: 39:30

So that’s 100%.

Andrea: 39:31

Yeah, it’s. I think it’s a lot of work to set up something like that. I think that that’s. That’s the downside is that, like, it’s going to be a lot of work for setup. But I feel like if you’re a target demographic, if your target market and target Persona, like, if it makes sense, it’s such a good way to, again, set yourself apart, create more of that, like, you know, interaction. I know that there’s stuff, there’s brands that I like where they have, like, insane merchandise that I would never purchase. Like, I would never go out and purchase, like a Twisted Tea fanny pack, for example. Like, I think they’re so funny and I’m so glad they have them, but I personally would never purchase it. But if it was, hey, if you buy this, you’ll get this for free. Yeah, I gotta be honest, I’d probably wear it. I just don’t know if I would go out of my way to buy it, you know, And I think that that’s like a really good kind of way of. Of kind of keeping people engaged.

Vira: 40:19

And also moving your inventory around. Right. Just like you mentioned, maybe there are like some products that are selling slower and you just want to get rid of that inventory or something. You can give it as a freebie or you can give it with some sort of like, insane discount. That’s the really fun way. And I think chop is actually called. They are, we can say, not like a cyber with C, but cyber was like ta page, which is like a very random one. It’s like a cyber cyber weekend or whatever. Yeah, they are. They are super cool. I love them.

Andrea: 40:53

Yeah, yeah, that’s. They have a great brand voice. I think, like, that’s. That’s also part of it is, is knowing your brand and, and really just leaning into what your brand is able to do. Because not all brands would be able to do that, but there is still a place to do like a Cyber Monday email. That’s. That’s really engaging and fun. But isn’t like, you know, the same type of engaging and fun that that would be?

Vira: 41:15

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Well, cool, you guys, here you have it. Seven types of emails you can send for Black Friday Cyber Monday. Obviously you can send more emails. Just like as Andrea mentioned, it all comes down to knowing your audience, understanding who they are, how they shop, like when they open their emails and stuff like that. But if you want to get more ideas, ideas for content calendar for November, go to flowium.com/calendar and you’ll be able to download your very own calendar idea with all of the crazy holidays too, for November and not just for Black Friday Cyber Monday. Well, anyways, thank you so much for hanging out with us today, Andrea. It was so much fun.

Andrea: 42:02

Oh, I had so much fun. It was great.

Vira: 42:04

Oh, yeah, that was. We’d love to have you back someday, honestly. Just like to talk. To talk all of the crazy holidays with you as well, you know.

Andrea: 42:12

Oh, I love crazy holidays.

Vira: 42:13

There’s nothing I like better. Yeah, that’s. That’s what we’re here about. Cool. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for listening, you guys and Andrea, thank you for being here. It was so much fun and we guys will hope to have you back here next week. Take care. Bye, guys.

Andrea: 42:29

Bye.