7 Ways to Create a Black Friday Email Campaign That Drives Sales

U.S. retailers earned a record $7.9 billion on Black Friday in 2017, according to Adobe Analytics. That’s an increase of nearly 18% from the prior year! A Black Friday email campaign is a great way to cash in on all this spending. However, with thousands of Black Friday emails to compete against, it can be difficult to get your audience’s attention. With these 7 email campaign tactics, you’ll stand out inside the inbox.

1. Keep it short.

People often debate the ideal email length. While there’s often no simple answer, on Black Friday there is. Keep your content brief. Your subscribers’ inboxes are filled with other emails. They’re busy looking at numerous sales and online shopping. So get straight to the point. Describe your sale and link off to your website. For example, see how mattress company Casper does this in their Black Friday email below. Related: 5 Tactics for Short Emails That Pack a Punch

2. Don’t bury the lede.

Journalist are often advised not to bury the lede a.k.a. the most important information. For email marketing, this is true as well. Your most important or interesting information should be near the beginning of your email. On Black Friday, this is crucial. And the most important information is the discount or deal you’re offering. To make it easy for your subscriber to see your special offer at a glance,  include it in the headline of your email. For their Black Friday email campaign, Code School, an online education platform, describes their discount in a brief and bold headline. The headline makes it simple for subscribers to see exactly what the offer is. Related: 8 Top Brainstorming Techniques to Help You Write Killer Emails

3. Show off your goods.

Another way to increase your click-through rates on Black Friday? Display your product images inside your emails. If a subscriber sees something they like, they’ll be much more likely to click on your call-to-action button. Active gear retailer HuckBerry created a gift guide for their 2017 Black Friday email campaign. They gathered their best deals into one email, including large product images, the original and discounted price, short descriptions, and call-to-action buttons for each product.

4. Refine your subject lines.

To beat the competition in the inbox on and around Black Friday, your subject line must be engaging. To craft a subject line that stands out, try one or a few of these tactics:

• Describe your discount or sale in your subject line.
• Mention how much time people have to claim your deal.
• Be funny or witty.
• Keep your subject line under 30 characters.
• Use an emoji.
• Explain the discount or sale.

Here are a few subject lines from 2017 Black Friday email campaigns that use these tactics:

Example 1

Company: Chubbies Subject line: not a typo: 50% off

Example 2

Company: C&T Publishing Subject line: Hours left to shop the Black Friday sale

Example 3

Company: Levenger Subject line: Only Hours Left – Black Friday Weekend – 30% Off + Free Shipping

Example 4

Company: Nordstrom Subject line: Black Friday shoe deals from UGG, Tory Burch, Hunter and more

Example 5

Company:  Physique Subject line: Black Friday Deals 💸🎁

Example 6

Company: Overstock Art Subject line: Last Chance to Shop the Exclusive ⚡ Black Friday ⚡ Gallery Related: Your Guide to Writing the World’s Best Email Subject Lines

5. Use GIFs.

Adding motion to your emails is a great way to be unique and delight your subscribers on Black Friday. Add a simple GIF, a moving image, to do so. Bonus: We created FREE GIFs you can use in your emails. Download them here. Kidly, a children’s toy and clothing company, created a GIF for one of their Black Friday emails. It’s fun — which matches their brand — and seasonal. The headline and image work together to create a stand-out email. Related: Everything You Need to Know about Using GIFs in Email

6. Explain when your deals end.

Create urgency by informing subscribers that your sale ends soon. In his book Persuasion, best-selling author and psychology professor Robert Cialdini explains that urgency is a psychological trigger that encourages people to act. Wonderbly, a children’s book company, creates a sense of urgency in the headline and copy of their Black Friday email below.

7. Send emails when others aren’t.

Sometimes, the best way to get high engagement is avoiding the crowds. To do so, send an email campaign in early December. It’ll be easier to get your subscribers’ attention. MusicMagpie, a company that purchases used technology, sent a post-Black Friday email campaign in 2017. To make their email extra relevant to subscribers, they position their services as a solution to the problem of overspending on Black Friday.

Start crafting your Black Friday email campaign today.

Need help? Download our free “What to Write in Your Emails” guide. You’ll get an email course that’ll show you how to write great emails. Plus, we’ll also give you more than 45 fill-in-the-blank email copy templates. (Thanks to MailCharts and Really Good Emails for the email examples used in this post.)

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