5 simple tips for a winning Black Friday campaign

Black Friday kicks off the beginning of the busiest season in cross-channel marketing. Email marketing is responsible for driving around a fifth of sales between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, so it’s imperative your campaigns grab your recipients’ attention in crowded inboxes.

Shoppers plan on spending an average of £189.59 during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. That a 31% reduction from 2021.

Finder research

Unsurprisingly, Black Friday shopping is expected to be lower this year than in recent times. Overall, Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending in the UK is set to decrease from £6bn in 2020 to just £3.95bn in 2022.

But that’s not to say they’re not looking for a good deal.

Many people are still planning on shopping, just with a reduced budget. This means that you have to work smarter to make your marketing stand out. You want them to convert with you over the competition so we’ve pulled together five simple but effective tips to win big this sales season.

1. Segment and personalize

First, let’s start by making sure you’re reaching the right people during this period. Segmentation leads to increased relevancy, increased revenue, and less wastage. Most of your customers and prospects will want messages and offers throughout the holiday season. Some won’t want them all, but we’ll touch on that a little later.

Data capture

Popovers: With data capture in the run-up to Black Friday you might want to re-think your approach and change your value prop. Work harder to show them what else you offer beyond great holiday gifts and discounts. Having said that, it will be common for shoppers around this time to just sign up for a discount, purchase, and possibly never return.

Abandoned browse popover: Another thing to consider is an abandoned browse popover. Keep shoppers engaged by using popovers, triggered only when someone goes to leave your site, to offer them even more holiday goodies.

Re-engage

Why not use the start of the holiday period as a reason to win people back?

For those who genuinely have stopped engaging with your emails, using the excitement of the holiday period can be a great way to bring them back into the fold. In the retail world, you’ll have offers and holiday-themed merchandise to sell them. For B2B and NFP, you may have award ceremonies and parties like our Dotties.

Be mindful of the fact that some contacts may only be seasonal, in which case they’re not ‘not’ engaging; it’s just not their time of year. Find a way to pinpoint them and target them differently by mentioning what it was they bought last year and offering up intelligent product recommendations.

Amend your content and cadence

One thing we see with a lot of brands is that even though customers have filled out the preference center, thoroughly browsed your website, and even purchased; many of the brands still fail to recognize any of that behavior. Email marketing campaigns just keep coming and coming without any acknowledgment of a purchase or browsing activities. Some have even sent offers for products customers have already purchased.

One of the easiest things you can do to ‘recognize’ a recipient is to know whether they have purchased recently, how much they’ve spent, and what they’ve purchased. You can then change your mailing cadence and content accordingly.

AI-powered product recommendations based on what has already been purchased really do help at this point.

2. Use data insights

Intelligent and informed marketing always wins big. Make sure you’re using your data and analytics in the most efficient way possible.

This may be looking at your eRFM persona and identifying customers ripe for conversion. Highly engaged frequent shoppers should receive a different message from new customers. They can even receive different offers.

Before Black Friday begins, you should also be checking in on your automation programs. How are your revenue-generating programs performing? Is there anything you can do to improve them before the big day? Think personalization, dynamic content, and product recommendations – anything that will help drive more sales.

3. Back-in-stock emails

Products may go out of stock for several reasons. The effect can be highly frustrating for customers who expect to be able to purchase what they want when they want it.

The damage of stockouts extends beyond the direct consequence of a lost sale. There’s the possibility that the shopper will turn to a competitor to find the items in question. Then, there’s the long-term impact on customer satisfaction caused by the frustrating experience.

Dynamic content and AI-powered product recommendations ensure you’re delivering the most up-to-date information about your product stock levels or the latest features and updates to your product.

This is especially important for the season’s hottest products. It allows you to build brand buzz and encourage more visits.

4. Seasonal messaging

You can sometimes lose sight of the occasion when you’re working on the marketing side of the fence. Working on Black Friday emails in June can really take the shine off the holiday. But for your customers, they’ll be looking forward to it. After all who doesn’t love a bargain?

You need to conjure up some fun and bring some excitement to their typically dull inboxes.

Think about:

• How your returns policies might be changing, or delivery times, and get that into your campaigns – especially welcome emails
  
• Including a countdown timer ahead of your Black Friday deals
  
• Ensuring your email marketing design templates stand out

Maybe go with a different tactic this year and adopt a charity-focused Black Friday campaign. It’s great for brand-building, and consumers love a brand backing a cause that they can also get behind.

5. Create a sense of urgency

Creating a sense of urgency in your emails can increase sales by over 300%. But how do you go about creating a sense of urgency, we hear you ask. Following these simple copywriting tips can help your write a sales-driving email marketing campaign.

• Use compelling language: Utilizing limited-time language in your email subject line and calls to action (CTAs) is a smart way to create urgency and increase sales. Mirror this language with an action-based tone to create a seamless experience. Make sure your CTAs leave no doubt about what you’re offering and what the recipient should do next to get the offer.
  
• FOMO (fear of missing out): It might sound cheesy but it’s a powerful marketing tactic that you can draw on through your use of language. Use phrases like ‘biggest sale of the year’ or ‘best prices of the season’ in your Black Friday marketing to encourage recipients to shop before it’s too late.
  
• Abandoned cart emails: There will always be some shoppers who don’t complete their purchases. It’s essential to ensure your abandoned cart automation program is in place before Black Friday. It becomes an even more important tactic for ecommerce businesses to win back these potential customers. Offering discounts and other promotions are the most effective way to bring shoppers back but don’t forget that Black Friday entails a much tighter window of opportunity than usual. Make sure to amend the timing of your abandoned cart emails accordingly.

Let’s wrap it up

Black Friday is ultimately all about offering great deals to your recipients. However, a great deal isn’t just offering a staggering discount. Your recipients will respond to unique ideas like giveaways, shopping tips, charitable contributions, and holiday-themed social events.

Be creative and have some fun and you will be on your way to Black Friday success.