5 techniques to optimise your Black Friday email marketing

As the autumn colours change and November feels like it is slipping through our fingers, it can mean only one thing… Black Friday is approaching! The biggest sale day of the year, where literally billions of pounds are up for grabs for retailers. However, without a designated campaign, you may not be blessed with such a lucrative Black Friday. Are you unsure how to maximise the potential effectiveness of your Black Friday email campaign? 

Follow our 5 tips to ensure you get the most from your Black Friday campaign. 

1. Build up anticipation with your list 

Use teaser campaigns to let your subscribers know you will be taking part in the merry madness. Start these promotions at the beginning of November to have a greater chance of getting your message seen. Ideas for teaser campaigns may be:

• Related article promotion – With Christmas around the corner a large chunk of Black Friday shoppers will be buying presents for loved ones. A gift guide is a fantastic way of showing what goodies are on offer that are imperative to be bought in conjunction. This content can be created in the form of a blog article or vlog and is a nice way of creating content without boring your subscribers with repetitive sales announcements. 

• Hourly discounts explained – This is a technique which many big boy retailers use, as you may have guessed or seen, as each hour strikes, a different set of items will have discounts. It’s an excellent practise to create anticipation. Use a preliminary email to explain the set times for your discounts. 

• Sneak peaks – If you are only going to use one teaser campaign, a sneak peek is the obvious choice. We would recommend using a GIF format or moving image carousel to show viewers a snippet of your range of sensational offers. Build that hype and show subscribers why they should defer from their favourite brands. 

Finally, don’t be shy on social. Let your followers know about exclusive email offers and provide them with a method of signing up to your mailing list. 

2. Improve deliverability rates 

For your campaign to be successful and drive people to your website, it’s necessary for you to be able to successfully reach your subscriber's inboxes. Ways to improve your chances are:

• Keep it relevant – By providing your oh so wonderful subscribers with appealing, relevant content, your chances of being marked as spam/unsubscribed dwindle. The most efficient technique involves segmenting your mailing data, based on past purchase behaviour – allowing you to gain insight into personal preferences and thus being able to offer relevant deals and targeted promotions.  Another way of segmenting data is based on frequency of purchasing – reward loyal customers with bigger discounts.  Oh and don’t forget personalisation, a vastly used term but when used in the right way can boost engagement hugely. 

• Brush up on your terminology – As tempting as it may be to splatter sales and marketing words throughout your copy, try not to. Try focusing on the benefits your products/ service may bring to the customer.  

• Consider your sender/ from name – One of the preliminary aspects a subscriber will see is your sender name. If this appears dodgy or looks spammy, you have no place other than in the spam folder or getting hit with the unsubscribe button. 

3. Intrigue your subscribers from the beginning  

Getting your subscribers to open your perfected email is your first and paramount challenge. The importance of crafting the perfect email copy cannot be denied, but you must think about the first port of call. 

• Create a snappy subject line – No caps, keep away from the sales terminology, make use of emoji’s and try asking a question – often if will get subscribers thinking, especially if they don’t know the answer. 

• Preheader text – With the rise of mobile email browsing has come the use of pre-header text. Use this short summary text as another means of demonstrating your unrivalled offering.  

4. Design it like a pro

No one likes to judge a book by its cover, but we all do. People will obtain an immediate perception of your email based on its design, don’t let down your fabulous copy with an amateur design. 

• Design a responsive layout – Design with your reader in mind and the way their eyes will scroll over the content. Use a sleek concept, with a selection of 2 unobtrusive fonts and a dedicated colour scheme made up of a maximum of 3 colours. Remember to stay composed with your call-to-actions, they may be an awesome way of driving traffic, but if you include too many it will dilute your point and confuse readers. 

• Become dynamic – Create engaging content using a variety of real-time content. This may involve creating anticipation using count down timers or expose offers with scratch-to-reveal images. Use an image carousel to show off a range of your sale products, for extra brownie points perhaps personalise the images with the reader's name, or use past purchase data to assess what items are best displayed for ultimate relevancy. 

• Keep moving – Nothing stands out and grabs attention more than a GIF animation. Not only is it a great way to engage your audience, it also gives you the chance to save space and show off more content than a still image could.  

5. Follow up with an abandoned cart email 

The power of cart abandonment can’t be denied. It’s a great technique to persuade customers to complete their purchase. A total of 67.45% online shopping baskets are left abandoned before completed purchase, and this shows the need for the sales recovery tactic. What should be included:

• A reminder of the goodies they may be missing out on – imagery is key.

• With the Black Friday spirit in mind, offer a second discount code to be applied. Persuade your readers until they can’t say no. 

Haven’t started your Black Friday email campaign?

Instead of banging your head against a wall, use our Black Friday cheat- sheet to guide you on;

1. How to organise mail data to improve personalisation and deliverability 

2. Which type of content provides increased engagement 

3. What elements of your campaign should be automated