In this blog we’ll be sharing some top tips and content strategies for anybody looking to increase the performance of their Black Friday emails. If that’s you then you’re probably under pressure to hit bigger targets than last year and to make sure you maximise the opportunity for every email you’ll be sending. Here’s some top tips to help you stand out from the crowd.
Black Friday Email Tip 1: Catchy Subject lines
The inbox is at it’s busiest around Black Friday. There’s noise, overcrowding and a lot of content to cut through to get to the good stuff. Try to use subject lines that really stand out. Try to be fun, bold, catchy and creative and make sure they they tell the recipient what the Black Friday email is about and what it contains. A few years ago I received an email on Black Friday with this subject line and I thought it was great:
⬆️ Our Black Friday email offers are better than theirs ⬇️
It’s eye-catching, cheeky and it tells you that the email contains great offers. I still remember it years later!
Black Friday Email Tip 2: Great Content
Great content before, during and after Black Friday. Review every email you’ve got planned and ask yourself:
- Has the email got a personalised email element?
- Is the content compelling?
- Does it have create a sense of urgency?
- Could the product content benefit from advanced design or real-time elements
Now let’s jump in to how you’re going to do that!
Black Friday Email Tip 3: Before Black Friday
Ahead of Black Friday I recommend including a poll in your email to collect interest data. Ask your recipient what they’re most interested in shopping over the Black Friday Period. To maximise your Black Friday clicks include a timer that shows the time remaining until your Black Friday email offers launch and then ask then the question: what are you most interested in? If you want to really make the email connect, use a Data Canvas image too to include the recipient’s first name creatively in the hero image. The combination of these 3 Elements will make the content standout and will drive more clicks to your site. You’ll also have the added bonus of knowing what each recipient is most interested in – you can use this click data for personalisation over Black Friday.
Here’s an example of what that Black Friday email could look like:
Black Friday Email Tip 4: Use Timers Strategically
Timers are brilliant but use them wisely. If you include them in every email you send, they’ll lose their potency. Instead use them for really important events or product drops – Black Friday is perfect for this. Use a timer the week before counting down to the time your offers go live and then over Black Friday itself, show the time left to shop the offers. Once Black Friday is over, swap the timer to a ‘win-back’ message to engage any late openers. They might have missed Black Friday but they can still shop your great products.
Tip 5: Social Proof with Click Counters
Add social proofing (and content that looks 🔥) into your emails to display the latest engagement for important content. You could show the number of people shopping from your email in total, or showcase engagement on supporting content like products.
Click Counts build trust in your brand; when openers see the number of people shopping your offer or specific products, they don’t want to miss out. They’ll click through just like their peers. This is a great way to build trust, loyalty and a sense of an engaged community into your messages.
Black Friday Email Tip 6: Data Canvas Personalised Images
Everyone likes to see a personal touch in their emails so using Data Canvas to turn your CRM data into personalised images is a super quick win for Black Friday and beyond! In the examples above I’ve included first name data in the hero image to make the email feel personal. You could also include personalised calls to acton or even overlay name data onto products – name on a jersey, a product, initials engraved on an item. There’s so many possibilities to be creative and all of them will drive great engagement!
Black Friday Email Tip 7: Generator
Use generator to turn your Google Shopping Feed into updating email content. One of the biggest challenges over Black Friday is keeping product content up to date. With great offers, products sell out fast, particularly if they’re featured in your email. That can cause a lot of friction for openers if they see a product they want to buy, but then they click through and it’s out of stock. Generator can eliminate a lot of this friction. You can apply business rules and logic to only show products that are marked as in stock or above a certain stock level in your product feed. If the product goes out of stock in the feed, the email content will update to reflect this (where real-time content updates are supported). That offers a great opportunity to increase your customer satisfaction and to maximise the revenue opportunity for each email.
You can also automate personalisation. The poll we discussed sending ahead of Black Friday, you could use that data to show show recipients products from the category they clicked that are part of the Black Friday offer and in stock and available to buy. All automatically – no manual coding and lengthy processes required.
Your Feed + Generator + CRM data = no hard work for you + personalised content for recipients!
There’s lots of ideas in this post that you can pick up and use over Black Friday to engage your recipients and add some sparkle to your content. Our goal is to help you make your content stand out, to engage more of your recipients and to make it easy for you. Implementing these strategies you’ll record more clicks, more conversions and high revenue per email. Better email content means better results, and happier recipients.
If you want to boost your emails over the Black Friday Period check out our Black Friday packages or sign up for a free 7-day free trial today to see the platform for yourself.
