Black Friday and Cyber Monday Must Do’s

The holiday season is quickly approaching and with Black Friday and Cyber Monday just on the horizon, it’s time to take a look at your email marketing strategy. This is a crucial time for businesses to reach out to their target audience because with the holiday people are more likely to open your discount offer emails and special promotions. Purchase intent greatly increases around these holidays.

Chances are your competition is also sending out Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, so you need to make sure you stand out.

Not all of your e-commerce revenue will be the same. Especially when we talk about holiday revenue. Cost per thousand impressions is quickly rising and affecting Black Friday and Cyber Monday margins. Making the competition even more fierce to have your business gain the attention it deserves.

Now more than ever, especially after the pandemic, major retailers that once relied on brick-and-mortar traffic are now focusing on e-commerce and adding major dollars to their digital ad spend. This is making it more difficult for smaller businesses to be seen because they don’t have the same amount of budget as large retailers do.

Not to mention the new updates that have seriously changed the way of Facebook ads and ad managers. But the silver lining to all of these uncertain changes is that your biggest and most successful source of revenue will most likely come from your email marketing campaigns.

Analyze Last Years Performance

Take a look at how you did last year. You want to do better this year but before starting, you need to know where you’re starting from. Using last year’s metrics is a great way to have an idea of how much you’d like to grow and where to start. It also gives you the most valuable insight into your future planning.

Take a look at your previous year's email campaigns to see what were the top-performing promotions and messaging, also take a look at the times you were sending out these emails for maximum return.

Look at the campaigns with the highest open and click rates from the last year to identify key themes such as:

• Subject Lines
• Your CTAs (calls to action)
• Email design and creatives

By looking at what was working and what wasn’t you’re able to improve upon this year's campaigns and drive even more traffic to your website.

Use Your Subject Lines

Different types of emails will call for different types of subject lines. Use subject lines to your advantage and promote the most attractive offers so your subscribers know what they’re getting into when they click on your email.

Some suggestions include asking your recipients a question or using a catchy hook to get their eyes on your email. These are great ways to get attention during any busy season, such as the holidays. But when it comes to the ‘deals of the century’ holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s important to put the offer right in the subject line because those have proven to get the most conversions.

If you can front-load your subject lines with information so they know exactly what they’re opening. But make sure it is mobile-friendly since 555 users will be viewing your emails on their mobile devices. To ensure that your subject lines can be properly read, send some test emails and try to keep them to less than 35 characters.

Increase the Number of Emails You Send

Normally, we suggest that you really segment your lists and make sure that you’re not bombarding your recipients with emails. But when it comes to Black Friday/Cyber Monday the rules change. Your campaigns will demand a higher volume of emails than normal. Your customers will already have a lot of other emails also vying for your attention so make sure that your brand isn’t being forgotten. Utilize every tool that you have to craft a great Black Friday/Cyber Monday e-commerce strategy that stands out against the competition.

Even if a customer doesn’t take advantage of your offer, they will begin seeing your name more and more, and will stick in their minds, and will most likely visit your site later on in the holiday season. The bottom line, take advantage of these holidays to not only increase your revenue but also increase your brand awareness with your email marketing campaigns.

Know Your Emails Will be Delivered

If you have crafted the most amazing email marketing campaign for your Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, make sure that they get delivered. Cleaning your email marketing lists should be the most important step in your process before ever pressing send.

If you are sending to undeliverable addresses you risk getting blacklisted where none of your emails will get delivered, damaging your sender reputation score, and ruining your overall brand reputation. Make sure that you are running your email list through a service such as Emailable to have your hard work delivered. This also helps increase your ROI and build the confidence between you and your customers when they know that you’re sending them the best deals you have and they actually get delivered to their primary inbox, not their spam folder.

Expect The Unexpected

The last few years (aka Covid Times) have proven that life is unpredictable and that the best-laid plans can be made by changes in the economy and consumer confidence. But brands that are able to recognize and adapt are those that are planning for the unexpected and have the most success. Keep in mind these three elements:

1. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Plan promotions accordingly and know that shoppers’ confidence can change through the fall and winter months.
2. It is never a bad idea to create a contingency plan for any promotions that fall flat or need a little extra boost. Say hello to your plan B or C.
3. We’re human. Errors are inevitable and high traffic times can make them even harder to address quickly and swiftly. But spend a few minutes putting together the process of sending an “oops” email or having a template ready and customizable in case of any site outages, coupon code errors, or unforeseen problems.

No one knows what this quarter has in store but you should always be ready to roll with the punches and come out on top.