There’s no question about it, it’s the biggest sale of the year. Your business could struggle for the upcoming fiscal year by failing to prepare for it. Making sure your Black Friday email marketing strategy is airtight should be at the top of your priorities.Online shoppers spent over $ 1.5 billion through Shopify alone on Black Friday in 2018. At its peak, the sales pulled in:

• $870,00 per minute, and
• 10,978 orders per minute

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2018, email referred 4.38% of conversions. That’s more than double the 2% referred by all social media platforms. As an eCommerce business, ignoring email at any time of the year is a huge mistake. Disregarding it in the last three months is detrimental.

All our clients get the benefits of our experience and optimized email strategy. You can read the whole campaign strategy below.It’s a big task. To give you an idea of how early we begin preparing, we send the first “related” emails immediately after Halloween.

PRE-SALE

Before BFCM weekend, you need to focus on two important tasks:

1. Building a VIP segment
2. Warming up cold leads

Your emails in the lead-up to the event need to be content-driven. Specifically, the benefits of your brand or product. These emails should have a “PS” message advising the reader to join a VIP email list. Promise them early access to sales and exclusive announcements during the holiday season.The VIP list is not only crucial to BFCM. You will make use of it for the entire holiday season.Warm-up your cold leads with strong incentives. Experiment by sending generous offers to unengaged segments of your email list. Obviously, none of these offers should compare to Black Friday’s, but it helps put people in the spending mindset and reignites interest in your brand.Before we get to the email strategy, make sure your Black Friday offer is strong. You’re not only competing with flooded inboxes - your offer needs to stand out against your competitors. If the offer isn’t strong, no marketing strategy will save you.

BLACK FRIDAY + CYBER MONDAY

From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, you need to send 13 strategically timed campaign emails. You can see the complete sending schedule in the image below.

THURS (THANKSGIVING)

1 EMAILIn the late evening, send an email out to the segment created by the VIP opt-in. Give them “early access” to the Black Friday offer.

BLACK FRIDAY

3 EMAILSAnnounce the Sale. This is being sent to your Hot 120 at both 12 AM and 8 AM. Your “accepts marketing” segment should receive it at 10 AM.

SATURDAY and SUNDAY

4 EMAILS (2 EACH)Over both days of the weekend, you need to send a content-driven email in the morning, with a heavy focus on benefits or product features. The second email on Saturday is a reminder that the sale is ongoing. On Sunday, your second email is a notification advising that announces the end of the sale is getting close

CYBER MONDAY

5 EMAILSAt midnight, start by sending an “early access” email to the VIP list that introduces the new offer for Cyber Monday. Like with the Black Friday, you’ll be sending two more emails announcing the sale with the same email at separate times to the “Hot 120” and “Accepts Marketing” segments.Your last two emails are crucial: The last chance email to the Hot 120, and your final call, which is for anyone that opened ANY of the earlier BFCM emails.Click here for access to our sending schedule (no opt-in required...crazy, right?!)These campaigns alone are not enough. You need to update or create email flows triggered by purchases and abandoned carts - tailored specifically for this season.On top of that, if deliverability becomes an issue and you aren't prepared - all that planning can go to waste. You need a team ready if there’s even the smallest sign that emails are not reaching inboxes.

...AND THAT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING

It’s important to keep in mind that this is only part of Q4, the most profitable time of year. We have extensive planning for each component of the rest of the season. That includes:

• Early December holiday sales
• Regular shipping deadlines
• Express shipping deadlines
• Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Sales

It’s a lot of planning, but it’s worth it. Done right, the money earned this time of year can give you the freedom you need to experiment, set new goals, and advance your business in the new year.If you want to accept the risk of taking on this season yourself, that’s alright. But, if you want to know your email marketing strategy is in good hands - and that you are making as much money as you can - book a discovery call.We’ll create and manage the necessary segments, flows, and campaigns to maximize your piece of the $1.5 billion pie.Heads Up: Discovery sessions aren’t useful for everyone… we specialize in helping 6, 7 and 8 figure eCommerce businesses build a community of adoring fans while making bank with their email marketing.If you don’t care about your customers, or if you don’t like testing new things, you can keep on moving. If you want to elevate your email marketing game, but your brand brings in less than $50k/month get in touch – I’m working on something special for you.