The biggest shopping days of the year are almost here! Black Friday is on November 25 and Cyber Monday follows on November 28, and they mark the official beginning of the holiday shopping season. Is your client ready? What’s their holiday email campaign strategy? If they don’t have one, you need to help them craft one ASAP. 

Black Friday/​Cyber Monday Email Campaign Strategy 

You’re Already Behind 

Yes, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are recognized as the official beginning of the holiday shopping season (especially by people who believe that the winter holidays should wait their turn), but that doesn’t mean that American shoppers aren’t already in holiday shopping mode. According to a previous SalesFuel blog based on research from Experian, 31% of holiday shopping is done in October. 32.5% of it is done throughout November. That leaves only 36.5% for December. 

So, if your client hasn’t put a holiday email campaign strategy in place yet, they’re already behind! 

Here are some tips from Klaviyo for crafting the perfect Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails. 

How Often to Send Promo Emails 

All of your client’s competitors have a holiday email campaign strategy. How can you help your client’s promotional emails be seen without annoying the recipients? Klaviyo recommends sending one email per week: 

• First Week of November: Send a gift guide or some general spotlight on popular products/​services 
• Second Week of November: Start the official promotions with messaging such as spotlighting your client’s free or reduced shipping costs during the holiday weekend and Monday 
• Third Week of November: Add to the promotions highlighted in the previous week’s email. Is your client offering Early Bird deals? Are discounts getting larger the closer the weekend gets? Highlight that information. 
• The Week of Black Friday/​Before Cyber Monday: Make your client’s official Black Friday and Cyber Monday announcements (you can also send a few additional emails before the holidays as reminders) 
• The Tuesday After: Is your client extending their sales? Send a surprise email! 

When should you send your client’s promotional emails? According to Litmus research, highlighted in SalesFuel’s blog, the best time to send marketing emails is at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays. If you don’t send out emails at that time, don’t worry. Consumers tend to check their email multiple times per day. But try to catch them in the morning when they’re checking emails before they start the day. 

How to Write Effective Emails 

Personalize Them 

The bare minimum that consumers expect from businesses nowadays in terms of personalization is including their first name in emails. To take it up a notch, when you’re crafting your email campaign strategy lists, Klaviyo recommends assigning characteristics to each list to base content on. 

“One way to look at your list is by product interest,” says Klaviyo. “If you have a sizable browse abandonment list for a certain product, build a custom gift guide for that category and use it to build hype for a BFCM promo.” Build recipient lists based on products similar to those they’ve shopped for in the past or abandoned in their carts. 

Add a Section About Shipping 

Delivery for holiday gifts purchased online is a mess. Consumers don’t want to worry about whether or not their purchase from your client will make it to them on time. That’s why an effective inclusion to any successful holiday email campaign strategy is a shipping section. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails, you can guarantee that their purchases will make it to them by Christmas. And to make purchases beyond the holiday weekend easier for them, you can include shipping cut-​off dates for when online orders will arrive before each holiday. Klaviyo lists the example for Christmas shipping cut-​off dates: 

• 12/​4: Ground Shipping 
• 12/​11: Express Shipping 
• 12/​15: 2‑Day Shipping 

Be transparent about shipping in your client’s promotional emails, and they’ll won’t get as much backlash about shipments that arrive after the customer would have liked. 

Discounts, Free Stuff, Special Releases/​Events 

They’re what these holidays are all about! And they’re what your client’s email campaign strategy should revolve around. Don’t forget to add promotional messaging such as: 

• Special/​New holiday products 
• Limited-​Edition bundles/​collections 
• Free gifts 
• Contests 

Additional Media 

If your client wants additional media added to their email campaign strategy to turn it omni-​channel, they’re wise! But how will you know what to recommend to them? Look up their target audience’s profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel to find out which types of advertising media drove them to take action in the past year. 

Photo by Aaron Burden