If you’re a retail brand that hasn’t started planning for Black Friday, then what are you waiting for?
Black Friday is an important day for brands and consumers alike. It signifies the start of the Christmas shopping rush. And offers consumers the chance to purchase those items they’ve been eyeing up for the past year.
But Black Friday can be overwhelming. Competition is fierce, marketing strategy is advanced, and consumers are easily swayed from one brand to another.
To help brands and email marketers out, we’ve put together 10 tips to ensure you have a successful Black Friday in 2021.
Build a better email list
Black Friday is one of the most important days of the year for retailers. So when it comes to promoting your Black Friday campaign, you want to reach as many potential customers as possible. And your email marketing communications will help you do just that.
Before Black Friday comes around, take the opportunity to grow your email list of subscribers who really want to hear about your upcoming sales and offers.
You can achieve this by promoting your email sign up on your website, social media channels, and even in-store. Consider using a pop-up or banner on your website promoting your fantastic Black Friday sales, and ask consumers to sign up to be the first to hear about them.
Get your timing right
Black Friday sales are getting earlier each year. With Black Friday no longer being a day-long event, but often a week or even a month-long campaign.
With this in mind, it’s important to get your timing right. You may not want to launch your entire Black Friday campaign too early, but use email and website promotions to tease your sales and get your consumers ready to check their inboxes and your website when the big day comes around.
Remember, competitors will be promoting early this year. So be conscious of consumers turning to their products before yours if you promote your campaign too late.
Strategise your subject lines
The inbox will be busier than ever come Black Friday. And one of the only ways you’ll be able to beat the competition is by making your subject line stand out.
That’s because 47% of email recipients open emails based on the subject line alone.
So don’t treat your subject line as an afterthought, instead ensure there is a strategy behind it.
Consider using some bright or unusual emojis that the recipient doesn’t see very often. Clearly mention the items in your sale in the subject line. Or get creative with your copy by writing something enticing, edgy, or humorous.
Focus your design
There’s no time to waste in getting your recipients to click through to your Black Friday deal. So ensure that your email design or landing page is engaging and focused.
Once you’ve grabbed the shopper’s attention with bold, striking visuals, ensure there are no distractions to them clicking through to the main CTA (call to action).
This means that emails and landing pages should be simple, not offer too much choice, and the CTA should stand out from the rest of the design, offering a clear command so there is no confusion.
Utilise personalisation
During Black Friday, you may only have a few shots at grabbing recipients’ attention. So don’t waste them.
To make the most out of every campaign promotion or communication, ensure that as many elements as possible are tailored to the individual.
This can be achieved through the use of data and dynamic content, which can be utilised in email and on landing pages.
Brands can recommend the products in the sale that they know the consumer will be most interested in.
For instance, if a consumer regularly browses sports clothing, brands can use this data along with dynamic content blocks to automatically populate the Black Friday landing page or email promotions with the latest discounts on trainers or leggings.
Don’t be afraid to use popups
When used sparingly, popups are the perfect way to control the buying journey during Black Friday.
Your website will be busy, consumers will be excited and distracted, meaning that you want to lead them through their purchase as efficiently as possible.
Popups can be automated based on a number of actions. For new website visitors, you can schedule a pop up to promote your Black Friday sale. For consumers who are browsing but not purchasing, popups can be used to recommend similar items. And for those who abandoned a basket or look like they’re about to exit the website, a pop up can be triggered reminding them to finish their purchase.
The options are almost endless.
Add a sense of urgency
Urgency is another great tactic to encourage consumers to make a purchase without delay, or before they turn to a competitor.
Countdown timers are perfect for adding a sense of urgency, particular during a sale.
Not only do countdown timers look great and grab shoppers’ attention. They are also dynamic, meaning that every time a recipient opens the email, or a visitor refreshes a landing page, the clock will show the accurate time.
Provide stock and pricing updates
Another way of adding urgency to a potential purchase is to let the consumer know when stock is low, or prices have dropped.
Using dynamic content, brands can automatically populate emails and landing pages with the pricing and availability of specific products. Encouraging consumers to bag the item before it’s out of stock or prices go up.
Additionally, if the consumer has been browsing a product that has been in the sale but sold out, brands can automatically notify them via email when the item is back in stock. Discouraging them from looking elsewhere instead.
Showcase your happy customers
One thing consumers have a lot of during Black Friday is choice.
So how do you convince a potential purchaser that they should shop in your Black Friday sale, and not a competitor’s?
Trust is key to distinguishing yourself from other brands. So if you have a community of happy, loyal customers, then you should shout about them.
Social proof is ideal for achieving this. In fact, 89% of customers won’t take action until they read reviews.
During your Black Friday campaign, focus on promoting your reviews, testimonials, and UGC (user-generated content) to showcase to potential customers that you are a brand that can be trusted. And that you have a host of customers to back that up.
Trigger abandoned basket reminders
There is nothing more frustrating than carefully crafting Black Friday campaigns full of amazing deals, visuals, and personalisation. Just for the purchase to fall at the final hurdle.
There are lots of reasons shoppers add items to their basket but never check out. They can get distracted, they can find a better deal elsewhere, they’re unsure about delivery times, or they’re cautious about how trustworthy your brand is.
All of these blockers can be addressed with abandoned basket email reminders.
These emails are triggered when a consumer leaves something in their basket. And can include information on the product’s benefits, delivery timescales, positive customer reviews and images, and support lines in case they have any questions.
And of course, a little discount code may also help in offering that final nudge to purchase.
Is your brand looking to crush the competition during Black Friday 2021?
Then let’s waste no time in getting your campaigns set up and ready to go.
At Pure360 we offer an all-in-one AI email and web marketing platform alongside a Customer Success Team whose sole mission is to get you better results. And we just so happen to love working with brands on Black Friday campaigns.
So why not get in touch today to find out more?