Black Friday is soon enough. This year it is on November 26th, to be exact. This means that the time when every marketer wants to break his/her last year’s record in sales and the time when subscribers want to buy products at incredibly low prices, is coming. The closer it is to November, the more difficult yet more interesting the “hunting prospects” game gets.

In this post, we will share 16 tips to create a successful Black Friday Email campaign along with examples to get you inspired.

Here are the 16 tips you should consider when starting your Black Friday email campaign. 

1. Create the holiday gift guide 

Gift guides have a 48% higher conversion rate than average promo emails.

You can base your gift ideas on categories, gender, age, geolocation, etc.

(Source: Email from Athleta)

Athleta even categorizes gifts by price.

When it comes to loyal customers, you can also create special offers based on their previous purchases. 

2. Segment your contact base

We are not talking about regular segmentation by gender or preferences as it goes without saying. You can also segment emails by recipients' behavior.

Normally, brands send one sale announcement email to all users.

But now that you know what category your prospects clicked on and what products they are interested in, you may segment your contact base. 

(Source: Email from Ikea)

You can, like Ikea, use products from browse abandonment/abandoned cart emails.

This will make your Black Friday emails more relevant; hence, it will have a positive impact on your conversion.

3. Create a series of Black Friday emails

You cannot just send one Black Friday email and expect your ROI to triple.

It should be a well-thought-through series of holiday emails.

4. Announce the start of your sales beforehand

As long as your Black Friday email campaigns will consist of a few emails, why not use one to announce the exact dates when your sale starts and ends.

In email one, you just announce the Black Friday sale; in email two, you let recipients know when exactly it starts. 

(Source: Email from Gap)

In email three, you may notify subscribers that your holiday sale is coming to its end. 

You can either write the dates and just highlight them or add a countdown timer in your holiday emails. 

You need this series, first of all, to notify customers you are in the game and that they will have a chance to buy their favorite products at lower prices. Second of all, it is important to keep customers updated— you need to constantly remind them about your brand.

5. Make a special offer to staunch customers

Why not inform your staunch customers about the exact dates of the sale and discount amount beforehand? Or why not start a pre-sale a day or two before the holiday and invite loyal consumers only?

Let them be the first to shop with you this Black Friday. 

(Source: Email from Monica Vinader)

You will need to segment your contact base: active and inactive users. This is another approach to segmentation.

6. Offer free shipping

Do you know what makes Black Friday marketing campaigns best? Free shipping does!

During the holiday season, people tend to spend a fair amount of money on numerous Christmas gifts to all their family, friends, and colleagues. 

Hence, they appreciate free shipping, which is one of the most converting options that you can provide.

(Source: Email from Victoria's Secret)

Make sure your “free shipping” notification is pretty noticeable.

7. Spend some time on Black Friday email design

Definitely, your subscribers receive many more emails during the holiday season than they usually do. And all emails contain generous offers. Then how can you grab consumers’ attention? A holiday design comes to the rescue. 

Make your Black Friday marketing campaigns unforgettable by implementing your unusual bold ideas.

Banners are usually the face of all emails. Pay close attention to them. 

(Source: Email from Stripo)

8. Build a contact list for this particular newsletter

Build a contact list for this particular email campaign. For instance, add one more subscription form, which is dedicated to Black Friday, to the website.

You can even offer an additional discount to newbies.

Be sure to provide the details of how to get an additional discount in your Black Friday email.

(Source: Email from Banana Republic)

This may be a good start to your long-term relations with these newcomers.

9. Promote your offer across social media

Despite the fact that email marketing remains the most effective channel for communicating with customers, you are supposed to announce Black Friday sales across all media channels. 

You can collaborate with social media influencers to promote your offer to their audience. HypeAuditor counted that for every dollar spent on influencers business gets 5.25 in earned media value.

For more information on the benefits, the combination of email marketing and social media channels brings, refer to our blog post, given below.

10. Offer gift cards

Even though in paragraph 1 we suggested that you create “Gift Guides”, some recipients might not have time to look through them or they might not be familiar enough with the preferences of the person whom they are going to buy a present for. Offer gift cards.

(Source: Email from Gap)

Announce it in your Black Friday emails.

11. Combine two holidays in one email

Black Friday and Cyber Monday go together. Feel free to combine them in one single email.

(Source: Email from NiftyImages)

12. Be sure to present new products

The holiday season is a good time to present new products. 

(Source: Email from Chubbies)

No matter how much customers love your current assortment, they will definitely like to see something new in your emails.

13. Pay close attention to CTA design

No matter how bright your design is, or how generous your value proposition is, pay close attention to the CTA button design. It has to be noticeable or contrast to your email design.

If you like, you can apply a hover effect to buttons, to make your Black Friday emails more festive.

To build CSS-animated buttons with Stripo, you need to:

• go to the Appearance tab;

• right in the same tab, set the necessary colors:

• now all the CTA buttons that you add to your Black Friday emails, will inherit these design styles.

14. Remind customers Christmas is around the corner

According to the NRF research, in 2020, about 190 mln Americans went Christmas shopping during the 5-day shopping weekend. 

Remind the rest of your recipients that Christmas is coming; if they buy presents now — they will not have to worry and look for last-minute gifts on December 24.

(Source: Email from M&M's)

Help them please their close friends and family with good presents this year. 

15. Pick the best time

When is the best time to send Black Friday emails? There is no right answer to this question. But you sure have to start way before the 5-day weekend so people have time to get prepared.

Because NRF states that 33% of Americans purchase in September-October. Then why not start your Black Friday campaigns at the beginning of Fall?

(Source: NRF)

16. Write a powerful subject line

It is a well-known fact that 35% of recipients open emails judging by the subject line alone. Let it be clear, concise and, of course, catchy.

Avoid exclamation marks, avoid text in ALL caps in subject lines.

If your Black Friday sale is coming to its end, mention it in your email subject line. You offer free shipping — notify customers about it.

Black Friday subject line examples:

• Herschel Supply Co. — Black Friday Starts Today.

• Monica Vinader — Black Friday | Up to 50% off | 24 hours only! ⏰;

• Scuderia Ferrari Online Store — The special Black Friday weekend has arrived.

• F21 Exclusives — Up to 80% OFF. Early Access Black Friday.

• Adidas — Get a jump on Black Friday.

• Maybelline New York — Our Guide To The Best Black Friday (Makeup) Finds!

• Photobucket — We couldn’t wait—Black Friday starts NOW.

• Build Assign — HOURS LEFT ❄ 25% OFF ❄ Black Friday Ends Soon! 

• Rosetta Stone — Save more | OVER 65% off.

• West Ham United — Black Friday Best Sellers.

• Chubbies — Black Friday is CANCELLED.

• Adidas — Don't miss out... You can still save after Black Friday (go cyber).

• Ghirardelli Chocolate Company — Black Friday Savings - Ending at Midnight.

• Gap — You're looking at our LAST Black Friday email 'til next year!

• D'Artagnan — It’s Black Fri-Yay! Shop Now.

As you can see, you are welcome to use emojis in subject lines.

Please be advised: you can set a subject line (with emojis if you like) and preheader text to your emails with Stripo.

Examples of the best Black Friday email marketing campaigns

Searching for the Black Friday email examples? Search no more! We hope you'll love our compilation of the best, in our opinion, examples.

Example 1. Email gamification for Black Friday campaigns

The best feature of this email by Loft is the animated banner. Seems like it invites recipients to go to the website saying, “Wanna know how huge your discount will be? — Visit us!”

(Source: Pinterest)

Don't know how to utilize roulettes in emails? Just upload a GIF.

Example 2. Black Friday sale

Old Navy decorated its newsletter with bright colors and happy people. 

Email marketing for Black Friday is faceless — brands just present product items or illustrate the discount amount. But I miss seeing people :) 

(Source: Email from Old Navy)

Example 3. Black Friday sale

The key element of this email is the simple yet stylish banner with no distracting elements. You see it, you go shopping right away.

The fact that the sale ends soon urges customers to make up their minds faster.

Example 4. Early access

This Black Friday email is awesome. I loved its design.

(Source: Email from Brooklinen)

But most of all, I liked that the brand offers exclusive early access to loyal clients way before other clients. In this way, they show the benefits of being the brand advocate.

Final thoughts

We hope that our Black Friday email examples got you inspired, and now you are ready to start your own brilliant campaign.

When building one, please remember to:

• create a series of Black Friday emails;
• pay close attention to subject lines;
• provide free shipping;
• announce sales before the start of the Holiday season.

Stripo offers a fair amount of ready-to-use Black Friday email templates.