Best Practice from 2015’s Black Friday: 10 Tactics to Copy for 2016
1. Aesthetics
American Eagle went for emails with a holiday-ambient, vibrant, imagery. In the flood of screaming text-heavy emails flooding the inbox during the weekend, this stood out. Obviously, they used the same imagery and colors on their website (and are doing so through-out the holiday season).
2. Storytelling
Possibly the most over-hyped marketing terms is still going strong. Uber was one brand showing how you attract viewers’ interest by building an anticipation for a story.
They partnered with brands like L’Occitane and Vince, to roll out their “5 days of giving” campaign with each new brand partnership announced one by one for the 5 days starting Nov 30 (Cyber Monday). As a part of this campaign they also announced Uber Red on World AIDS Day December 1st where Uber riders could choose to donate $5 on top of their fare to help fight AIDS.
3. Creative Subject Lines
Inboxes literally cave and die from the load of marketing emails during the Black Friday weekend. To compete for the attention of viewers, who often just spend a fraction of a second on an email’s subject line before deciding to open or delete it, the subject line is tremendously important piece of content.
Target went creative by adding an actual target icon to their subject line, to capture readers attention. Having a clear similarity with the company’s logo, it’s a smart way to stand out in an endless line of subject lines in the receiver’s over-filled inbox during the Black Friday inbox.
Fashion retailer Madewell in their subject line played with the fact that Cyber Monday happens on a regular Monday, when you’re typically supposed to be working and not shopping around for deals.
4. Creative Presentation of the Call to Action
Brooks Brothers used a gif that lit up at the end of the animation, to show the call to action.
Alessandro International replaced the common “buy” button with the more aggressive(?) “I WANT IT” for their Prét-á-Porter email ad.
5. Gift Guides
Gift guide themed emails see a 48% higher transaction rate than pure promotional emails. (See more here). See for example what the American Soccer League (MLS), out of all brands, did.
6. Hourly Flash Deals
Amazon masters this art better than anyone, with their plethora of deals made available for only a very limited time (minutes to hours) before disappearing forever. Shoppers can also see what deals are coming up in x minutes or hours and be prepared to through their money out as soon as the deal is made available.
Amazon also sends emails in advance to subscribers to give a heads-up on (some of) the deals that will be offered. Others are even friendlier and offer the subscribers to opt-in on the coming flood of automated emails that will announce, hour by hour, what new items are on sale.
7. “Leaks”
A lot of the bigger brands, like Amazon, Walmart and BestBuy, announce their deals with a “leak” several weeks before the actual Black Friday date. Hence the lines outside BestBuy that starts with people setting up a literal camp already in October.
For best impact, these leaks are, er, leaked to deal syndication websites like Blackfriday.com and Nerdwallet.
8. Mystery Deals
Groupon was one of the stores offering “mystery deals” where either the item on sale or the discount offered is randomized. Order an item in a category at a set price, and see what you get. Or click the link on a select item and see how lucky you are on the discount.
9. Free Gifts
Simple as it is. Buy now, get something else for free. Here are 143 free gifts one could have scored during the Black Friday weekend.
10. Utilize Black Friday Deals to Acquire, Retain and Win Back Subscribers
You could see a lot of websites offering things like Narrative’s Karma program, where visitors are told to “sign up to our newsletter to receive a free Black Friday gift”. Others rewarded existing loyal followers/fans/community members by offering special deals for long time members. Lastly, deals are a powerful way to win back attention from sleeping community members, by sending them emails with subject lines like “Come back and enjoy a special Black Friday deal”.
Bonus: Not Offering Any Deal At All
Low-key fashion brand Everlane has had a tradition of completely closing their shop during Black Friday, to “encourage more thoughtful consumption”. Last year (2014) they took it a step further and ran a crowdfunding-like campaign where 100% of their revenue during Black Friday would go to improving conditions at their Chinese factory. They put up a “Black Friday Fund”, which lives on in 2015 too, now supporting their LA factory(!).
This obviously doesn’t add any immediate sales, but it’s a powerful way to build brand attitude. When other brands fight recklessly to win a new customer and customers stand in line for weeks, the one who stands on the side playing it cool is bound to get both attention and approval from those still keeping their heads together.
For the true Black Friday aficionado there are loads and loads of more out there. Here are some of the places where I found the above recommendations:
http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/best-email-marketing-campaigns-of-2015-black-friday-edition/
What did you find in this year’s Black Friday frenzy that stood out? Share in the comments!
