Black Friday, the first Friday right after Thanksgiving in the US, brings huge sales, online and offline. What used to be just one day in America to get the best deals is now a worldwide shopping spree. Followed by Cyber Monday (or Cyber Week) makes this shopaholic's dream time of the year for several days (or sometimes even weeks). It is the time of the year connected to the most significant worldwide spending. Therefore, no surprise here that emailing during this time of the year is the one to focus on. We will give you some tips and tricks to make your email templates irresistible. Include some design and content to spark your creativity and leave you with some cool email templates to build on! 

Branding, Branding, Branding

We always encourage you to focus on branding while creating your email templates. It matters every time and even more so in the case of BF/CM emailing. Why should it matter that much? Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails usually contain very little that needs to say a lot. They are concise, bold, and straight to the point and may appear very similar to one another. That is why you focus on your brand and the specific approach you want to have above all else. 

Branding x Content -> cheeky unique wording, the subject line that is so much you.

Branding x Design -> colors and logo that are unmistakable, the font that is the boldest version of your style, and unique design elements that make you stand out.

What to Do Before You Start Creating Your Email Templates

1. Plan Ahead

  • Prepare a step-by-step plan to get ahead of the competition (you can tease, research, and make people guess).
  • Start your preparation earlier, so you can send pre-sale emails to fire up the hype. People will be prepared to join your BF/CM fun if you are in their minds long before many other companies catch on.

2. Learn From Your Past

  • Nothing is sadder than losing valuable traction because you didn't improve. As in any good relationship, you must work on it and be there for the long run! Keep your old data, designs, and traffic information so you can improve and change every year. 
  • Learn from your own mistakes.
  • Listen to your customers; they give you a lot of data (even by their behavior alone) to help you prepare the promotions that they will want.

3. Learn From Your Competition

  • You can learn from your achievements and mistakes, but you can learn even more from the mistakes of others.
  • It helps you pinpoint the right content, what drives people in, and what works for others.

4. Research Current Trends

  • Researching trends helps you to stay in the loop. For example, in the age of Tik Tok and other fast online media, people are getting used to concise bursts of information, and you can use that to improve your content to fit their needs.
  • Knowing what is trending helps you go with the flow and against it to stand out.
  • It helps you stay relevant and avoid past mistakes (your target audience may be gradually more sensitive to wording and nuances, so it is better to be safe than sorry while choosing the language, humor, and angle of your emails). 

Check out our Black Friday email templates!

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Black Friday, Cyber Monday Emailing, and The Captivating Content

When Considering what to include in your email templates, remember "THE BIG 5 OF CAPTIVATING CONTENT!":

  1. Branding - if you have any unique way with words regarding your content, use it (e.g., Shark&Co. - "We got the biggest catch for you!").
  2. Subject Line - the captivating subject line that is clear and consistent with the email content (e.g., Berry in Love - “Pick the juiciest piece 20-50% OFF this Black Friday!”). Be bold, use capital letters, use emojis (🤑,🖤,🛍️) use exclamation marks.
  3. Main Message -BF/CM is about what you can offer to stand above the crowd; everyone focuses on exceptional sales, events, etc. Therefore the best idea is to follow the routine rather than blend in. Offer more, offer different, offer YOU (e.g., Sweeter Eater - "Christmas starts early this year, open our Black Friday Advent Calendar every day until the 24th of December!").
  4. Duration - keep the client alert; if they know time is running out, they are way more likely to act and not only that but to act based on feelings, notlogic and calculation; this may bring in more than you would have expected (e.g., "Just 24 hr 21min 30 sec left!"). !TIPS AND TRICKS!: This is a great opportunity to use any type of countdown clock in your emails! Try some of them out. (e.g. https://www.tickcounter.com/). 
  5. Urgency - set duration together with the call to action and captivating message/subject line; all those elements create the sense of urgency, focus on the content of those the most (e.g., "LAST CHANCE," "Buy before the time runs out!").

Black Friday, Cyber Monday Emailing, and The Daring Design

When Considering what to include in your email templates, remember "THE BIG 5 OF DARING DESIGN!":

  1. Branding - use elements like your colors, logo, and fonts to help customers find you in the sea of BF/CM content. In the flood of questionable drop-shipping pages, it is crucial to show your brand has a firm basis for standing on, is run by real people, and has a real name, logo, headquarters, and history.
  2. Bold Font - BF/CM is a great opportunity to go bold and big. As these, primarily promotional emails, usually contain less text, it is essential to make them stand out. Using large and capitalized text and bold CTAs is the way to go.
  3. Contrasting Colors - energizing your content, underlining its importance and urgency, showcasing your brand; using colors can convey all of those and much more. An easy way to go during BF is choosing a black background and contrasting it with the classics like white/red/yellow. For CM, it is good to go black plus neon blue or green (to evoke the cyber element). 
  4. Maximal Design - such a BIG event as BF/CM calls for the bolder overall design; sure, if you want to stay true to your minimal needs, we encourage that too. Still, if you want to explore the bolder side of your company, this is one of the most significant events to do that. 
  5. Action - Call to action should be bigger and bolder, and it can be more prevalent in these emails than usual. Keep it clear and concise enough to help guide your audience and make them act, not to make them confused and overwhelmed.

SUMMARY

To summarize, Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be the easiest way to attract and convert your audience. Email templates for BF/CM may be created in seconds, but it takes more than that to have a successful and fruitful emailing strategy. It is essential to remember your brand and showcase it in a matter that is obvious and memorable. Focusing on short but straightforward content and bold and attractive design is crucial. Moreover, it is necessary to use this opportunity to create as much traction as possible! So be bold, unique, surprising, or even astonishing. But always remember to be you and have a clear CTA to reach your goals.