Sending emails the right way this BFCM ✔️
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Here's today's Expert Email Advice!
Hey, friend!
If today's email looks a little...different, here's a quick recap.
Every few weeks, we interrupt our regular bi-weekly advice to bring you expert insights and knowledge from friends of our community.
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Today's advice comes from expert email marketing strategist and email business owner, Israa Alrawi.
Israa runs The Winbox, a successful DTC email services business, resource hub and newsletter that focuses on helping email marketers and newsletter senders get the most out of their email strategies.
Israa will focus on impressing your customers and readers this upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and how to nail BFCM the right way.
November is probably one of the biggest email periods of the year, so read on to find out how to stand out from the regular inbox clutter 💎
Q4 for email marketers is like the wild west 🤠
Many throw away everything they've learned all year about best practices and go into a haywire sales mode.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are around the corner, and I understand that performance is at stake for email marketers. This year, the stakes are even higher...
With over 116.5 billion emails sent in 2023 for the BFCM sales period, we are only looking for that number to increase in 2024. So, inboxes will be flooded, subscribers will be overwhelmed, and every email tactic counts to make you stand out.
Today, we will cover three major categories to help you ace your BFCM email marketing period, leaving your clients impressed
In the rush to send out BFCM emails, pushing your email lists hard is tempting.
However, neglecting deliverability can backfire by landing your emails in the spam folder.
Here are three key points to safeguard your sender's reputation:
Check DNS settings
Before you ramp up your BFCM campaigns, verify that your domain’s DNS settings (like DKIM, SPF, and DMARC) are correctly set up (more on this here).
This also helps protect you from being spammed or having your domain and emails impersonated.
Remember, Gmail and Yahoo have enforced adding these DNS records. You won’t get past their filters without the proper setup.
PS: You can use free tools like MX toolbox or aboutmy.email to check if your DNS records are up to date.
Monitor spam rates
The number one reason BFCM emails land in spam is because of audience behaviour and how readers (and customers) react to your emails (ignoring or marking them as junk).
Keep a close eye on your spam complaints during BFCM. If you see spam report rates shoot up (generally above 0.3%+) over 7 days or more, it’s time to dial in your sending practices.
Tighten your list segments and get back to the basics of email content — always be engaging.
Remember this: Gmail doesn’t have a feedback loop to your email platform (ESP), so set up Google Postmaster to get Gmail feedback!
Clean your list
Q4 is a great time to expand your segments outside of your regular engaged subscribers.
Generally, I like to expand a full year, going back to BFCM of the year before.
Before you expand your list, make sure you are including subscribers that are more likely to convert (ex: BFCM shoppers from the year before). You will also want to do warm-up campaigns leading up to your sales to avoid high bounce rates and spam traps.
Start early: It's best to begin warming up in October so that you can define your final BFCM segments and remove inactive subscribers and invalid email addresses.
In email, BFCM is all about maximising conversions over a short period of time. Unfortunately, engagement takes a backseat, which is a big mistake.
Instead of sending random blasts, begin by fine-tuning your strategy.
Try these three tactics:
Keep your content relevant
The biggest mistake we see with clients is that their Q4 campaigns turn into a sales circus 🤡 Messaging blends and becomes bland.
While your promotional offers seal the deal for subscribers, your messaging still needs to be engaging. Most consumers aren’t just buying because it’s a good deal (unless it's marked 90% off), but because they still want the product for a reason other than a price.
Don’t forget to remind readers of that reason (the why).
Your promotional pricing simply supports your value to bring the deal over the line.
Tailor and target based on behaviour
Use behavioural triggers to segment your audience and tailor your BFCM message content and offers.
Not all subscribers will shop with you for the same reason.
Use surveys (more on that later) and first-party data to tailor your messages for each segment.
For example, loyal shoppers won’t require long messaging to convert. They know, trust, and buy from you already. On the other hand, your “deal” buyers who only shop during sale periods may need more nurturing to get over the finish line.
Shorten Your Automated sequences
Most promotional sales will most likely require a shortened time period. This means that your year-round automated sequences may not fit the pace required for BFCM.
You'll need to adjust the time delays on your reminder automations, which are your emails like your cart abandonment, checkout emails, and browse abandonment offer.
Consider this for your automation content: Reflect the urgency of the sale and adapt messaging in real-time to align with inventory levels, new offers, or shipping deadlines.
BFCM doesn’t end with the last sale—it’s also a learning opportunity for your future campaigns.
Your business doesn’t close shop after Q4, and you need those new customers to come back, don't you? Gathering feedback is key to optimising your strategy and boosting retention.
Here’s how we recommend you do this well:
Survey subscribers before a sale begins
One of my favourite things to do is to ask our clients’ subscribers about their expectations for BFCM sales.
We ask them about the type of sales they are looking forward to, when they started shopping last year, and how often they want to hear about our deals.
These quick surveys gauge our audience’s interest, helping us get clear on sending the right message to the right segment at the right time. There are various tools to use for these - pick what's easiest to monitor and track.
Survey after purchases
Post-purchase surveys can give you insanely valuable insights into customer satisfaction.
Did buyers enjoy the shopping experience? Did the promotional deal or offer push them to buy? Was the promotional sale clear? Was it easy to find what buyers were looking for and was checkout easy?
Using these data points to improve promotional periods will help you create high-converting campaigns in the future.
Try this: Use Google Forms to create a post-purchase survey or software like KNOCOMMERCE on the thank you page after an order is placed.
Over-communicate during shipping & delivery times
To reduce post-purchase anxiety, dissonance and churn, keep your customers overly informed during shipping and delivery.
Inject regular updates to reassure buyers about their order status in your post-purchase flow. If there are shipping and delivery delays, send an email from the founder to your segment that’s impacted.
Most customers are understanding as long as you are transparent about your processes.
Here are a few final tips I give to our customers to help take their strategy from good to amazing over the Q4 email season:
Change up your email from name
No, you aren't using Steve Jobs or Beyonce instead of your (or your clients) business name.
What you want to do is add a more unique and relevant extended “from name.”
For example, if you are sending an email to VIPs for early access, your from name should be XYZ Business VIP Exclusive.
Some terms you can include are XYZ's BIG SALE, XYZ Guide, XYZ Black Friday/ Cyber Monday Exclusive Sale, and XYZ BOGO Exclusive.
You get the idea.
Don't use overly salesy subject lines all the time
Going back to point 1 most emails that will land in your subscriber's inbox will be sales-oriented and so the messages blend. Try using your from name to add the sale aspect and use your subject line to be more personal.
Some examples:
"Are you up? Because we have something for you →" (for sales that start at midnight)
"Only 50 customers are getting access to this - hurry and snag yours."
"Want XYZ's best seller? Get it for FREE with this deal."
Be mindful of sending times
During Q4, inbox providers have previously noted an influx of emails at the top of the hour and at half of the hour.
Try sending your emails a little before these sending times.
Your emails will avoid being bulk-deleted with the swathes of other emails being scheduled at the top of the hour.
Create a calendar invite to your sale and send an email asking your subscribers to RSVP to the sale
We've used this trick to get in front of our audience insanely well when email gets too crowded.
Your biggest buyers will RSVP, adding the reminder to their calendars and getting a reminder right at the start of the sale.
We're rooting for you, friend! 💌
Q4 may feel like a free-for-all, but with good strategic practices, you can stay ahead of the competition and sail through.
Prioritise deliverability, refine your strategy and gather feedback now so that you’ll not only ace this year’s BFCM campaigns but also set yourself up for long-term success.
Remember, you still need happy, satisfied customers to keep up a successful email program going into 2025, so put some effort in.
You'll reap the rewards later.
Haven’t you started on your BFCM planning or feeling overwhelmed?
I've put together a FREE 27-page Promo Playbook that will help you craft the best offers and organise your email calendar for Q4.
👇
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Until next time,
Des💌
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