Like everyone with email, I found myself in an endless sea of Black Friday promo emails this weekend. Since I also work directly in this world, helping clients put together their own email marketing campaigns, I find it impossible to stop myself from analyzing what others are doing.
Join me as I talk through a few things I saw from companies, big and small, that left me disappointed this year. If you’re a small business that engages in any kind of email marketing, learn from this and don’t make the mistakes these guys did!
Listen now!
Black Friday can be A LOT.
We’ve got Thanksgiving.
Then, we have Black Friday.
The next day is Small Business Saturday.
Whatever Sunday is.
Then comes Cyber Monday.
And now, apparently, we also have Giving Tuesday.
It never seems to end and it’s a lot to deal with!
Most people – unless they are Scrooge McDuck swimming in that pile of money – have a limited amount of money. There are far more offers out there than there is money to spend.
Consumers have to pick and choose what they decide to spend their money on.
Which means if you’re a business doing a Black Friday sale or marketing campaign, you are competing with HUNDREDS of other businesses, big and small.
You’re all saying “PICK ME!! Spend your money with me!”
In order for a consumer to choose you, you have to be memorable.
What do I do for Black Friday?
Part of my work as a digital strategist dives into the marketing sphere, and I do this type of work 1:1 with a select amount of clients. So in addition to being a consumer, I also have some “insider knowledge”.
I’m super excited because this year, the clients I have been working with have been seeing increased sales! Which is awesome because I told one them earlier in the year that I “would love for you to have one of your best holiday seasons this year and I think it’s very possible.”
This particular client is 100% ecommerce — meaning, she sells products and that’s the main source of her income, rather than a service. We did a website redesign over the summer, optimized the heck out of various things, and put together a holiday marketing strategy and campaign.
I’m so happy to see the fruits of our labor because sales are UP! I’m a data nerd so I’ve been examining EVERYTHING, and her sales are up about 30-40% than in previous years.
Now, I’m not claiming I’m a marketing God or anything, but after spending so many years in this world, it’s impossible not to kind of naturally analyze what other brands are doing.
As a consumer – I received Black Friday emails from some brands this year and was really impressed and thought they did things really well.
Other brands? Not so much.
Overall, like a lot of you, I was left pretty overwhelmed by all of the offers because there is so much to sort through.
I know Black Friday has already passed this year, but I’m going to use some of this to guide my campaigns for next year.
Fact: You AREN’T annoying people by emailing them more than once.
I know. I know.
Hitting the “send” button on a massive email campaign that’s going out to hundreds or even thousands of people can seem scary.
I felt the rapid heart beat and slightly sweaty palms FOR YEARS every time I went to send a massive campaign.
And also for years, I only sent ONE email per marketing campaign.
Why?
Because I didn’t want to bother people, or overwhelm people, or drive them away by sending too many emails.
But you guys. You HAVE to send more than one email.
Not everyone is going to open or even see your first email.
The average open rate — meaning the percentage of people that actually OPEN your email — is only about 18%.
It varies by industry. It’s actually less for retail.
The click-through rate is even less than this, so in other words: only a small percentage of people are going to OPEN your email, and even less of them are going to click through to whatever you’re linking to.
And then, of course, even LESS of those people are going to actually make a purchase…even if they put stuff they like in their cart and make it to the checkout page.
Cart abandonment is a very real thing.
Maybe something distracts them from making the purchase.
Or, maybe they don’t want to pull the trigger right now.
Maybe — especially with the case of Black Friday stuff — they’re waiting to see if you offer a bigger and better discount on Cyber Monday.
If you have the right set up, you can send one of those automated “you left this in your cart” emails, which can help people complete more purchases.
A lot of us maybe don’t have that set-up, or we aren’t FULL retail operations where this would be overkill.
Regardless — this is one of the reasons why you should send AT LEAST one follow up to your original email.
You’re doing people a FAVOR by letting people know about your promo.
In addition to the above…if your product or service is truly awesome, you are doing people a FAVOR by letting them know it’s on sale or there’s a special bonus if you purchase today or whatever.
You aren’t annoying them…you are providing them with an OPPORTUNITY.
Story time.
I’m on a course creator’s email list and her courses are relatively spendy: close to $1000 for the one I was looking at, but she was having a big discount with extra bonuses in the month of November.
She sent out the first mass email introducing the course and the discount on November 10th.
The discounted rate was going to be available until Black Friday weekend, so no need to purchase right away, I thought.
This creator’s second email about the discounted course went out a week later on November 16th.
Like the first, I read this email.
I clicked through to read more about the course. I put it in my cart. Noticed the countdown saying I had something like 9 or 10 more days left to get the course at the discounted rate and I said to myself, “Ok I want this, but I’m still going to wait.”
The third email came on November 23, so two days before Thanksgiving and three days away from the big Black Friday weekend.
Now, at this point, I was busy working on wrapping up holiday campaigns up for my own clients so I didn’t even open the email, although I saw it and was like, “Ok, I need to remember to buy this thing in a couple of days.”
Well.
A couple of days came and guess what?
I totally forgot about it.
I think I thought about it at some random time on Thanksgiving, probably as I was eating a mouthful of turkey. Not an opportune time to make the purchase.
I was pretty busy throughout the rest of the weekend too, so I didn’t think about it again until Sunday night.
Since, in my mind, Black Friday weekend lasts at least throughout Cyber Monday, I figured the discounted rate would still be available on Sunday.
I guessed wrong.
It was now full price, and there was a message up saying Black Friday Deals were over.
I’m not going to lie, that kind of annoyed me. I was also really bummed because I was looking forward to taking this course.
And I was really disappointed that this course creator didn’t send a follow-up.
If you’re doing a Black Friday special…at least send one or more emails around Black Friday! You can’t just send an email out on the Tuesday before and then don’t remind people!
Now, I don’t know WHY this creator didn’t think to send a follow up on or closer to Black Friday. No idea what was running through their brain.
I do know in the past, as a small biz owner, I maybe would have felt hesitant to send an email around this time because I’d be like, “Oh, people are overwhelmed with all their Black Friday emails and promos in their inbox already. They don’t need mind adding to the mix.”
But that is the wrong attitude to have, because people WANT and ARE EXPECTING to hear from you.
And when they don’t, maybe they’re disappointed.
(Or they forget about you and spend their money elsewhere.)
I’m obviously not taking the creator’s failure to send out a blast email reminding people on her list about the course discount expiring PERSONALLY, but like, I’m not thrilled because I don’t feel cared about.
People like to feel cared about.
If you’re running an awesome sale, let them know so they don’t miss out!
And remember that ALL people may not follow you on ALL forums…like, some people may only be on your email list and are expecting to hear from you that way.
Others may only be following you on social media.
You gotta hit people at all of these locations or else they may not see it.
You aren’t being annoying by doing this. You’re doing people a favor.
Fact: It’s weird when people come out of the woodwork to get that Black Friday sale.
I’ll start by saying I respect the hustle, and know we all are looking to earn a little more around the holidays.
But.
It’s super weird and offputting when you’ve abandoned your list for MONTHS on end, and then all of a sudden you’re sending out multiple emails around Black Friday.
It’s even weirder when what you’re selling is kinda off brand.
Story time.
I received a couple emails this year from people’s whose lists I don’t ever remembered joining.
There was one sender in particular, let’s call her Krista Smith. I read the sender’s name and was like “Huh?? Who the heck is this?”
I read what they were advertising: “true crime apparel”. Again I was like, what?? What is this??
I searched my inbox to see what other emails I’d received from Krista Smith to try to figure out when exactly I joined her list and why. I never delete anything — it’s a real problem — so I was able to do this pretty easily.
Turns out, I had joined her email list years ago and received a podcast editing workflow freebie in return.
Since then, she’d sent a few more email campaigns that I never had read, but not much lately.
Turns out the “true crime apparel” venture is a new thing — just announced last week. But she primarily provides podcast editing services now. I get the “true crime” connection kinda — maybe she edits a lot of true crime podcasts. But going from offering podcast editing advice to selling true crime apparel is kind of a big leap. Don’t you think?
This certainly doesn’t feel on-brand….and honestly, launching a whole new product line that IS quite a departure from your main thing ON Black Friday is probably not the best idea, because it kinda just feels like a cash grab.
Anyway. That aside.
Turns out, prior to the Black Friday true crime apparel emails, Krista Smith hadn’t sent an email since May.
So it’s no wonder I was like “who the heck is this??”
Krista seems like a nice person and again, I respect the hustle, so I felt a little bad for unsubscribing, but I did.
So guys.
Y’all need to NURTURE your email list WAY before Black Friday is even a blip on their radar.
Fact: Giant discounts aren’t always appealing.
Let me just say that ya girl LOVES a good deal.
I’m all about a bargain.
BUT.
Let me just say that when a company can afford to mark down their products 50% or more…I’m kinda turned off.
Urban Decay is a make-up brand that most people my age who are into make-up probably have heard of before.
I’ve been a huge fan of their eyeshadow palettes for years and own a couple already — although they are old — so I bought a new one this past weekend.
I have to admit. My pocket book was thrilled that all of their palettes were 50% off for Black Friday.
But I was also a little turned off because that’s a huge discount.
The palette I got normally sells for $54.00. I bought it for $27.00.
So, I’m thinking: if Urban Decay can afford to sell all of their palettes at half off and still make money, something’s up. It kinda feels like they are ripping people off at full price. Right?
I’m also left questioning the quality a little bit.
Honestly, I don’t ever remember Urban Decay doing such large discounts in the past.
I feel like these palettes were discounted, at most, 10% and because of this, it really felt like more of a luxury item…maybe also because I was a broke college student when their first Naked eyeshadow palette was launched.
The deep discount this year just makes me nervous because we’ve seen brands go through this transformation from higher end, more luxury to ultra affordable before and it’s usually never great, ya know? It totally changes the way the brand is viewed.
Hard Candy nail polishes started out selling for like, $12 or something in the 90s. It sold at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, and higher end retailers like Nordstrom. I had one bottle, it was a shade of pink, and I LOVED IT.
I remember Hard Candy kind of disappeared from the world and then years later, it emerged around 2009 at Walmart for a MUCH less expensive price point.
And again – I love a bargain. But there’s something that just doesn’t feel as fancy about buying a $4 nail polish at Walmart. It doesn’t feel as cool.
The same thing happened with Juicy Couture.
I never had a Juicy Couture tracksuit, but I did have a couple of other items. This brand was poppin’ in the mid 2000s. The pants sold for about $80 and the top was about $75 – more than your typical tracksuit cost but still attainable for a lot of people and it was kinda a status symbol.
Then it kind of faded away, only to reemerge years later at Kohls with a much lower price point. Like $20 for a jacket that looks similar to the ones that sold for $75 years ago.
I’m not trying to sound elitist, but when you start your thing off with a bigger price tag, people are going to associate it with luxury. And that attracts a certain type of customer.
When it drops drastically in price — now you’re targeting a different type of client altogether. That’s fine, but it can alienate the other people who valued the thing because it was a higher priced, luxury item.
I know these companies are a little different than our small businesses, but still. Stick with me.
Story time.
This Black Friday, I saw another online course with a 50% off discount.
This course was $650 regularly but it was on sale for $325.
I was interested in this course, but honestly…if they can afford to mark it half off….I’m suddenly not so sure.
And I saw another course that was originally $160 but it was marked down to $12.99.
Like…what??
When I see a huge discount like that, I’m really taken aback — and not in a good way.
When your discount is that large, I question the value.
If you’re selling anything online, you’re putting time and effort into creating it and putting it out there into the world.
If you originally priced your thing at $160, it means, at one point, you felt like it was truly worth $160.
Now, all of a sudden, it’s worth $12.99?!
WHY??
If you were working hourly somewhere — I don’t care where, it can be anywhere, but let’s say you were making $50 an hour.
That’s your rate, right? It’s non-negotiable.
You wouldn’t be like, “well, my rate is normally $50 an hour, but this weekend I’ll work for a mere 8% of that, so $4 an hour is fine.”
That situation would raise some serious eyebrows.
But it’s really not that much different from heavily discounting your thing as a small business owner.
Unless you are out there in the world selling bottom of the barrel products at a crazy high mark-up — and if that’s you, stop — don’t do deep discounts that diminish the value of your brand.
Some brands choose not to discount products ever — and that’s totally fine.
When I first started selling online, I never offered a % off discount and guess what? Sales were just fine.
Before you decide on a discount, ask yourself a couple questions.
First, is the discount going to attract your IDEAL customers?
Because let’s face it — the person who is going to buy a $12.99 course is a VERY different type of person than the person who is willing to pay $160 for a course.
Just like the type of person spending $12 on a nail polish at Fred Segal on Sunset Blvd is a totally different shopper than someone spending $4 on a nail polish down at the Walmart.
There’s certainly a MARKET for both types of shoppers, but that doesn’t mean your brand should target them both.
Second, what implications — obvious or not — may offering a huge discount have on your brand?
There’s a whole range of things that can happen here.
One, you have to sell more of your thing to meet your goals. That means you’re going to have to attract MORE people to your thing in order to make money.
Two, people may come to expect discounts and only buy if you offer them.
They also may fail to see the value in your thing at full price.
Before you just pick a number out of the sky, or roll with a 40% off campaign because you see other stores doing it, make sure it’s actually right for your brand and clients.
It all comes down to being in touch with what your target audience REALLY wants.
All of these mishaps come down to being out of touch with what your target audience really wants.
If you’re giving people the right offers, serving them the right products and services, they will be delighted to hear from you.
They won’t be annoyed that you emailed them. They aren’t going to be like, “waiiit. Who is this person again? Why are they sending me this advertisement for true crime apparel? WTF??”
And, if you are targeting the right people, building your list up with them, they may be a little turned off at a giant discount. They may question the value of your product/service all together.
Once you realize this, and once you know what your audience wants, you’re in good shape. You will find your marketing strategies and campaigns are MUCH more effective. I know Black Friday is over this year, but it’s never too late to work on this…or too early to start!