Making Your Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) Marketing a Big Success: Best Email & SMS Strategies for 2024
The holiday season in 2024 is going to be highly competitive. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are crucial times for many online brands. Shoppers are on the lookout for deals, and businesses are trying hard to grab their attention. That’s why having a solid email and SMS marketing strategy is so important.
In this guide, the VP of Lifecycle & Email, shares strategies and tips that can help you increase your sales and reach your 2024 holiday marketing goals. You’ll also learn about how Ignite Visibility’s Lifecycle Marketing Managed Services can support your brand during this busy season.
Table of Contents
What is BFCM?
BFCM stands for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which is one of the biggest shopping periods of the year. It’s when most people are actively searching for deals, so companies focus heavily on holiday marketing campaigns.
According to research from TapCart, 63% of consumers are more likely to pay attention to marketing messages around BFCM compared to other times of the year. But there’s a catch: 62% of people will unsubscribe if they feel bombarded with too many messages. So, finding the right balance is key to running a successful 2024 holiday marketing services.
Black Friday Marketing Checklist
To make planning easier, here’s a checklist of what you should do to prepare for a successful Black Friday:
1. Pre-BFCM Planning: Set Yourself Up for Success
Getting ready early is vital. What you do in the months before BFCM marketing can decide your success. Here are some key things to focus on before the holiday rush starts:
Check and Improve Your Automated Emails and Texts: Ensure that automated emails and SMS messages, such as welcome messages, abandoned cart reminders, and thank-you messages, are ready to handle more traffic during the holidays. These messages play an essential role during this busy time.
Grow Your Email and SMS Lists Early: Try to get people to sign up for your email and SMS lists by offering attractive incentives like early access to sales or exclusive discounts. You can use pop-up forms or exit-intent forms to encourage website visitors to subscribe.
Spend on Ads Early: Start spending on ads in October and early November, even if the return on ad spend (ROAS) is lower than usual. Building an audience early allows you to remarket to them during BFCM when competition and costs increase.
2. VIP and Early Access Strategies: Reward Your Best Customers
Offering special deals to your most loyal customers is a great way to create excitement and boost early sales. Here’s how you can do it:
Exclusive Early Access: Reward your top customers by offering them early access to your Black Friday sales. Not only does this make them feel valued, but it also increases customer loyalty.
Wishlist Incentives: Encourage people to create wishlists before the holiday season. This way, you can collect valuable information about their preferences, which can help you better target your marketing efforts when the sales start.
3. Creative and Personalization Strategies
Stand Out with Smart Messaging
During the BFCM period, customers’ inboxes will be flooded with promotional messages. Here’s how to make sure yours don’t get lost in the crowd:
Keep Your Messages Simple: During the holiday rush, clear and simple messages work best. Focus on one main offer per email or text message to avoid overwhelming your audience. Your calls-to-action (CTAs) should be easy to understand and noticeable.
Create Personalized Gift Guides: Make targeted gift guides for different groups of people, such as gifts for him, gifts for tech lovers, and so on. Personalize your messages based on your customers’ behavior, like their past purchases or wishlist items.
Leverage Social Commerce: Allow customers to shop directly from social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok. This reduces the number of steps needed to complete a purchase and makes shopping easier for customers.
4. SMS as an Essential Channel: Create Urgency and Drive Sales
SMS is becoming a key tool for increasing urgency and boosting sales during BFCM. Here’s how you can use it effectively:
Send Last-Minute Reminders: Use SMS to send low-stock alerts, countdown reminders, and last-minute deals. SMS messages are immediate, making them perfect for time-sensitive offers.
Use Shortcodes: If you have a large SMS list, consider using a shortcode. This allows you to send high volumes of messages during peak shopping times without facing deliverability issues.
5. Avoid Promo Fatigue: Keep Your Audience Engaged
BFCM is a long haul, and if you keep sending sales messages nonstop, you risk losing your audience’s interest. Here’s how to avoid overwhelming your subscribers:
Alternate Between Sales and Value-Driven Messages: Mix promotional messages with more engaging content like gift guides, customer stories, and user-generated content (UGC). This keeps your audience interested without bombarding them with constant promotions.
Segment Your Audience by Engagement: Prioritize people who have recently interacted with your emails or texts. This way, you’re focusing on those most likely to respond, which increases effectiveness and reduces the risk of unsubscribes.
6. Post-BFCM Retention Strategies
Turn New Customers into Loyal Fans
Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring in many new customers, but the real value comes from turning these first-time buyers into repeat customers:
Post-Purchase Nurture: After BFCM, set up automated follow-up messages to thank customers and offer personalized product recommendations. This helps build long-term relationships with your new customers.
Slow Down Your Messaging in January: After the holiday rush, reduce the number of emails and SMS messages you send to avoid a spike in unsubscribes.
Expert Tips and Quick Hacks
To make sure you’re ready for the holiday season, here are some additional tips:
A/B Testing: Run A/B tests in October to figure out which subject lines, designs, and offers work best before the holiday season begins.
Disable Smart Sending: During BFCM, turn off smart sending limits to ensure your customers receive all your promotional messages without throttling.
Use Data-Driven Personalization: Use customer data like wishlist items, browsing history, and past purchases to personalize your emails and SMS messages.
Managed Services for Your BFCM Marketing
If all this sounds like a lot to manage, Ignite Visibility’s Lifecycle Marketing Managed Services can help. They offer a range of services to take the load off your shoulders, including segmentation, automation, and personalized messaging.
With these services, you can run successful campaigns that not only boost revenue during BFCM but also help build long-term loyalty among your customers.