How to Nail Your Digital Strategy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday - BFCM

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday increasingly moving into the online space, the days of three a.m. queues outside brick-and-mortar shops are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Yes, more people plan on shopping, but many are going to do so via digital deals instead of in-store promotions.

What does this shift mean for marketers? It means that digital holiday strategies are more crucial than ever. Following are 10 actionable tactics to help you dominate this BFCM season.

1. Provide Early Access to Your Best Customers and VIPs

Reward your loyal customers with early access or additional discounts. For example, Nordstrom grants early access only to their top-tier loyalty program members during the holiday season. This type of exclusivity creates urgency, leading to faster conversions and more brand loyalty. Use segmenting tools like Mailchimp to divide your most engaged customers and reward them.

Key Tip:

Let your customers experience the feeling of exclusivity with words like "exclusive access" or "VIP benefits." It actually creates a sense of belonging and excitement.

Best Practices:

• Clearly state how exclusive the deal is.

• Use email segmentation to make sure only highly active customers are targeted.

• Add scarcity by limiting time or the number of deals available.

2. Partner with Other Brands

Partnering on sales or content initiatives with other brands will increase that reach. Starbucks and Spotify partnered on a joint holiday promotion that allowed customers to access curated playlists through Starbucks' app. This kind of partnership exposes your brand to a new audience without any additional advertising.

Key Tip:

Partnering with a company whose products complement yours will allow both of you to increase overall value from the partnership.

Best Practices:

• Partner with companies that have an overlapping target audience but offer non-competing products.

• Collaborate on content that adds value to both brands' customer bases.

• Track the performance of each collaboration to assess the return on investment.

3. Wishlist Creation Incentives

In 2022, Amazon incentivized customers to create wishlists by offering either discounts or gift cards in preparation for the holiday season. This campaign allowed shoppers to deeply engage with products by building purchase intent for the holidays.

Key Tip:

Provide an attractive prize or discount for creating a wishlist in order to raise engagement and collect valuable customer data.

Best Practices

• Make creating a wishlist an easy, intuitive process.

• Incentivize the process with a meaningful reward - a discount or entry into a giveaway.

• Use the data from wishlists to craft your holiday messages.

4. Personalization of Messaging Based on Behavior

Personalizing messaging based on prior behavior can have a real effect on conversion. Sephora does this by mirroring its email holiday marketing campaigns to customers with products that they previously browsed or added to their wish list.

Key Tip:

Leverage Klaviyo or HubSpot to create behavioral segments of customers and very targeted email campaigns to these segments.

Best Practices:

• Dynamic content in emails allows for personalization based on past interactions.

• Segment audiences based on behavior-what they are browsing or what they've purchased.

• Test different messaging strategies to see what resonates best with each segment.

5. Increase Email Cadence

Don't be shy; send those daily, or even more frequent, emails for BFCM. For example, Zappos amplified their email marketing cadence for the event and sent multiple emails per day, reminding one of the deals waiting for them and the exclusive offers. It sent follow-up emails to openers who didn't buy and greatly increased holiday sales.

Key Tip:

Your follow-up emails need to be personalized based on customer behavior, such as a click on a product link.

Best Practices:

• Create a detailed cadence for BFCM, finding the right balance between frequency and relevance. 

• Ensure every email brings new value or updates to the subscribers, rather than similar information over and over.

•  Segment your list to avoid over-emailing and fatigue. 

6. Add a Countdown Clock 

AN oldoe but goodie that always works. A countdown clock brings a sense of urgency that triggers customers into taking action as soon as possible. ASOS using the countdown clock in its holiday email campaigns created a sudden rush in sales at the last hours of their BFCM promotions. 

Key Tip:

Add to your landing pages and emails a countdown clock that drives urgency and helps to sell more within the limited time offer.

Best Practices:

• Use countdown timers in emails and on the website.

• Communicate that the offer is time-limited: "Ends Tonight" or "Limited Time Left."

• Use countdown timers along with Special Discounts to drive urgency.

7. Give Last-Minute Discounts to Active Shoppers

Target active site visitors with last-minute offers. Best Buy boost their final hour BFCM sales by offering on-the-spot discounts to browsers who hadn't purchased yet.

Key Tip:

Monitor user behavior in real-time on your site and configure automated discounts to seal those last-minute sales.

Best Practices:

• Leverage real-time triggers to send offers to active users who haven't converted.

• Present exclusive last-minute offers to get hesitant shoppers over the line.

• Ensure the offer is limited in time to create urgency.

8. Integrate SMS into Abandonment Flows

Using SMS as part of your cart or browse abandonment flows can have huge effects on revenue. Nike used SMS campaigns in collaboration with their email flows; these messages reminded shoppers of abandoned carts and called them to complete the purchase. This resulted in massive increases in conversions.

Key Tip:

Don't be shy about sending SMS messages in your abandonment flows; your subscribers opted in, expecting contact.

Best Practices:

• Keep SMS messages sweet and to the point.

• Use SMS as a last-minute reminder, especially when the sale is about to expire.

• Include a clear call-to-action with a direct link to the abandoned cart or product.

9. Delight Customers with a Gift

Delight your customers by surprising them with a little something special, a branded tchotchke, with purchase. More often than not, TOMS sends along a holiday-themed thank-you card or little present for encouraging customers to share their purchases on social media and yielding organic promotion.

Key Tip:

Give gifts that are reflective of your brand to inspire social sharing and organic reach.

Best Practices:

• Choose gifts that are memorable and reflective of your brand's identity.

• Drive sales by promoting the gift in your marketing emails.

• Incentivize customers to post photos of their gift on social media using branded hashtags.

10. Anticipate Customer Service

Frictionless customer service is always critical, but even more so during the holiday season. REI got ahead of delays this past BFCM by proactively refunding and sending personalized apologies for delayed orders before customers had a reason to complain - thereby turning what could have been negative experiences into positive ones.

Key Tip :

Anticipate any issue by being highly communicative and offering solutions to keep customers delighted.

Best Practices:

• Monitor the times of fulfillment and shipping closely for no delay.

• If there is an issue, be sure to contact the customer prior to them contacting you.

• Go the extra mile by offering compensatory gestures in discounts or free products for
  
  

The secret to running a successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaign lies in early planning, getting creative, and standing out from an already crowded market with such digital-first tactics as customized messaging and proactive customer service. With online shopping the norm for BFCM and the sales starting ealier each year, it's is time to set up your foudnation for success.