Top 5 Black Friday Email Campaigns & Winning Strategies

Anticipating 2024 Black Friday trends

What holiday email marketing campaigns and Black Friday trends are expected to hit the inboxes this BFCM season? Litmus’ Angie Weyman took a look into her crystal email geek ball for three themes:

• Sustainability. 🌿 Expect more brands to spotlight sustainable products, eco-friendly packaging, and even “Green Friday” deals. Look for emails with minimalist designs that reduce the carbon footprint (which helps with deliverability and the user experience, win-win-win!)
• Accessibility. 💡 Brands are making sure their BFCM emails are inclusive for everyone, with bigger fonts, high-contrast colors, and screen-reader friendly designs. ALT text? Check. Cleaner layouts? Yes. Everyone gets a seat at the holiday table.
• User-generated content (UGC). 🙌 More brands letting their customers do the talking, by showing off real reviews, photos, and videos in emails. Genuine community vibes build trust with subscribers and makes the user experience feel truly personal.

“I see a strong focus on going green, being inclusive, and keeping it real. Email marketers are looking for more ways to focus on sustainability with eco-friendly email structure, making their emails accessible for everyone, and leaning into user-generated content for that authentic, community-driven vibe.”

—Angie Weyman, Product Marketing Manager, Litmus

Here are more trends we expect to see across holiday email campaigns.

Mobile-first email design approach

According to our latest data, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, over 44% of emails were opened on mobile devices, and generally speaking, 60% of emails are viewed on mobile devices. 

This shift is prompting retailers to focus on mobile-specific strategies, including calls-to-action (CTAs) designed for tapping and larger CTA buttons positioned above the fold. We’ll also continue seeing single-column, responsive templates optimized for mobile.

Mobile commerce is booming; in 2023, mobile devices accounted for 54% of online sales, with Black Friday purchases up 10.4% from 2022, according from Experian. More consumers are using their phones for shopping, making it crucial for marketers to ensure their mobile sites and emails offer an optimized, seamless experience.

If you’re not already optimizing for mobile, now is the time to address any issues. Use responsive email templates to ensure your content displays consistently across all devices and deliver mobile-friendly emails with every send.

Anti-Black Friday campaigns

This trend isn’t new, but it’s been gaining momentum over the past few years. Pioneered by outdoor brands like Patagonia and REI, these bold email marketing campaigns address larger societal issues and resonate with younger consumers eager to break away from tradition.

Shoppers, especially during the holiday season, prefer buying from brands that give back. According to Deloitte:

• 63% of Gen Zs and millennials believe businesses have the power to influence social equality.
• 62% of Gen Zs and 59% of millennials have reported feeling anxious about climate change in the past month.
• 25% of Gen Zs and 24% of millennials have reduced or stopped purchasing from businesses with unsustainable supply chains.

Given these concerns, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing a rise in campaigns questioning the very premise of Black Friday. After all, isn’t Thanksgiving about being grateful for what we already have? As sustainability and social responsibility become more important to consumers, we expect these types of thought-provoking campaigns to gain even more traction this year.

Dark Mode-friendly email designs

Dark Mode isn’t just accessible—it’s also an effective way to showcase products with clean, monochromatic designs, without too many bells and whistles.

In the early days of email, designs mimicked web pages, complete with navigation bars, drop shadows, and glossy buttons. Today, retailers are streamlining their approach, choosing substance over flash.

As a bonus, these minimal designs are Dark Mode-friendly. With 35.4% of email opens happening in Dark Mode, it’s crucial to ensure your emails are easy to read and engage with.

Dark Mode uses light typography on dark backgrounds, so designing with a black-and-white color scheme ensures your message remains clear, even if the email client reverses the colors.

On top of that, designers are increasingly considering digital sustainability: making creative choices that are both eco-friendly and accessible to all.

Countdown timers

Countdown timers are a no-brainer for Black Friday—time and deals are limited, and this simple feature can drive urgency and a sense of FOMO.

We expect to see countdown timers as a major trend again this year, especially as a crossover trend from eCommerce stores.

They’re effective at motivating customers to take action, as the visual cue of a clock ticking down on a deal creates a sense of urgency that’s hard to ignore.

Early access campaigns

Consumers know and love Black Friday—and this year, we predict retailers will go even bigger. Expect more “pre-sale,” “sneak peek,” and “early access” teaser emails designed to build excitement and exclusivity.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 43% of shoppers typically start their holiday shopping before November. Their top reasons are:

• Spreading out their budget (60%)
• Avoiding last-minute stress (46%)
• Dodging the crowds (45%)

These early shoppers could be further influenced by October sales events. In fact, the NRF reported that last year, seven in ten holiday shoppers considered taking advantage of October deals for holiday gifts, décor, and other essentials.

Key factors driving an earlier Black Friday start

Amazon recently confirmed its second Prime Day sale on October 8 and 9, kicking off the 2024 holiday shopping season. Major retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target will be launching competing sales.

Nonetheless, while your subscribers expect Black Friday deals, they may hold out for bigger discounts (e.g. around Christmas time), so timing matters.

What makes a Black Friday email campaign successful?

Align objectives with department & company goals

Your Black Friday email marketing campaign needs to support larger organizational objectives. Make sure your goals—whether increasing revenue, clearing inventory, or customer acquisition—are clear from the outset.

Show you know your email subscribers with segmentation

One can argue there’s no such thing as too many emails—just poor segmentation. Instead of “blasting the list,” refine your Black Friday campaigns to cater to the different pockets of your email list.

A great Black Friday email campaign will have a thoughtful segmentation strategy. Look into any existing insights you have on your audience, whether that’s nested in your email service provider (ESP) or a tool like Litmus Email Analytics for advanced insights, like read rate and top email clients among your subscriber base. Then, define your target audience.

Segmentation can be based on:

• Purchase history. Recent buyers, high-value customers, occasional shoppers, or haven’t purchased
• Engagement level. Active openers, frequent clickers, dormant subscribers (e.g., clicked an email in the past two weeks vs. six months ago)
• Demographics. Age, occupation (if relevant to your products), and location.
• Preferences. Product categories, content types, communication frequency
• Zero-party data. Information customers intentionally share with you (e.g., preferences, interests)
• First-party data. Data collected directly from your interactions with customers (e.g., purchase history, website behavior, or an email live poll)
• Webinar or event attendance. If they’ve attended something you’ve hosted recently, they could be great candidates for sending targeted campaigns.
• Timing. This begs the age old question: when should you send an email? You can look into historical data on your best open times, but keep in mind that your subscriber is likely receiving a high volume of emails during this time. Timing can also depend on a few things—for example, if your sale is set to give 12pm local time, you might send a one hour reminder per region or time zone.

Once you’ve defined your segments, consider where you can incorporate email personalization to foster a 1:1 experience in the inbox. Automation and product feeds unlock a whole new level of tailored email content, especially when it comes to email personalization for eCommerce.

Create compelling offers

It’s not just about catchy Black Friday email subject lines. Your Black Friday offer must stand out. Think irresistible discounts, exclusive bundles, or early access to deals. Make sure the promotion resonates with your target customers.

• Showcase your best discounts. Offer significant savings, such as 30% off sitewide, $20 off purchases over $100, or free shipping on all orders.
• Create special offers with bundles. Create special product bundles available only during Black Friday, like “buy one, get one free” or “three for the price of two.”
• Early access to deals. Provide VIP early access to sales for subscribers or loyal customers, allowing them to shop before the general public.
• Limited-time flash sales. Run flash sales with deep discounts that last only a few hours to create urgency and drive quick purchases.
• Remind email subscribers of deadlines. Include “doors closing” or “last chance” messaging in your email copy.
• Free gifts with purchase. Include a free gift with purchases over a certain amount, such as a free tote bag with orders over $75.
• Buy more, save more. Implement tiered discounts where customers get a higher Black Friday discount with larger purchases, like 10% off orders over $50, 20% off orders over $100, etc.
• Take advantage of the Black Friday weekend. While you may wrap up your Black Friday promotions shortly after your “final hours” emails, remember to consider Cyber Monday sales as part of your promo plan (e.g. a sales extension for Cyber Monday).

Grammarly’s Black Friday promo was the best offering of the year: 55% off for users that switched to an annual plan—front and center with an attention-grabbing hero image.

The Washington Post takes a similar approach, with an early-access Black Friday offer of four weeks for less than a dollar. The special offer is placed prominently in the hero section in red, contrasting with the black background to grab reader’s attention. The call-to-action button copy “Act now” is succinct and actionable.

Operational excellence

On average, email teams take two weeks or more to create a single email. That means everything from strategy, copy, design, code, segmentation, QA testing, approvals, and hitting send. Needless to say, there’s a lot on an email marketer’s plate.

During this busy season, being agile and flexible is essential. Having a streamlined email workflow will yield benefits not only during Black Friday, but well beyond.

Run a quick audit of your workflow to identify areas that take up most of your time and consider ways to simplify. Your future self will thank you!

According to The State of Email Workflows, the biggest obstacle for email marketers in the email production cycle is collecting feedback. It’s a pain point for leaders, too: 17% of email marketing leaders cite collecting feedback and approvals as one of their biggest frustrations.

Here are some strategies to help you move your best come Black Friday: