The imminent arrival of the year’s most significant shopping weekend is upon us. If there’s ever a moment to infuse boldness into your marketing approach, it’s in the buildup to Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM). Jacob Sappington, the director of email strategy at the ecommerce-focused growth agency Homestead Studio, boasts a wealth of experience collaborating with notable direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands such as Hexclad, Casely, Brightly, and others. This year, he advocates for his clients to take a robust stance in their email and SMS marketing endeavors, emphasizing the importance of reaching a broader audience more frequently.
Here are a few of Jacob’s suggestions to enhance the effectiveness of your email and SMS strategies as you prepare for the bustling Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend.
Enhance Your BFCM Marketing Strategies with These 5 Proven Approaches
Looking to optimize your marketing endeavors this holiday season? Jacob, with his extensive experience in refining campaigns for brands, emphasizes strategies that not only maximize impact but also boost revenue.
- Broaden Your Reach
According to Jacob, a common holiday marketing mistake is targeting overly narrow segments. He challenges brands to consider widening their scope without compromising deliverability. Utilize segmentation to filter out automatic email opens and explore sending emails to broader lists, such as engaging with customers from the past 60 or 90 days. Additionally, Jacob recommends revisiting past BFCM purchasers and incorporating them into your outreach.
- Embrace Frequency
Black Friday and Cyber Monday demand a departure from conventional practices. Jacob advises, “We send reputably 362 days out of the year, so that for three days out of the year, we can be a little bit crazy.” To avoid getting lost in the holiday shuffle, he suggests being aggressive with your email and SMS frequency—sending multiple communications leading up to and during the big weekend.
- Reconnect with Previous Customers
BFCM serves as an excellent opportunity to re-engage with former customers. Given the escalating acquisition costs, a well-executed email strategy targeting existing customers can be a cost-effective alternative. Jacob underscores the cost efficiency of email as a delivery platform compared to other forms, including paid ads.
- Capture Emails and SMS with a “Micro-Yes”
With a surge in website traffic during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, capitalize on the opportunity to expand your subscriber list. Jacob recommends using a “micro-yes” approach to obtain opt-ins for marketing communication. Instead of immediately requesting an email for a discount, start with a simple leading question, such as offering a 10% discount. Gradually gather email and phone number information on separate pages to improve conversion rates.
- Benchmark Against Your Own Goals
Rather than relying on vague industry benchmarks, Jacob encourages companies to assess metrics like open rate, click rate, place order rate, and revenue per recipient against their own benchmarks and goals. By focusing on revenue-related objectives, Homestead successfully helped a client refine data on deliverability and segment customers, resulting in higher conversion rates.
