What emails are ecommerce brands sending ahead of Black Friday, the number one shopping day of the year?
We have identified the top 3 most active brands during Black Friday to see what tactics they use to drum up interest and engagement.
These emails are sourced from the email search engine on Panoramata where you can find real email inspiration from competitors and top brands.
Let us examine how these brands ran their promos by looking closely at their Black Friday Sale email journeys. We hope this helps you ind inspiration for your next BF deals.
You can never start too early when promoting Black Friday deals, so learn from how the pros do it with this guide. Let's get started.
First up is a fast fashion brand you might have heard of...
Fashion Nova's “12 Days of Black Friday Steals” Email Campaign
Fashion Nova is an American fashion retail company. It offers cheap and affordable fashion online that ranges from sexy club dresses, jeans, shoes, bodysuits, skirts and more.
It started quite early on its Black Friday deals. Its email campaign began on the 12th of November.
First, they started the countdown with this email to establish a 12-day shopping deal.
Email #1: 🚨BLACK FRIDAY Steals Start NOW🚨$15 Jackets‼️
Each of the 12 days, they tag specific item/s for a discounted price. So on the first day, this Manhattan coat along with other jackets give you $15 off the price.
What’s more interesting is that aside from this particular deal, they announce a huge discount across all items.
Email #2: $10 Sweatshirts & Joggers🤩Today's BLACK FRIDAY Steal‼️
The following day comes this email.
Again, another deal for $10 off with their French terry hoodie. This time it's partnered with a separate sale which is an extension of previous deals.
Email #3: 🔥$15 Jeans🔥Today’s Black Friday STEAL!😍
One day after, they sent the 3rd email.
This email shows more push as it reiterates the sitewide sale along with 2 other deals.
Email #4: 💥Final HRS! Extra 10% Off ALL GRAPHICS!💥
Later on the same day they sent this 4th email. It uses FOMO (fear of missing out) to emphasize the soon-to-end sale.
This is followed by these 2 emails with the same theme on the next day.
Email #5: ✨$20 Lounge Sets✨A Can't-Miss BLACK FRIDAY Steal!💫
Email #6: ⏰⏰Final Hrs: 40-70% Off EVERYTHING⏰⏰
Email #6: ⏰⏰Final Hrs: 40-70% Off EVERYTHING⏰⏰
After several more emails repeating their announcement about the 70% off sitewide sale, they sent this “Up To 70% OFF 💸 + BONUS 10% OFF!🥳”.
They call this Happy Hour where they gave away an additional 10% discount on top of the ongoing sale.
The day before the official BF date of 25th November, they sent an early access 🔥50% OFF EVERYTHING!!🔥BLACK FRIDAY⚫Starts NOW‼️
Then they started the countdown on several emails thereafter.
Charlotte Tilbury's “A Magical 30% OFF” Email Campaign
Now let’s go to one of the most popular makeup brands right now: Charlotte Tilbury. They are also very particular about Black Friday as they offer different deals with each of their emails.
They started their campaign 6 days before the official BF date with this email:
Email #1: BLACK FRIDAY SALE STARTS NOW! 30% Off 💫🖤
They're creating mystery with their email campaign using the word “magical” to build audience curiosity.
The deal becomes more enticing as they offer not only free gift items but free delivery too.
Email #2: 30% OFF World-Famous Exclusives! Don’t Miss out 💗💫
After one day, they sent this email with more emphasis on the exclusive items that are part of the sale.
The items are shown on an individual image with the name of the product and original price against slashed off price. And again, it comes with free gift items and free shipping.
Email #3: Skincare Kits Now 30% Off + FREE GIFTS Worth £98 ⭐💛💫
In this email sent one day later, they announced that another line of products (i.e. skincare kits) is now included in the sale.
Email #4: 30% OFF! Exclusive Kits Only Available TODAY ✨
Here comes another offer - a one-day exclusive sale!
Email #5: 48 Hours! 20% Off BUILD YOUR OWN BEAUTY KIT! 💥
Two days before the official BF date, they came out with another great deal - 20% off on your beauty kit with your chosen makeup items. This is on top of the ongoing 30% off on what they called makeup magic and skincare secrets.
Email #6: NEW ADDITIONS: 30% Off Even More MAGIC 🖤⭐
In case a shopper doesn’t find any product that fits their needs, they came out with additional items on the list.
Email #7: 40% Off Black Friday Is HERE! 🖤✨
Yay, Black Friday is here! A bigger discount is here too! And how does “Buy one palette get one free” sound? If a shopper has a family member or a best friend, they might think of gifting the other palette.
Email #8: IT'S BACK: 50% Off* 2 NEW! Mystery Boxes 🔮
New exciting offer on the 26th of November! Now you get 50% off with mystery boxes.
Then they created just enough FOMO with these 5 emails on the row. As you would notice, the email subjects clearly define what the content is all about.
Email #9: SELLING FAST! 50% Off MYSTERY BOX 💗
Email #10: 48 HOURS LEFT! 40% Off Black Friday Sale ❤️💫
Email #11: ENDING TOMORROW! 40% Off Black Friday Sale!
Email #12: ENDS TONIGHT! Black Friday Sale + 50% Off Magic Cream Refills! 🌟
Email #13: FINAL HOURS! 50% OFF Mystery Box + Icons REVEALED 📣💛💫
Mirror's “Best Deal of the Year” Email Campaign
Mirror is a lifestyle brand that offers its nearly invisible, interactive home gym featuring live and on-demand fitness classes in a variety of workout genres.
Let’s see what they brought to the table for Black Friday.
Email #1: Save $750—Shop Early, Avoid The Holiday Stress
The campaign started early on the 4th of November. It was noticeably an advanced launch as they emphasized the idea to jumpstart your holiday shopping early to avoid the stress and hassle that go with BF.
Another thing they emphasized is the total value of $750 that you can save when you shop now. That is instead of just putting a $500 discount because true enough, delivery and installation really count.
Email #2: Save $750—Make Fitness A Priority With MIRROR
This time, they gave emphasis to the idea of gifting Mirror for this holiday season.
They also enumerated 7 of its features and benefits so the audiences will be more attracted to consider buying it for their family and loved ones. Plus, the fact that it comes with $750 savings. They sent this email 8 days after the first one.
Email #3: Save $750—Get The Mirror For As Low As $21/Month
Now another point of emphasis on your savings - monthly installment plan. The email landed in inbox 2 days after the previous one.
Email #4: Get The Mirror And Save $750
3 days later, they reiterated the offer and extended financing plans.
Email #5: Save $750—Choose From 50+ Types Of Workouts
On the following day, they showed more benefits that come with the product.
Email #6: Save $750—See Why Our Members Love MIRROR
And if you’re not yet convinced to buy, how about some words from actual users?
Email #7: Black Friday Week Has Begun—Save $750
Then here comes BF week when they offered bundle savings along with the ongoing $750 total value deal.
Email #8: ORDER TODAY: MIRROR Weights Are Here
They seemingly took advantage of the holiday season to add their newly-launched product “Mirror Weights” to their offer.
Now you don’t just get a big discount but you also get to try these weights to pair with your Mirror. And they’re new to the market.
Email #9: Now $995—Black Friday Is Here!
Of course not everyone got the chance to avail of the offer. Some were too busy to shop, some were still undecided, some had a tight budget, etc.
So they extended the BF sale with a bigger discount this time around.
Email #10: Get The Mirror For Under $1,000—Black Friday Extended
Email #11: Black Friday Extended:: Now $995
Want more ideas and inspiration? Check out our email swipe file with over 100 newsletter ideas you can use for your next campaign.
Effective Black Friday Email Subject Line Ideas
Craft an attention-getting subject line for your Black Friday emails. The most effective subject lines have urgency, are personalized, stoke curiosity, and playfully use emojis.
Consumers are shopping early and want to find the best deals way ahead of the actual sale period.
Here’s what we mean:
- Black Friday Early Access 👉
- Black Friday Came Early For You 😉
- Black Friday Faves are ready to ship 📦
- Ends midnight: our Black Friday offers
- Black Friday is Coming to a Close
- black friday is here early 🥳
- BLACK FRIDAY SALE. No code necessary.
- Black Friday Sale Starts Now 🔥
- BLACK FRIDAY EARLY ACCESS RIGHT THIS WAY 🎟️
- Finally Black Friday! Save over 45% 📢
- BLACK FRIDAY: ⬇️⬇️ Take up to 50% OFF
- BIGGEST & EARLIEST. BLACK. FRIDAY.
- Black Friday Sale! 30% off EVERYTHING 📣
- Save over $250 this Black Friday
- Black Friday is here: Get 25% off mattresses (!)
- BLACK FRIDAY: 40% OFF SITEWIDE 💫
- Black Friday is ON: 40% off sitewide 🖤
- Black Friday - Our biggest sale ever
- Black Friday is here and so are the deals
- BLACK FRIDAY: Best. Sale. Ever.
Notice that the subject lines are short and direct. They have an emoji or two but nothing too excessive. They also emphasize sitewide savings and a “big sale” or the discount number.
At the tail end of Black Friday sales, brands also have a last call email to persuade undecided buyers to buy before it’s too late.
There are also a lot of early access sales and no-code-necessary promotions that provide convenience for shoppers. Try out these tips and see how they work for your campaigns this Black Friday.
Black Friday Email Marketing Strategies
Start planning early. You can send out Black Friday teasers in October to build hype. Consumers are shopping early and want to find the best deals way ahead of the actual sale period.
Black Friday sales can be divided into three periods:
- Pre-Black Friday
- Black Friday
- The weekend after Black Friday and Cyber Monday
For the sales period before Black Friday, send teasers of upcoming deals. These emails need to hype up your mailing list for what’s to come.
As we head nearer to D-Day, you need to stand out with creative copy, enticing offers, and the right sending schedules. Send your emails between 9 to 11 am for best engagement.
Post-Black Friday, you need to integrate more urgency to your deals, targeting last-minute customers.
Cyber Monday is the final hurrah so don’t lose the anticipation you’ve built over the last few days. Create an email flow for this period, too.
Other tips to prepare for Black Friday that you can do anytime of the year:
- Build your mailing list: Use lead generation strategies to expand your subscriber base.
- Observe what people buy during other peak sale periods (holidays, etc.) to gauge what customer trends are. Then, promote the most popular products on Black Friday. Also, look at data from your previous Black Friday campaigns and find ways to improve.
- Check what your competitors did the previous Black Friday. Chances are, they will post something similar for this year so take notes. Use tools like Panoramata to find competitor emails.
Explore creative offers. Try giving a free gift with purchase, bundles, early bird discounts, partnership deals with other brands, new colors or flavors, and charity donation-matching.
We hope you get inspired and excited to create your BF sales campaign with these tips. By following these strategies, you can always put your “best deal” forward. Snag those shoppers' attention on the biggest sale of the year!
For more email marketing inspiration, explore Panoramata’s extensive email database. See real-world examples and discover fresh ideas for your next campaign!
FAQs
When should brands start planning for Black Friday email campaigns?
Brands should start planning early, potentially sending teasers in October to build hype and leverage early shopping trends.
What are the key periods for Black Friday sales?
Black Friday sales can be divided into three periods: pre-Black Friday, the official Black Friday day, and the weekend after Black Friday leading into Cyber Monday.
What makes an effective Black Friday email subject line?
Effective subject lines are short, direct, create urgency, can be personalized, stoke curiosity, and often playfully use emojis.
