The top Black Friday/Cyber Monday email examples and strategies
By Sean Tinney October 12, 2023
We don’t have to tell you that Black Friday is one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. Everyone knows it. You can’t get on social media, turn on the radio, or drive down the street without being swamped with Black Friday and Cyber Monday announcements. Those days are often referred to today as “Cyber Weekend”.
And opening your inbox? Fuggedaboutit. More emails are sent on Black Friday than any other day of the year.
Despite all the competition, this is not something you should sit out. Black Friday is now an international shopping holiday. Creators, coaches, solopreneurs, solo professionals and every small business should have a plan.
You know why? Because your audience and your customers have a plan. They plan to spend money.
A lot of money. The average U.S. adult plans to spend $500 during Cyber Weekend.
We want you to get a slice of that pie.
To help give you the inspiration and tools needed to thrive this shopping weekend we’ve put together a list of our absolute favorite Black Friday and Cyber Monday email examples.
Plus we’ve developed an email marketing game plan to help you stand out from the crowd by getting your audience to open, read, and buy from your emails.
Plus we’ll cover the best times to send out your Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails and what to write in your emails.
Let’s start off with our favorite Cyber Weekend email examples.
The best Black Friday email examples
Looking for a little inspiration for your Black Friday emails? Take a look at how these companies positioned their emails.
The countdown Black Friday email
Have you ever shopped online when that marketplace had a countdown event. You know them – the ones that have the time “sale ends in 1 hour.” A minute later you only have 59 minutes and so on.
It’s an impulse buy. You don’t want to take a chance that you miss that deal. So use that strategy for your Black Friday emails. Add a countdown timer to your emails, like this UK company, Vodafone.
The early start Black Friday email
Who says you need to wait until Black Friday to call something a Black Friday special.
This company decided to start their Black Friday on Tuesday. Why not.
Don’t stop at midnight
“So you’re telling me I can start early and end late” – Absolutely.
Be flexible with your Black Friday offers. If one email or promotion is exceeding expectations, extend it.
National Geographics does this brilliantly with this email. The top two headlines of this email stop the reader right in their tracks.
The short & punchy Black Friday email
On Black Friday, more than any other time, you need to keep your emails brief. Your subscribers’ inboxes are filled with other emails. They’re busy shopping online and browsing hundreds of sales.
So get straight to the point. Describe your sale and link to your sales page.
For example, see how mattress company Casper does this in their Black Friday email below.
The “straight-to-the-point” Black Friday email
Your most important information (a.k.a. the discount or deal you’re offering) should be near the beginning of your Black Friday email. Consider including it in the headline of your email.
Code School, an online education platform, describes their discount in a brief and bold headline, making it simple for subscribers to see exactly what the offer is.
The visual Black Friday email
Another way to increase your click-through rates on Black Friday? Display your product images inside your emails.
If a subscriber sees something that catches their eye, they’ll be much more likely to click on your call-to-action button.
Crossnet, an outdoor volleyball-like game, created a visual email that shows off their product in a fun way.
Grab their attention with animation
Add some fun to your emails with some cool GIFs.
Related: We created free GIFs you can use in your emails. Download them here.
Kidly, a children’s toy and clothing company, created a GIF for one of their Black Friday emails. It’s fun — which matches their brand — and seasonal. The headline and image work together to create a stand-out email.
The “Last Call” Black Friday email
Create urgency by informing subscribers that your sale ends soon. In his book Persuasion, best-selling author and psychology professor Robert Cialdini explains that urgency is a psychological trigger that encourages people to act.
Cyber Monday email examples
Below are a few of our favorite Cyber Monday email examples. Use them as inspiration to create your own email marketing campaign with AWeber this Cyber Monday.
Play on words Cyber Monday email
This is a cute Cyber Monday email. The team at TunnelBear decided to have a little fun with their Cyber Monday email by making it a Cy-Bear Monday Sale.
Show your personality, with so many emails being sent during the Cyber Weekend – maybe having a little fun is just what you need to stand out.
The engaging Cyber Monday email
Chubbies offered a new free gift — like duffle bags, blankets, hats, and more — every hour of their Cyber Monday event via email. If you bought a product on their site, you would receive that hour’s free gift along with your purchase.
The campaign kept people coming back to their inbox hour after hour to check out which free gift would be unveiled next.
The “bundled products” Cyber Monday email
Digital marketer and coach Melyssa Griffin helps bloggers and entrepreneurs grow their audiences and incomes. For Cyber Monday, Melyssa bundled all her online courses together for a fantastic deal.
Bundling or packaging certain products can make the promotion feel larger and more impactful than giving a discount for each separate item.
The “no sale” Cyber Monday email
Remind your customers of how good they always have it! That’s what Everlane did with their “No sale here” email. In this email, they called out the fact that their prices are already 50% lower than most retailers, day in and day out.
The “exclusive offer” Cyber Monday email
Motivational speaker and coach, Lewis Howes, focused on “exclusivity” for his Cyber Monday deal. He played up all the benefits of being part of the elite, members-only program and offered a significant discount on his monthly coaching program.
Your 8-step Black Friday and Cyber Monday email campaign playbook
Let’s face it: You can’t just send one email for Black Friday and one email for Cyber Monday anymore. Driving the most sales from your emails requires a well thought out strategy and plan. You need to build excitement with pre Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails.
Consider this email campaign as a starting point for what to send and when.
Email #1: Send your Black Friday “teaser” email
Email messaging: Tease your promotion with a “preview” email. Let your customers know something big is coming — but don’t tell them what.
Time to send: Saturday before Black Friday
Email #2: Send your Black Friday “sneak peek” email
Email messaging: Let your customers know you couldn’t contain your excitement regarding the amazing offers you have in store for them. Give them a sneak peek of what they can expect on Black Friday.
Time to send: Monday before Black Friday
Email #3: Send a countdown email
Email messaging: The night before your promotion goes live, send a 12-hour countdown email to your audience. (The anticipation!)
Time to send: Wednesday before Black Friday
Note: Want to get these emails all scheduled at once? Sign up for a free AWeber account and get your Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails automated!
Email #4: Launch your promotion
Email messaging: Send your Black Friday promotion. Promotion ideas include a coupon code that gives your subscribers a certain % off their purchase, a free gift with their purchase, or a special giveaway for the first 200 customers who purchase.
Time to send: This one is tricky: Send it the Thursday before Black Friday. In the online world, Black Friday is no longer Black Friday. Send the email on Thursday or risk missing an opportunity to maximize your sales.
Email #5: Resend your promotion
Email messaging: Not all your subscribers will engage with your email. That’s okay: Their inboxes are flooded on Black Friday with deals. So resend your message later in the day to anyone on your list who didn’t open or click.
Time to send: Black Friday
Email #6: Pre-Cyber Monday email
Email messaging: Planning to take advantage of the whole holiday shopping weekend? Consider sending your subscribers a heads up that you will be offering another (or an even sweeter) deal, especially if they missed your Black Friday sale.
Want to take this opportunity to sell something new online? Use AWeber ecommerce to get a sales page set up in a day or less.
Time to send: Saturday before Cyber Monday
Email #7: Day-of Cyber Monday email
Email messaging: Send your Cyber Monday promotion. Position this as an opportunity for subscribers who may have missed your Black Friday promotion to take advantage of.
Time to send: Cyber Monday
Email #8: Post-promotion email
Email messaging: With AWeber, you can “tag” subscribers that go from your promotion emails and hit a certain page of your website. The next day, send that group of subscribers that made it to a certain product page or the checkout — but never ended up making a purchase — a follow up email.
Let them know the product is still available, reiterate the benefits of purchasing, and tell them that you’ll extend the promotion another few hours just for them!
Time to send: Tuesday after Cyber Monday
Get started now with our ready-made playbook template
Want to get started now? We’ve pre-built this series for you! All you need to do is copy the Black Friday / Cyber Monday campaign template code and use it to create a campaign in your AWeber account.
Start creating your emails
Creating the perfect Black Friday or Cyber Monday email can take some time. So in order to spend more time on what you do best – running your business – find some pre-built Black Friday and Cyber Monday email templates. We have some you can use if you’re an AWeber customer.
With pre-built templates, the hard work is already done. Now you just need to drag and drop your logo and any product images are offers into the email.
To help you prepare for a busy holiday shopping season, we put together a free Black Friday email template, Cyber Monday email template, and Black Friday landing page templates for you to use. Get the free templates and start planning your Black Friday and Cyber Monday email campaigns today!
The best time to start sending holiday emails
While a dedicated email campaign for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is important, it’s also not the only time you should be sending holiday emails.
Your customers are always looking for deals, as a result 50% of consumers start their holiday shopping before the end of October. So if you don’t start sending holiday promotional emails starting in October, you may be missing out on sales.
