l evaluated BFCM strategies from 10 brands, and today I’ll share how to unlock your own success by learning from three brands who dominated Cyber Weekend in 2022. There’s one brand featured here whose efforts flopped, so you can learn from their mistakes. You can use these strategies in your own plans so your 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions shine.
Let’s dive in with what to avoid first, before we celebrate what succeeded.
What not to do
A women’s skincare and razor brand has a reputation for developing innovative products. One thing they do well is bundling complementary items all year round. During BFCM 2022, they did a site-wide discount of 25% that also applied to product bundles.
I subscribed to both their email and SMS lists. After I placed my order during BFCM weekend, they continued to send promotional emails and texts, as if they didn’t know I’d already purchased. I was sent through a post-purchase flow too, adding to the pile of marketing communications I received.
Pro-tip:
The optimal customer experience would’ve been to space out promotional messages so I could focus on the post-purchase messages. If they felt the need to send a “last chance” sale reminder, it should’ve been one email or SMS, in case I wanted to make another purchase before the sale ended.
Starting on Black Friday, I got an email and SMS nearly every day announcing the sale, reminding me inventory was going fast, and so on. If I hadn’t already placed an order, these could’ve been useful reminders.
I personally appreciated their positioning as a beauty brand and could have become a loyal customer.
Instead, I unsubscribed from both of their lists after BFCM ended. Even though I was pleased with the product once it arrived, my holiday marketing experience with this brand was so bad, I haven’t made a second purchase.
This is the risk you take by sending too many marketing messages to segments of your list that don’t need to receive every campaign.
Pro-tip:
If the tracking of your email and SMS orders is not in sync, accurately segmenting those who have recently made a purchase becomes difficult. This is why it’s better to send emails and SMS with Klaviyo!
BFCM examples to follow
These are the 3 brands with 2022 BFCM offers and marketing that intrigued me.
POPFLEX
I wasn’t personally subscribed to this brand’s email list previously, so I don’t know their sitewide discount’s precise amount in 2023. However, the VP of Marketing for POPFLEX was part of a recent Klaviyo panel on BFCM strategies, I was impressed by what she shared! You can watch that replay here.
Promotion
- Bestselling items that don’t get discounted year round had special discounts just for BFCM.
- Sitewide discount for other items
Email subscriber perk
- The day their BFCM sale started, the website was locked and you couldn’t shop without a password. This password was sent to subscribers, so they got “first dibs” on deals and inventory before the site opened to the public.
- Smart list growth move: while the sale was private to subscribers, there was an optional form on the locked site. This gave people an opportunity to subscribe and get the password, so they could start shopping faster.
italic
This is a luxury brand offering clothing, jewelry, home decor, and more. Instead of doing a BFCM sale, they did a “Member Week” sale. It was only open to members, but it was announced via their email and SMS lists, so people could purchase a membership and participate.
This action reinforced the luxury perception of their products, while also providing value and a special treat to their customers during a time when people are inclined to shop.
Promotion
- A specific item or special bundle of items was on sale for one day only. Each day had a distinct offer.
- Existing members could participate right away. Subscribers could purchase a membership for $60/year, then access the sale.
Email and SMS subscriber perk
- Morning: an email and SMS message was sent sharing the offer of the day, with a link to the product page.
- If an offer was popular, they’d send an alert that it was selling fast. This was mostly limited to SMS.
- End of day: they’d send a “last chance” email and SMS so people could shop before the current offer ended, and a new offer started.
- Here’s an example of one of their sale emails.
Taylor Stitch
Taylor Stitch is a brand specializing in high-quality men’s clothing made to last a lifetime. They maintain an ethical supply chain.
What they did well with their BFCM emails was highlighting distinct products on sale. The emails shared notes on the design features of a garment and helped people start shopping quickly.
Promotion
- 20% off site wide for first 3 days
- 30% off site wide for last 4 days
Email subscriber perk
- Subscribers got early access to the sale since they were notified as soon as the sale went live.
- Insights into featured products, and recommendations to help them start shopping.
- Here’s an example of one of their sale emails.
What to offer this BFCM season
While it’s easy to offer a sitewide discount and watch extra orders come in, keep in mind that there are many brands that lose significant profits during BFCM with too many discounts.
What we’ve learned from the three example brands above is that what consumers want is to feel appreciated.
So how will you make your customers feel appreciated this season? You could experiment with giving a free gift with all orders, or with certain items. Create the feeling of a good deal by bundling products together, so they save 10-30% as a special offer that’s not available year-round.
A final option to consider is free shipping on all orders, a best practice utilized by most brands by 2023.
Take these lessons from past BFCM offers to make your Cyber Weekend the most successful yet!
