Black Friday is a crucial time for many independent products businesses, including my client, who sells their authentic, ethically produced products via their Shopify website. As well as their physical store, this family-owned business sells their luxury consumable products online to loyal, discerning customers across the UK. In this case study, you will discover how my client had their best ever Black Friday weekend, beating their previous BFCM sales record (from 2022) by 23%!
My Client's BFCM 2024 Results:
Total sales up 23% on previous BFCM record
Orders up 18% on previous BFCM record
Average Order Value up 5% on previous BFCM record
Conversion rate up 158% on previous BFCM record
How We Increased Black Friday Sales by 23%
There are two ways in which I set this client up for Black Friday success:
We used discounts strategically to maximise BFCM weekend sales
We utilised their established and carefully nurtured email list
How We Used Strategic Discounting to Boost Black Friday Sales
Like many luxury brands selling high-quality products, my client does not like to use too many discounts. Too much discounting can damage their brand perception and devalue their products. Therefore, for most of the year, discounts are used very selectively to entice new customers in, and to reward their most loyal customers. This means that when they do run an annual Black Friday sale, there is a real value attached to the discount offered.
There are four key ways we set up the annual Black Friday offer, which helped to drive more sales over this crucial weekend for retailers:
We don’t run constant discounts throughout the year - any offers are largely restricted to existing loyal customers, for specific products
We only run the annual Black Friday offer from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, and customers know they have just four days to take advantage of this rare discount
The Black Friday offer usually excludes certain products to avoid devaluing them, and to allow the business to shift the stock they want to get out the door
We don’t run a huge discount - no more than 15% off
How We Used Email Marketing to Drive Record Black Friday Sales
This client already had several hundred people subscribed to their email list, with a 50/50 split between subscribers who were yet to purchase, and existing customers. This email list is used throughout the year to nurture their warm audience, but it becomes especially important during the Black Friday period.
There are four key elements to using email marketing to maximise Black Friday sales:
Building and nurturing the email list throughout the year
Sending emails out before the start of the Black Friday offer, to encourage customers to add products to their baskets in preparation to checkout once the offer begins
Continuing to send emails out throughout the Black Friday weekend, to capture every sale
Using Black Friday to clean the email list, by removing any email addresses that bounce or add the emails to spam
The Importance of Building and Nurturing Your Email List Throughout the Year
One crucial step to having a record Black Friday weekend started long before Black Friday itself. Building and nurturing the email list over the course of the year keeps those subscribers “warm”, engaged with the brand, and ready to buy.
This long-term work is critical to driving sales over the festive season, when there is so much noise on social media and in the search engines from so many other brands trying to get seen. Small brands are especially vulnerable to being outspent and pushed off the radar in Q4, as bigger brands increase their advertising budgets and marketing activity. By nurturing your email list and fostering that loyalty throughout the year, you then have a direct line of communication to your warm leads right when you need it most.
In this client’s case, we send out a monthly newsletter with an exclusive, single-use, time-limited discount code on a selected product, which is just for existing customers. We also send out periodic email campaigns to the entire subscriber list, as well as an automated new subscriber flow designed to get new customers to make their first purchase.
Sending an Email on the Thursday Before Black Friday
Another key step in maximising this client’s Black Friday sales was to send an email out the day before the Black Friday offer started. This allowed my client to get through to their email list before the intensity of Black Friday started, and encouraged customers to add products to their basket in preparation for the offer.
This email resulted in several checkouts very early on Black Friday morning, which got my client off to a fantastic start. It also meant that when Shopify email stopped working temporarily on Black Friday, my client was not negatively impacted by this and they were still making sales off the back of the email sent out the previous day.
Sending Emails Out Throughout the Black Friday Weekend
We all know how clogged our inboxes get throughout the Black Friday weekend, and it’s so easy to miss the emails from our favourite brands. Therefore, continuing to send out daily emails throughout the Black Friday weekend was key to maximising sales.
Each email we sent out over the Black Friday weekend had an open rate of around 35%, and the number of sales attributed to each email actually increased as the weekend progressed. The email sent out on Cyber Monday achieved the highest number of sales, demonstrating the importance of sending out emails throughout the Black Friday period.
Cleaning the Email List
Finally, we used this opportunity to clean the client’s email list. Any email addresses that bounced, or added the emails to spam / junk, were removed from the list. This helps to increase the email open rate, and means the client does not end up paying to send out emails that do not result in a sale.
Cleaning the email list is an important ongoing process, which we continue throughout the year.
Maximise Your Shopify Website as a Revenue-Generating Asset Through Email Marketing
Coming summer 2025, I’m starting a new, enrol-anytime programme for business owners who want to liberate themselves from marketing overwhelm during the festive season and maximise their websites as revenue-generating assets. I’ll help you implement focused, clear marketing strategies that allow you to spend less time feeding the social media content furnace, and more time creating and curating beautiful, quality products your customers love.
In the meantime, subscribe to my email list to learn more about how to maximise your Shopify website as a revenue-generating asset. You’ll be the first to know about my new programme, plus you’ll get 25% off an online marketing course.
About the Author
Rhiannon is an independent marketing consultant with 5 years’ experience helping independent businesses and brands transform their websites into revenue-generating assets. She has worked with businesses across various sectors, from luxury artisan coffee to equestrian products. Rhiannon helps introverted business owners liberate themselves from marketing overwhelm and burnout, so they can grow their businesses authentically and focus on delivering quality products and services.