Email Marketing 
According to Adobe Analytics, shoppers spent an astounding $9.8 billion online during Black Friday in 2023. Effective Black Friday email campaigns are crucial to rake in sales but require careful planning and compelling content to cut through the noise.
We’ll share with you 8 top-performing examples with analyses and practical strategies. From nailing a Black Friday email strategy, perfecting subject lines to creating designs that capture attention, you will learn how to craft outstanding Black Friday email campaigns in minutes.
8 best Black Friday email campaign examples to get inspired
Below are 8 examples of successful email campaigns and the reasons behind their Black Friday success. You’ll have a clear strategy of every element you need to create a unique and winning email for your brand.
Baggu: Be unconventional (and a little quirky)
To make your Black Friday email campaigns truly stand out, don’t be afraid to break away from the conventional designs.
Bold, unconventional fonts, quirky layouts, and creative visuals can make your emails pop while reflecting your brand’s unique personality.
This approach can help capture attention in crowded inboxes and leave a lasting impression on potential customers.
Whether it’s playful typography, unexpected color schemes, or an asymmetrical layout, embracing a little funkiness can communicate that your brand isn’t just following the crowd – it’s leading it.
Subject line: The Black Friday sale just for YOU!
Baggu totally nailed this playful style in their Black Friday sale email campaigns.
What you could learn from this:
- Multiple fonts are used to emphasize different messages.
- The discount bubbles resemble an 8-bit style to make the reading experience more fascinating
- Baggu’s youthful and aesthetic personalities are clearly conveyed to email readers.
Happy Socks: Having GIFs to leverage your email visual
Using GIFs within the email has been kind of a trend this year. So, why don’t you experiment with adding GIFs to your Black Friday email?
GIFs can add an interactive and dynamic element that captures your audience’s interest.
Whether it’s showcasing products in motion, creating a playful animation, or highlighting the countdown to the sale.
Take a look at Happy Socks’ Black Friday email designs.
Subject line: COMING SOON! Happy (Black Friday) Socks day
What you could learn from this:
- Their GIFs don’t need to be too complicated, yet they’re still fun and interactive.
- The 3 moving elements are all focused on their “Coming soon” message. So readers are bound to remember this offer.
- Hence, it makes the email stand out from many other similar black-and-white designs.
Miracle: Make sure the design is consistent with the brand image
No matter what you do, just ensure that the design of your Black Friday email aligns with your brand’s identity.
To strengthen brand awareness, keep your color palette, fonts, and general design consistent.
When subscribers see your email, they should instantly associate it with your brand, creating a sense of familiarity.
Subject line: Bundle up for Black Friday in a Miracle way
What you could learn from this:
- Miracle keeps its Black Friday email unique by not using a black design. Instead, they maintain a design style with navy blue and cyan to mirror their website.
- This consistency adds a special touch to their Black Friday email and enhances brand awareness.
Withings: Use pixel tracking to retarget customers
Email marketing is not just a tool for reaching out during Black Friday. It can also be a powerful retargeting mechanism when combined with pixel tracking and first-party data.
E-commerce businesses can understand customer preferences more deeply—like which products they’ve lingered on or engaged with via social media.
This insight allows you to send highly targeted emails, offering discounts or promotions to recover abandoned carts.
This precise targeting turns customer interest into conversions.
Subject line: Tomorrow is too late. Buy your favorite watch at a $100 discount NOW.
What you could learn from this:
- The watch displayed in this email is exactly the one I was browsing a few days ago. As I saw it again with a $100 discount, I was so ready to click on the “Buy now” button.
- They sprinkle phrases like ‘Tomorrow is too late,’ ‘Last chance,’ and ‘Ends in a few hours’ throughout the email, ensuring you won’t miss the CTAs.
Pro tip: Tracking customer journeys with your brand can be way more accurate with our tool – NestAds.
NestAds gives you a comprehensive view of how potential buyers interact with your brand across multiple channels (TikTok, Facebook, Google, etc.).
This insight allows you to craft email campaigns that speak directly to customer needs, helping you capitalize on every stage of the buying process.
Casper: Make your Black Friday deals stand out
Next, ensure that your email content prominently displays the Black Friday deals you’re providing.
While the discount percentage matters, it’s equally vital to list the products or services on sale clearly. You should also organize your deals into sections, allowing customers to easily click and navigate.
By doing this, you are significantly improving your customers’ experience.
Subject line: Our Best Offer Ever. 15% OFF for ONLY the next 4 days
What you could learn from this:
- Casper announced a “15% off” discount in the largest size in their marketing email.
- The discount text is in a color contrast to the surrounding beige background.
- This ensures that customers won’t overlook the offer, boosting the likelihood of gaining new customers.
- The image at the center highlights the benefits customers will receive when using Casper’s products – a comfortable sleep.
Baublebar: Ensure a visually noticeable design
Whether it’s product pictures, design elements, or anything else, arrange them in a way that they blend well together visually.
Traditionally, brands often went with a black theme to match Black Friday, but that is a bit outdated now.
Feel free to be creative and use any color you like, as long as it suits an appealing color palette.
Subject line: VIP alert: 35% off on EVERYTHING. But for the next 12 hours only.
As one of the examples, Decorazy also used email marketing as a way to clear their stock post-Black Friday.
What you could learn from this:
- A playful background and a bold font complement each other well.
- The discount is centered right at the center to catch readers’ attention.
- Bold colors are used for discounts and CTA. Neutral colors are used for other texts.
- 12 hours – a limited time frame – can drive immediate purchase decisions.
Disney: Emphasize the urgency of your deals
When sending emails, you aim to persuade recipients to shop this Black Friday. And the best way?
Create limited availability to trigger their FOMO – Fear of missing out.
No one wants to miss a good deal.
Subject line: Don’t miss our magical Black Friday offers!
To encourage people to buy their products, Disney goes the extra mile by including a countdown clock in their emails, emphasizing the limited-time opportunity.
Additionally, they prominently display the value of the deals, allowing customers to grasp the worthiness of the offers.
What you could learn from this:
- Show a countdown of what’s left in stock.
- Leverage your brand logo and products to make for an interesting design.
- Say proudly that this is your best deal this year.
Aside from email marketing, you should cover other channels such as website and social media advertisements during Black Friday, too.
If you haven’t an idea on how to plan your Black Friday marketing campaigns, check out our 10 Black Friday marketing ideas for business success post
Black Friday email subject lines to boost engagement
According to research from CMB, 47% of people decide to open a Black Friday email based on the subject line.
Therefore, you must take this as an opportunity to attract them right away when they see it.
Make your Black Friday email subject lines fun to read, but still remain trustworthy. Explore a few of the following references:
- Ready, Set, Shop: Dive into Our Enchanted Black Friday!
- 30% OFF! It’s Black Friday spirit!
- Enchanted Black Friday Awaits: Brace for Unforgettable Deals!
- Unwrap Joy: Black Friday Surprises Are Here!
- Unlock 30% Savings: Black Friday Offers You Can’t Miss
- Your Black Friday Destination for Exclusive Offers and Deals
- Black Friday Frenzy: Get Your Wishlist Ready!
- Black Friday Spectacular: Premium Savings Delivered to You!
- Your Black Friday Shopping Guide: Premium Discounts Await
- It’s Go Time. Black Friday Starts Now!
Brooklinen nailed the art of announcing their sales season through email.
They truly understand how to ignite excitement among their subscribers, highlighting that it’s their inaugural sale on products.
The visuals seamlessly blend with the compelling text: “Go! Go! Go!” – it’s as if they’re urging their customers to gear up and get ready.
Black Friday email campaigns: 4 successful tips
To kickstart your Black Friday email campaign, start with a clear strategy. This includes setting goals, identifying your target customers, deciding when to send the emails, and what holiday content ideas to write about.
Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to help you plan your successful Black Friday email campaign:
Set clear objectives for your Black Friday email campaigns
First things first, lay out your key objectives and goals for your Black Friday email campaigns. Think of them as the North Star guiding your efforts.
So, why does it matter? Well, they give you a sense of direction, keep you on track, and let you measure how well your campaign is doing.
- Introduce new products and services: In addition to ramping up sales, lots of businesses use this opportunity to showcase their fresh products and services. It’s a smart move since people are in the mood to splash out a bit more during this time of year.
- Boost revenue: Black Friday is like a big shot for businesses to score more sales than usual. That’s why many companies jump on this chance to amp up their profits.
- Engage existing customers: Black Friday is a fantastic occasion for brands to encourage existing customers to spend more. Therefore, it’s essential not to overlook this business goal.
- Drive website traffic: Through email campaigns, you can also attract more visitors to your online store. This increases the chances of potential customers discovering your deals and products, ultimately boosting your sales during this busy shopping period.
Boost your email list
Also, don’t forget to focus on growing your email list if you really want to make your email campaign a hit. This involves actively encouraging people to subscribe to your newsletter or updates.
You can offer incentives like exclusive deals, early access to sales, or free resources in exchange for their email addresses.
By expanding your email list, you’ll have a larger audience to reach with your Black Friday promotions, increasing your chances of driving more sales and engagement.
Plan your email campaign based on the buying journey
For your email to really work, you need to make an impression on your customers in all of their buying phases.
We recommend you use at least 4 emails during your email campaign, and cover all of this content as below:
- Initial announcement: Get them excited by dropping a little hint about your upcoming Black Friday sales. Leave an impression so they’re all set when you officially spill the beans
- Sales email: Right before Black Friday kicks off, it’s time to show off all your amazing deals and tempting products. You can jazz it up by throwing in a secret code, and if they use it, they get even more discounts!
- Gentle reminder: Once your discounts have been out there for a while, it’s a good idea to nudge your recipients with a quick reminder through email. You know how people forget stuff, and you want to keep them engaged, too.
- Final opportunity: Lastly, when there are only about 24 hours left, shoot them a countdown email. This is the final shot for those who haven’t snagged anything from your brand. By sending this, you’ll create that “Fear of missing out” vibe, making it hard for them to resist grabbing your deal.
Do segmentation first and foremost
Segmentation is a key starting point for a successful Black Friday email campaign.
By understanding your target audience’s demographics and interests, you can tailor your emails to resonate with them. You can divide your audience based on factors like age, gender, and past purchases.
Additionally, consider segmenting based on recent engagement levels to re-engage customers and offer exclusive deals to loyal ones, enhancing the effectiveness of your Black Friday strategy.
Start setting up your Black Friday email campaign now!
Your path to successful Black Friday email campaigns is all laid out, except for one secret ingredient – NestSend.
With over 50 free templates, options for customer segmentation, and integration of customer data right from your website.
NestSend is everything you need for an online E-commerce business to conduct its email campaign. Get your discounts, your design template, your email content, and let’s rock your sales this Black Friday.
Happy emailing and even happier selling!
FAQ
How do you plan a Black Friday campaign?
It’s best to start planning at least 2-3 months in advance to ensure you have a solid strategy, product selection, and marketing materials ready.
Start by defining your goals, selecting the right products to promote, and crafting a strong email strategy that includes personalized offers and creative designs.
How to write an email for Black Friday?
Focus on clear and compelling subject lines, highlight irresistible offers, and create urgency with time-sensitive language.
How many emails to send during Black Friday?
Sending 3-5 emails spaced out over the sale period can be effective: pre-sale, during the sale, and a last-chance reminder.
Is Black Friday a good marketing strategy?
Yes, Black Friday is a proven marketing strategy to boost sales and engage new customers with compelling deals.
When should you send Black Friday emails?
Start sending teaser emails a week before Black Friday, and follow up with the main promotions on the day itself, with additional reminders during the sale period.
Marketing Attribution 
