POV: You’ve been building your list all year (right?), but now BFCM is around the corner, and you’re ready to ramp up your efforts and crush those Q4 metrics. 👊
We got you, fam.
Here are four unique ways to stack your list for Black Friday success and beyond. 👇
🥇 Run a “VIP Black Friday” sale
VIP sales are becoming more popular, especially for brands that aren’t able to heavily discount through all of BFCM weekend. They’re also a great way to build your list before Black Friday sales actually start!
Entice shoppers to sign up for your Black Friday VIP list by offering them something super-duper-special, such as:
- Early access to sales
- Extra savings
- Gift cards or store credit
- Limited edition products
- Special experiences
- Free gifts, swag, etc.
It may seem obvious, but the most important point here is that your VIP offers are above and beyond your normal BFCM deals – otherwise, they’re not really VIP, are they?
Bonus: You can add extra appeal by creating a VIP program with benefits beyond BFCM weekend (ongoing discounts, free swag, early product drops, and more).
📝 VIP sale cliff notes:
- Create a dedicated landing page for your VIP offer to capture emails/SMS (highly recommend). Make sure the page clearly and succinctly states the offer.
- Direct organic and paid traffic to your page (share with your existing customers, too!) – ideally starting 2-4 weeks out from BFCM.
- Create an email/SMS drip to nurture VIP leads in the days leading up to the sale (“coming soon”, “get ready”, “start your wishlist”).
- Send out 1-2 emails/SMS each day of the VIP sale.
- Follow-up with new leads during BFCM.
🔥 Drop a hot new product
Announcing a new product launch before BFCM is another way to entice shoppers to jump on your list.
You can have them opt-in for a special discount or “first dibs” if it’s a limited edition and/or likely to go out of stock (and make sure to highlight that sense of urgency if it’s genuine!).
📝 Product drop cliff notes:
- Create a dedicated landing page for the new product to capture emails/SMS (highly recommend).
- We’d also recommend adding pop-ups and banners to your site that say something like, “Get first dibs on our new/limited edition product, coming Black Friday.”
- Direct organic and paid traffic to your LP (share with your existing customers, too!) – ideally starting 2-4 weeks out from BFCM.
- Develop an organic social campaign to promote the drop, and if possible, work with influencers. New product launches can be a great way to convert casual or tangential followers into customers.
- Create an email/SMS drip to nurture leads in the days leading up to the drop. This could include pictures and info on the new product to get shoppers really stoked. An extra tip? Don’t show people the full product, create curiosity! This could be blurred images or half a product in the distance.
- Create your email/SMS campaign announcing and promoting the new product.
- Follow-up with new leads during BFCM.
🧑🤝🧑 Refer-a-friend
Friends don’t let friends miss out on deals… which is why referral programs can crush it over Black Friday.
Offer your loyal customers extra savings or something special for referring a friend (with a discount or gift of their own). This can help pull in new customers before Black Friday AND show some love to your existing list.
📝 Refer-a-friend cliff notes:
- Send an email campaign to existing customers (best if highly engaged) informing them of the referral offer – ideally 2-4 weeks out from BFCM.
- Create an email/SMS drip to nurture new leads before and during BFCM. Messaging should promote popular and best-selling products to entice them to use their discount.
- Make sure to have a strong follow-up campaign for these new leads post-BFCM!
🎁 Give stuff away
Everyone loves to win free stuff, right?
Enter: BFCM giveaways.
Running a giveaway (especially before your BFCM sales hit) can be a great way to build your list. Promote the giveaway via paid ads, organic social, influencer campaigns, and other channels where your ideal audience might be hanging out.
⚠️ Word of caution: (Poorly run) giveaways are notorious for bringing in lower-quality leads. One suggestion would be to make sure your offer aligns with your brand and product suite to help attract leads who are interested in what you’re selling – and not just out for freebies.
Consider giving away:
- Store credit/gift cards (best option, as it entices winners to shop and attracts leads with higher purchasing intent – but you may get lower volume)
- Free products (likely to get higher volume, but lower quality leads)
- Experiences or access to exclusive events
📝 Giveaway cliff notes:
- Create a dedicated page on your website for the giveaway to capture emails/SMS (highly recommend). This will also boost your website traffic before Black Friday weekend!
- Consider partnering with influencers or other brands to collab on a giveaway and expand your potential audience.
- Direct organic and paid traffic to your page (share with your existing customers, too!) – ideally starting 2-4 weeks out from BFCM. Consider adding an opt-in field directly on ads.
- Send follow-up emails to giveaway entrees that weren’t selected. Inform them of Black Friday deals coming up, and consider adding a discount code or store credit to entice them to shop (ideally stackable with your general BFCM offer).
☝️ Last, but not least…
Building a strong list for Black Friday is important, but we all know the shopping doesn’t stop there. Make sure to create a solid foundation of follow-up flows and campaigns to continue to nurture your new leads and carry that momentum into the holiday season!
