Another Black Friday is in the bag
I don’t know about you, but my inbox has been taking a battering of late.
With 10%! and 25%!, and sometimes even as much as 60% OFF!!! dominating.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that “Black Friday Has Arrived” as if I hadn’t noticed the date. It’s like telling me that the sky is blue or that if the coconut has gone, there’s been a hurricane.
Key West Weather Station
These claims aside, it’s a big time of year for eCommerce, and as an Email Strategist and Copywriter, it’s a pretty stressful time—will the campaign work? Will the sales come through? Will the URLs and discount codes all work as planned?
We all breathe a sigh of relief when we get to the day after Cyber Monday and we can regroup and prepare for Christmas, coming just a few weeks later.
So it was with some frustration that I saw a well-respected “guru” who runs a Facebook group with almost 15,000 members that offers “a community of entrepreneurs dedicated to helping each other grow, scale and reach new heights through innovation” answer the following question from a member:
How do you keep the sales coming after Black Friday?
Their response was:
Pause for a day or two -> sale extended -> go again. Add / remove bonuses. Extend money back guarantee.
🤢
I have no issue with adding and removing bonuses and extending guarantees. That’s sensible. But extending the sale? URGH.
When you’ve been inundating your customers with Sale ends soon! and Last chance to buy! offers for the last week, there’s nothing that will annoy them more than seeing a Sale Extended email.
It destroys all credibility and means they’ll see straight through any guarantees or deadlines or messages you try to land in the future.
And in my book, that’s going to cost you a lot more in sales than a few stragglers who didn’t buy before your Black Friday promo ended.
So how do you make a sale after Black Friday?
Well, the same way you make a sale at any other time of year.
Promote the benefit of your product and the great value buying from you represents.
And if you can’t make a sale at full price, well, your price is too high.
But more than that, it’s by giving your customer a great experience with your brand.
If someone’s just bought from you, say thank you.
(such as my favourite low-alcohol brand Quarter did recently)
An example of a great post-purchase email
This is a great opportunity to build loyalty with your new customer and make your brand stand out amongst all those default Shopify email confirmations and receipt emails.
A personal thank you from the brand goes a long way in turning a customer into a fan—and the Holy Grail of marketing—a repeat customer.
If you sell a range of products, why not suggest another item that compliments what they just bought?
Or maybe promote your subscribe and save option to save money and make reordering a breeze.
Maybe give loyalty points or free delivery on a second purchase?
Or even just bask in the glow of saying thank you to another customer showing faith in what you’ve brought to market without trying to get them to open their wallet again.
That’s how you make a sale after Black Friday.
And if you want my help to do it, click Get In Touch at the top of the page.