8 proven BFCM promo strategies to try out this fall

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This holiday season, it’s not just about slapping a discount on your product and hoping for the best. You need to be intentional.

Black Friday Cyber Monday is the Super Bowl of online shopping. According to Statista, nearly 80% of American shoppers plan on shopping during the weekend.

While millions of people are lined up in front of their phones and computers ready to do some shopping, there’s also a ton of competition trying to win those folks over.

Shoppers are receiving offers left and right as early as late September. If you don’t have a game plan that gets your message across at the right time and place, you’re leaving money on the table.

Here are a few proven BFCM promotion ideas to help you make sure that doesn’t happen.

1. Use every marketing channel at your disposal

Taking a multi-channel approach during Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a near-foolproof idea. That’s how you reach your customers at every touchpoint.

Research like Klaviyo’s 2024 consumer spending report shows that consumers interact with brands through various channels, including email, SMS, social media, and even in-app notifications. Relying on a single channel, like paid advertising, limits your potential reach and risks missing out on customers who have different marketing preferences.

Of course, taking a multi-channel approach to BFCM promotional messaging doesn’t mean you should do the exact same thing across every channel. Every channel can, and probably should, tell its own story in a way that makes your overarching message feel complete.

You might, for example, send an email unveiling your top BFCM deals early to your most engaged subscribers, while simultaneously posting user-generated content about what’s selling out quickly on Instagram or TikTok. Then, cap it off with SMS reminders featuring one-click purchasing links for last-minute buyers.

Olive oil brand Graza does multi-channel marketing well year-round, but you could do something similar around BFCM to coordinate your channels without making them too redundant during a particularly noisy marketing time for consumers.

Graza’s Instagram is filled with delicious recipes, funny videos, helpful tips, and, once in a while, brilliant product unveilings, as in this 3-day sequence:

While that kind of product unveil may be a smart strategy for teasing your upcoming BFCM deals, take a look at how Graza uses email marketing a little differently. Here, they share exciting incentives with their subscribers, from a 24% discount on a 4-pack of their “Drizzle” olive oil to a free “cooklet” with purchase.

Black Friday promotion tip: SMS, in particular, can be your brand’s secret ingredient to a successful Black Friday sales season. Plenty of people prefer SMS over other marketing channels, and text messages have consistently proven to speed up time to purchase.

As Michael Pattison, lead digital strategist at Klaviyo, says, “Almost no other marketing channel offers the open and click rates that SMS does. Not only does the ROI prove strong, but many prefer SMS over email, social, and other channels when interacting with brands they love.”

2. Tease your upcoming deals and drops

If there’s one thing to take away from Graza’s masterclass on teasing a new release, it’s creating a sense of mystery and incentivizing engagement with your upcoming promotions. Since you’ll be competing hard with other brands in the BFCM lead-up, you need to motivate your customers to stay engaged until your offers drop.

You can do this by following Graza’s social media strategy—using fun Instagram or TikTok videos to make your audience guess what’s coming, then using email or SMS to reward the ones who do. This can work wonders for engagement, helping you spread your message with a little bit of help from the algorithm.

But you can also build mystery with your owned marketing channels alone. Here, watch how intimate apparel brand LunaLae balances intrigue with transparency, revealing just enough to get their audience excited but leaving out key details to create a curiosity gap. Readers see the new set and gorgeous fabrics, but what exactly is “coming soon”? Guess they’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

Black Friday promotion tip: If you have data showing that your subscribers have been visiting product pages, making wishlists, and adding products to their carts without actually buying them, that’s a good sign that they want what you’re selling. All they’re doing is waiting for the nudge—in this case, the BFCM deal you’re cooking up.

3. Tap into FOMO

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a powerful motivator, and BFCM is the perfect time to tap into it. When people see that time is running out or that stock is limited, they may be more likely to buy something because they don’t want to miss out on a good deal.

Phrases like “Only 5 left” or “24 hours remaining” may push customers to make quick decisions. And whether it’s in a form on your website, in an Instagram story, or in an email, a ticking countdown clock always adds that extra layer of urgency.

Take a look at this example from Lectric eBikes. The first thing a reader sees when they open the email is the countdown timer and the words “Ends tonight.” Then, as the reader scrolls, the email reinforces the urgency message with clear, but not pushy, “last chance” wording, reminding customers that if they don’t act now, they’ll miss out.

Black Friday promotion tip: Take a leaf out of Lectric’s book and make your BFCM offers more tempting by incorporating customer testimonials into your communications. In ecommerce, product reviews are a crucial way to let your happiest customers do your marketing for you.

4. Give your VIPs early access and discounts

Your brand’s VIPs—customers who’ve spent a certain amount of money with your brand or placed a certain number of orders—are your most loyal and valuable customers. They’re also the ones most likely to go on a shopping spree during the BFCM, so it’s a smart idea to do what you can to make them feel special.

In 2023, apparel brand POPFLEX did this by creating a password-protected early access sale reserved for customers in the top two tiers of their loyalty program. The strategy drove sales and created excitement for their BFCM sale.

“When the doors opened for them to shop, they felt like they had first dibs,” says Jen-Ai Notman, POPFLEX’s VP of marketing. “People converted really quickly.” In fact, POPFLEX went on to record the highest revenue hour of the year during that early access period.

A VIP discount is another way to incentivize your top customers to shop early and shop big. Here, see how footwear brand Mahabis offers VIPs a sitewide discount for a limited amount of time, and makes sure they know this discount is for VIPs only. It’s not much of a VIP perk if it’s available to everyone, is it?

5. Collaborate with influencers to reach more people

Collaborating with influencers, preferably in your niche, is a stellar way to reach audiences who are likely interested in your products but aren’t familiar with your brand.

As long as the collaboration isn’t forced, influencer partnerships can yield massive results. Brands like FashionNova have become household names, in part, because of their collaboration with influencers—both big and small.

Of course, not everyone can land big names like Cardi B or Kylie Jenner, but that shouldn’t discourage you from reaching out to influencers to plan your Black Friday Cyber Monday strategy.

Here, see how fragrance brand Snif collaborates with lifestyle influencer Tieghan Gerard to create a new product and inform subscribers it’s hitting the virtual shelves. You could do something similar, unveiling a new product during BFCM to capitalize on the fact that everyone will be shopping during the weekend.

If creative or product-development partnerships aren’t something you’re interested in, engaging in paid partnerships with influencers or micro-influencers, like Glossier does here, can also be a lucrative strategy. Several social media posts promoting your products could help you reach new audiences and keep your brand top of mind come Black Friday.

@hannahjuneva

glossier cloud paints are the key to my heart 🫶🏼 loving the new bronzing shades #glossier #cloudpaint #glossiercloudpaint

♬ Les Fleurs – Minnie Riperton

Black Friday promotion tip: You can even use the influencer approach to grow your subscriber lists in the weeks leading up to BFCM.

Let’s say you’re partnering with an influencer on a top-of-funnel digital marketing campaign, and you’ve built out a special landing page at a vanity URL where the influencer is sending their audience. Launch a specific sign-up form for that page only, as well as a unique welcome series featuring the influencer endorsing the influencer endorsing your company.

6. The gift-giving season starts with BFCM—so lean into it

BFCM marks the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season, and for many customers, it’s all about finding the perfect gifts for loved ones. This is the time to lean into the gift-giving spirit and tailor your marketing efforts to reflect it.

Your BFCM gift guide will depend on what your brand is selling. If you’re selling toys or kids’ clothes, tap into the parental desire to make kiddos chipper on a Christmas morning. If you’re selling jewelry, focus on your products’ romantic appeal.

If your brand doesn’t sell something traditionally considered a gift, take a leaf out of FluffCo’s book. What do people enjoy doing when it’s cold outside? Staying inside and keeping warm—and FluffCo brilliantly taps into that desire. For this luxury home goods brand, it’s all about cozy nights and at-home spa days and turning practical items like pillows and bathrobes into thoughtful gifts.

7. Make it easy for your customers and bundle up your products

Bundle deals work because they offer customers more value for their money—plain and simple. When shoppers see they can get more products for a lower price than if they bought them separately, it triggers that feeling of getting a great deal—and who doesn’t love that during BFCM?

But it’s not just about saving money. Bundle deals also remove friction from the shopping experience.

When crafting your own BFCM bundles, think about how you can make life easier for your customers. Are there complementary products that naturally go together? Can you help them solve a problem with a one-stop purchase?

The more value you can show, both in terms of cost savings and experience, the more irresistible your bundle deals will be.

In this email, home essentials brand Snowe offers 20% off a “bath refresh” bundle—towels, bathrobes, and bath mats. But it’s not just about the savings. The email also taps into the practical and emotional aspects of shopping, highlighting the utility of upgrading bath essentials and allowing readers to picture a cozy, spa-like experience in the comfort of their homes.

8. Turn one purchase into two (or more)

Cross-selling and up-selling during BFCM is like striking gold twice. When customers are already in the buying mindset, offering them complementary products or a premium version of what they’re purchasing is a stellar way to increase average order value.

Best of all, this is a strategy you can put entirely on autopilot by incorporating personalized product recommendations into your email and SMS automations.

For example, if someone is looking for a new suitcase, finds it, and adds it to their cart but doesn’t buy, you can nudge them in the right direction by not only reminding them about what they left behind, but also offering travel accessories.

If this sounds oddly specific, it’s because we’re thinking of this cart abandonment email from Hartmann Luggage. After a customer shows interest in a particular product, the luggage brand follows up with a simple yet effective message: “Well, what are you waiting for?” Hartmann reminds the shopper of the product they looked at, and while they’re at it, they recommend accessories—a carry-on and duffle—both useful to frequent fliers and avid travelers.

Up-selling works in a similar way. If someone wants to buy a basic version of a product, show them the deluxe version that offers a few extra perks for just a slightly higher price tag. With the right deal, they may just upgrade—and feel like they’re getting an even better value.

In fact, Hartmann’s email does this, too. Just check out the third product in the “you may also like” section—it’s a bigger, better, and more expensive suitcase.

Related content

• 10 key steps in building a solid Black Friday Cyber Monday strategy
• Make every message count: 11 Black Friday/Cyber Monday email examples for 2024
• 10 digital BFCM tactics we already know customers love