The Thanksgiving weekend is make or break for retailers. 

In 2021, virtually 180 million People shopped over the five-day interval, in keeping with the Nationwide Retail Federation. That’s virtually 21 million greater than preliminary projections.

Historically, Cyber Monday—much less snappily generally known as the Monday after Thanksgiving—is barely the weekend’s third-biggest purchasing day, behind Black Friday and Small Enterprise Saturday:

However Cyber Monday sees a disproportionately excessive quantity of on-line gross sales, making it completely essential to ecommerce manufacturers. So that you merely can’t afford to get your messaging improper.

That can assist you out, I’ve raided our e-mail vault—containing actually hundreds of thousands of e-mail campaigns from a whole lot of manufacturers—to seek out the very best of the very best Cyber Monday e-mail examples.

 

1. Kylie Cosmetics: Tease Cyber Monday in Advance

Selling Cyber Monday is definitely fairly powerful.

Given that buyers will splash out an estimated $11.2 billion on-line on the day this yr, that sounds slightly counterintuitive. Certainly advertising such a gigantic purchasing occasion needs to be like promoting chewing gum at a baseball teaching conference?

However there’s an issue: as we’ve already seen, Cyber Monday is hardly a standalone occasion.

That $11+ billion in on-line spending may be an unlimited sum, but it surely solely represents about 5 p.c of whole on-line expenditure all through the vacation interval. And with the occasion coming scorching on the heels of Black Friday, it’s onerous to advertise Cyber Monday prematurely.

Give it some thought. With different key purchasing durations—like Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Mom’s Day—you’d begin your advertising push weeks forward of time. With Cyber Monday, you don’t have that luxurious.

Nonetheless, there’s nothing to cease you following Kylie Jenner’s lead by teasing your Cyber Monday sale a day or two prematurely:

(For context, this e-mail was despatched on November 28, 2021—a day earlier than Cyber Monday.)

That method, you get to whip up some pleasure about your unbelievable promotion and provides prospects a purpose to flock to your retailer on the massive day.

2. Levi’s: Begin Cyber Monday Early

Our e-mail inboxes are busy at the very best of instances. However throughout the Thanksgiving weekend they’re like Occasions Sq. at 5 minutes to midnight on New 12 months’s Eve.

Based on Marketing campaign Monitor, extra emails are despatched on Black Friday than every other day of the yr—and Cyber Monday isn’t far behind.

How on Earth do you anticipate your messaging to face out amid all that noise?

I’ve already identified the way it’s completely high quality to tease Cyber Monday a pair days forward of time.

However one other strategy is to easily lengthen your sale throughout the entire weekend, like Levi’s does on this instance:

This technique successfully allowed the denim model to beat the push by selling its Cyber Monday low cost from Saturday onwards.

And there’s one other much less apparent, however equally significant, profit: by spreading gross sales throughout the weekend, you successfully flatten the Cyber Monday peak, making it simpler in your web site and logistics infrastructure to deal with all the additional demand.

3. Anthropologie: Get the Timing Proper

Operating e-mail advertising campaigns is sort of like banging the bass drum in an orchestra: are available in too early (or late) and also you’ll mess every thing up.

However what’s the good time to ship your Cyber Monday emails?

As with every thing on this planet of selling, there are numerous colleges of thought on this subject. However I all the time want to let information do the speaking.

So I’m grateful to SendGrid, which took the time to investigate the proportion of emails despatched and opened throughout eight three-hour time slots all through Cyber Monday 2021:

The findings make for fascinating studying. Certain, it’s no massive shock {that a} ton of emails are despatched and opened from mid-afternoon to late night. 

However what’s extra placing is the info for 12:00pm – 3:00pm. Simply 10 p.c of all Cyber Monday emails have been despatched throughout this three-hour window, but it was answerable for 16.5 p.c of e-mail opens.

Or to place it one other method, one in six Cyber Monday emails are opened between noon and three:00pm.

So what’s occurring right here?

It’s fairly easy actually. As you’re little doubt conscious, Cyber Monday isn’t a public vacation within the US. And the overwhelming majority of individuals—me excluded—don’t have the luxurious of spending their working hours studying advertising emails.

However they’re nonetheless hungry for a deal, in order that they rush to their inboxes throughout their lunch breaks, scrolling via all of the emails they obtained all through the morning whereas chowing down on a buffalo hen wrap.

This tells me one factor: in case you’re on the high of the inbox at noon, there’s a powerful likelihood your e-mail’s going to face out, as a result of there’s loads much less competitors to take care of.

Anthropologie bought the timing proper with this Cyber Monday e-mail instance:

In fact, there’s an essential level to make right here: there’s multiple timezone on this planet.

In case your advertising staff relies on the East Coast however most of your prospects are in California, you’ll want to issue within the time distinction to verify your Cyber Monday e-mail arrives on the proper time.

4. e.l.f. Cosmetics: Provide Free Transport

You may be planning an unbelievable Cyber Monday promotion, providing prospects a 50 p.c low cost throughout all of your best-selling merchandise.

However I completely assure that in case your transport prices are too excessive, buyers will nonetheless abandon their carts.

Based on the Baymard Institute, the typical cart abandonment charge stands at an astonishing 69.99. And the most important explanation for deserted carts? The price of necessary extras like transport, charges, and taxes.

Truth is, prospects don’t likepaying for transport. That’s not going to alter simply since you’re operating a sitewide sale. If something, with each model beneath the Solar providing some form of low cost, there’s a good higher likelihood they’ll look elsewhere in case your transport prices are too excessive.

For that purpose, it’s value taking a leaf from e.l.f. Cosmetics’ e-book by providing free transport on Cyber Monday:

Clearly, not each retailer can assure free transport. When you promote couches or fridges or elephant enclosures, it’s in all probability not going to occur.

But when there’s any risk you possibly can afford free transport, I’d suggest giving it a attempt on Cyber Monday. Even when it means providing a barely much less aggressive low cost to stability the books.

5. Glow Recipe: Spark Curiosity to Drive E mail Opens

Now that I’ve gained you spherical with just a few scintillating insights, I really feel it’s a great time to interrupt some dangerous information:

Cyber Monday emails have fairly dreadful open charges.

Omnisend analyzed hundreds of thousands of emails despatched between November 25 and December 2, 2020. Those who contained the time period “Cyber Monday” within the topic line noticed a median open charge of simply 13.8 p.c.

To place that in context, Mailchimp says the typical e-mail open charge throughout the yr, no matter trade, stands at 22.71 p.c. That’s a drop of just about 9 share factors.

What’s my level right here? 

Clearly, I’m not saying: “Don’t hassle sending Cyber Monday emails, nobody’s going to open them.”

As a substitute, I needed to emphasize that each one the competitors throughout the Thanksgiving weekend means it’s important to work additional onerous to win the press. Meaning crafting an e-mail topic line that your viewers can’t assist however click on.

Standard knowledge says that the easiest way to drive e-mail opens on key purchasing days is to get particular. Inform folks in regards to the unbelievable low cost you’re providing in order that they perceive the worth of opening your e-mail.

Sadly, this is identical technique (just about) everybody else is utilizing.

As an instance my level, I carried out my very own (extremely unscientific) evaluation by trawling via a pair pages of Cyber Monday emails within the Drip vault. I found that 52 p.c of Cyber Monday emails I scrolled previous talked about a share low cost within the topic line or preview textual content.

Hanging your Cyber Monday marketing campaign on a share low cost is a race to the underside. Certain, you may be providing 40 p.c off. But when your competitor is operating a 50 p.c low cost, why would anybody hassle opening your e-mail?

That’s why I’m satisfied that the easiest way to increase your Cyber Monday e-mail open charge is to put in writing an e-mail topic line that sparks curiosity.

The excellent news is that you just don’t must get tremendous inventive. Simply take a look at this easy topic line from Glow Recipe: 

It tells us completely nothing in regards to the phrases of Glow Recipe’s Cyber Monday sale—or whether or not the model is providing a reduction in any respect. However it was intriguing sufficient to persuade me to click on.

6. Bonobos: Goal Final-Minute Cyber Monday Buyers

On a median on-line purchasing day, you’d anticipate visitors ranges to drop off round early night. Most of us aren’t shopping ASOS at midnight.

However Cyber Monday is something however regular. Information from SaleCycle reveals that visitors volumes don’t decelerate in any respect because the day goes on. In truth, they peak at 9pm and are nonetheless fairly excessive at 11pm:

The takeaway right here is straightforward: don’t simply ship a single Cyber Monday e-mail within the morning or at lunchtime and assume your work is finished. As a substitute, observe up with a reminder e-mail focusing on last-minute discount hunters, like this instance from Bonobos:

There are two key factors to speak in your last-ditch Cyber Monday e-mail:

1. Reiterate the financial savings on provide
2. Remind prospects that your sale is ending quickly

Get it proper and you’ll convert these last-minute browsers into paying prospects.

7. The Frye Firm: Unveil a Cyber Monday Extension

We customers are a grasping bunch.

Not solely will we anticipate large financial savings on Cyber Monday, however a lot of us are nonetheless frantically looking for gives the next day.

This level is demonstrated by Google Tendencies information protecting the times earlier than and after Cyber Monday 2021:

Unsurprisingly, the lion’s share of searches across the subject “Cyber Monday” happened on Cyber Monday. And, as you’d anticipate, there was additionally a wholesome quantity of exercise within the couple days previous the occasion.

However what’s most fascinating is that barely extra searches happened on November 30—that’s, the day after Cyber Monday—than on November 28.

If persons are nonetheless looking for offers after the occasion, why not give them what they need by extending your Cyber Monday promotion? That’s exactly what The Frye Firm does right here:

There’s a proper method and a improper solution to go about this.

The improper method is to ship an e-mail early on Cyber Monday that successfully says: “No must rush, we’ve prolonged our sale for one more week.”

Ship that e-mail and also you’ve instantly eradicated any sense of time stress out of your Cyber Monday promotion, giving prospects little incentive to purchase now. 

There’s a great likelihood they’ll file that info away behind their thoughts then return to their inbox, the place they’ll instantly discover one other engaging provide. Similar to that, you’ve misplaced a sale.

As a substitute, unveil your extension late within the day, and even higher the day after. The Frye Firm despatched its e-mail at lunchtime on November 30, giving it loads of alternative to drive a bunch of additional gross sales with out damaging its efficiency on Cyber Monday itself.

Maximize Cyber Monday Gross sales With Drip

You may’t afford a dangerous Cyber Monday.

So would not or not it’s good in case you may depend on an e-mail, SMS, and automation platform that’s constructed round maximizing income?

Drip is that platform.

Our instruments mean you can simply craft on-brand emails and create money-making automations in only a few clicks, from gross sales bulletins to cart abandonment emails to post-purchase campaigns.

See for your self by signing up in your 14-day free trial.