12 engaging Black Friday marketing ideas to drive sales

Black Friday, the biggest retail sales and marketing day of the year, is just around the corner.  This is your chance to meet major sales goals and earn large chunks of your annual revenue. And your success on the big day largely depends on how well you can capture potential customers’ attention with Black Friday campaign ideas as part of your digital strategy.

Why, you ask? Because with great marketing opportunities comes fierce competition – not just from direct competitors, but also from other real-life distractions that exist during the holiday season.

Creating attention-getting and engaging Black Friday promotions is essential to achieving and exceeding your revenue goals. This is the time to make it happen.

What is Black Friday marketing?

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., kicks off the biggest shopping event of the year, often extending through Cyber Monday and sometimes the entire week. During Black Friday 2023, American consumers spent over $9.8 billion in online sales, and more than half of this took place on a mobile device.

Most Black Friday marketing examples you might find online focus on advertisements and offers, which should be essential parts of your campaign. However, to truly engage and win customers, you need more than just a price war. Competing solely on price (and throwing in a free shipping coupon) isn’t the best strategy, especially for ecommerce stores looking to move the needle.

Effective Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) marketing is about getting attention. If you want more than just fleeting, one-time customers, you need advanced engagement strategies and an omnichannel approach. That means using mobile technology so you can meet your customers where they are.

Let’s explore some Black Friday marketing ideas to help you reach your target audience and ring in those lucrative 2024 sales.

1. Personalize everything

Building loyal customer relationships depends on your ability to demonstrate genuine care for individual preferences and interests after a lead or contact has shared their personal information. Beyond the content that you deliver, personalization also includes engaging people on their preferred communication channels.

If you don’t know which channels your customers prefer, you can gain insights by observing the ones they engage with you on. For example, by using SMS, Facebook Messenger, and email marketing channels on Black Friday, you’ll quickly see which channels your audience favors. This combination works particularly well for holiday messaging because while email does well at communicating details and setting the stage for holiday sales, SMS and Messenger work better for alerts, flash deals, and last-minute reminders about key incentives. Together, these channels can help your customers discover products that they might not have considered before, and, in turn, help you increase average order value. 

Need ideas on what to send? Try these:  

• Personalized countdown timer messages leading up to Black Friday that also factor in time zones, if applicable. 

• Exclusive early access to Black Friday sales for your loyal customers via SMS and email. 

• Reminders of prior purchases featuring Black Friday deals on related items. 

For some inspiration, watch this video interview of a Nordic online retailer, Parfym.se, and how they used email and SMS to send personalized Black Friday campaigns that boosted engagement by nearly 100%!

2. Create a sense of urgency

Black Friday shopping inherently has a compelling, unique sense of urgency, so you can easily capitalize on that during this time of year. Here are some ways to reach people on their mobile devices:  

• Send time-sensitive alerts about a giveaway or flash sale to tease a chance for consumers to snag a can’t-miss deal. 

• Push out a series of SMS messages that count down the days until Black Friday. 

• Update subscribers about limited-time or special deals like free gifts, or on how much inventory is left for a hot item. 

Mobile marketing can help create a sense of urgency for BFCM deals.

You can do this with SMS/MMS, email, and with messaging channels like WhatsApp. To fine-tune your approach, learn the differences between SMS and MMS marketing.

3. Offer a sneak peek of a new product

A sneak peek into what you’re planning to offer during your big Black Friday sale can help get your subscribers excited about what's coming, and mobile messaging can be a great way to get that message to them quickly.

One tactic could be to send your subscribers a push notification with an exclusive preview and discount code to get them shopping on your app immediately.

Or, if you know your audience prefers WhatsApp, you could try using WhatsApp click-to-chat in your Facebook and Instagram ads to have immediate conversations on Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp with your most interested subscribers. Once a user initiates a chat with you, you have 72 hours to chat with them for free, which makes this a perfect way to share more Black Friday offers or reminders. 

4. Create holiday gift guides 

You can create personalized holiday gift guides featuring product recommendations that align with the customer’s stated interests or demographics. Send these out via channels like email, text, and WhatsApp to bypass mass media marketing notifications that are so easy to miss and ignore. This way, more customers will engage with your promo or deal.

You can make your mobile marketing messages be even more engaging using RCS messaging. With RCS, your messages can be interactive and include large video and image files, product carousels and more.

For example, RCS makes it possible to send subscribers a high-resolution gift catalog that lights up their inbox. It can showcase multiple products at once, prompting recipients to swipe through visual product images and complete a purchase. All of this can happen within their native Android messages inbox. 

5. Let them know as soon as you have a deal

In 2023, we found that 35.5% of consumers want to hear about deals for Black Friday as soon as possible. That means it’s in your best interest to let your audience know about deals as soon as you have them!

Here are a few promotion ideas you can use to drum up excitement:  

• Countdown timers via MMS leading up to a sale or offering.  

• Location-based offers via RCS to notify subscribers about deals when they are near your physical store.  

• Digital scratch cards or pop-ups via Rich SMS that customers can “scratch” on a digital landing page on their phones to reveal special Black Friday deals and offers.  

You can also hold a flash sale. No matter how you swing it, a flash sale with a ticking clock will generate excitement and make people act quickly. And SMS marketing messages are the perfect way to spread the word, with SMS open rates soaring around 98%! That means you can count on high engagement and quick results as your audience rushes to grab your deal, even at the last minute. 

For pre-written, customizable templates for your text marketing campaigns, check out these 30+ ready-to-use SMS templates and these 20+ promotional text message examples for inspiration.

6. Re-engage previous customers with exclusive deals 

Do you know the saying that it’s easier to sell to loyal customers than to win new ones? It’s true! That’s why you should be engaging previous customers directly using your existing communication channels. Send them exclusive offers based on past purchases and encourage referrals using their positive experiences with your brand. 

Here’s an easy way to get that done: Use MMS or RCS to send high-quality product images to subscribers who haven’t purchased in a while. Make these deals exclusive to your subscribers to maintain their interest and incentivize them to refer new customers. Here are some tips to grow your SMS/MMS subscriber list.  

7. Make it really, really easy for customers to reply 

When customers have questions, they want quick replies and easy ways to continue the conversation until they have the information they need to make a decision. They also prefer to quickly find what they’re looking for, which can be a challenge for online stores. The problem is, it’s expensive to keep a huge number of reps on staff to handle so many interactions for just a single Black Friday weekend.

RCS simplifies this by helping you provide a conversational marketing experience. With reply buttons, customers get quick responses, helping you customize their holiday shopping experience with minimal effort. 

Our research found that customers want to have two-way interactions via mobile messages from their favorite brands. Here are a few ways to meet that desire:  

• Send order confirmations and shipping updates, encouraging customers to reply with questions or requests.  

• Give real-time inventory updates, allowing customers to place orders or reserve items (and if you do this with RCS, you can include images and quick replies directly in their inbox!). 

• Inform customers about in-store events, early bird sales, or promotions, letting them reply to RSVP or ask for event details. 

• Communicate loyalty program updates and encourage customers to inquire about their loyalty status or redeem rewards through replies. 

• Follow up post-purchase to ensure their satisfaction and allow them to provide feedback if they encounter issues. 

• Use a pop-up on your homepage that opens a WhatsApp chat so your customers can chat immediately with your brand. 

Now, you can use many different mobile channels to make conversational messaging a reality, but you should base your strategy on your customers’ preferences. For a great example, check out how frozen food retailer Picard used RCS to deliver a conversational customer experience that led to a 42% increase in customer engagement – a huge win for their holiday marketing campaign!

8. Make your customers feel like VIPs

Email has long made it possible to deliver exclusive, personalized content to subscribers, making them feel special with unique deals. The holiday shopping season is a great time to deliver this type of experience because you can build excitement by sharing upcoming offers.

For instance, in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, send an email with a subject line like, “A Black Friday treat just for you, [First name].” This personal touch makes customers feel like insiders. The offer inside should give them a special discount, reinforcing their sense of being valued. If this is important to you, different email testing software can help you make your email marketing campaigns as effective as possible.

Beyond SMS and email lists, you can use social messaging channels like Facebook Messenger and Instagram Messages to deliver personalized messages to those who’ve opted in. These platforms offer a more direct and personal touch than traditional social media marketing.

When offering even more exclusive content, use RCS to send videos that will help your brand stand out.

9. Use a chatbot

Chatbots can help you provide customers instant, automated answers during their buying process. And AI-powered chatbots can integrate with your website and product inventory to help customers find what they want quickly and easily.

You can also integrate chatbots with conversational channels like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to let customers engage with you in the way they prefer and can get the quickest answers.  

Orion Mall built a conversational AI chatbot integrated with WhatsApp to drive more customers to the mall. They expect the chatbot to double the number of visitors during the busy holiday season. 

Chatbots are a great way to help you provide your customers with quick answers that they ask via WhatsApp, RCS, social media platforms, and more. 

10. Use rich, interactive landing pages

Unlike a static web page, an interactive landing page can help you personalize your message to customers and make them feel special. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, consider using a dynamic landing page that features deals, recommendations, and interactive elements like countdown timers or quizzes.

Rich SMS is ideal for sending personalized landing pages to subscribers. Orange, a multinational telecommunications company, used this approach to re-connect with their customers during Black Friday. Understanding customers’ behavior and preferences, Orange created compelling offers and used an interactive landing page delivered via Rich SMS to maximize engagement.

Subscribers received an interactive landing page via Rich SMS and were prompted to “unlock” a padlock before they got an exclusive offer.

The result? A 12% upsell rate, which was a great boost to their sales!

11. Send cart abandonment reminders

Black Friday is a busy time for holiday shoppers. Despite your efforts to offer deals and engaging experiences, some people will still end up leaving items in their shopping carts. They may have found something else to buy instead or have chosen a competitor. Often, though, they simply meant to complete their checkout later.

Send abandoned cart emails to make sure that more of these customers return to complete their purchases. This is one of the highest-ROI marketing tactics you can use. Automated abandoned cart emails are cost-effective and less intrusive than regular promotional emails, yet they can generate significant revenue and help optimize your checkout conversion rate too.

In addition to a Black Friday email marketing campaign, consider sending abandoned cart SMS messages to further boost sales. Sometimes, offering discounts or a gift card can incentivize shoppers to complete their purchase. Here are more ways to use SMS for retail marketing.

12. Check in post-Black Friday marketing campaign

Now that you have strategies for leading up to Black Friday, remember that your marketing efforts shouldn’t end once the day is over.

Here are a few ways you can use mobile messaging for post-Black Friday follow-up:

• Send thank you messages acknowledging their purchases. 

• Request reviews or testimonials for products purchased during Black Friday or Cyber Monday. 

• Provide tips or advice related to the products they purchased. 

• Share relevant content like blog articles related to their interests or the products they bought. 

These ideas can help strengthen your business’ relationship with customers and help you provide them a great experience throughout their whole journey.   

Get started with your Black Friday marketing campaign

Winning new customers on Black Friday isn’t all about partnering with the right TikTok influencers, discovering winning hashtags, or even beating the competition with the best Black Friday offers. 

Much of it is simply about reaching your audience effectively. The companies and brands that get creative in using a multichannel approach to target customers during Black Friday will have the most success. Otherwise, it’s just too easy to be forgotten, missed, or ignored on the big day.

As you’ve seen, conversational marketing is a great way for companies to connect with customers during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And mobile channels are great ways to make sure that your messages are seen, engaged with, and acted upon!  

Check out this conversational messaging guide and learn how to upgrade your customer experience. Or, if you're ready to implement a conversational messaging strategy, let's chat. Our team is ready to help you build an experience your customers will love!