Black Friday is the time of year when inboxes go from manageable to overwhelming overnight. Attention spans are shrinking, open rates are shrinking, and your competitors are all doing the same thing: countdown timers, alarm clock emojis, urgent subject lines in all caps.
Truncated emails are no longer loud. They are more specific to the client and the moment. And they have an offer unlike the other 47 in your inbox that day.
Most stores offer circular discounts such as 20% or 30% off. If you’re looking for visibility in a crowded inbox, why not choose something different?
Try 12% instead. Nobody makes 12%. Because it doesn’t fit the pattern that buyers are used to, it stands out and draws attention on purpose. They asked “Why 12?”
You can then double it to 24% at select times, or increase it to 36% for top customers, depending on what works for your business. WooCommerce’s built-in coupon management handles percentage discounts natively, so you can set it up without any additional extensions.
Some other less commonly used proposal formats:
- “First 50 orders earn X” it uses quantity scarcity, not time.
- Package prices. One price per set, no interest discount required.
- Set a gift limit with purchase: “Spend $100 and get Y for free.” Increase your average order value without discounting your core product.
5 email structures that explain what each one should do, built backwards from Black Friday.
- A month ago: Start making an impression. Send a tip that deals are coming. Subject lines like “We’re doing something different this year…” work well. They create a question that the reader wants answered.
- Two weeks ago: Disclose your offer and the specific products or departments where they will find the offer. If you’re segmenting your mailing list (more on that below), offer early access to existing customers. It feels personalized, sparks interest and adds a sense of urgency.
- Black Friday night: Your offer, deadline and a single CTA. that’s it.
- Black Friday: Short and sharp. If the subject line does the trick, it’s an email almost unnecessary. Remember, your offer and deadline must be in the first 2 lines. If they have to slide, you’ve already lost them.
- The next day: Tell me if you extended the sale. If not, this is your last chance email. Keep it shorter than you think.
I recommend it if you use WooCommerce MailShair to help your emails drive more sales. Allows you to draw live product offers access any of these emails directly from your store directory, this is especially useful for steps 2 and 4.
Segmenting your email list allows you to make offers that speak directly to different types of customers.
Win them back
Previous customers are your hottest followers; they already trust you. My go-to is AutomateWoo’s follow-up feature, which allows you to filter by purchase history and send them something exclusive. Think: early access, a loyalty discount or even a gift.
If someone has made a purchase from you but hasn’t returned within 6-12 months, Black Friday is the ideal opportunity to use a “returns” workflow. For example, “We haven’t seen you for a while – there’s something worth coming back to.”
Match the offer with what they receive
Email customers based on specific products or categories they’ve previously purchased. If someone bought pet food from you, send them a pet food offer instead of a general store discount. you can do set it up using MailPoet.
Standard abandoned cart emails go out hours later, sometimes the next day. On Black Friday, that’s too long. A buyer who leaves your site at noon has probably bought from someone else by 3:00 p.m.
Move the trigger to less than an hour. If you use AutomateWoo, you can adjust the abandoned cart time from your dashboard without touching any code.
The best thing you can do within 48 hours of a Black Friday sale: Send 1 email does not sell anything to the customer.
I thank them. Enter shipping details. Tell them how to reach support. AutomateWoo triggers this automatically when an order status changes, so you can install and release it.
People want to feel good about shopping, especially during the shopping frenzy, and in January they will remember the store that gave them that confidence.
Melisa Sr. at WooCommerce is a Lifecycle Marketer where he cares about the complete customer journey from “just signed up” to “can’t imagine running my store without it”. And he builds email strategies to get them there. Outside of work, she writes, reads, hikes, boxes, and loses her daily power struggle with her two dogs and two cats.
