With all the pressures of Black Friday Cyber Monday season that’s upon us, as you might be feeling them, in this post, you’ll definitely get relieved of some. My goal is not just to show you Black Friday email templates proven to work but explain why they work so well. 

Every time you prepare an email campaign, you have to decide on the visual structure of that email. For example, what you’ll use to attract attention, how you will make sure the reader understands the unique value of your offer, and what will guide your reader to click that CTA button in the end.

I’m sure you’re familiar with some copywriting formulae used in emails like Problem-Agitation-Solution for example, and many others. While we use those and think about copywriting structures a lot, for the biggest sale of the year, we focus more on making the message extra straightforward and user-friendly. 

In my experience, the most important thing about Black Friday is to nail the preparation and have your audience excited to finally get their exclusive offers. That’s why we use the Early Bird list to gather our most hyped-up subscribers so when we open the virtual doors, we’re sure they’ll run into our store. And when they’re running in (opening the email) the instructions to their wanted product and offer must be extra simple. 

Here’s a few examples of actual Black Friday Cyber Monday Email templates and the strategy behind them that we used for our client stores last Cyber Month season that got the results for us and extra revenue for the store.

1. A mid-century furniture store

The opening email to our Black Friday Sale of 2020, sent only to the Early Bird list (gathered and warmed up by good content before the sale):

• The banner does 70% of the work here. It clearly states that the Early Bird Sale starts now and that they’ll get 15% off. Remember it’s sent to people who signed up to be on the exclusive, limited-spot list, and now their waiting is over. 
• We’re telling them they’re getting VIP treatment (higher discount than anyone else), giving them their code, call to action, and showing them some of the most popular products.

2. An indie hardy shoes brand

This was the opening email to this store’s Black Friday Sale of 2020, sent only to the Early Bird list (gathered and warmed up by good content before the sale):

• We make it obvious that the exclusive Early Bird deals are here which already means a lot to a subscriber who got on that limited spot list probably weeks ago looking forward to their VIP treatment. 
• Similar to the first one, the banner is important here, but for Indestructible Shoes, we had what we call a ladder offer, where a customer would get a higher discount if they bought 2, and the highest discount if they bought 3 pairs. 
• Those 3 smaller banners/calls to action do the heavy lifting in this email by visually showing more items with higher discounts and also giving the special discount codes for each. 
• Additionally, we show 4 of the bestselling models, a customer review, and the countdown timer (which ended back then), as these offers lasted only for a few days during the Black Friday period. 

3. Blend Jet

This is one of the later emails, that served to close the Black Friday Sale.

• The theme of this email is mostly scarcity, ‘cause the sale is almost over, and we want to push every customer who’s almost there, over the edge. The banner GIF showing the product as the clock hand and pointing down to the rest of the email (product & 3 offers). 
• Since it’s a 1 main product store, the offers can be shown very simply, and the discount is applied at the checkout automatically. We just show the call to action once more and that’s it. 
• Keep in mind that by the time of this email we’ve already sent probably 2-3 emails every day for a few days in a row. There’s not much more to say to openers who haven’t bought yet, it’s mostly about scarcity. And for a subscriber who missed previous emails, it’s very easy to understand what’s happening. 

4. Canvas Freaks

This is the opening email to their Black Friday Sale, with a different design approach, showing products as the visual elements that make the email interesting. 

• The banner announces the start of the sale, shows the offer wrapped around one of the products, so it’s again a very clear visual language.
• After that, the copy talks about the benefits of the products, how they affect the everyday life of the customer, shows more products, and calls to action again. 
• The last call to action says “find the perfect gift” as the products are great for gifts and that’s one of the usual angles used. 

5.  Jerky

• The banner does even more in this one, as it’s a GIF stating that Black Friday is here, showing all 3 steps of the ladder offer (spend $X get $Y off) and also gives the discount codes. 
• The copy invites the reader to use the opportunity and show during the biggest sale of the year.
• We show 4 of the bestselling products and call to action again.
• Near the end, we invite people to use the special feature of the store which allows order now and pick a later date when they want their products to be shipped. This is nice for consumable products so people can make use of the great Black Friday offers, order more than they currently need, and receive it in the future.

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