The best of Black Friday 2016 email marketing campaigns

The long-awaited Black Friday has passed and from Digital Response we wanted to make a a review of the most important techniques that brands have used in their email marketing campaigns this year.. Black Friday has undoubtedly become the ideal time in Spain to offer offers, promotions and many other surprises via email.

We have already advanced in previous posts As we are about to enter the final stretch of 2016, Black Friday appears as a springboard that helps brands to successfully close the year. It is therefore essential that brands focus all their efforts on promoting all those opportunities that may arise (which are not few).
The big brands have known how to play their cards very well and have optimised and boosted their email marketing campaigns in order to capture the interest of users. We are talking about innovative, original and engaging email marketing campaigns. Email is no longer just another channel, but has become the most relevant direct channel, especially on important dates such as Black Friday.
In the following, we will show, with several examples, some of the email marketing techniques that have been most successful this year Black Friday 2016.

1. Use of moving images (GIF's)

Last year we already talked about the  use of GIFs in email marketing campaigns. Especially at Christmas time, the GIF appears as a resource that is capable of capturing the attention of users as if it were a video.
Moreover, we warned that the GIF was going to be a successful element in 2015, and so it was. The same thing has happened this 2016, as the GIF has managed to become in the last year the substitute of the video par excellence. We have been able to see for ourselves in the Bimba y Lola email that you will find below.
An original email that, through the use of GIFs, shows different products in a very noticeable and original way. There are many brands that have opted for this technique, but only those that know how to apply it have the visual success that Bimba y Lola's email has had.

2. Use of loss aversion

Loss aversion is one of the most important persuasive email marketing techniques most common in this type of campaign. These are campaigns that focus on specific days of the year and offer exclusive promotions and discounts. Therefore, promoting this fact to users creates a sense of "urgency" in them and the chances of them deciding to buy increase considerably.
Tous wanted to convey that sense of urgency through the use of countdown in emailOne of the most eye-catching and prominent elements of the Black Friday 2016 email marketing campaigns.

3. Use of repetition

It is clear that, in this type of campaign, brands have to be present at all times. In the case of Black Friday, it is not limited to the last Friday of the month, but to the whole weekend. So it is important to be present in the consumer's mind as much as possible, as competition on this type of dates grows considerably.
One way to be present and to get the message across to the consumer is by Repeat the same message but make different email layouts.. This has been one of the techniques most shared by big brands and is a way of delivering a single message in multiple ways. In this way, the user is impacted with a single message on different occasions, but by having different forms, it does not give the feeling of repetition.
One example of this is Mango. The retailer has played with the same message (All at -20%!) throughout the weekend, but it has done so with different versions of the email: some longer, some shorter, some with different images...

5. Use of scarcity in design

The Pepe Jeans email below is a clear example of how less is more. Through a simple design, but at the same time original and eye-catching, you can also have a good impact on users. In this type of email, where the visual predominates over the textThe user is able to identify what he/she is interested in more quickly.
Therefore, simplicity does not exclude originalityand many brands, such as Pepe Jeans, have demonstrated it this Black Friday 2016.