Cyber Monday is the Monday following the popular holiday shopping event, Black Friday, what most people assume is the big kahuna of shopping events. After all, everyone’s probably seen the videos of shoppers trampling their fellow deal seekers to be the first to buy a heavily discounted television.
However, Cyber Monday continues to grow in popularity as people embrace online shopping more and more. In fact, some studies suggest that shoppers are actually more excited for Cyber Monday than Black Friday. Bargain-hunters enjoy the idea of being able to shop from their own homes at their leisure, instead of risking life and limb in the early hours after Thanksgiving.
Needless to say, Cyber Monday emails are the perfect way for brands to take advantage of a day when shoppers aren’t just ready to spend money, but they’re actually excited to spend money.
Of course, with every brand offering Cyber Monday deals and creating their own unique marketing campaign for the day, standing out in the wave of Cyber Monday emails is necessary in order to capture the attention of shoppers, but it’s no easy task.
Here are six great examples of Cyber Monday emails that stand out from the rest to inspire your next big holiday campaign:
6 great Cyber Monday emails
With over $6.5 billion spent on Cyber Monday (a number that is growing every year), it’s important to make sure your emails stand out to bargain-hunting shoppers.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to reach shoppers on Cyber Monday since the entire concept is built around being online, away from the Black Friday crowds. Connect with customers online, direct them to your online store, and earn your piece of the pie.
1. Embrace the Cyber Monday theme
Cyber Monday is unlike other special shopping occasions. There are no timeless characters like Santa Claus to incorporate, no stand-by colors that are immediately recognizable, and no special phrases or traditions. This lack of direction can actually be a benefit when designing Cyber Monday emails because you’re free to create a totally original theme.
When designing your next Cyber Monday email and feel a bit overwhelmed without any holiday traditions to guide you, embrace the cyber aspect of Cyber Monday. Let your inner geek out and give your email a unique, technology-themed flair.
The Hill-Side went with a retro command prompt and an old-school web icon for their Cyber Monday sale. The design is simple but effective with a bold look that features impossible to miss colors and style. It certainly fits in with a Cyber Monday feeling.
2. Have some fun with wordplay
Another benefit to the complete lack of holiday traditions is that you can have some fun with wordplay and experiment with fonts, puns, and unique copy. In fact, your email campaign can create new traditions directly related to your brand that build loyalty and recognition.
Tunnelbear had fun with their Cyber Monday email campaign by creating what they called “Cybear Monday” and an adorable cartoon bear. It’s a fun, simple play on words that fits with the company’s name and style. Most importantly, even with the wordplay and images, the message is clear: people can save a lot of money if they take advantage of this very limited time offer.
3. Pay homage to online culture
Online culture is a culture all its own that includes gifs, in-jokes, memes, phrases and language, and even its own text. There are plenty of ways to pay homage to online culture during Cyber Monday and embrace a special day of shopping that has, otherwise, no real identity other than being the next business day after Black Friday.
This email from Standard and Strange adopts the text-only format seen in a “readme” document from a piece of pirated media or a quickly developed free e-book. It even has the skull hovering ominously over ocean waves. There are no detailed photos here, no wild designs, and no bright colors. Just a white background and black keystrokes put together in a way that feels familiar for anyone who has ever spent much time browsing the corners of the internet.
4. Do it for the late shoppers
A good turkey hangover is enough to make many people miss out on some exciting Black Friday deals. Even if they passed on the second helping of turkey, the crazy crowds at the malls are enough to convince people to stay home, if only to spare their sanity.
Cyber Monday is quickly becoming known as the shopping day for people who don’t want to brave the crowds. It’s Black Friday from the comfort of your own home so there’s no need to ignore the existence of Black Friday when talking about Cyber Monday. After all, it was only a few days earlier.
Some brands, like GFDA, have fun with the Black Friday/Cyber Monday dynamic. GFDA took their Black Friday email campaign, crossed out the Black Friday information, put in some Cyber Monday information, and sent it out to their subscribers. It’s a clean, well-styled email with a little bit of tongue-in-cheek humor as well.
5. The countdown is on
Cyber Monday is, as the name suggests, a one-day sale. Of course, brands have the opportunity to extend their sales into a week-long event. However, committing to the excitement of the big one-day sale creates a sense of urgency that motivates shoppers to spend quickly. No one likes to miss a deal.
Many brands use countdown clocks in their Cyber Monday emails to help drive home to subscribers that this sale is a limited time offer and create a clear call to action: either take advantage of this deal before the clock hits zero or wait until next year.
This urgency of a countdown clock can spur subscribers to make a decision. Best of all, it’s a clean, clear design element that doesn’t complicate your email campaign or take away from your sale message. Udemy included a countdown timer with their Cyber Monday email campaign alongside bright images and effective copy.
6. Add a splash of color
A lot of brands use a dark theme for their Black Friday marketing. There’s nothing wrong with this but it may leave some users looking for a bit of color once Cyber Monday rolls around.
In a sea of dark email templates, a colorful design can really stand out. With fall marketing in full swing, brands often utilize dark reds, oranges, and browns in their seasonal marketing. This is a great opportunity to pivot and create something exclusive to your brand.
Fossil embraced colors with their Cyber Monday emails. The bright colors grab subscriber’s attention and the bold offer is simple to read and understand. This is a perfect example of a clean, effective email design that is all about keeping things simple rather than bombarding users with details.
Let your creativity run wild
With Cyber Monday growing in popularity every single year, this could be one of the most important sales campaigns that your business runs throughout the entire year. This email has the chance to earn the most revenue out of all of your marketing campaigns so be sure that you are doing the most you can to catch subscribers’ attention.
Unlike other special shopping days or holidays, no one has expectations of what Cyber Monday should include other than great deals. There’s no expectation of pumpkins, snowy scenes, bunny rabbits, or an appearance from Santa Claus. Get creative and design something that will help your brand stand out.
Now that you have a little bit of inspiration, make this Cyber Monday the most successful one yet.
Images courtesy of Really Good Emails