Seguno Email Marketing for Shopify Merchants

your no-sweat plan
for BFCM email prep.

6 weeks, one easy task per week. Check back every Wednesday, or sign up to get them delivered directly to your inbox.

Thank you! Check your inbox for the first BFCM task.
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one task a week—
15 minutes to complete.

By the end, you'll be ready to capitalize on BFCM peak season and retain your customers after the shopping rush subsides.

BFCM prep week 1:
build your discount

Shoppers expect discounts during BFCM. So, determining your offer is core to your BFCM strategy.

  • Will it be a universal discount or limited to certain products?
  • What’s the best pricing promotion for your brand?
  • Will you reward particular segments with special offers?

Rather than make arbitrary decisions, let your data assist.

How to use your data

Your Seguno newsletter and Shopify order data can provide powerful insights. Here are some considerations for piecing your BFCM offer together.

Analyze your 2023 BFCM Seguno Email Report

Seguno newsletter performance report by send date

Scroll to “newsletter performance by send date” and ask:

  • Is there a correlation between a promoted discount and conversion rates?
  • How did your 2023 offer convert compared to BFCM 2022 discounts?
check your BFCM Seguno Email Report

Examine Shopify reports

Among Shopify’s many reports for scrutinizing customer behaviors, three are especially helpful for BFCM discount planning.

Shopify sales by discount report
  1. Sales by discount
    Aside from BFCM discount performance, zoom out to view discounts for the year. Do certain types (percentage off, etc.) net better results?
  2. Average order value over time
    What’s the AOV of BFCM 2022 versus BFCM 2023? Target a higher AOV for 2024. A tiered discounting approach is one way to encourage higher sales orders.
  3. Profit by product
    Study the gross margin column to find products that can absorb a discount. Or, maybe you’ll uncover a “buy x get y” opportunity, in which the “x” is a high-margin product and the “y” is an overstocked item with lower margins.

Make your discount

Use your findings to identify a BFCM Shopify discount enticing to customers yet profit producing. 

Load your discount(s) into Shopify now — it’s one less thing to worry about later!

PS: Prevent coupon abuse by checking the “limit to one user per customer” box. Also, restrict the total usage number to one if you’ll be using our recommendation of unique discount codes for your emails.

BFCM prep week 2:
add or refresh a popup

Be ready for the traffic surge with a popup that captures interested shoppers and clears the path for keeping in touch. And if you plan to run ads for BFCM, converting visitors into subscribers is a must to make the investment worthwhile. 

Bonus: growing your list now means a larger audience for BFCM emails.

If you DON'T have a popup

Create a simple one with Seguno’s popup templates. At a minimum, ask for an email address in exchange for an incentive.

make a Seguno popup

If you DO have a popup

Give it a refresh.

Add (or tweak) a form field to gather extra data, like product interests or who they’re shopping for.
  1. Add (or tweak) a form field to gather extra data, like product interests or who they’re shopping for. Set up tags so you can segment later. 
  2. Tidy up the text, swap in new imagery, and/or adjust trigger settings. 
  3. Consider creating and scheduling a temporary BFCM-specific popup.
refresh your Seguno popup

And lastly … 

Make sure to connect the popup to a welcome automation. Popups get you in the door, but welcome emails start building the relationship.

BFCM prep week 3:
prep promo images with Canva

Make your BFCM promotions shine with Canva by creating visuals that unite your multi-email series. Not only will your campaign be polished, but consistent branding has an amplifying effect.

Build your hero image(s)

Email Campaign Hero Image examples for Black Friday / Cyber Monday

Decide the aesthetics of your BFCM email campaign and the hero image you want to lead with. A lifestyle photo? A text-centric image? 

Open Canva, begin a new project, and design away: 

  • Include the BFCM discount determined in Week 1
  • Make variations if you’ve thought through the campaign
  • Save your masterpiece! You’ll need it next week.
open Canva

Did you know you can import Canva images directly into Seguno emails? You’ll do it as part of next week’s task, but for now, take a peek at how easy it is.

try it in Seguno

Get Inspired

We’ve got more ideas — with instructions — for making your hero images pop.

BFCM prep week 4:
make a multi-email BFCM campaign

Email inboxes explode during the peak holiday shopping season—especially BFCM and the days leading up to it. An email sequence gets you noticed and provides more chances to convert. Multiple emails perform better than one.

Install a Seguno campaign template

Skip the blank slate and install a pre-built Black Friday campaign from Seguno’s Template store (free for all paying Seguno users). All campaign packages include four sales-based newsletters: early access, “it’s here,” ending soon, and sales extension.

Install a pre-built Black Friday email campaign from Seguno’s Template store

It’s OK if your choice doesn’t match your vision or align with your brand. Templates set the foundation and can be customized.

Install a template

Add your discount code

Copy and paste the Shopify discount code you created in Week 1. 

If you set the groundwork for unique discounts (as we suggest), click ‘Generate a unique code for each recipient.’

Customize your campaign

Put your spin on the series. For each newsletter: 

  1. Swap out the hero image with what you created in Week 3. 
  2. Tweak/add to the text. 
  3. Change colors to suit your brand. 
  4. Select featured collections (or don’t — focus solely on the promotion if you want).

Watch the video below to see campaign customization in action.

Add subject lines, pick your send dates, and schedule your campaign!