6 clever ways to grow your email list this Black Friday

Most Shopify merchants train their marketing eyes on ringing in as many sales over Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) as possible. 

It’s fantastic to have such laser-like focus. But don’t let it block your periphery. Massive opportunity to grow your email list awaits, too.

Think about it. Lots of shoppers are on the prowl during BFCM. If they don’t buy from you initially but sign up to receive emails, it’s a win. 

So read on for ways to convert extra BFCM traffic into subscribers and how to start fostering a relationship with your expanded list. 

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Why BFCM can boost your email list growth

BFCM isn’t called the Super Bowl of ecommerce for nothing.  

No matter the inflation rate or state of the economy, history demonstrates that consumers show up for BFCM. Consider these stats: 

• 2022 is on record for having the highest Black Friday online sales
• Cyber Monday 2022 registered as the biggest online shopping day of all time

Yes, BFCM smashes records. Even if 2023 numbers fall short of previous years, you can bet the internet will swarm with online shoppers. Sixty-seven percent of consumers say they are “highly likely to shop BFCM” in 2023. 
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6 ways to boost your email list growth

The great thing about subscriber growth is that there’s more than one way to stimulate it. 

Leverage one, a few, or all of our suggestions to rapidly build your audience during BFCM.

One important note before we start: Do not buy a list. Email marketing requires consent from the address owner; when you don’t have it, you risk damaging your email deliverability.
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1. Offer exclusive Black Friday discounts

Nearly one-third of holiday shoppers say deals and promotions are the most crucial factor in deciding where to shop this year. 

Running a Black Friday Shopify discount is a no-brainer. 

Make shoppers put some skin in the game. Hand over the discount when they subscribe to your email list.  

Tout the offer on your website through a banner or form. Announce it through mobile app push notifications or organic social posts.  

Communicate that subscribing grants access to the deal, as Posh Beauty Collective does in the example below. 

Then, send a one-of-a-kind code that no one else can use. It reinforces the exclusivity factor while protecting your shop’s margins.
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The Shopify bulk discount code generator is the perfect mechanism for creating unique codes if you don’t use Seguno email.

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2. Create a dedicated landing page

You want more people to discover your Shopify store. The name of the game is search engine optimization. 

A Black Friday landing page can help send eager shoppers your way. They’re also ideal targets for paid advertising efforts. 

Dedicate a page on your site specifically for Black Friday, where you highlight promotions and discounts. Again, give the deal in exchange for their email address. 

Alternatively, build hype by providing early access to a Black Friday sale — before the general public — if you don’t want to limit BFCM deals to email subscribers. 

Some tips for building an effective Black Friday landing page to grow your email list: 

1. Keep your design simple. A page cluttered by too many images, multiple calls to action (CTAs), and heavy text is overwhelming. 
2. Create urgency. Limited-time offers work, as do countdown timers. You want visitors to think, “I cannot miss out on this!”
3. Insert social proof. User-generated content praising your brand instills credibility. 
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3. Deploy email popups and exit-intent forms

If you don’t have an email popup for Shopify on your site, how do you expect to compete in ecommerce?

Seriously, though. You might as well toss your money in the garbage if you’re directing newcomers to a website — and investing in ads to do it — without an email signup popup. 

We advise setting up two popups for Black Friday: 

1. An email popup that triggers after a certain period (by number of pages visited, time on site, etc.); test different times to optimize 
2. An exit-intent popup that catches visitors as they’re about to leave the site if they ignore the first popup

Try designing a popup that’s specific to Black Friday. You could promote a limited-time short-term win or dress up your regular email popup with holiday imagery.

4. Run contests and giveaways

Giving away products, gift cards or experiences is a trendy social media play. Contests build buzz and excitement, after all. 

Entry rules follow a similar formula: “Like this post, follow our account, and tag three other friends.”

That’s great for spreading brand awareness and growing your social following. But it's wise to require an email address if you want to bypass the algorithms and build relationships with your new prospects.

We’re unsure why many brands have seemingly forgotten this old-school lead magnet. It's possible to grow your email list and maximize brand exposure concurrently.   

Time your contest promos ahead of Black Friday so they don’t get lost in the shuffle. Then, announce winners on Black Friday through an email.

5. Ask customers to refer you 

If you’ve never tried referral marketing, Black Friday is a ripe time for testing. 

A portion of your customers love you and your products. They may already be gushing about you to family and friends.  

Give a nudge and ask customers to spread the word. Before Black Friday, send a marketing email encouraging them to share a special deal with their network by clicking a “Forward to a Friend” button. 

In return, provide a perk whenever a referral subscribes to your email list. The reward could be an exclusive discount, gift, or extra loyalty points. 

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6. Set up your Shopify theme for email opt-ins

When someone purchases online from your Shopify store, you don’t have the legal right to start sending them marketing emails. 

Yes, you can verify orders and provide shipping updates through transactional emails. But promotional emails? You need their explicit consent. 

Grow your email list by allowing customers to sign up for emails upon checkout. It’s a matter of adjusting Shopify account settings. If you want to be more aggressive, pre-select the opt-in and make the customer deselect if they’re not interested.  

You can customize the checkbox label to change the default “Email me with news and offers.” 
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You’ve grown your email list. Now what?

Gaining new subscribers is one task. Keeping them around, interested in your brand, and on the path to becoming a loyal customer is quite another. 

Optimize your Black Friday email marketing strategy, plus all emails that follow in Q4 and beyond. Your job is to send valuable, engaging, and relevant content. 

Here are four suggestions for making a memorable and impactful splash this holiday season: 

1. Craft compelling email subject lines. Escalate your email open rate by being direct and concise. Ensure it matches the inner content. Browse Black Friday email subject lines and holiday examples to get started. 
2. Map your BFCM and holiday email schedule. You might ask, “When is the best time to send Black Friday emails?” Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer. However, strategically plotting multiple emails and increasing frequency is critical to increasing sales. 
3. Go beyond sales promos. We expect heavy discounting during BFCM. But what will entice the rest of the shopping season? Add variety to your holiday email newsletters to attract attention. In the email example below, Waggy Pups features a best-selling product. ‍
4. Get email automations in place. If you have no time for anything else, ensure your welcome email is ready and gives new subscribers whatever you have promised. After that, tidy up your browse abandonment and abandoned checkout emails — they’ll be hard at work during BFCM — and post-purchase automations.

Seguno’s Black Friday email templates are designed by experts and ready for customization. 

Don’t let email list growth be a blindspot this BFCM 

Since BFCM is the biggest sales event of the year, snatch the opportunity to build your email list. You’re almost guaranteed rapid list growth if you prep for it. 

Plus, cultivating email subscribers during this frantic time is cheaper than appealing through paid advertising and other customer acquisition methods. 

Once you own their data, you have what you need to harness a marketing channel with the best return on investment. 

Experiment with email subscriber-only Black Friday offers, landing pages, email popups, contests, referral emails, and Shopify checkout email opt-ins. Each tactic can be a piece that adds to the email list growth pie. 

Use Seguno’s platform for Shopify to do the heavy lifting of enabling or partially supporting a tactic — and the tool for fostering new subscriber relationships into 2024.