Sunski achieved a remarkable 50% YoY Black Friday sales increase through a sophisticated email marketing strategy. This episode reveals how strategic email list warm-ups, platform migration to Klaviyo for enhanced automation, and tailored holiday sequences for abandoned carts and welcome series were crucial for their success. Ecommerce operators can learn how to optimize their email campaigns for peak sales periods by strategically scaling promotions and segmenting VIP customers for early access.
Key takeaways
Implement an email list warm-up strategy several days before major sales events to maximize engagement and deliverability.
Migrate to a robust email marketing platform like Klaviyo to leverage advanced automation, segmentation, and personalized campaign capabilities.
Customize abandoned cart and welcome email sequences with holiday-specific themes and offers to boost conversion rates during peak seasons.
Scale back promotions in the month leading up to major sales events to prevent list fatigue and amplify the impact of holiday discounts.
Offer exclusive early access to promotions for VIP customer segments to foster loyalty and generate initial sales momentum.
Extend sales periods beyond the traditional Black Friday/Cyber Monday window to capture a broader range of customer purchasing behaviors and maximize overall revenue.
Develop a multi-email campaign cadence, sending a high volume of emails over the promotional period to ensure maximum visibility and engage customers at various touchpoints.
Consider a significant discount, such as 35% off across the store, during key sales events to drive substantial volume and achieve aggressive sales targets.
On today’s episode, I interview Rich Krolikowski, e-Commerce Manager at Sunski - a San Francisco California based start-up designing lightweight, durable, and polarized sunglasses. Go over their email marketing strategy for Black Friday that resulted in a 50% Year over Year increase in revenue. Here are summary points about SunSki Target demographic of 25-35-Year-Olds They have been business for about 6 Years - since 2012 They extended their distribution business online in 2015, 3 Years Online SunSki sells lightweight sunglasses made from both polycarbonate and recycled plastics They intend to move to a fully recycled plastic range soon Their customer acquisition efforts are primarily based on Email and Facebook advertising They transitioned from MailChimp to Klaviyo this year and marketing automation has made a significant positive impact on their bottom line. Their Black Friday Campaign They scaled-back promotions in October 2018 in preparation for the holiday push so as not to overstretch the database. Their Cyber week was their largest discount of the year: it was a flat out 35% OFF Sale They adjusted their abandoned cart sequence and welcome series with a Black Frida theme They also created a pseudo welcome series for new customers Warm Up Emails 3 Days prior to prime up list Few hours prior to Midnight Their traffic and sales peaked in the early hours of Black Friday following the announcement They however had the most sales on Cyber Monday They extended through from Tuesday to Friday Sending emails a total of eight times. Some other points They sent out an Early Access email to only their VIP customer list on the day before Black Friday. Everyone else got their offer on Black Friday when it officially launched. A number of customer made multiple orders as a result of their extended sales.
