Black Friday has become the digital equivalent of a stampede. Except now, shoppers aren’t rushing through shop doors; they’re racing through inboxes and notifications. If your promotions are smart, timely, and well-targeted, they’ll likely make it to checkout. If not, your message might drown in the content overload. So how do you promote your Black Friday deals and stand out in overcrowded inboxes, without landing in the dreaded spam folder? Here are 10 tips that show you how to keep your marketing sharp, respectful, and effective – just the way South African consumers like it.
1. Get Permission Before Getting Personal
The best campaigns start with consent. Before you send a single ‘Hot Deal!’ email, make sure everyone on your list actually wants to hear from you. Confirm opt-ins, clean up old data, and remind subscribers why they signed up in the first place – for early access, member-only deals, or inside news.
Then personalise with purpose. Personalisation is more than dropping someone’s name into the subject line. It’s tailoring content to what they genuinely care about. Use data from past purchases, browsing behaviour, and preferences to send promotions that feel relevant. When people trust that your brand respects their time and their inbox, your messages are welcomed, not ignored.
Personalisation goes beyond addressing a recipient by name. It involves using data to tailor aspects of your communication to meet each recipient’s specific needs and preferences. Here are nine ways you can take your personalisation strategy to the next level.
2. Segment Like a Pro
One of the fastest ways to get marked as spam is to send every message to everyone. Relevance trumps reach, and segmentation ensures every shopper gets messages on the platforms they actually use, whether that’s email, SMS, or WhatsApp.
Break your audience into segments such as:
- High-value shoppers: reward them with exclusive bundles or free delivery.
- Recent browsers: remind them of what they viewed or left in their carts.
- Repeat customers: offer early access or loyalty discounts.
- Inactive subscribers: send softer re-engagement teasers instead of full-blown promotions
3. Tease, Don’t Flood
Research shows that campaigns that warm up subscribers before Black Friday not only convert better, they’re also less likely to trigger spam filters because your domain reputation improves with steady, engaged sends. So, instead of blasting your entire offer at once, build a structured flow that keeps your audience engaged and anticipating what’s next.
- Tease early. Start hinting at what’s coming a week or two in advance. Phrases like ‘Something big is coming…’ create anticipation.
- Reveal gradually. Share your key deals or bundles as the day approaches.
- Count down to the day. Use live countdown timers or time-sensitive language (‘Ends midnight!’). But avoid overdoing it; too much ‘urgent’ can feel manipulative.
- Close gently: Follow with a thank-you or ‘You’ve still got time’ message after the main sale.
4. Design Offers Worth Opening
South Africans are savvy shoppers. They can spot a recycled ‘25% OFF EVERYTHING’ subject line from a mile away. Stand out with credible, value-driven offers.
- Be clear: Tell customers what’s discounted, for how long, and any limits on stock or delivery areas.
- Be creative: Bundle items (‘Buy 2, get 1 free’), give free delivery above a certain spend, or offer digital gift cards for sold-out items.
- Be honest: Don’t exaggerate scarcity or slash prices unrealistically. Misleading claims erode trust faster than you can say unsubscribe.
- Make it easy to act with strong CTAs, like ‘Claim your early-bird discount’ or ‘Shop now, while stocks last’.
5. Use Language and Tone to Create Excitement
Tone is where your brand’s personality shines. On Black Friday, the goal is excitement:
- Use professional language and a respectful tone. For example, swap ‘CRAZY DEALS!’ for ‘Our biggest deal of the year – ready when you are.’
- Write short, rhythmic sentences. They help your message move at the speed of a thumb scroll.
- Test your subject lines. A dash of wit or curiosity (‘The sale your inbox can handle’) can go a long way.
And yes, think mobile first. For SMS messages, keep it short and transparent:
“Hey Lebo, our Black Friday deals are live! Save 20% on all homeware till midnight. Shop here: [link]”
Short enough to read, tempting enough to tap.
6. Keep a Balanced Approach
You want visibility, not inbox fatigue. Each channel has its own rhythm: email is in-depth, SMS is immediate, WhatsApp is conversational, and push notifications are great for quick updates like ‘Only 3 hours left!’. Together, they form a balanced, non-intrusive ecosystem.
A balanced approach could look like this:
- Teaser (ten days before)
- Early access (three to five days before)
- Main offer (morning of campaign)
- Reminder (afternoon or next day)
- Thank you / post-sale (within a week)
That’s around five key emails. Support this with SMS, WhatsApp, and push notifications for continued engagement across channels. And if you use automation, these touchpoints can also trigger based on customer behaviour rather than fixed timing.
Omnichannel marketing is the framework that empowers brands to show up consistently, across the touchpoints that matter most.
7. Automate the Experience
Manually sending campaigns on Black Friday is like hand-delivering every parcel yourself. Automation saves time and your sanity!
An effective workflow automation, like the ones you can set up on the Everlytic platform, lets you trigger different messages based on subscriber behaviour:
- If they open an email, send a follow-up with related products.
- If they don’t, switch the channel to SMS.
- If they abandon a cart, remind them with a discount or free shipping incentive.
- If they buy, send a thank-you message and a cross-sell follow-up.
Automation ensures each customer journey feels personal and sends relevant messages at the right time.
Automation offers a powerful way to improve efficiency and drive growth without sacrificing authenticity, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources. In this beginner’s guide to email marketing automation, we walk you through the basic steps to kickstart your email automation journey.
8. Stay Out of the Spam Folder
Even the best campaigns can fail if they never reach the inbox. Keep your sender reputation healthy:
- Authenticate your sending domain.
- Avoid spam-trigger words like ‘free!’, ‘guaranteed returns’, or ‘urgent reply needed’.
- Don’t embed too many images or huge attachments. They have slow load times and flag filters.
- Use a recognisable ‘from’ name. Ideally, this would identify your brand.
- Clean your list after every campaign by removing hard bounces and disengaged subscribers.
The cleaner your list, the better your deliverability, and the more your audience trusts that your messages are worth opening.
9. Follow Up with a Thank You
Black Friday shouldn’t be the end of your relationship, but rather the beginning of customer retention season. Send a thank-you email within a few days, and make it personal:
“You made our Black Friday a success. Here’s a little something for your next shop.”
Reward loyalty, showcase your best-sellers, and invite feedback. It’s a simple way to humanise your brand and set up your next campaign for success (think Cyber Monday, festive sales, or January clearances).
Rewards marketing has witnessed a resurgence in recent years. Find out how it can boost customer retention and drive engagement through effective behavioural marketing techniques.
10. Measure, Learn, Repeat
Analyse your performance by checking your open rates, click-throughs, conversions, and unsubscribes. Which subject lines worked? Which channels drove the most sales? You can feed those insights back into your next automation flow. Every campaign is a lesson in what your audience values.
Promote without Spamming Your Customers
With the right data, tone, and timing, you can promote your Black Friday campaigns without spamming your customers. Send with purpose. Build real connections. Keep your audience engaged – and your brand out of the spam folder.
Create Black Friday Campaigns that Sell with Everlytic
Smart segmentation, transparent offers, mobile-friendly design, and thoughtful automation. Everlytic can help you streamline your Black Friday campaign with an email and SMS automation platform designed to reach your customers at the right moment, without landing in spam folders.
