I’ve Prepared My 1st Black Friday Campaign — Here’s What I Learned

Instead of giving discounts, I increase the perceived value.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might know I quit my full-time job as a marketer and switched to solopreneurship in August 2022.

This was the right decision, and I wish I’d made it much sooner.

Nevertheless, I’ve been on my solopreneurship adventure for five months.

In the meantime, I’ve published two short ebooks and made over $3,000+, selling them on Gumroad.

I’ve grown my website from 0 to 4,000+ monthly visitors working alone.

I’ve created a new offer tailored explicitly to website owners and businesses.

Furthermore, I’ve prepared my first Black Friday campaign as a solopreneur.

It sounds exciting, and it really is!

However, creating a luring offer that does not look like an annoying ad is damn hard.

If you are working on the first sales email campaign, like me, this article might be helpful for you.

Here is what I learned after spending my whole weekend on the Black Friday campaign planning.

The process is the key to success.

I used to think promo campaigns were about creating sales emails and catchy posts for social media.

This vision quickly disappeared when I realized there were more things to do than writing emails.

“Where will my subscribers be redirected from emails? What will happen after they click on the buy button? Should they get a purchase confirmation email? Can it be automated?” — these are just a few questions that popped into my head when planning the Black Friday campaign.

A dedicated team of specialists usually works on setting up such email campaigns.

However, I had to foresee, plan and set up everything on my own.

After failing to imagine how everything would work in my head, I took a pen and a piece of paper and started drafting the whole process step by step.

Perhaps, it is the best way to simplify complex processes and envision what should happen at every step.

Here is how I planned the 12-month content writing plan BF campaign.

Preparation work:

1. Define the campaign recipients. In my case, these are former SEO ebook buyers and other email subscribers interested in SEO.
2. Create the corresponding two segments in Convertkit (email marketing software).
3. Define the campaign offer.
4. Create campaign visuals in Canva.

Put everything together and automate:

1. Create a sequence in Convertkit with two emails — a promotion email and a reminder email.
2. Schedule a campaign for Friday, 25th of November.
3. Set up automated “thank you” emails.
4. Automatically remove buyers from the campaign and send a reminder email to those who have not converted yet.

Does it sound complicated?

Perhaps, it is!

I spent a few weeks thinking about the processes and two days implementing them.

It’s critical to ensure all processes are set up to work correctly and nothing will be screwed up on the launch day.

I recommend reviewing all processes instead of focusing on stand-alone activities when planning a promotion campaign.

Discounting is not a universal pill.

It might seem that a discount works like an incentive that helps boost sales.

I used to think the same way — “No sales? Perhaps, the offer is too pricy. What about giving a discount?”

After almost a year of working as a solopreneur, I realized that discounts have an immediate effect but hurt in the long run.

A discount might help you sell more products or services at this very moment, especially if you offer them during the holiday season. People expect deals from brands and would likely opt for a competitor if you fail to meet their expectations.

However, using a discount as a primary means to increase your sales revenue will mostly hurt your efforts in the long run.

Why?

People won’t buy your offer for the total price. What for? They will be waiting for a discount from you.

Increasing the perceived value of your offer will be a massive challenge if your followers get used to discounts from you.

I fixed this issue differently.

Instead of discounting my offers, I increase their perceived value.

In other words, I offer higher value for my subscribers for free.

For example, I created a limited-time offer for Black Friday, where I sell my 12-month content writing plan for websites with a free 1-hour SEO consultation and free content writing briefs.

Here is how my bundled offer looks:

As an SEO specialist, I know this is a lucrative offer for website owners who struggle with their website’s promotion and need expert advice.

If you are preparing your first Black Friday email campaign or planning a Christmas one, think about how you can wow your audience.

What else can you do to help them solve their problems and reach their goals?

They’ll be more open to purchasing from you if your offer has a high perceived value.

Don’t screw up your email campaigns. Test.

I’d even say always test before sending anything to your audience.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve sent emails with “Broadcast” and “First name goes here” in the subject line.

I try to justify these little errors saying I was in a hurry or tired. However, it does not matter to my audience!

It’s not their fault if they don’t open my email or unsubscribe.

It’s my responsibility.

Perhaps, this is the most important message of this paragraph that I want my readers to remember.

Please, don’t expect much from your followers. They don’t owe you anything.

Instead, plan your email campaigns carefully, check grammar and always test the flow before launching it.

Pay attention to the following:

• Links are included and are not broken
• The payment page is up and running
• A “thank you” email is sent automatically
• Email personalization works properly
• You send an email campaign to the right segment.

You can even make a test purchase to see how the whole flow and automation work. This way, you minimize the risks of screwing up your promo campaigns.

Remember, if you lose an opportunity, you’ll have to wait for another one in a year.

In conclusion

If you want to do online business, you’ll have to run promotional email campaigns.

You might disagree now and try other strategies. However, you’ll end up selling via email sooner or later.

As a marketer and a writer, I tried paid writing platforms, affiliate sales, and paid partnerships, but selling my own offers turned out to be the most profitable.

Doing is always better than thinking.

Therefore, start planning your promotional campaigns early to create the most enticing offer for your followers.

If you succeed, you win; if you fail, you’ll learn.

Grab my guide to learn how I create blog posts that hit the Google front page. You can easily replicate my 3-step process even if you are just starting.

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