Black Friday happened the week before I wrote this blog post. That means I had plenty of material to work with in terms of emails to cover.
But I didn’t choose a Black Friday email, per se. Instead, we’re looking at a clever way a brand used Black Friday after the fact to qualify leads and segment email subscribers…
Which could ultimately pay off in higher conversions/sales down the line all year long.
Let’s get into it.
About Survival Life
Survival Life is an online eCommerce company that sells products related to survival and prepping. The company also publishes blog posts and guides offering tips on all things survival, such as:
- DIY
- Firearms maintenance
- First aid
- Gadgets and gear
- Survival skills
- Tactical tips
And more.
They do the direct response, text-based email thing quite well, as you’ll see:
The Email: A Post-Black-Friday “Giveaway”
This email followed up Survival Life’s Black Friday sale with a “free giveaway”.
Like many of these giveaways, it’s not truly “free”. Survival Life portrays it as free, but the customer pays shipping.
Either way, this offer is likely a “loss leader,” meaning it’s sold at a loss on purpose as a lead gen/lead qualification tool or something similar.
The price is nominal, only meant to create some sort of barrier so that the leads are higher quality than “free product” leads.
Alright, email time:
The Subject Line: “What We Found after Black Friday…”
This one is bound to get opens thanks to the curiosity factor.
What did Survival Life find after Black Friday?
And zooming out…
In what context do they mean?
Do they mean they found an interesting trend in what their customers bought? A fascinating Black Friday news article or stat? An item in their warehouse?
It could be any of these. You have to open the email and read the body to find out.
The Body Copy
The body copy addresses me by name, then spends just two lines building the context for this offer:
These giveaways always need a justification to seem legit. The more relatable, the better.
I think “finding a stash of products we forgot about” is pretty relatable. Helps you see the humans behind the brand. After all, everyone loses stuff!
But what gear did they find?
They explain next:
That first line teases the customer by helping them visualize what’s in the bag.
The second line?
Shows just how much of the product is available.
They aren’t saying one person will win $20,000 in lifesaving tools. But the mere presence of a large dollar amount, regardless of context, catches attention.
Then, we get to some urgency:
The reader has an idea of how much gear there is ($20,000 worth), adding credibility to the scarcity.
They ramp things up by pointing out how these items would all sell out instantly. That adds some social proof, although not as strong as something like a testimonial.
The last line once again adds relatability. Survival Life isn’t ashamed that they’re a business that exists to make money…
And isn’t scared to point out why selling these items wouldn’t be the best way to help their customers.
That’s where the offer reveal comes in:
A quick transition to a CTA:
No frills.
Just, “Want it? Click here.”
Takeaways
Two big takeaways here:
First, BFCM doesn’t have to stop after Cyber Monday. Holiday shopping, deals, etc. are still on people’s minds until after Christmas.
So with a little creativity, you can spin BFCM into all sorts of other email angles.
Like the angle involved in my other main takeaway: Loss leaders.
You intentionally take a “loss” on loss leaders, but my accounting brain would tell you to see the negative margin on that profit as an “investment.”
Your goal is to then use the leads brought in via the loss leader to generate a “return” on that “investment”.
In other words, by selling through your email list.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below.
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Survival Life for survival/prepping tips, tricks, and products.