Email marketers have a love/hate relationship with BFCM.
On one hand, we are on more lists than the average person…
So, we get an unfathomable and unbearable number of emails and SMS messages from early November to early December.
Oh, and we get really busy getting client campaigns and flows ready for BFCM.
But there’s plenty of upside.
A successful campaign is one of the most GRATIFYING things to run.
When your writing and strategy bring results, boy, is it cool.
Oh, and we get so much material to study from all the brands running their BFCM campaigns.
So in this post, I want to break down a BFCM email that stood out during the 2023 BFCM season… for being remarkably simple and plain-text.
Keep reading to learn valuable copy and strategy lessons for your next BFCM campaign…
| Table of Contents |
| About Gold Medal Wine Club The Email: BFCM in Pure Plain Text The Subject Line and Sender Name The Body Copy Takeaways What to Do Next |
About Gold Medal Wine Club
Gold Medal Wine Club is an online “wine club” that offers customers several wine subscription packages containing different types of wines.
The company was founded by avid wine collectors David and Linda Chesterfield.
The idea came to them in 1993 when these two wanted to share their love of the vino with others.
It started as a hobby/interest — keeping up with wine publications and reviews.
This led to curating fine wines for friends and family, which, over the years, grew into the Gold Medal Wine Club we have today.
That’s right. This isn’t an eCom business that sprung out of nowhere yesterday.
It’s been around in some form since barely after the Internet as we know it came along.
As mentioned, Gold Medal Wine Club offers “clubs”, the names of their wine subscriptions. Customers can choose how many bottles they want and their delivery frequency.
Gold Medal Wine Club also lets you buy individual bottles and combo packs on a one-off basis.
Other offers include:
- Gift sets (some include food to pair with the wine)
- Wine accessories (corkscrews, bottle stoppers, etc.)
I will say:
When your main offers are subscriptions, calling them “clubs” is GENIUS. The customer doesn’t feel like they’re just a customer of a wine subscription. They’re in a group of other fine wine connoisseurs.
Selling on status and creating an experience instead of a product. Lesson in there.
Now, let’s get to that email.
The Email: BFCM in Pure Plain Text
We’ve got a shorter one, but there’s plenty to unpack:
I know. You can’t read the actual copy. But you’ll see that in the rest of the article.
What’s important:
Notice how it’s not “Lite HTML with mostly copy.” This is a 100% pure, plain-text email. As in the plain text option in Klaviyo (if they use that) was chosen.
Great for deliverability, and it stands out in terms of the visuals… or lack thereof… since many other emails look more “polished”.
The Subject Line and Sender Name
The subject line does everything right for the type of email we have:
All lowercase letters grab attention because most people don’t write like that. It feels very “personal”, almost “dashed off absentmindedly”…
Which is a good thing here. In a flurry of SALE SALE SALE, this subject communicates what it needs to without feeling “corporate.”
It also says “holiday specials for you” instead of “our holiday specials”. It makes the whole thing about the customer.
How about the sender name:
The Gold Medal Wine Team, not Club. If you can’t write from a person, writing from the “XYZ team” is the next best thing.
The Body Copy
Gold Medal Wine Club maintains its personal and conversational tone to stand apart from the “BIGGEST BLACK FRIDAY SALE EVER!!!” messaging:
Yes, Gold Medal is also presenting their “BEST” offers in years. But the first half of the sentence — acknowledging the customer’s full inbox — diffuses the “customer eyerolls”.
That’s not all, though. There’s still some skepticism because Gold Medal hasn’t detailed those offers.
Which brings us to the next line:
Pardon the scrunched copy. This one was a very long line — the margins are quite wide. It says:
“We got our owner to approve a 20% discount on the first shipment of the Gold Club, the Platinum Club, AND the Diamond Club! (Which are NEVER discounted due to the quality of wine sourced for these clubs…) On top of that we are going to include 2 more bonus bottles into your first shipment too!”
Not only are the offers mentioned…
But Gold Medal shows why these are the best ever. In doing so, they position their products as classy, high-quality, and exclusive.
I love the “we got our owner to approve” line at the start. It feels like the brand’s giving you a steal — the team had to twist the owner’s arm to get them to give into such a large discount.
It makes the “best offer ever” feel real. Rather than just an empty claim.
Notice how each club is hyperlinked so the customer can click without reading through the rest of the email.
Meanwhile, customers who want to see the full scope of offers — or those who don’t want to subscribe — can read onto the other offers:
Notice that the copy is outcome-focused, not product-focused. Each offer is “For XYZ”.
Each is positioned as a gift offer (even if you want to buy it for yourself). That’s some broad outcome-focused positioning…
But each offers focuses on outcomes, too.
For your client. For the person that has everything. For the holiday party. See what I mean?
Customers don’t want to buy products.
They want OUTCOMES.
RESULTS.
Products get them there.
In this case, the reader knows what each product is best for. This removes the burden of thinking about what to buy from the customer.
Gold Medal likely got way more sales with this copy… then if they just listed their gift offers.
One more thing: Notice how Gold Medal frames pricing. The brand lists dollar values for each one, not just %. Dollar values are more concrete than % — customers don’t spend %…
They spend $!
Phew, that’s a lot. Onto the next line:
Gold Medal has several offers — no matter how clear your copy is, a larger number of or more complex offers inevitably creates friction.
So urging replies if they need help is an excellent idea. Gold Medal doesn’t just encourage replies, either…
But tells the reader they’ll help by sending personalized recommendations based on their preferences.
What a way to close more sales and strengthen the themes of classiness and exclusivity.
Oh, and, of course, replies strength deliverability.
We end the email with a simple signoff:
All plain text. Not even a logo. And it works well because it, again, feels personal. Even if it’s the “team.”
Takeaways
Here are some big takeaways:
1. The Copy Mechanics
Voice and Tone
Gold Medal Wine Club keeps it casual and conversational. They wrote a “quick personal note” about the offers, not an “email” about them.
Furthermore, the email uses plenty of second-person language, focusing on the customer while presenting the offers.
The email format itself — Plain Text — adds to this informal, almost “candid” feeling.
Outcome Focus
The secondary offers are written as outcomes, not products. Gives the reader an idea for which they should buy and why. Helps them choose the best for them.
To get what I mean, think about this:
Say you’re a skincare brand. Would someone with acne buy a bunch of individual face creams with uninformative names… or would they buy the “Acne Bundle?”
My money’s on the latter.
Explaining the Offer Value
Gold Medal takes great pains to explain the value of the offer. Rather than include %, they uncle prices and in some cases, also %. People spend money, not discounts. Dollar values are more tangible, so using them in copy communicates more value.
Gold Medal even compares one of the secondary offers to “what you can find across the Internet” to show why their offer is a better value.
Readability
This email, although small in font, uses:
- Line breaks
- Lists
- Bolding
- All-caps (in places)
To emphasize important points and make things generally easier to skim and read.
2. The Email Structure
The structure of this email is as follows:
- Greeting + reason to read: Say hi and give the reader a reason to keep reading.
- Main offer: Explain the main offer, why you have them, and how to claim.
- Secondary offers: Present the secondary offers, how they work, and how to claim.
- Reply request: Ask if they need help.
- Signoff: Close the email out.
Pretty simple overall. But simple doesn’t mean ineffective!
3. The Overall Strategy
This was sent the day after Black Friday. Technically, Small Business Saturday.
Furthermore, as I mentioned in the beginning, Gold Medal Wine Club had a mix of plain text, HTML + text, and HTML-heavy stuff.
So it seems like they’re trying to appeal to a wide variety of subscribers — those that respond more to personal emails and those that buy off more visual-heavy stuff.
Or, I have a more likely theory:
They’re mixing it up to stick out and keep things fresh.
See, Gold Medal Wine Club mails at least once every couple of days. As BFCM approached, the frequency increased.
The brand rotated between a few visual styles and plain text. The subject lines reflected this too — the more visual-heavy ones had emojis and more “salesy” language, whereas the plain text ones had that “hey, friend” feel.
Lessons in there.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below for more Email Breakdowns and other helpful marketing content.
- Share this with someone who might find it helpful (or entertaining).
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Gold Medal Wine Club and enjoy some fantastic vino!