Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest eCommerce events that businesses look forward to every year. At Chronos Agency, we entered the battlefield geared up with our best email marketing practices—and we came out alive and on top with spectacular BFCM 2020 results.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that shook the world, this year’s BFCM results were still expected to be record-breaking. According to Klaviyo’s predictions back in July, the overall eCommerce sales in 2020 would top the $1.1 trillion mark.
Well, the numbers are finally in. Staying true to the predictions that this year’s BFCM results will once again set new standards, Black Friday 2020 rakes in $9 billion in online sales, which is a 21.6% increase from last year’s $7.4 billion. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday, tagged as the biggest eCommerce event pulled in $10.8 billion, an almost 15% jump from last year’s $9.4 billion.
Let’s dive deeper into what made BFCM 2020 another one for the books.
$3M in Revenue: Email Marketing is still BFCM's Star
Last year, we generated $831k for our 41 clients during BFCM week. This 2020, we actually hit the $3M mark for the 63 clients we handled.
Aside from this, the percentage of email revenue we pulled in for our clients during the week averaged at 30%, with the highest being more than 50%! We’ve compiled our best wins from BFCM 2020 below.
While the shift in consumer behavior was a large factor for the revenue generated, it can also be attributed to our tested and proven 6-step sales sequence.
In fact, the campaigns this year did most of the heavy lifting— about 240.64% better than last year’s to be exact. Our campaigns pulled in an average of 13.7% of the total email revenue generated which roughly amounts to $ 1.6 million in revenue, just from campaigns alone. These included the sale announcements, user-generated content, priority list emails, and even the closing emails.
Email flows continued to work their wonder. Though these were set up and working even before Q4, it was important to optimize them specifically for BFCM. This included updating the graphics and copy to be more in tune with BFCM to create cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
As a result, email flows contributed to an average of 11.7% of email revenue generated across all brands. There was even a health brand that saw 51% of their total store revenue coming from flows alone!
Industries that Rose Up to the Top this BFCM 2020
The top-selling products from 2019 were Frozen 2 toys, dolls, the Nintendo Switch, Samsung TV, and Apple MacBooks. This year, the top product categories were once again different and greatly emphasized the pandemic’s effect on consumer behavior and shopping preferences.
At Chronos, our top-performing accounts were in the following industries: beauty, homewares, health, DIY, and lifestyle apparel and accessories.
The results from this year’s BFCM show that much of the eCommerce growth in 2020 was dependent on “quarantine shopping,” making these brands really skyrocket in growth. Plus, you’ll observe that these categories all have something to do with the lifestyle changes brought about by the pandemic.
Here’s something interesting to note. With social distancing, mask-wearing, and working from home scenarios, makeup and luxury fragrances are no longer in demand. In fact, McKinsey reported a 55% decline in cosmetic purchases alone. However, the “self-care” industry which comprises a large umbrella of skin-care, hair-care, and other self-pampering beauty products went up by 300% year on year. This remains consistent with one of the beauty brands we handled that generated up to 58% in email marketing revenue.
Home, health, and DIY categories all reflect the current trending consumer behaviors of staying at home and starting different projects like gardening, crafting, and interior designing.
With COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out next year in some areas, there are already talks about how this will affect the travel industry and travel-related purchases.
BFCM2020 Trends We'll Be Seeing More of Next Year
Here are some of the most notable trends that emerged during this year’s BFCM. Interestingly, these trends are not entirely new. In fact, these were already in place during the start of the pandemic. This year’s BFCM has shown that these trends will most likely stay.
1. Live Chat Application and More Agile Customer Support Systems
Emphasizing the increasing need for personalized customer experiences, live chat apps have become even more important for businesses. Customers value connections and tailored communication from acquisition to retention. If you’re gunning for deeper customer relationships, investing in live chat support is a clear-cut strategy for 2021.
2. Faster Checkout for Smoother Transactions
When consumers are in the mood to shop and the sense of urgency is high, you can bet they’re all racing to complete their purchases. There’s a reason it’s called the “BFCM rush” after all. Find ways to optimize your checkout process so shopping becomes a pleasant experience for all.
3. Supporting Local Brands and Sustainable Products
Amidst the increasing wastes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of masks and protective equipment, consumers are still advocating for sustainability measures when it comes to the brands they support. For example, around 73% of consumers expect brands to use recyclable packaging. Additionally, one of the sustainable and vegan beauty brands we handled generated an 8-figure BFCM week, with 25% revenue coming from emails.
4. Curbside Deliveries and Contactless Fulfillment
Stemming from the physical distancing measures brought about by the pandemic, curbside pickup and contactless delivery continued to surge in demand during BFCM. Black Friday saw an average cart price of $78.60 in the US for curbside pickup orders. This supports the Shopify research that showed that online shoppers check out with higher cart prices when they choose either local delivery or curbside pickups.
Lock Your eCommerce Success as Early as Today
These 2020 BFCM results prove one thing, and it’s that the eCommerce wave shows no sign of slowing down or crashing. It’s only going to grow bigger this coming 2021 and you can break your own records too. Transform your eCommerce business with The Ultimate 2021 Guide to 8-Figure Email Systems and discover what you need to do to get rid of the roadblocks you’re experiencing right now.
Alternatively, you can get ahead of your competition by applying for a strategy session with one of our experts. Start your year strong by equipping your business with the same strategies that 8-9 figure stores follow!
