“I’m Going to Make You Believe That You’re Missing Out!!”: Black Friday & Cyber Monday Marketing

What does your inbox look like right now?

Chances are, you’re seeing lots of emails from brands touting their Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss a day. It’s not Friday yet. As one retailer put it in their advertisement: “Early is the New Black.”

When did you see your first Black Friday email? I started seeing them as early as Monday, November 19. Understandably, brands want to get the word out early about their sale since this is the busiest shopping period of the year. In 2017, consumers spent $7.9 billion during this time. And according to some studies, consumers begin researching their holiday shopping as early as October.

But is it all too much too soon? How many fun, interesting subject lines can there be that tease an “early” Black Friday? How much marketing copy that emphasizes scarcity can be written? Brands are capitalizing on the scarcity effect: consumers feel compelled to buy due to a supposed upcoming scarcity. However, most of that feeling is manufactured by the brand. You’ve seen the buzzwords:

Flash sales that are for one day only. You only have one day to get this screamin’ hot deal, so you better act now!

Limited time offers tend to last a little longer than flash sales, but not by much.

This one is my personal favorite. As someone who works in ecommerce, I’m going to tell you a little secret: we almost always have more. We just don’t want you to know that.

Maybe I’m just feeling overwhelmed by the state of my inbox right now, but I think the “sneak peeks” and “Black Friday came early” emails can wait until at least Wednesday. Our professional inboxes are probably full enough without our personal inboxes being hijacked by promos. I know I’m totally starting to sound like an old person: but maybe it’s all moving too fast these days. What do you think? Are brands pushing too hard?