Fall has arrived and that means that you should be strategizing for the upcoming Black Friday Cyber Monday sales events. As an ecommerce retailer, these sales days are likely to be your most profitable of the year. In fact, the 2016 sales for Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) topped out at $12.8 billion spent by online buyers. With that kind of spending, you can see why it’s important to start planning your marketing strategies now. One of the most effective tactics for reaching customers is email marketing. Effective email marketing campaigns will target specific customer segments and deliver targeted and relevant messages that help you make the most of BFCM sales. When you examine customer behavior, customer lifetime value, and other key metrics to build your segments, you’ll see the results in your bottom line. The following are tips on how to use customer segmentation for email marketing to optimize your BFCM sales for 2017.

1. Target Last Year’s Shoppers

Just because you haven’t seen some shoppers since last year’s BFCM don’t think that they are not interested in buying from you again this year. It’s possible, even likely, that they will check out your Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals again this year since they are probably purchasing gifts for the same people in their lives this year. Reach out to these customers ahead of time by email to give them personalized recommendations based on what they purchased last year, as well as information about your 2017 sales and deals. You’ll want to look at what they purchased last year and what their browsing behavior was like when they visited your online store previously.

Pro tip:Segment your customers using last purchase dates around last year’s BFCM to target customers who took advantage of your sales in 2016. Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce users find it helpful to use Glew’s Advanced Customer Segmentation reporting to easily obtain the 12 Months Since Last Purchase metric for an email campaign targeted at BFCM shoppers from last year.

2. Target Your Loyal Customers with Personalized Deals

While you should provide your best customers with exceptional deals and service all year, the holiday season is the perfect time to up your game even more. Not only does that ensure that they will continue to be repeat customers, it also means that your business’ profits will benefit as well. As you target this group of customers, consider special deals like early-bird access to your BFCM specials, discounts codes, and product recommendations. This shows them that you value their relationship and business and encourages them to buy from you rather than your competitors. Remember that these shoppers likely know your best-selling products already, so take the opportunity to introduce them to new additions to your inventory and include especially-personalized products based on their previous buying behavior.

Pro tip:There are some key metrics that will help you determine which customers are your most valuable. Look at high average order value, high lifetime value, and customers with a high purchase frequency to obtain the segments that are most profitable to your online store. With Customer Future Value and Customer Lifetime Value reporting in Glew, you can drill down into these customer segments and personalize email marketing, showing your VIPs that you appreciate them.

3. Target Website Visitors Who Haven’t Purchased Yet

Another essential segment to reach is people who have visited your online store but not made any purchases yet. Because they have visited your Magento, Shopify, or other online store, you know that they are interested in what you have to offer. There isn’t a better time to reach out to them and remind them about your products than the biggest online shopping days of the season. Of course, you won’t have any purchasing history on this segment of potential customers, so use your email marketing campaign to introduce them to your top-selling products and offer recommendations based on their demographics and browsing behavior.

Pro tip:You can use Glew to create a segment of customers who signed up for an account on your site but have yet to make a purchase. Targeting them for BFCM deals will encourage them to buy and may result in you obtaining new loyal customers.

4. Target Shoppers Looking for Deals

It’s critical to reach out to deal-seeking shoppers before Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales begin. After all, these are the types of shoppers that the days were created for. Every ecommerce retailer has a customer segment that only makes purchases when they are taking advantage of sale prices, discounts, promotions (like free shipping), or other money-saving deals. Appealing to this group, at this time of year, and offering them your best deals will encourage them to buy from your store rather than continue their search with your competitors.

Pro tip:With Custom Segmentation in Glew, you create a segment of customers who are looking for the best deals and send them a targeted campaign with your BFCM promotions.

Start Your Black Friday Cyber Monday Preparations Now

You’ve got several weeks until BFCM, but there’s no time to waste. Start your email marketing early and use segmentation to make it more customized, personalized and relevant for every customer you reach – and that means a better sales event for you.