6 B Corps that did better with their email marketing in Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2024

The heaviest week of email marketing of the year is now officially behind us and even I, an email marketer who loves hanging out in her inbox, can let out a sigh of relief.

The whole concept of Black Friday/Cyber Monday (which I’ll refer to as BFCM from now on) is a big and emotional debate in the ethical/impact spaces, and I get it.

On one hand, overconsumption is the source of all evil. Black Friday celebrates that, has a ton of negative environmental impact, and many purchases end up in the garbage after just a few uses. 

On the other - what if we stir our subscribers away from traditional and harmful businesses, and as they already plan on buying, encourage them to spend their hard-earned money with businesses for good?

Like anything else in the world, there is no one-size-fits-all here.

I’m a big advocate for aligning your email efforts with your business goals, values, and audience.

Which is also why I was extra excited to notice 6 particular B Corps and 1% for the Planet brands that did better than expected during this massive sales period.

Today, we’re looking at what each of them did well, and what they could’ve done even better to generate more revenue and impact with their BFCM emails.

Overall thoughts

1. Most of the brands that did send BFCM emails didn’t send nearly as many emails as they could’ve. This is an issue that a lot of impact brands face because they don’t want to upset their subscribers. The problem is that other brands (not businesses for good) aren’t afraid to be loud. I’m not saying that you need to harass the hell out of your subscribers, because that’s not what we’re here for. I’m saying that, frankly, people don’t remember your special promotions, impact, or your business as much as you think of it. Sending a couple more emails can make a whole difference to your business and how it impacts other people and our planet, so feel free to do so.

2. Speaking of our planet, I would’ve loved to know how the companies who did send sales emails offset the carbon emissions of those emails. Considering that each brand has (at least!) a 5+ figure-sized email list and that each email has a footprint of a minimum of 14g of carbon, even one promo email can be harmful to our planet.

*That’s one of the reasons why I appreciate my Email Service Provider, EcoSend. They offset the carbon footprint of my emails for me, which made me feel extra confident to send you more sales emails last month! Click here to learn more about them [Affiliate link].

3. No third point, but as I previously mentioned, it physically hurts me to leave it at 2 bullet points. 

Okay, now let’s dive into specifics…

Tony’s Chocolonely + Who Gives A Crap

I know, I know, mentioning a chocolate brand and a toilet paper brand in the same breath is pretty childish, but I had to.

As an email subscriber of both, and according to my online community, both of those brands didn’t send a single email during Black Friday or Cyber Monday. 

It’s probably a values-based, conscious decision, and if that’s the case, as someone on Threads said: “I’m fine with that”.

Patagonia

I’m subscribed to Patagonia Europe and haven’t received a single email from them during BFCM.

That said, I know that U.S. subscribers got 2 Patagonia emails over the weekend:

1. An email around their values, with the subject line “a deal that lasts”. In short, they weren’t promoting anything in particular but encouraged subscribers to buy quality products only when needed, as usual. The profits, as always, go to save our planet. You can find the gist of that email here.

2. The second email was sent on Small Business Saturday which led each subscriber to an internal website page that showed them good local businesses in their area. That was easily done using each subscriber’s zip code, data that Patagonia consciously collected to create such customized emails. That’s a wonderful example of personalization done right. It’s also a great way of providing value without selling anything explicitly, and very on-brand for them. I’m almost certain that this email generated nice sales for Patagonia that day.

3. Mandatory third point

Pip & Nut

Recently crowned as the #2 nut butter brand in the UK, Pip & Nut only sent 2 emails in the past week too.

The first one was straightforward and used their usual cheeky tone of voice. The deal was simple: for every BFCM sale they’ll make, they’ll donate £1 to Hackney’s Foodbank - a win-win-win, as they put it. The second part of that email told the story behind their collaboration with that organization. I loved that email.

The second one, which they sent 6 days later and 1 day before the sale ended, was shorter and even more to the point. 

I strongly believe that sending even 2 additional emails in that week would’ve made more sales for them, so they could’ve donated more to that cause.

MOYU

MOYU is one of many fantastic brands around the world that develop and sell reusable notebooks made out of rocks. Yup, I said what I said.

I got one of their products myself in May, and have been using it almost exclusively since.

For BFCM, they ran a “Green Friday” promo: all of their timeless designs, that weren’t getting as much love from customers, were offered at 40% off. A great idea to highlight and get rid of existing products in their stock instead of producing more unnecessarily, and getting more good products in hands.

From November 21st until December 2nd, they sent a total of 3 short and sweet sales emails.

But their last sales email, sent 5 hours before it ended, had a common tech glitch: At the heart of that email, they placed a big countdown timer. Unfortunately, whenever I open that email (even now), that countdown timer resets itself and counts down from 5 hours. Meaning, if I only checked my inbox and opened that email today, I could’ve thought that their sale was still going strong.

That’s why strategic planning and testing are crucial, especially with those BFCM emails.

Stripe & Stare

Stripe & Stare is a B Corp-certified and female-founded British underwear brand, and they sent out 11 sales emails between November 21st and December 3rd. Each email contained a special daily deal, and the last one was about them donating 10% of their daily sales to the Lady Garden Foundation. 

Growing up, my mom instilled the famous quote from Bambi in my sisters and me: “If you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all”, so I’ll only say this:

I don’t know what that sale yielded, but I’m not sure this “best practices” eCommerce strategy was necessarily the best approach for them here. 

One thing that I did love in their emails is the fact that they gave a “snooze these promo emails” option at the bottom of 10 out of 11 emails (all but the last one). 

That’s a great way to regain your subscribers’ consent and strengthen their trust in your brand. A much bolder (and possibly more successful) idea would’ve been putting that email section right at the very top - my clients always get the best responses and fewer unsubscribes for doing that!

Have you seen any other B Corps/1% for the Planet/other good doing brands in your inbox this holiday season who did a particularly good job? Let me know in the comments!