Most eCommerce brands make the same Black Friday mistake: blasting identical offers to their entire email list. Matt Edmundson explains why this approach "just feels wrong" and shares a VIP list strategy that segments customers into "soulmates," "lovers," and those "about to dump you." Learn how to create self-selecting VIP lists, test offers early, leverage SMS marketing, and turn your best customers into referral engines.

Key Point Timestamps:

• 05:00 - The existing customer strategy fundamentals
• 06:30 - Segments and journeys for maximising value
• 09:00 - Creating VIP lists and self-selection strategy
• 11:00 - Testing offers early with your VIP audience
• 12:30 - Give your best customers the best discounts
• 13:00 - SMS marketing for VIP access
• 15:00 - Building buzz campaigns before Black Friday
• 16:00 - Turning up your referral campaign

The Problem Most Brands Miss (05:00)

Matt identifies a fundamental flaw in most Black Friday approaches: treating all customers equally when they clearly aren't equal in value.

"Most eCommerce companies will just whack out crazy offers, right? Lose all their profits, all their best customers get the same offer, and it just feels wrong in so many ways," Matt explains.

This creates a problematic dynamic where your most loyal customers—who generate 80% of your revenue—receive the same treatment as complete strangers who may never buy again. There's no recognition of loyalty, no acknowledgment of their relationship with your brand.

The RFM Segmentation Framework (06:30)

Matt recommends using RFM segmentation, a methodology he learned from podcast guest Valentin Radu of Omni Convert, who uses memorable language to define customer relationships.

"He uses great phrases like soulmates, lovers, just about to dump you, the breakups and all that sort of stuff to sort of define the relationship you have with clients," Matt shares. "And actually at Vegetology we now use his language... just to define our clients a little bit better."

The key insight is that different segments require completely different approaches: "If someone is about to dump you... the journey you want to take them on is very different to the journey you want to take on for someone who buys from you almost every day. The emails, the stories, the marketing should have very different language, very different feel."

The Self-Selection VIP Strategy (09:00)

One of Matt's favourite approaches comes from Daniel Budai, who's also appeared on the podcast. Rather than guessing who your VIP customers are, you let them self-identify.

"You email out all of your customers and you say, listen, what we're gonna do this Black Friday is we are gonna create a VIP Black Friday offers list. So if you are on that list, you'll get access to all of the Black Friday offers early," Matt explains.

This strategy delivers multiple benefits: it gets your list engaged weeks before Black Friday, allows you to start sales early to reduce warehouse pressure, and creates a perfect testing ground for your offers. Only genuinely interested customers will opt in, giving you a highly engaged segment.

Test Early, Win Big (11:00)

The VIP list becomes your Black Friday laboratory, eliminating guesswork from your biggest sales weekend.

"You're gonna split test an email, which you send out to that VIP list. You're gonna see which offer pulls the best, and guess what you're gonna do on Black Friday weekend. You're gonna do that offer, which you've tested on your list already," Matt explains.

This approach means you're not switching campaigns during the crucial weekend or hoping your offers will work—you already know what performs best with your most engaged customers.

SMS for Inbox Overwhelm (13:00)

Matt suggests considering SMS marketing as an alternative to email during the Black Friday chaos.

"Let me tell you, their inbox is gonna be flooded over Black Friday. Just like your inbox is just like mine is gonna have more emails than you know what to do with. So getting on someone's text message gives a much, much greater chance of response, especially if they've opted into that list."

Rather than competing with hundreds of promotional emails, SMS gets you direct access to your customers' attention when it matters most.

Today's Guest

Today's guest: Matt Edmundson

Company: Aurion

Website: https://aurioncompany.com/

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mattedmundson

Welcome to the eCommerce Podcast.

My name is Matt Edmundson and we are at number three, episode number three

already of our August Black Friday series.

Yes, we're looking at this in August because it's just really

important to look at Black Friday if you haven't done so already.

Uh, it's just get on it.

Just get on it.

So that's the reason we're putting this content out there.

'cause it's an important time.

Right.

Now, if you are a regular to the show, uh, you will notice this

content is a little bit different.

Of course, if you're new to the show, very warm.

Welcome to you.

It's great to have you join us.

Uh, hope you get some value outta this new listeners every week.

Make sure you like and subscribe, you know, all of that good stuff.

Um, but if you are a regular to the show.

You've been following along, you will know we are in a minute bit of a series where

we're doing, uh, this new type of content.

Normally, uh, if you're new to the show, I'm gonna say explain.

Normally I have experts where we interview them on the show about, and,

you know, all kinds of e-commerce topics.

Uh, but in this mini series I'm giving you some of the seminars that we did, um, in.

What's something we called eCommerce Cohort?

Now it could get a little bit confusing because eCommerce Cohort of old is

different to eCommerce co Cohort of new, we've recycled the name.

What we've done is we've just ditched the membership fee.

We've made it free, and we're bringing this content out much more,

uh, as part of our drive to just add some really great value and

connect with more people as a result.

Um, so that's kind of what's going on really.

So this is a little bit different.

This is.

Um, that seminar, which actually was delivered by me, this is a

third of four seminars, and then the final one, the fifth one, is a q

and a session, um, all about black.

Friday.

And so that's what we're bringing.

And in e-commerce Cohort, we, we had, it wasn't just me that did the sessions,

by the way, we had some other experts.

We are gonna start to put that content out.

Some of it will go onto the podcast, uh, over the next month or two.

You'll see it rolling out on the, on the new free e-commerce Cohort platform.

Uh, if you wanna find out more about that, then check it out

at eCommerce Podcast dot net.

And I think if memory serves me right, I also own the domain name eCommerce

Cohort dot com, which we will always also forward to it, uh, somehow.

If.

Um, but yes, check it out eCommerce Podcast dot net.

And incidentally, why you there?

If you haven't done so already, make sure you sign up to the newsletter because

they are getting a massive revamp, uh, starting next month in September.

And a lot of this content, uh, this high value content will be in the

newsletter first, so you're definitely gonna want to check it out and make

sure you sign up for that because there's some really great stuff.

And I don't want you to miss any of it.

Of course.

I don't.

Why would I?

It's, it's all out there.

I hope you use it.

I hope you find it helpful.

Um, it's, it's the reason why we're doing it all really.

I just want you to find it helpful, so hopefully you do.

Absolutely.

Uh, now.

What are we talking about today, Matthew?

Well, the first week in this miniseries we looked at how to create a compelling

offer for Black Friday that doesn't, you know, rob you of all your profits.

Uh, last week we looked at the new customer strategy.

How do we deal with all the new customers We're gonna get over Black Friday.

This week we're focusing on your existing customers and why this might actually be

the most important episode in the series.

Just saying now, if you think about it, right, what actually

happens, uh, most e-commerce.

Companies will just walk out crazy offers, right?

It's gonna whack 'em out, uh, lose all their profits and all their best customers

get the same offer and they, it just, it just feels wrong on in so many ways.

And I, we're gonna look at that.

We are gonna examine it.

Does that even make sense?

Should we give our best customers our best offers?

I don't know.

These are good questions to ask.

I do know, actually we're gonna get into it.

Uh, we're gonna look at customer journeys, VIP experiences, segmentation, including

the all powerful RFM segmentation.

We're gonna look at SMS marketing, uh, and even referral campaigns.

And if those acronyms and names sort of scare you, don't worry.

We explain it all.

It's all good stuff to get into, uh, a whole bunch of good stuff.

So make sure you've got your notebooks ready and before we get into it.

Do, let me just take this moment to ask you to let me know what

you think about this, this format.

Um, it's not replacing what we're doing with the expert interviews.

They start again in September, but we are experimenting with

other types of format to bring.

Different types of episodes.

Deep diving in some things, short form content like this, maybe 20 minutes

where we focus in on a specific thing.

Is it helpful?

Is it not?

Do it again, Matt, don't do it.

Am I confusing you?

Because it's all mixed up and nothing really makes sense.

I genuinely would love to know.

So do hit me up.

On LinkedIn, uh, just go to LinkedIn slash in slash Matt Edmundson or follow

the link from the eCommerce Podcast dot net website to my LinkedIn profile

and let me know what's going on or just comment through the website.

Look, I genuine, genuinely, I'm, I'm really.

I really do want to know what you guys think.

It'll really help us, um, going forward.

'cause if it's not resonating, then we, we, but we won't do it

'cause it's gonna waste your time.

Um, and we wanna deliver stuff like I say that's have high value.

Uh, but anyway, that's enough from me.

So here's me on how to treat your best customers like

the VIPs, they actually are.

Okay, so let's talk about an existing customer strategy and what you can do

in relation to that fall Black Friday.

Okay.

So we've talked about, uh, what you can do for new customers.

What about existing customers?

Let's have a think about those.

Now.

The key aim here is to maximize value, we said with, um, with new customers.

You know, we want to build relationship.

We've talked about our offers, how we wanna maintain that sort of, um,

lifetime value versus margin ratio.

So when it comes to our existing customers, the thing that we wanna

look at here is maximizing value.

And I'm not just talking about maximizing the amount of cash you

take out of their pockets, I'm talking more about, um, maximizing their

lifetime value of that customer.

Just getting 'em to reengage and engage and just, uh, dig deeper to, into

their relationship with you, right?

So we wanna maximize that value.

And to do that, we need to look at two things, okay?

So, uh, we've got here number one segment and number two.

Journey.

So, uh, fairly self-explanatory.

I think segment, segment, uh, your customer database.

If you haven't done this already, um, you really should segment your email list

and your customers into various segments, like your best customers, your okay

customers, the people that aren't gonna really buy from you that much longer.

Those that don't buy from you any longer at all.

And if you haven't, um.

If you haven't heard it, there's a great podcast we did with a guy called Valentin

Roddy, uh, from Omni Convert, which is in the vault in the e-commerce vault.

Uh, if you search for that, um, you should give it a listen 'cause in that

he talks about, um, RFM segmentation and how he uses that to segment his list.

He uses great phrases like soulmates, lovers, just about to dump you,

the breakups and all that sort of stuff to sort of define the

relationship you have with clients.

Um, and actually at Vegetology we now use his language, his, uh, we use the

RFM methodology actually, and we also use his, we started using his language

like lovers and soulmates and things like that just to sort to define our clients

a little bit better, which is brilliant.

So we want to segment them.

Okay.

Um, and then the second thing we need to do is understand the journey.

Each segment should take.

Okay?

So sort of over here.

In other words, if someone is about to dump you, IE they bought from you.

They were a good customer, but they don't seem to be buying from you anymore.

Um.

The journey you want to take them on is very different to the journey

you want to take on, uh, for someone who buys from you almost every day,

who's like your best client ever.

Okay?

The emails, the stories, the marketing should have very different

language, very different feel.

Um, and so you need to understand the segments and then the

journey each segment should take.

Okay?

So if you haven't done that already, that is something you

should definitely think about.

It's a drum we will beat often here at Cohort, uh, understands

the journey that they take.

Okay?

So one of the key segments to look out for is a VIP list,

especially around Black Friday.

Okay?

So what do I mean by this now?

You can, uh, if you segment your list or you wanna start segment your list,

pick out your best customers, right?

The top 20% that create 80% of your business.

Let's get all their names and email addresses and let's, uh,

put them on a separate email.

So you could use some kind of automation to do this, right?

You could say, um, that that is what you are gonna do.

Okay.

Another possibility though is to let the customers do it themselves.

So one strategy, which I really like actually, um, I heard

Daniel Badai talk about this.

He's also been on the podcast.

Um, this strategy of.

You email out all of your customers.

Okay?

So, um, you send them an email and you say, listen, what we're gonna

do this Black Friday is we are gonna create a VIP Black Friday offers list.

So if you are on that list, you'll get access to all of

the Black Friday offers early.

But you know, we don't want to send emails and necessarily, people say

if you want them, just sign up.

Right.

Uh, just go to this webpage and just click yes, that's me.

Double check.

You've given us the right email sign up to the, the, the

sort of that, that email list.

And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna allow the customers

to sort of self-identify, ah, what it be on this VIP list.

Please.

Thank you very much.

And so, a few weeks before Black Friday, you are gonna start emailing them.

The Black Friday offers, right?

And the reason you want to do this, uh, is, well, there's a number of reasons.

One.

You want to get that list engaged.

You want 'em to get excited about the emails coming up.

Um, you want to start sales early, so you take the load off

customer service in the warehouse.

Um, and you also want to test offers, right?

So you're gonna split test an email, which you send out to that VIP list.

You're gonna see which offer pulls the best, and guess what you're

gonna do on Black Friday weekend.

You're gonna do that offer, which you've tested on your list already.

Okay, so it helps you to do that.

So, um, create a VIP list and create a strategy, a comm strategy for

how you're gonna engage them in the weeks leading up to Black Friday.

And I like Daniel's idea of, uh, email out your existing customers.

Get them to voluntarily sign up to a VIP list, send them out emails ahead of time.

Um, split test those emails.

And voila, your Black Friday will be a lot better.

Okay, so that's what we're talking about there.

So when it comes to the customer journey, uh oh look, here we go.

Test offers early.

Again, you can do that with your VIP list, right?

So you can, um.

You can send split test the offers and see which one pulls the best.

If you are, I'm gonna do the VIP strategy.

If you're not gonna do that with your list, that's fine,

but do test your offers early.

Don't wait till Black Friday to test them.

Test them somehow.

Okay?

So if you're not emailing people, maybe create one or two landing pages,

which you can split test and use paid media to drive people to those.

Pages for the audiences that you are thinking of running

Black Friday campaigns too.

See which one pulls the best.

So again, when it comes to Black Friday, all that work has been done.

You're not switching campaigns out through the weekend, you've planned

early, you've tested, you know which one's gonna pull the best.

Okay?

So, uh, test your offers early would be my advice.

I've mentioned this already, but give your best customers, uh, the best discounts.

Remember the 80 20 rule.

And again, you can engage them with email.

You can email them out and just say, listen, guys.

Um.

We just love the bones off you.

You're one of our best clients.

And so as a result, I want you to know here's an offer this weekend that is not

gonna be made available to the public.

It's not gonna be made available to everyone on our email list.

You are getting it because you are amazing.

You're one of our best clients and is only available to you.

Click here to find out more, right?

That's what you do.

So, uh, that works, uh, really well.

But give your best office to your best clients.

SMS marketing is something else that you can also employ here,

which I think is really clever.

So one of the things that you could do, for example, rather than emailing your

customers and saying, I'm creating a VIP email list, you could email them and say,

I'm creating a VIP uh, text message list.

So I'm gonna be doing SMS.

Offers, which will go straight to your phone.

You're either in or you're out, right?

I mean, obviously we're the email out better than that, but get 'em

to opt into your SMS marketing.

This is a great time to do that if you don't have an SMS marketing list.

Uh, so get them to opt into your SMS marketing.

Again, if you wanna know more about SMS marketing, there's a few podcasts, which

I think would be really helpful for you.

Uh, just search on the Commerce vault.

Um.

But you could have them opt into like a an SMS marketing list.

So rather than emailing them, you are sending them text messages.

Why is this so beautiful?

Why is this so great?

Because let me tell you, their inbox is gonna be flooded over Black Friday.

Just like your inbox is just like mine is gonna have more emails

and you know what to do with.

So getting on someone's text message gives a much, much greater

chance of response, especially if they've opted into that list.

Okay, so, uh, have a think about SMS marketing, how you could use that to

increase journeys, uh, offers, not on the general website to various segments.

Again, um, think about this, like if you've got a segment

that is about to dump you.

Um, I still love that language from Valentine.

Uh, but if you've got a bunch of customers that would buy from you on a regular basis

but haven't bought for a while, um, that offer doesn't need to be on your website.

Right.

But you can email those people and say, listen, this Black Friday, um.

You guys, you know, you've not bought from, I dunno if I'd say actually

you've not bought from as well, but I'll do an email to them saying, listen

guys, special offered is for you.

We know that you love the, the, the products that we sell.

We know you're a big fan of what we do.

Um, appreciate that.

With the cost of living crisis going through the roof, it's

not as easy for everybody now.

So we've got a real special offer just for you, this Black Friday weekend.

It's not available on our website.

It is available to you.

So, um.

You can do that to the various segments, um, specifically to

them to get them to reengage.

Buzz building campaigns.

Love buzz Building campaigns.

What do I mean here?

Don't wait till Black Friday before you start building Buzz

around Black Friday, right?

It's too late.

It's too late by then.

Um, you should be sending out emails end of October, early November, about Black

Friday, just building up Buzz to Steven.

Simple emails like, Hey, the countdown has, we got, we're really excited about

what's coming up, uh, in November.

We've got some great stuff coming up for you.

Just want you to know.

Get ready.

Make sure we're not in your spam folder.

Check out our SMS marketing list, which gets all the early notifications,

so be sure you won't miss out when stock goes, it's gone, you

know, all those kind of things.

Um, so start building buzz around that in early November.

Don't wait until Black Friday before you go, oh, now I'm gonna

send my Black Friday email.

It's too late.

And segments finally turn up your referral campaign.

This is a really, really interesting opportunity for you because, um, if

you have got a bunch of customers who are great customers, then they

are also more than likely gonna be your best referring customers, right?

They're gonna tell their friends about you, they're gonna tell

their colleagues about you.

They're gonna say, listen, come buy these products.

So if you have a referral campaign, whether that's through organizations

like mentioned me, whether it's something you've just got on

your website or whatever it is.

What you can do is do a specific black flight, black Friday, black

Friday referral campaign and email out your best customers during

November, the start of November and say, listen guys, uh, we are gonna do.

As you know, we do referral marketing, IE when you refer a friend and they

get whatever, and you get whatever, whatever the gifts are, whatever

the discounts are, simple as right.

But during Black Friday weekend, for every person you refer, they will get dot,

dot, dot, and you will get dot, dot, dot.

We are gonna ramp up the gifts or the discounts or whatever it is, right?

That really excites them.

Uh, again, understand the different segments, but you can send that email

to your best customers to that sort of top 20, 30, 40% of customers.

That are much more likely to refer from you or refer you, especially

your repeat customers, right?

Um, and so crank up that referral campaign, get their marketing for

you, uh, as well be, especially if you've got a good referral campaign.

Just crank it up, turn it up, turn up the volume, turn up the heat, right?

So don't miss that opportunity.

Okay?

So that is the existing customer.

Campaign, uh, strategy.

So go ahead, think about your existing customers.

Think about them in terms of the segments and the journeys

that you want them to take.

What can you do for your existing customers?

Write that down.

Plan that strategy.

Uh, and when you've done that, I will be back in the next video just talking

about General Black Friday top tips, which I've learned over the years.

I'll see you there.

Segments and journeys.

That's how you maximize value from existing customers during Black Friday.

Who knew?

Right?

Anyway, next week is our fourth episode in this miniseries, black Friday

Top Tips and General Strategies.

Uh, all the bits that don't sort of fit neatly into categories, but you need.

To understand 'cause they can make or break your Black Friday success.

So we're gonna be talking about that, all the things that

we've learned over the years.

Uh, after that we've got the q and a session.

So in Cohort, when we delivered this workshop, we did each.

Uh, workshop over, uh, one workshop per week over four weeks, just like how

we're releasing it on the, um, podcast.

And then the final workshop was a q and a, so that's coming up as well

where we answered all the questions that came in around Black Friday

after the first four workshops.

Um, so yeah, you can check that out.

And after that, in September, we will be back to our regular programming of

expert interviews and founder stories.

Um, and like I said, you know, at the, excuse me, the start of

August, we're also gonna throw in the odd solo episode here and there.

Um, but I am thinking about, like I said, mixing more teaching content

in like this more the workshops that we've done over the years.

Um.

Just wanna know if it's working.

So how you finding them?

Let me know, you know, all that sort of stuff.

Uh, just reach out to me and let me know.

Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter at eCommerce Podcast dot net.

Loads more content coming from the eCommerce Cohort vault.

Uh, but that's it from me.

Hope you are having a great summer.

Have a great week where I will see you next time for the

fourth episode in this series.

But that's it from me.

Bye for now.