Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the most crowded days of the retail calendar—and not just in stores. They’re also the busiest days for email inboxes and text message alerts. In 2024, Cyber Monday drove $13.3 billion in sales in the United States alone, setting another ecommerce record. More than half of that—57%—came from mobile devices.
That mobile-first reality is a wake-up call for retailers everywhere. Inboxes are flooded, screens are full, and attention spans are shorter than ever. To win, your email and SMS campaigns need to be sharper, more relevant, and better timed than the competition.
The numbers tell the story. During BFCM 2024, brands sent over 1.13 billion promotional emails. Open rates averaged 27.9%, which isn’t bad on paper—but in practice, it meant many offers were ignored because consumers were simply overwhelmed.
SMS is noisier now too, but it still outperforms. Open rates stayed close to 98%, and average click-to-conversion rates were around 3.6%. That’s why 80% of businesses were already using SMS marketing in 2024, and 70% said they planned to increase their SMS budgets in 2025.
The takeaway: volume alone doesn’t cut it. With inboxes and phones overflowing, relevance and timing are the only ways to stand out.
If you want proof that personalization pays, look at automation. In November 2024, triggered email campaigns like welcome and cart reminders made up just 3% of total sends, yet they drove 30% of all email orders. That’s efficiency.
On the SMS side, retailers saw engagement rates between 21% and 35%. In Australia, SMS engagement was especially high, with conversion rates well above global averages. One mid-market fashion retailer used segmented SMS lists to send early-access offers to loyalty members. The result? A 40% lift in conversions compared to their standard email promotions.
The takeaway: the right message, sent to the right customer at the right moment, beats blanket discounts every time.
SMS used to be considered a North American play, but that’s changing fast. In Europe, stricter data privacy laws are reshaping how brands collect and use email data. SMS is filling the gap because it’s direct, compliant, and effective. During BFCM 2024, several EU retailers reported double-digit increases in SMS campaign engagement compared to the previous year.
In Australia, SMS has become one of the most reliable levers for BFCM success. Combined with Black Friday and the local Click Frenzy event, SMS helped drive a November retail turnover increase of 0.8%—the strongest monthly rise of the year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retailers there are using SMS not just for flash sales, but also for buy-online, pick-up-in-store reminders that connect online and in-store experiences.
The takeaway: SMS is now a core BFCM channel in every major market, not just the US.
With 57% of Cyber Monday spending happening on mobile, design has to match the medium. Emails with clean layouts, bold CTAs, and fast-loading images consistently outperform cluttered templates. SMS messages with clear, concise offers drive faster action than longer, text-heavy messages.
One European electronics retailer redesigned their BFCM campaigns in 2024 with a mobile-first approach—shorter subject lines, bigger buttons, and simplified landing pages. The result was a 25% increase in click-throughs and a measurable lift in mobile conversions.
The takeaway: optimizing for mobile is no longer optional. It’s the foundation of a successful BFCM campaign.
Maropost gives mid-market retailers the tools to cut through the BFCM noise and capture conversions where they’re happening—on mobile.
Run unified campaigns across email and SMS so customers get consistent messages no matter where they are.
Personalize at scale with segmentation, dynamic content, and behavioral triggers that keep offers relevant.
Automate revenue-critical workflows like cart recovery, browse abandonment, and VIP early-access sales.
Build mobile-first templates that are optimized for fast, seamless shopping experiences.
Connect campaigns directly with ecommerce and POS systems, so messaging reflects real-time inventory and availability.
Consider the difference between siloed tools and a unified platform. In a silo, your email team blasts generic messages, your SMS team works separately, and your ecommerce site doesn’t sync with either. With Maropost, everything connects—marketing, commerce, and loyalty—so every campaign feels seamless to the customer.
That’s the difference between being ignored in a crowded inbox and driving a record-breaking conversion rate.