Deep-dive strategies from the tactical breakout sessions at the Marketing Operators Conference
Following the main stage presentations at Black Friday Operators Online, the Marketing Breakout Session delivered granular, actionable tactics from brands executing at the highest level. Led by Connor Rowland and featuring insights from teams at Hexclad, Jones Road Beauty, and other leading e-commerce brands, this session focused on the nuts and bolts of BFCM execution.
Here’s a comprehensive recap of the strategies and frameworks shared during this intensive tactical session.
Core Philosophy: Plans Are Essential, Flexibility is Critical
Connor Rowland opened the session with a foundational principle that would echo throughout: “It’s better to get them doing something than nothing.” This pragmatic approach emphasizes action over perfection, particularly crucial when preparing for BFCM’s compressed timeline.
The overarching theme? “It’s really important to create a plan. It’s more important to be willing to change that plan.” This balance between preparation and adaptability separates successful BFCM campaigns from those that crash under pressure.
1. Hexclad’s Revolutionary On-Site Merchandising Strategy
Hexclad’s approach to BFCM merchandising centers on creating streamlined, segmented funnels that maximize both conversion and average order value.
The Single Collection Page Strategy
Instead of creating multiple landing pages, Hexclad uses one master collection page with sophisticated organization:
Structure:
- Hero products above the fold with “bestseller” badges
- Intuitive sections for each product category (Cookware, Knives, Hex Mills)
- Anchor links from emails direct customers to specific sections
- Sticky navigation bar that follows users as they scroll
Why It Works: On a page with 200+ products, this approach prevents decision paralysis while encouraging discovery. Customers arriving for a specific item often purchase additional products they discover while browsing.
The Gifting Behavior Insight
Hexclad discovered a critical behavioral shift during BFCM:
- Normal purchasing: 80% self-consumption, 20% gifting
- BFCM purchasing: 50% self-consumption, 50% gifting
Strategic Implication: This justifies re-promoting items to customers who’ve already purchased them, as they’re likely buying gifts for others.
The Safety Net Offer System
For subscribers who don’t convert on hero products (like a $600 cookware set), Hexclad implements a tiered follow-up strategy:
- Primary offer: High-value bundles
- Safety net: Lower-priced items (10-inch or 12-inch pan)
- Result: Captures revenue from price-sensitive segments without cannibalizing primary offers
2. Advanced On-Site Personalization and Loyalty Infrastructure
The session revealed how leading brands are building sophisticated personalization engines powered by first-party data.
The Account-Level Foundation
Key Components:
- Robust “logged-in” functionality as the backbone
- Identity resolution at the accounts layer
- First-party data collection driving personalization
Loyalty Program Architecture
The discussed loyalty framework demonstrates next-level customer engagement:
- Real-time messaging about tier status
- Clear communication about actions that earned current tier
- Transparent pathways to next tier benefits
- Seamless integration with the logged-in experience
Critical Insight: “HexCloud is considered world-class at on-site personalization” because they’ve invested heavily in the infrastructure that makes personalization possible, not just the surface-level tactics.
3. Jones Road Beauty’s Q4 Upper Funnel Mastery
Jones Road’s preparation strategy focuses on filling the marketing funnel well before Black Friday arrives.
The Meta Evolution Strategy
Moving Meta campaigns up-funnel through:
- Mid-funnel campaign focus (view content, lead generation)
- Metrics shift: Prioritizing net new reach and cost per thousand account reach
- Efficiency indicator: When reach increases with spend (high frequency = inefficiency)
Creative Diversity as a Cost Driver
Key Finding: Lack of varied and winning creative leads to:
- Higher frequency (showing same ads to same people)
- Increased costs
- Diminished returns
Solution: Partnership ads with large creators directed to specific landing pages are consistently outperforming traditional creative.
Channel Expansion Timeline
Jones Road’s aggressive testing calendar:
- September: Three-month podcast test launch
- October: Large TV test initiation
- November: Pinterest test for upper-funnel events
Leading Indicators for Success
Rather than waiting for direct revenue, Jones Road monitors:
- Site traffic patterns
- Brand lift studies
- Search lift metrics
- Social engagement rates
These indicators predict BFCM success weeks before the event.
4. The Science of Email/SMS Capture and Segmentation
The breakout session emphasized that capturing contacts is just the beginning—understanding them is where the value lies.
The Context Window Strategy
Between initial subscription (as early as September) and BFCM, brands should focus on learning:
- Why subscribers joined
- Which products interest them
- What brought them to the site
- Their gift-giving intentions
Segmentation for Precision
This collected context enables:
- Hyper-targeted offers during BFCM
- Simplified paths to conversion
- Higher relevance scores
- Reduced unsubscribe rates
Key Insight: “The goal is to use this segmentation to deliver the right offer at the right time during BFCM to simplify the path to conversion.”
5. The Comprehensive 28 Black Friday Tips Framework
The session delivered rapid-fire tactical advice across multiple dimensions:
Planning & Flexibility
- Create MER targets for different periods (lower in early November, higher post-BFCM)
- Analyze the delta between 1-day and 30-day click attribution (can be 40% difference, doubling in October)
Budget Management
- Check Facebook spend caps before the event
- Use Google’s budget pacing sheets
- Never cap spend on key search terms
- Avoid generic terms like “black friday sale” (one brand wasted $120,000)
Bidding Strategy
- Set seasonal bid adjustments in Google for conversion rate increases
- Retighten targets on Saturday/Sunday of BFCM weekend to prevent overspending
Team Coordination
- Schedule meetings every 2-3 hours during BFCM weekend
- Consider overseas media buyers for 24/7 coverage
- Use Northbeam for intraday reporting due to speed
Channel Optimization
- Send plain text emails to reactivate unengaged subscribers
- Time SMS at off-peak moments (11:19 instead of 11:00)
- Test last year’s top-performing ads—they often work again
6. Maximizing Revenue at Every Transaction Point
A powerful insight from the session: “Every single page on your website can generate you revenue and boost your margin.”
The Checkout Page Opportunity
- Showcase relevant upsell products with conditional logic
- Leverage payment partnerships (PayPal cashback can offset fees and boost conversion)
Post-Purchase Revenue Drivers
- A/B test offers on post-purchase landing pages before BFCM
- One brand’s finding: The highest value customers on first orders have the best lifetime value
The Hidden Goldmine: Order Confirmation Pages
- Display third-party offers (Hulu, HelloFresh)
- Generate $3,000-$7,000 pure profit per 10,000 orders
- Zero cost implementation with immediate returns
7. The Post-Purchase Upsell LTV Connection
A crucial correlation was revealed: “The people that spend the most with us in their first order are the same people that have the best lifetime value.”
Implementation Strategy
- Aggressively push larger bundles ($1,000-$1,400 packages)
- Use various upsell widgets throughout the journey
- Deploy AfterSell on post-purchase pages (highest take rates)
- Capitalize on commitment momentum after initial purchase
8. Signed-In Shopping: The Retention Revolution
The session revealed a sobering truth: “Most Black Friday customers don’t come back.” The solution? Signed-in shopping.
The Data Behind Signed-In Shopping
From hundreds of Shopify Plus brands:
- Customers sign in 4x faster
- Make purchases 3x quicker
- Generate 1.9x more revenue
Strategic Implementation
- Prevents anonymous customers
- Enables cart continuity
- Facilitates faster checkouts (ShopPay/Google)
- Powers personalization engines
- Syncs with marketing tools (PostScript, Klaviyo, AfterSell)
Scale Impact: At BFCM volumes, this translates to millions in additional revenue potential for December, January, and beyond.
9. The Conversational SMS Playbook
The breakout session challenged conventional SMS wisdom: “If you’re only using SMS as a megaphone, you’re kind of missing the point of the channel.”
The Two-Way Conversation Advantage
Customers who engage in two-way SMS conversations show:
- 1.5x higher LTV
- 22% higher subscription retention
- 5-15% additional revenue through conversational flows
The Three-Play Strategy
Play 1 (Pre-BFCM): Train audiences to reply
- Use clear prompts
- Ask multiple-choice questions
- Build engagement habits
Play 2 (Segmentation): Automate through questions
- “Who are you shopping for?” (identifies gift buyers)
- “What’s stopping you from checking out?” (triggers objection handling)
Play 3 (During BFCM): Shift to direct sales focus
- “What’s stopping you from buying this right now?”
- Real-time objection handling
- AI-powered response management
10. The Critical Focus on Retention
Perhaps the most important insight from the session came from Speaker 2: “Acquisition is very, very, very expensive, but I think the brands who are going to win on capturing the margin on the second and third order are the brands who are thinking about retention.”
This shifts the BFCM strategy from a pure acquisition play to a customer lifetime value play, where the real profits come from turning holiday buyers into year-round customers.
Key Takeaways for Implementation
- Simplify the Complex: Use single collection pages with smart navigation rather than multiple landing pages
- Build for the Future: Every BFCM customer acquisition should feed your retention engine
- Test Aggressively Now: Use October to test everything from upsells to SMS scripts
- Monitor Leading Indicators: Don’t wait for revenue—watch traffic, lift, and engagement metrics
- Personalization Requires Infrastructure: Invest in account-level data architecture before tactics
- Two-Way Conversations Win: Transform SMS from broadcast to dialogue
- Every Page Earns: Optimize checkout, post-purchase, and confirmation pages for revenue
The Bottom Line
The Marketing Breakout Session at Black Friday Operators Online demonstrated that BFCM success isn’t about having the biggest budget or the deepest discounts. It’s about sophisticated execution across multiple touchpoints, from site merchandising to SMS conversations, from upper-funnel filling to post-purchase optimization.
As Connor Rowland’s opening principle suggests, the key is to start somewhere and iterate. The brands that win BFCM aren’t perfect, they’re prepared, flexible, and focused on both immediate conversion and long-term customer value.
The session closed with practical advice that encapsulates the entire approach: Have a plan, be willing to change it, and remember that acquisition without retention is just expensive activity. The real winners of BFCM 2025 will be the brands that turn Black Friday shoppers into lifetime customers.
Check out these other related articles:
- Black Friday Operators Online Conference Recap: 15 Game-Changing Strategies from E-commerce’s Top Minds
- The Service Business Owner’s Guide to Winning the Holiday Season: 10 Strategies to Cut Through the Noise
Ready to implement these strategies but need guidance on execution? Schedule a free 15-minute Growth Strategy Session to discuss how to customize these approaches for your specific business.
