Black Friday Marketing: Strategies and Ideas [2025 Guide]

Thinking about what to do for Black Friday this year? You’re not alone. Every brand wants to grab customers’ attention during the biggest shopping event of the year. But here’s the thing: just slapping on a banner that says “Black Friday Discount” and offering a small price cut might not get you very far.

During this time, people are flooded with deals from every direction. To stand out, you need a well-thought-out Black Friday marketing strategy that shows customers why your offer is worth their time. Every little detail matters, from your email subject lines to your visuals and timing. In this post, we’ll walk through how to build a Black Friday campaign that not only drives sales but also helps you earn long-term customer loyalty.

Why Black Friday campaigns matter for businesses

There are plenty of times throughout the year to run sales or limited-time offers, but Black Friday is in a league of its own. It’s that time when shoppers aren’t just open to buying, they’re actively hunting for the best deals.

This unofficial “holiday of discounts” is one of the biggest opportunities for brands to connect with eager buyers. In the days leading up to Black Friday, and especially on the day itself, people make purchase decisions faster than at any other time of year.

Let’s take a closer look at why Black Friday campaigns are such a valuable opportunity for businesses.

They attract high-intent shoppers ready to buy

Black Friday isn’t about convincing people to shop; they’re already planning to. In the weeks before the event, customers are comparing offers, looking for the best prices, and building their shopping lists. That means your audience is warmer and more receptive than at any other time of year.

According to Adobe, consumers spent $10.8 billion on Black Friday in 2024, up from $9.8 billion in 2023, which shows just how powerful this shopping period has become. A thoughtful, well-timed Black Friday marketing strategy can help your brand stand out and capture that ready-to-spend audience instead of having to generate demand from scratch.

They help you grow your subscriber list fast

Black Friday is one of the best times to grow your audience. Shoppers are eager for insider deals, early access, and special treatment, which makes them far more willing to share their email address or phone number.

Exclusive lead magnets, like limited-time discounts, mystery offers, or bonus gifts, can quickly turn high-intent visitors into new subscribers. By positioning your brand as the source of the best deals, you’ll attract an audience you can continue to engage long after Black Friday ends.

Even if someone doesn’t buy during Black Friday, capturing their contact details gives you a chance to nurture the relationship. With regular, thoughtful communication, that one-time visitor can easily become a loyal customer, which is often a more valuable result than a single sale.

They unlock upselling and cross-selling opportunities

Black Friday is an opportunity to increase cart value while customers are in “buy mode.” Instead of offering a single discount, think in terms of bundles and personalized add-ons. For example, pair a best-seller with a complementary product at a slightly higher margin or create a “holiday-ready kit” that feels like extra value rather than a hard sell.

Personalization goes even further: use browsing or purchase history to recommend upgrades or accessories customers are most likely to grab. The psychology here is simple. When shoppers see relevance and convenience, they’re more willing to spend more. Upsells and cross-sells transform Black Friday from a one-off discount rush into a revenue amplifier. In fact, cross-selling and category-penetration techniques can boost sales by 20% and profits by 30% when tailored offers are used.

They help you build long-term loyalty beyond Black Friday

A purchase on Black Friday should be the start of a relationship, not the end of a transaction. By inviting customers into VIP programs, giving them exclusive codes for future deals, and delivering standout experiences from checkout to follow-up, you can transform bargain hunters into brand advocates.

Each of these steps signals that buyers are more than just numbers but valued partners. Done right, your Black Friday campaign becomes a launchpad for repeat purchases, higher lifetime value, and a loyal customer base that outlasts any single sale.

According to Deloitte’s 2024 Holiday Retail Survey, consumers aren’t just chasing discounts on Black Friday; they’re primarily looking for quality (39%), value (37%), and variety (35%), making it essential for brands to go beyond price cuts and deliver well-curated, high-value offers.

How to plan a winning Black Friday campaign

A winning Black Friday marketing strategy starts long before the day itself. Let’s look at the key elements that help you achieve this, from engaging people who are ready to buy to turning one-time customers into repeat fans. Use these ideas as a framework to design a campaign that drives sales and strengthens your brand well beyond Black Friday.

Start early with teasers and “early bird” offers

Black Friday no longer starts on Black Friday. In fact, October is the new November for savvy marketers. By launching teasers, pre-sale access, or “early bird” offers weeks in advance, you catch shoppers while their budgets and attention spans are still fresh.

Practical ideas? Drop a “coming soon” banner on your website in mid-October, give email subscribers a countdown to early deals, or offer VIP customers first-pick bundles before the rush. Social media “mystery deal” posts and exclusive SMS alerts can also build anticipation. Starting early warms up your audience and lets you lock in high-intent buyers before competitors flood their inboxes.

Segment your audience for higher ROI

One-size-fits-all discounts are easy to launch but rarely maximize returns. Smart Black Friday campaigns start with audience segmentation — treating VIPs, new subscribers, and cart abandoners differently instead of blasting the same offer to everyone.

For example, reward VIP customers with early access to your most in-demand products or higher-tier discounts. Offer new subscribers a special “welcome” deal to turn them into first-time buyers. Send cart abandoners a time-sensitive incentive — like free shipping or a bonus gift — to nudge them back before your sale ends. This approach will help raise your ROI by aligning the right offer with the right audience at the right time.

Map your campaign calendar

A powerful Black Friday campaign should be mapped. By plotting every touchpoint in advance, from teasers to launch day to last-chance reminders, you can stay consistent and avoid missed opportunities.

1. Teaser phase. Warm up your audience mid-October with “coming soon” emails and social media posts.
2. Launch phase. Go live with your main offers in early November for VIPs or email subscribers.
3. Last-chance phase. Send a countdown email and SMS blast 24–48 hours before the sale ends to capture fence-sitters.

Visualizing it all on a campaign calendar, even a simple spreadsheet or a tool like Trello or Asana, keeps your team aligned. You could include a sample calendar screenshot in your article to show how each stage overlaps, making the plan feel concrete and easy to replicate.

Embrace a multi-channel approach

Shoppers jump between inboxes, apps, and social feeds, so your Black Friday marketing strategy should meet them wherever they are. With SendPulse, you can easily combine email campaigns for rich visuals and storytelling, SMS for instant action, push notifications for urgency, and chatbots for real-time support or guided shopping.

For instance, launch a teaser email with early-access codes, follow up with an SMS countdown on launch day, send a push notification highlighting limited-stock items, and have your chatbot ready to answer FAQs or recommend products. This coordinated approach helps your message cut through the noise and drives action across every touchpoint.

Budget and ROI planning

Forecasting your costs and setting clear KPIs before launch helps you control spend and prove ROI once the rush is over. Start by mapping out your spend across different channels like email, SMS, ads, and push notifications. Then, set specific targets for each, such as cost per acquisition, average order value, or subscriber growth.

For example, decide how much you’re willing to invest in early-access ads to grow your mailing list, or set a KPI for chatbot-assisted conversions to measure how well your automation works. Tools like SendPulse have an analytics dashboard that makes it easy to track open rates, clicks, conversions, and even revenue attribution across channels. This kind of planning transforms Black Friday from a high-stakes gamble into a predictable, data-driven success.

Pro tips for effective Black Friday emails

Inboxes become battlefields on Black Friday, and only the smartest emails win. From subject lines to engaging calls to action, every detail should stand out from the crowd and drive action. Let’s explore pro tips to help you craft high-converting Black Friday emails.

Write subject lines and preheaders that drive opens

On Black Friday, your email subject line is the front door to your offer. To stand out, you may combine urgency with curiosity. Urgency gives people a reason to act now (“Ends Midnight Tonight”), while curiosity teases the value inside without giving it all away (“Your VIP Deal Awaits…”).

Pair your subject line with a supportive preview text that adds context or ups the stakes. For example:

• subject: “Our Biggest Black Friday Deal Drops Early”
• preheader: “VIPs get first access — only 500 spots”

This simple two-step hook grabs attention, gets people to stop scrolling, and makes them open your Black Friday email before they even know what’s inside. Test different combinations early to see which tone or structure your audience responds to best.

Take this subject line from Freaks of Nature. It immediately sparks curiosity and makes readers want to learn what special offer the brand has planned for its first Black Friday campaign.

The brand HUX took a different approach, using its subject line to remind subscribers they still had one last chance to grab the Black Friday discount. It’s a simple but effective way to create urgency and nudge hesitant shoppers to take action before the sale ends.

Create a compelling, dark-mode-friendly design

Great Black Friday email templates should look good and work in every inbox. For example, some users will read your emails in dark mode, and ignoring it can make your design look broken or unreadable. Build a visual hierarchy that draws the eye to your key offer first, keeps the product front and center, and uses contrast and whitespace to make your message easy to scan.

Here are some practical ideas for dark-mode-friendly email design:

• Use adaptable colors. Avoid pure black in favor of dark gray backgrounds and bright accent buttons.
• Optimize images. Use PNGs with transparent backgrounds and sufficient contrast.
• Test in different modes. Check your template in popular email clients in both light and dark themes before launch.

Use scarcity and urgency tactics

Black Friday shoppers already expect time-sensitive deals, so your job is to make the urgency feel real and actionable. Scarcity tactics like countdown timers, “only X left” notices, and limited-time flash sale blocks help transform passive browsing into immediate purchases. For example, HUX immediately emphasized in its email subtitle that the offer was time-limited.

Adding a live countdown banner at the top of your email or landing page (“Offer ends in 03:12:48”) creates a ticking clock that drives clicks. That’s precisely what AppSumo did in the following email campaign.

Highlighting low stock like “Only 12 sets left” in your email template or chatbot message can push fence-sitters over the edge. Combine these elements with a bold CTA like “Grab Yours Before It’s Gone” and you’ll see the result.

Craft CTAs that сonvert

On Black Friday, vague buttons like “Learn More” get lost in the noise. Instead, use action-driven, benefit-focused CTAs that make the next step irresistible. Think “Shop Now,” “Unlock Your Deal,” or “Get It Before It’s Gone” — short, urgent, and value-packed.

In its Black Friday email, PRESS made the call to action stand out clearly, and then reinforced it at the end using slightly different wording.

Try experimenting with different CTA styles across your channels. In push notifications or SMS, make the call to action part of the message itself, such as “Tap to unlock your code.” In chatbots, quick-reply buttons such as “See Early Access” or “Add to Cart” can help reduce friction and make it effortless for customers to act right away.

Prioritize mobile optimization

According to Salesforce’s Cyber Week 2024 report, mobile devices accounted for about 70% of all online orders globally. They generated nearly $220 billion in global sales and around $53.3 billion in U.S. sales alone. Numbers like these make one thing clear — your Black Friday campaign has to deliver a seamless mobile experience.

Every part of the mobile journey matters, from website speed and checkout flow to how your offers display on smaller screens. Use responsive templates, create short and scannable copy, and make sure your CTAs are large enough to tap comfortably.

Instead of crowding multiple products into one grid, spotlight a single hero product per block to keep the layout clean. Before launch, preview your Black Friday email on both light and dark modes across iOS and Android to ensure it looks sharp everywhere. In SMS and push notifications, aim for messages under 160 characters and place your link early so it appears before the fold. The smoother the mobile experience, the fewer barriers stand between your customer and the checkout button.

With SendPulse, you can create mobile-friendly campaigns easily. The platform offers a library of email templates you can customize to match your brand style and campaign goals. The platform’s preview option lets you see how your email will appear on mobile devices in real time, so you can be confident it looks great before you hit send.

Maintain multi-channel consistency

Your audience moves seamlessly between email, SMS, push notifications, and social media, and your Black Friday campaign should too. But consistency doesn’t mean showing the same message everywhere. It’s about aligning tone, visuals, and timing so each channel feels like part of one cohesive story.

Think of it this way: your product launch email can tell the whole story with visuals and detail, while your SMS focuses on one key benefit and a quick link. A push notification may remind subscribers about the launch or highlight a one-tap CTA. Each touchpoint serves a different purpose but reinforces the same goal and brand voice.

With SendPulse, you can plan, automate, and segment campaigns across email, SMS, push, and chatbots from one dashboard. This will help you maintain a consistent tone, timing, and targeting across every channel so your campaigns feel coordinated rather than repetitive.

The best Black Friday marketing ideas for stores and brands

Savvy marketers aim to craft Black Friday campaigns that feel exciting, exclusive, and worth their customers’ attention. Businesses that win this season think beyond discounts: they build anticipation, create memorable experiences, and turn one-time shoppers into long-term fans. Let’s take a closer look at the best Black Friday marketing ideas for such campaigns.

VIP early access and exclusive codes

Shoppers love feeling “in the know.” Offering your loyal customers early access not only rewards them, but it also generates a surge of revenue before your main Black Friday campaign even starts.

Here’s how you can make it work:

1. Send a personalized “insider” email with a secret link or code that unlocks early shopping access.
2. Pair it with a short SMS reminder on the day access opens. It adds urgency and increases open rates.
3. Use a countdown timer inside your email to visually show when early access expires.

Take a look at Ring. They offer subscribers discounts of up to 50%, but the real value lies in the early access. Not only do customers get a jump on the sale, but Ring also promises faster delivery and a chance to avoid the holiday rush.

Ring’s email itself isn’t flashy. Instead, it’s minimalistic, easy to read, and includes a curated list of recommended products. The focus is on value, not overwhelming the customer with clutter.

Quick tip: Segment your VIP customers automatically, schedule early-access campaigns, and track rates. You can even A/B test different exclusive codes to see which drives higher conversions.

Limited-time bundles and gifts

Instead of relying solely on larger price cuts, offering bundles and gifts can boost the perceived value of your Black Friday campaign while keeping your margins healthy. Plus, these promotions nudge customers to spend a little more than they initially planned.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Offer a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” or “Bundle 3 products and save 30%” promotion.
2. Make your bundle offers time-sensitive to create urgency, for example, “Valid for 12 hours only”.
3. Highlight the total savings visually in your email or push notification.

Deloitte’s 2023 Holiday Retail Survey found that online shoppers are more likely to increase their basket size when there’s a low threshold to unlock perks. On average, they’re willing to spend about $40 to qualify for free shipping.

Double Double Vintage launched a Black Friday promotion offering “Buy 2, Get 3 on all items.” They promoted it to website visitors through a pop-up and increased excitement by making the deal time-limited and adding a countdown timer to create a sense of FOMO.

Quick tip: Use behavioral triggers. For instance, if your customer adds two items to their cart, you could send an automatic push notification offering a limited-time bundle or gift to encourage them to check out with a larger order.

Gamification and mystery offers

Interactivity makes campaigns more memorable and fun. When customers feel like they’re playing a game, they’re more likely to engage, click, and convert.

Here is how you can add gamification to your Black Friday campaign:

• create a spin-to-win wheel or scratch-off code with discounts or gifts as prizes;
• use a mystery subject line (“Your surprise deal awaits 🎁”) to increase open rates;
• reveal the offer after a click to drive traffic to your landing page.

For example, Axiology created an extremely short but intriguing email subject line for Black Friday campaign. This kind of mystery can entice readers to open the email and discover the offer inside.

Quick tip: Automate mystery-offer reveal flows via email, push notifications, or even chatbots, so customers can stay engaged across multiple touchpoints.

Caden Lane went beyond the usual discounts and freebies by turning their Black Friday email into a game. They invited subscribers to solve a puzzle inside the email, and the correct answer unlocked a new Black Friday deal.

Loyalty point multipliers and social contests

The holiday rush is the perfect time to turn one-off buyers into repeat customers. It’s cheaper to retain a customer than to acquire a new one, and Black Friday offers a great chance to build loyalty. Offering double or triple loyalty points or running a quick social contest can extend the life of your Black Friday sale long after it ends.

Think about using or improving these strategies:

• offer double or triple loyalty points for all purchases during the Black Friday period;
• launch a quick social contest: “Post your purchase + tag us to win a gift card” to extend your reach;
• highlight these offers in both pre-sale teasers and post-purchase follow-ups.

For instance, Jaded London rewarded their loyalty club members with double points.

Quick tip: Integrate loyalty program messages across all your channels. For example, send an email confirming extra points earned, an SMS when rewards are available, and another notification when a contest is about to end.

Inspiring Black Friday campaign examples

One of the best ways to spark ideas for your own Black Friday campaign is to look at what others have done to stand out. The most memorable campaigns tap into urgency, creativity, and emotions in ways that feel fresh and exciting. From exclusive early-access perks to gamified emails, the following Black Friday email examples showcase different tactics that can drive both attention and action.

Gamified email from Bose

Bose, a global audio equipment brand, took a fun, playful approach to their Black Friday campaign by using gamification in their email marketing. It all started with an intriguing subject line that encouraged subscribers to open the email: “Black Friday offers are coming | Reveal your savings inside”. Inside the email, customers found a scratch-card element. They simply had to reveal it to see their personal discount.

It’s a simple yet effective form of gamification. No effort is required; it’s just about the thrill of surprise and anticipation. To make the offer even more enticing, Bose recommended two products already available at a discount. The design kept it sleek and modern, using dark tones that matched the Black Friday season while still feeling fresh and sophisticated.

Last-chance SMS from Coach

Coach, a luxury fashion brand, used SMS marketing to create a sense of urgency during Black Friday. Their message focused on the final opportunity to score major savings before the deals disappeared. By including a direct link, Coach made it easy for subscribers to act fast and explore exclusive offers instantly.

Coach’s SMS strategy shows that SMS doesn’t have to stand alone; it can be part of a broader Black Friday campaign sequence. Start with an email, follow up with social media posts, reinforce with pop-ups or website banners, and then deliver a timely SMS to close the loop and drive conversions.

Early offer from VidAngel

VidAngel, a streaming service that lets viewers filter out objectionable content from movies and shows, leaned on clarity and impact for their Black Friday campaign. The excitement began right in the subject line — “Black Friday is here early!” VidAngel paired it with a bold 50% that caught subscribers’ attention.

Inside the email, the brand explained the value of the deal was upfront to show readers why acting quickly mattered. The email design followed classic Black Friday cues with a dark background and bright blue CTA buttons that popped. To ensure transparency, they included a detailed note about the promotion’s rules, so subscribers knew exactly what to expect.

Fresh take on Black Friday from Blueland

Blueland, a sustainable brand known for its eco-friendly cleaning products, showed that Black Friday emails don’t always have to be dark and flashy. They got creative with their campaign by combining humor and their core values. The subject line, “Black Friday’s never been greener,” immediately grabbed attention, and the copy followed with “Green is the new black.”

It wasn’t just a pun. It was a clever way to reinforce the brand’s sustainability mission. Beyond announcing their Black Friday discount, the email showcased best-selling products and leveraged social proof. The result was a campaign that felt fresh, on-brand, and more meaningful than a standard discount blast.

Stylish pop-up from Vinatis

Vinatis is an online wine retailer offering a wide selection of wines, champagnes, and spirits. For Black Friday, they launched a sleek on-site pop-up to capture attention and drive conversions.

The pop-up clearly showcased the sale and gave shoppers a discount code that they could copy with just one click. This slight touch made it easier for customers to grab the deal and use it right away.

How to create a Black Friday campaign in SendPulse

A successful Black Friday campaign is all about creating a seamless journey for your customers across multiple channels. To stand out in the noise of the season, you need automation, segmentation, and the right mix of touchpoints, such as email, SMS, push notifications, chatbots, and website pop-ups. SendPulse makes it easy to design an end-to-end experience, so that every subscriber gets the right message at the right time.

Here’s how you can build your Black Friday automation flow step by step.

Set up your automation flow

Every winning campaign starts with a strong foundation. In SendPulse, that means creating a new automation that becomes the “command center” for all your Black Friday touchpoints. Head to “Automation” → “Create flow” and start from scratch or pick a ready-made seasonal template.

Name your flow clearly so your team knows what it’s for, for example, “BF 2025 Multi-channel.” Set the time, if needed.

Next, define how people will enter your flow. You can use date-based triggers to launch teasers, segment-based triggers if you’ve prepared a curated Black Friday list, or action-based triggers, such as clicking a VIP sign-up link for early-access campaigns. To recover lost revenue, you can also include event triggers like cart abandonment.

Map your campaign phases

Customers expect different types of touchpoints at different stages of their journey. That’s why it’s helpful to break down your Black Friday plan into four mini-sequences within one automation:

1. Teaser / early access to build anticipation a few days before the sale.
2. Kick off on Black Friday morning, when inboxes are overflowing.
3. Mid-sale nudges for subscribers still on the fence.
4. Last-chance and Cyber Monday pushes to capture stragglers.

Using a visual campaign builder, like the one in SendPulse, makes it easier to design and connect these phases seamlessly.

With SendPulse, you can link all phases in a single flow and add conditions so no one feels overwhelmed. For instance, if a subscriber has already purchased during the kickoff phase, they can automatically skip the rest of the promo flow and receive a thank-you message instead.

Design your teaser and early access campaigns

Make your VIP customers feel special with exclusive early access. Create a special VIP branch in your automation that sends them an email like “Your 24-hour Early Access starts now.” If they don’t click, follow up with an SMS: “Early access ends at midnight — don’t miss it!”

For the rest of your audience, keep things light with a teaser email. Something like “Something big drops Friday” sparks curiosity without giving everything away. Set a 24-48 hour delay to wrap up this phase.

Create your kickoff day flow (Black Friday)

This is the big moment. On Black Friday morning, send a bold, attention-grabbing hero email to your entire eligible audience. After 12–18 hours, use the condition block to split your audience. Tag buyers and automatically send them a thank-you note or even a small bonus offer. Non-buyers need a gentle nudge.

If they haven’t opened your email, follow up with a short, urgent push notification or SMS that links directly to the sale. For those who opened but didn’t click, trigger a chatbot message through WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, or Instagram. This can transform one-way communication into interactive support, letting customers get answers about sizes, shipping, or products without delay.

Build mid-sale nudges

Not everyone purchases on day one, and that’s completely normal. About midway through the sale, it’s time to re-engage subscribers who haven’t yet converted. Wait 24–36 hours, then identify those who haven’t clicked at all. Send them a best-sellers email, featuring a curated list of top-selling items that are moving fast.

After another 12 hours, follow up with an SMS to increase urgency: “Your favorites are almost gone [link].” For subscribers who clicked but didn’t complete their purchase, send a push notification that feels personal and timely, like: “Still in stock for now.”

Add last-chance and Cyber Monday message

Scarcity drives action like nothing else. On the final evening of your sale, send a last-chance email with a clear, urgent message, such as “Ends at midnight: 25% off everything.” A few hours later, follow up with SMS or push notifications targeted only to non-buyers to keep urgency high without bothering those who have already converted.

The next morning, pivot into Cyber Monday. Highlight fresh bundles or tech-focused deals, and consider adding a small incentive, like free shipping, for subscribers who clicked but still haven’t purchased. Thoroughly segment your audience based on engagement or purchase behavior to identify high-intent users and give them that final push toward conversion.

Turn Black Friday marketing into long-term growth

Black Friday works because it combines urgency, exclusivity, and high buyer intent in a short window of time. But the real win is about turning that seasonal rush into lasting customer relationships.

To make that happen, start early, use smart segmentation, and blend multiple channels — from email and SMS to push notifications and messaging apps. Automation ties it all together, keeping your messaging consistent and boosting conversions without taking up all your time.

This is where SendPulse can help. With its intuitive drag-and-drop automation builder, omnichannel campaign tools, and ready-to-use templates, you can move fast while keeping your campaigns sharp and scalable.

Create your first Black Friday automation in SendPulse and launch a multi-channel campaign that sells more with less effort.