Black Friday email marketing is the moment when retention teams really shine. Unlike other Cyber Week channels that require bidding, your email list is a direct line to your audience. The brands that saw the most growth in 2025 made sure to reach their loyal customers first through email.

Let’s walk through ten campaigns to send from now through Cyber Monday, along with tips on how to segment your audience, gradually increase your send volume, and smoothly transition customers after the sale.

Key takeaways

• The most effective Black Friday email marketing follows a five-week plan with ten campaigns, each with a specific purpose.

• In 2025, the biggest wins came from focusing on loyal customers and offering early access, even as brands relied less on deep discounts.

• Segmenting by engagement and customer value helps ensure your best customers get first access to the sale, while less active subscribers don’t crowd your most important sends.

• Increase your send volume gradually throughout November. This way, inbox providers recognize your brand as a consistent sender by the time Black Friday arrives.

• Remember, text messages require separate consent and should be sent between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in each recipient’s local time.

• Wrap up your campaign by moving every new buyer into a post-purchase flow that’s timed to their delivery date.

What does a Black Friday email program look like in 2026?

Black Friday email marketing means sending a series of email and text campaigns from early November through Cyber Monday to promote holiday offers. It usually begins with registration and early access for top customers, wraps up with a final reminder, and then moves new buyers into post-purchase flows.

According to Klaviyo’s recap of sales from 10,000 brands, email and text campaigns made up 42% of total revenue during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and 43% on the busiest days. Consumer spending rose 11% even as discounts fell 10%. Brands with the smallest discounts grew the fastest, at 14%.

Omnisend’s survey of 4,363 consumers in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia found that US shoppers expect to spend $336 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which is 30% less than last year. In all four countries, 52% to 57% of shoppers say the discount size is their main motivation.

With shoppers planning to buy less and brands relying on loyal customers, segmentation and early access help protect revenue when discounts are smaller.

Read also: Email Marketing Benchmarks for Ecommerce - Flow-Level Data That Actually Matters in 2026

10 Black Friday emails to send, from teaser to last call

Each campaign in this list is designed with a single goal, a specific audience, and a clear send window. The timing lines up with the calendar shared earlier, so planning is straightforward.

1. Registration campaign

This campaign runs from late October through mid-November, reaching your engaged audience through both email and on-site forms. The main goal here is to gather early-access sign-ups and capture SMS opt-ins before the holiday rush begins.

A single form with two consent options works best, with SMS terms placed right next to the phone number field for clarity. It also helps to ask for one preference, like who they are shopping for or a favorite category, so you can personalize the gift guide segment later.

Example: a body care brand uses one form for email, a separate SMS checkbox with terms beside the number, and "I'm shopping for myself" or "I'm buying a gift."

2. Teaser email

Plan to send this email between November 17 and 19 to subscribers who have engaged in the past 90 days. The focus is on announcing the sale dates, access tiers, and featured categories, but hold back on sharing prices just yet.

Include a single, clear action in the teaser (like saving a wishlist, prepping a cart, or signing up for text alerts) so you can track engagement and segment your audience more effectively.

Example: "The sale opens to VIP customers on November 19 and to everyone on November 27. Save a wishlist this week." Wishlist savers become your high-intent last-call audience.

3. VIP early access

Schedule this for November 19 and 20, starting with an email and following up with a text the next morning. Target your highest-value customers and loyalty members, giving them first access to the sale as a reward for their ongoing support.

Klaviyo’s December 2025 recap found that repeat-customer revenue grew 13.5% over BFCM 2025, ahead of new buyers, as they responded to early access, exclusive drops, and VIP perks.

Offer early access, an exclusive product, or a gift with purchase as the reward, but keep the discount consistent with the public sale. Align these dates with your BFCM paid media plan so that ads and emails reach your audience at the same time.

Example: a brand gives its top RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) tier a 24-hour head start and a gift with purchase, at the public sale's discount.

4. SMS early access

Plan to send this campaign by text only on November 23 or 24, targeting your SMS subscribers. This gives them an early advantage and reinforces the value of opting in for texts.

Send a single Black Friday SMS that includes the offer, the end time, and a direct link, timing it for midday in each recipient's local time zone. There are sample messages in the text message section below.

Example: split the send at 12 p.m. in each recipient's time zone, so a subscriber in Denver and one in New York both get the text at lunch.

5. Thanksgiving preview

Send this email on the evening of November 26 to subscribers who have engaged in the last 90 days. The goal is to preview the sale for your entire list, so shoppers are ready and carts are primed for Friday.

According to Attentive, Thanksgiving was the one day brands sent evening emails to get shoppers ready for the weekend. Keep this message short and mobile-friendly, focusing on the offer, Friday's open time, and a couple of best-sellers.

Example: a 6 p.m. local send with one hero and a sticky mobile call to action. Save the gift grid for the weekend guide.

6. Black Friday launch

On November 27, send a morning email and a midday text to subscribers who have engaged in the last 180 days. Tailor the content based on customer value tiers, and use this as your main offer launch.

Attentive’s recap found that most brands sent emails around 8 a.m. and texts around noon, matching morning inbox checks and lunchtime phone use.

Highlight the offer, end date, and top-selling products right at the top of your message. If you plan a second email that day, send it only to those who opened the first but haven't made a purchase.

Example: an 8 a.m. email, a noon text to SMS non-buyers, and a 4 p.m. follow-up only to morning openers with no order.

7. Weekend gift guide

Send this email between November 28 and 29 to non-buyers, segmenting by their browsing history and the preferences collected at registration. The aim is to give them a fresh reason to engage between Friday and Monday.

Klaviyo showed that Cyber Sunday was the fastest-growing day of the weekend, with nearly 14% growth. Build your gift guides by recipient and price range, using what each segment has browsed.

Example: gift shoppers who viewed products under $50 get a "gifts under $50" grid; self-shoppers get a "complete the set" guide from their browse history.

8. Cyber Monday email

On November 30, reach out by both email and text to subscribers who have engaged in the last 180 days. The focus here is to introduce something new, like a hero product, a special bundle, or a new spending threshold.

In 2025, Cyber Monday grew 11% against Black Friday's 10%. Attentive’s recap found that Cyber Monday had the week's highest SMS conversion rate.

Start with the new feature or offer, and mention Friday's deal only as a secondary point.

Example: Monday's first screen is a "holiday kit" bundle or a new $150 spend threshold, with Friday's sitewide percentage on the second line.

9. Extension email

Send this email on December 1 to non-buyers only, offering a one-day extension with a believable reason, like leftover stock, a shipping deadline, or customer requests.

Limit yourself to one extension per season. If customers start to expect extensions, they may hold off on buying.

Example: "We held leftover inventory and can ship by December 3 if you order today." Suppress buyers, and do not add a second extension on December 2.

10. Last call

In the final hours of December 1, send an email and one text to non-buyers who have shown high intent, like those who clicked or added to cart in the past week. The goal is to close out the sale.

Make sure the deadline appears in the preview text. Schedule the text for no later than 8 p.m. local time to respect quiet hours, and skip anyone who has purchased in the last hour.

Example: a 3 p.m. local email with preview text "Ends tonight at 11:59 p.m.," plus a 7:30 p.m. local text to clickers and active carts with no order in the last hour.

How should you segment your list for the holiday sale?

Segment on two axes, engagement and customer value, and every campaign in the send calendar picks from both.

Engagement tiers

Create 30-day, 90-day, and 180-day engaged segments based on clicks, site visits, and orders, because Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) makes open rates less reliable. According to Klaviyo (2025), product views rose 41% as shoppers spent more time researching. Add a browse-intent segment for people who viewed a product in the last 14 days but haven’t ordered.

Exclude never-engaged subscribers from all major campaign sends.

For example, in your ESP, a “90-day engaged” subscriber is someone who has clicked, visited, or ordered since August 29, 2026. Just opening an email doesn’t count.

Customer value

Segment by RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) tiers. Give VIPs and repeat buyers early access. Offer one-time buyers cross-category picks. Last year’s Black Friday-only buyers get the main offer without an extra code. Subscribers who haven’t bought yet get a first-order incentive like free shipping.

Lapsed buyers were already targeted in September’s customer winback program, so they won’t receive a separate holiday sequence.

For example, tag anyone whose first and only order was during BFCM 2025. Send them launch, Cyber Monday, and last call emails with just the public offer.

How do you ramp send volume without landing in spam?

The key is to gradually grow your audience throughout November, then narrow your focus to your most engaged segment right before the busiest days. It’s important to keep an eye on complaint rates every day. 

According to Klaviyo’s 2025 recap, brands sent a staggering 22.7 billion messages over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which was a 25% increase from the previous year. That means inboxes are more crowded than ever.

• Start: send to the 30-day engaged segment in early November, so inbox providers see a consistent pattern before you grow the audience.

• Step up: grow each send's audience by about 50%. It should be approximately a range of 1.5 to 2 times per campaign. Add the next engagement tier only after the previous send stays clean.

• Pull back: from November 23 to 25, send only to your primary engaged audience, as Klaviyo Academy advises, so you repair any reputation damage before Friday.

• Peak: from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, send to your 180-day engaged segment at most.

• Monitor: check Google Postmaster Tools daily. Google recommends senders stay under a 0.3% spam rate and aim below 0.1%.

Illustrative example: start at 20,000 thirty-day engaged subscribers, step to about 30,000, then 45,000, pull back on November 23 to 25, and open the 180-day list on November 27 only if complaints stayed under 0.1%.

How do you run Black Friday text messages?

A Black Friday SMS program follows three main rules. First, send texts only to people who have opted in. Second, make sure messages arrive during the recipient's daytime hours. Third, save texts for times when speed is important.

Consent

SMS requires its own prior express written consent. An email address does not count for a phone number. Collect consent during registration or checkout, and place the terms next to the field.

In 2025, shoppers who received email and text from the same brand placed 11% more orders and added 34% more items to cart than single-channel shoppers.

Quiet hours

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) rule at 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) bars telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at the recipient's location. One Florida firm has filed more than 100 class actions over promotional texts sent outside that window.

In May 2026, a federal court in Delaware (King v. Bon Charge) decided that marketing texts sent with consent are not solicitations. However, other courts might see it differently, and the FCC is still reviewing an industry petition filed in March 2025.

To stay safe, schedule texts by the recipient's time zone, between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., as most SMS marketing programs do year-round.

Frequency and throughput

Klaviyo’s 2025 recap found that text revenue grew 25% while send volume grew 34%, so each extra text earned less. At the same time, SMS orders averaged $143, up 13%.

Send four or five texts throughout the season: one for early access, one at launch around midday, one for Cyber Monday, and one for last call.

Plan your biggest sends with your 10DLC (10-digit long code) daily segment limit in mind, because going over the cap can delay messages past your offer window. This approach lets email handle the details, while texts focus on timing.

Black Friday email marketing examples to inspire you

Here are three Black Friday campaigns where brands used email, and sometimes SMS, to boost holiday sales. Each example is based on a platform case study and includes campaign details, results, and practical steps you can use.

Patrick Ta Beauty: a gift-with-purchase offer and early access

For BFCM 2024, Patrick Ta Beauty offered an eight-day deal: spend $150 or more and get a $96 gift, which included an eyeshadow palette, a lip cream, and a mini tote. The brand started building its email and SMS lists over a month before the event. In the month leading up to BFCM, it sent loyalty emails with early access offers.

They sent different messages to loyalty account holders and non-members, excluded anyone who had purchased in the last seven days from all emails and texts, and made sure people who subscribed to both email and SMS never got both at the same time.

Patrick Ta Beauty’s e-commerce revenue during Black Friday grew 175% compared to last year. Revenue from Klaviyo increased eightfold, and SMS revenue grew fourfold. Email sign-ups went up 41% in the week before BFCM, and loyalty sign-ups increased 74% in November. 

What you can copy: offer a gift with purchase for customers who spend a certain amount before the main sale, start growing your email list at least a month in advance, separate loyalty members from non-members, exclude buyers from the last seven days, and make sure people do not get both email and SMS at the same time.

Rachel Riley: a full-month Black Friday calendar

Rachel Riley, a British children's clothing brand, made Black Friday 2024 a month-long event starting on October 28. The team set up welcome, browse, product, and cart abandonment flows, along with personalized order confirmations.

They also added SMS, including picture messages in the US, to their emails. Throughout the month, they tracked results and adjusted their messages and automations as sales changed.

The brand’s revenue from Omnisend during BFCM 2024 increased by 77.33% compared to last year. Omnisend accounted for 48.1% of total store revenue during that time, and automations made up 46% of that revenue.

What you can copy: start your Black Friday campaign before mid-November, keep abandonment and post-purchase flows running during the sale, add SMS if you have consent, and check your results during the campaign so you can adjust your next message before Cyber Monday ends.

LEVEL8: a four-stage offer ramp

LEVEL8, a luggage and travel brand, divided BFCM into four stages. First, they gave early-bird offers on core collections to loyal customers. Next, they expanded the selection, added local holiday deals, and introduced gift-with-purchase offers.

Then, they extended discounts to major product lines. Finally, they offered sitewide deals with tiered gifts, countdown timers, and urgent reminders. The team managed email and SMS together and used seasonal designs for each stage.

LEVEL8 generated about $266,417 in revenue from Omnisend during BFCM, with most coming from email. The company shared that every $1 spent on Omnisend brought in $223 in revenue. The gift-with-purchase offers increased average order value by 10% to 15%.

Campaigns with seasonal designs and countdown timers had click-through rates over 20% higher, and conversion rates rose more than 20% in the final hours of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

What you can copy: give your loyal customers the first offer, add a gift with purchase as you expand the sale, use a sitewide countdown in the final hours, and keep email and SMS on the same schedule.

What to do with new buyers after Cyber Monday

After Cyber Monday, tag every buyer from Cyber Week, remove them from any remaining promotional campaigns, and transition them into post-purchase email flows scheduled around their expected delivery date.

• Tag the cohort: store order date, new or repeat, discount depth, and a gift flag from a gift message or a different ship-to address.

• Suppress: buyers who leave the extension and last call within an hour of ordering.

• Time to delivery: holiday shipping runs slower, so usage tips and review requests wait for delivery.

• Gift buyers: the buyer is not the user, so skip replenishment and send gift-receipt and returns information.

• December: shipping-cutoff emails go to non-buyers only.

All of these steps should be built into your email automation workflows, with special attention to the post-purchase flow.

For example, if a gift order comes in at 2 p.m. on December 1 with a different shipping address, tag it as a gift, remove it from last-call offers within the hour, and send gift-receipt and return information instead of adding it to a replenishment email flow.

Let Darkroom help you plan your Black Friday campaigns

Successful Black Friday email marketing is all about timing and knowing your audience. We recommend sending ten focused campaigns to segments based on engagement and customer value, at a volume that inbox providers already trust. Text messages go only to subscribers who have given consent, and always during the day. After Cyber Monday, every new buyer is added to your post-purchase flows.

Darkroom sets up and manages this program in your Klaviyo, Attentive, or Postscript platform. We create a ranked journey map, launch lifecycle automations within 30 days, and share a campaign calendar for your approval before anything goes out.

Get a free retention audit

Frequently Asked Questions

When should Black Friday emails start in 2026?

Begin sending registration emails in late October or early November. Send teaser emails between November 17 and 19, and offer VIP early access during the week before Black Friday. Thanksgiving is on November 26, Black Friday is November 27, and Cyber Monday is November 30. Plan to send your last call emails on November 30 or December 1.

How many Black Friday emails should you send?

There isn’t a set number, since it depends on your audience. Highly engaged customers can get every campaign, which is about ten emails and four or five texts over five weeks. For less engaged subscribers, send only the launch, Cyber Monday, and last call emails to keep complaint rates low.

Should Black Friday emails and texts carry the same offer?

Make sure the main offer is the same in both emails and texts, but use each channel for a different purpose. Use email to share details, product options, and gift guides. Use texts for timing, like early access, launch reminders, and last call messages. Attentive found that combining SMS with email led to 18.4% better conversion than SMS alone during Cyber Week 2025.

Which metrics show whether Black Friday email worked?

Measure each campaign by looking at revenue per recipient for each segment, order rate, and spam complaint rate. For the whole season, check the 90-day repeat purchase rate for customers gained during Cyber Week, broken down by discount level. Use a holdout group that doesn’t get any promotional emails to see how much revenue your program really generated.