Black Friday & Cyber Monday, the five-day sprint marketers shorthand as BFCM, still generate more digital revenue than any other week of the year. In 2024, U.S. shoppers spent $10.8 billion online on Black Friday and $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, both record highs, with 57% of Cyber-Monday sales coming through a phone. That momentum will only intensify in 2025, so now is the moment to line up your Black Friday marketing ideas, refine your Black Friday email marketing ideas, and map out exactly how to prepare for Black Friday, plus the Cyber Monday marketing ideas that keep the party going.
Adobe forecasts overall U.S. holiday e-commerce to climb past $240 billion this year, an 8% gain on 2024.
Two factors explain why the stakes (and the upsides!) are higher than ever:
The strategies below acknowledge those realities and give you practical blueprints you can deploy in the eight weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.
Begin with margin math, not creative brainstorming. Decide now whether you’ll lead with bundles, gifts-with-purchase, tiered “buy-more-save-more,” or a mix. Locking the economics early prevents frantic price-slashing later.
Cull dormant email addresses and reconfirm SMS opt-ins. If you’re moving to a dedicated IP, start warming it with steady volume so your Black Friday blasts land in inboxes, not spam.
Trigger test purchases in GA4, Meta CAPI, and any first-party analytics (e.g., PostHog) to be sure revenue is mapped correctly. Bad tags during BFCM leave you flying blind when bids need real-time tweaks.
Use heat-maps and checkout-funnel recordings to spot friction. Shrink image payloads, enlarge any tap target under 48 px, and eliminate redundant form fields. A smoother mobile path often lifts conversion more than an extra discount.
Finish hero graphics, countdown timers, and dynamic-price modules. Script email/SMS flows, then feed everything through brand and legal review while the calendar is still forgiving.
Send a cryptic teaser to high-LTV customers (“You’re on the list”). Post behind-the-scenes Reels of inventory rolling in. This primes both algorithms and humans to expect a spike in branded searches.
Upload, but don’t publish, ad sets across Meta, Google, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Sync fresh look-alike audiences built from your newly scrubbed CRM lists. When the clock strikes midnight, you’ll flip campaigns live without creative bottlenecks.
Hammer your checkout with 3x projected peak traffic; place live orders with every payment method and coupon. Spin up a war-room chat channel and document who owns each break-fix.
Email loyal customers a password-protected landing page 72 hours early. Scarcity plus exclusivity drives higher average order values because inventory is still plentiful.
Group complementary products without revealing every item. Shoppers pay for the surprise; you free warehouse space and protect margins.
A digital wheel turns a discount into an experience. Weight the prizes so most results align with your planned markdown, and limit spins to one per email to grow the list.
Instead of slashing prices, offer a small, high-perceived-value add-on (e.g., travel-size version, extended warranty). The perceived bonus can outweigh a deeper discount and keeps your AOV intact.
Rotate a new deal at the top of every hour (e.g., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) to smooth traffic spikes. Pre-schedule price changes inside your e-commerce platform so ops remains calm.
Partner with micro-creators who fit your niche and arm them with unique one-hour codes. Live shopping blends social proof with real-time scarcity, especially powerful on TikTok Shop and Instagram Live.
If your brand voice leans community-minded, pledge a fixed donation per order (“$1 to re-plant trees”). You’ll speak to shoppers weary of hyper-consumerism and may win margin-friendly sales.
Implement a real-time cart meter—10 % off above $100, 15 % above $200, 20 % above $300. Shoppers watch themselves “unlock” the next tier, nudging basket size upward.
Wave 1 (Wednesday evening) is plain-text and brief: “You’re on the list.” Wave 2 (midnight Friday) unveils deals with dynamic blocks. Smart-sending rules prevent inbox fatigue for customers who already bought.
At 11:50 p.m. local time, text subscribers: “Doors open in 10—tap to queue 🛒.” Link to a wait-room page that auto-refreshes at 00:00. Short, urgent, and mobile-native.
Within 20 minutes of purchase, email a one-click upsell: “Add a $15 mystery item worth at least $35.” The dopamine hit continues and shipping consolidation keeps fulfillment costs low.
On Monday, target Black-Friday purchasers with “15% off your first month if you subscribe today.” It feels like a deal yet preserves future predictable revenue.
Cyber Monday shoppers often suffer FOMO from deals they missed. Capitalize with offers engineered for second-chance psychology:
| Funnel Stage | Core Metric | Bench-mark Goal | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic | Unique Sessions | +30% vs. Nov avg | Confirms warm-up buzz translated into site visits |
| Engagement | Email Click-Through Rate | ≥6% segmented | Early signal your offers resonate |
| Conversion | Mobile Checkout Rate | ≥4% | Phones now majority; desktop success can’t mask mobile pain |
| Basket | Average Order Value | +15% 30-day avg | Validates bundles & tiers are elevating spend |
| Retention | 60-Day Repeat Rate | ≥18% | Shows Cyber-Monday cross-sell sticks |
| Efficiency | Blended ROAS | ≥3.5x | Cuts through siloed dashboards to reveal real return |
Pipe GA4, Shopify, and ad-platform spend into Metabase or Looker Studio. Use red/green thresholds so the war-room can reallocate budget within minutes, not days.
This holiday season will reward teams that plan ahead, tell a compelling story, and keep the buying experience friction-free–especially on mobile. Lock in your offer early, nurture excitement over the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and use the data you collect in real time to nudge spend where it matters most. With the right mix of creativity and discipline, BFCM can be more than a sales spike; it can set the tone for the entire year ahead.
Need a second set of eyes on your plan? Book a free 20-minute BFCM audit with Haven Media Solutions and launch with confidence.
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