Brands that improved their BFCM messaging performance last year pointed to one move above the rest: growing their subscriber list before Cyber Week. Here’s how to earn more high-intent subscribers now—and build an email and SMS list that’s ready when BFCM traffic picks up.

List growth matters now because high-intent shoppers are already showing up:

• Subscribers who join between June and mid-November have historically had higher AOVs during Cyber Week than earlier subscribers.
• 46% of shoppers will start their holiday shopping before November this year.
• 73% of BFCM shoppers last year signed up for emails or texts specifically to get deal alerts.

Here are seven ways to grow your email and SMS lists together starting now.

1. Audit your current sign-up units

Before you add anything new, confirm what you already have still works. Technical issues with sign-up units are more common than you think. Maybe a pop-up got disabled during a site update and never got turned back on. Or a display rule you tested once is keeping it hidden.

Before BFCM traffic picks up, start with a health check:

• Confirm every sign-up unit works: Make sure each one appears when it should, the form submits correctly, and the welcome message arrives. Check desktop and mobile separately. Test your welcome discount at checkout, too.
• Review your display rules: Look for long display delays or suppression windows that could limit sign-up opportunities.
• Check for page conflicts: Make sure pop-ups are not competing with other pop-ups, cookie consent banners, or key site elements.
• Verify your third-party integrations: If you use acquisition tools like a pop-up vendor, quiz tool, or loyalty platform, confirm they’re still connected and syncing back to your email and SMS platform.
• Keep an eye on impressions: A sudden dip can be an early sign that a sign-up unit is misconfigured.

2. Add more ways for shoppers to sign up

More placements create more opportunities to subscribe. Put sign-up units everywhere shoppers interact with your brand—and make it easy to join.

High-traffic site placements

Start with the places most shoppers are likely to see:

• Welcome pop-ups on your homepage, collection pages, and PDPs
• Persistent sign-up bubble so shoppers can reopen your pop-up if they close it
• Form in your site footer
• Link in your website header to trigger a pop-up or lead to a landing page

High-intent moments

Then add sign-up units where shoppers are closer to making a decision.

• PDP embeds that show visitors exactly how much they'll save on a specific product by subscribing
• Waitlist sign-ups on out-of-stock product pages
• Exit-intent pop-up to catch visitors who are about to leave
• Add-to-cart trigger to reach shoppers in consideration mode
• Opt-in at checkout (for Shopify brands)

Cross-channel capture

Use existing channels to grow your email and SMS lists:

• For single-channel subscribers, promote SMS to email-only subscribers and email to SMS-only subscribers

• On social through your link-in-bio page or a direct link in Instagram Stories

Offline

Add Text-to-Join keywords or QR codes across offline touchpoints:

• In your retail stores: dressing rooms, at checkout, on receipts
• Direct mail campaigns
• Package inserts (especially useful for marketplace orders where you can’t collect opt-ins directly)

3. Make your welcome offer worth it

Your welcome offer serves two purposes—it drives the sign-up and the first purchase—so it’s worth getting right.

89% of email subscribers and 85% of text subscribers are influenced by a welcome incentive—and close to half won’t sign up without one.

Here’s what to consider.

Type of incentive

Discounts work best—and bring in about 55% more subscribers than sign-up units without an incentive.

If discounts don’t fit your brand, other options include:

• Giveaways
• Gift with purchase
• Product recommendations from a quiz
• Loyalty incentives
• Helpful content like gift guides or how-to resources

{{protip-1}}

The amount

Offer enough to motivate without eroding your margins. A/B test in 5% increments to find the lowest effective incentive—and still brings in subscribers who could come back and pay full price later.

We recommend no lower than 10%.

{{protip-2}}

Percentage vs. fixed-amount discounts

Percentage-based incentives can encourage a higher cart value.

If you go with a fixed amount, consider a minimum spend to protect your margins.

4. Differentiate email and SMS so shoppers join both

When email and SMS feel interchangeable, shoppers may pick just one. Give each channel a distinct purpose and more will join both—81% of shoppers are more likely to sign up for both when it's clear what they'll get from each.

Clarify the value for each channel in your sign-up units:

• Subscriber-only offers or discounts
• Loyalty rewards or points
• Free shipping
• Early access to sales or product launches
• Subscriber-only product drops
• More relevant product recommendations

Since SMS is a channel of immediacy, make it the “first to know” channel—giving text subscribers first access to launches and sales. Heading into BFCM, that’s a concrete reason to join now: early access to your Black Friday deals before they go live.

UNTUCKit describes compelling benefits for each channel:

5. Fine-tune your pop-up timing

Long display delays can mean some shoppers leave your site before your sign-up unit appears.

Test your triggers (time on page, scroll depth, exit intent, add to cart) and timing to see what works for your site visitors.

The catch: the same timing won’t work for every shopper. 72% of shoppers say pop-ups appear before they’re ready to subscribe.

That’s where Attentive AI Grow comes in. It personalizes sign-up unit timing to each shopper’s behavior, surfacing your unit when they’re most likely to sign up.

The result: a 25% lift in sign-ups from the same traffic, and 35% more welcome series revenue.

Learn more about AI Grow and get a demo.

6. Optimize for every device

Sign-up unit design can turn an impression into a subscriber. Build for mobile, stay visible in iOS 26, and test every element of your design.

Build mobile-first

Most shoppers browse on their phones now: 73% of consumers shopped on a phone web browser in the past three months—versus 58% on desktop.

So build a mobile-first version of your sign-up unit:

• Legible copy for small screens
• Tappable buttons in the thumb zone
• Attentive’s patented two-tap™ technology to reduce friction and capture 2x more SMS subscribers

Earn Known Sender status in iOS 26

Apple’s iOS 26 has settings that filter texts from unrecognized senders into a separate, silenced inbox. So a shopper can opt in not see your messages. 

Two ways to land in the primary inbox:

• On mobile: Attentive two-tap™ establishes Known Sender status from the first message.
• On desktop: Add a QR code into your SMS step so shoppers initiate the opt-in from their phone.

Test your sign-up unit design

Experiment with one variable at a time:

• Format: A full-screen pop-up for your welcome offer; test other formats for different purposes.
• Interactive elements: Spin-to-win, tap-to-reveal, or other pre-engagement steps to capture interest. Countdown timers to add urgency to sale-specific units.
• Social proof: A star rating, quote, or subscriber count to build trust—best on landing pages, where you have room for copy.
• Aesthetic: Imagery, background colors, and button colors.
• CTA: Copy that makes the next step obvious.

7. Match your approach to the customer journey

Shoppers sign up at every stage of the purchase journey, so one universal unit won't always resonate.

A few ways to meet them where they are:

• Adapt to where they're browsing: A homepage visitor is still getting to know you. A shopper on a PDP is closer to buying. So on a PDP, swap in that product's imagery or show how much they'd save on that exact item.
• Tailor to the relationship: A returning customer who hasn’t subscribed yet shouldn't see a "first-purchase" discount—reframe it as a "next order" offer, highlight perks they've been missing, or keep a low-key bubble on-site.
• Tease upcoming sales: Building anticipation for BFCM or the sales leading up to it can give shoppers a timely reason to join now.

Next read

You’re on your way to building a higher-intent subscriber list before BFCM. Next: keep your sign-up units live during Cyber Week.

Many brands pause sign-up units during BFCM because they don’t want a welcome offer competing with their Cyber Week deal.

But the data points to a different approach.

In 2025, subscribers who signed up during Cyber Week made up just 0.8% of brands’ lists—but drove 22% of their Cyber Week revenue.

Learn how to update your sign-up units for BFCM traffic:

{{next-article}}

More from The Edit

• Segmentation: The Audiences to Define Before BFCM
• Your Pre-BFCM Messaging Tune-Up

‍

Disclosure: Where this material includes Attentive proprietary internal product, platform, or performance data, certain benchmarks, summaries, statistics, or insights may have been compiled or analyzed with AI-assisted tools using Attentive proprietary internal data believed to be reliable. AI-assisted analysis was subject to internal review, but may contain errors, omissions, or limitations, and the data reflects the applicable dataset, methodology, assumptions, and time period used for the analysis. Unless otherwise stated, the data has not been independently audited or verified by a third party and may not be representative of all customers, industries, campaigns, use cases, or time periods. This material is provided for general marketing and informational purposes only and does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction of future performance, savings, revenue, conversion rates, deliverability, engagement, or other business outcomes. Individual results may vary.