We break down the strategies, journeys, and outcomes from CB2, Kendra Scott, AllSaints, and more.
The strongest BFCM campaigns start long before Cyber Week. These brands planned early, tested their messaging, and built customer journeys worth learning from.
From furniture and fashion to cookware and children's apparel, Attentive customers used the season to validate programs they had been building all year: growing their lists, mapping automations, and tuning messaging to match where their customers actually were in the buying process. Below, we break down what six of them did and what it drove.
1. CB2: 854% revenue delta with AI Journeys
CB2 went into BFCM with a clear goal: deliver highly tailored messaging to increase conversions, re-engage high-intent shoppers, and drive stronger ROI. They used Attentive's AI Journeys to move from rule-based automation to dynamic, real-time personalization across three key touchpoints.
Their cart abandonment journey personalized reminders based on individual shopper behavior, adapting in real time to convert high-intent visitors who left items behind. Browse abandonment used predictive insights to re-engage customers who had explored products without taking action. And for new subscribers, the welcome journey moved beyond a generic introduction to build genuine relationships from the start.
The results:
- 561% revenue lift from the cart abandonment journey
- 268% increase in CVR from browse abandonment
- 854% revenue delta overall
And across all AI Journeys, CB2 generated 46x ROI, and add-to-cart median revenue grew 87.4% from October to November.
“From browse to buy, Attentive’s AI Journeys redefined our holiday strategy. Dynamic and adaptive personalized messaging helped us stand out and deliver results like never before.”
– Ami Patel, Associate Director, Brand Marketing at CB2
2. Davines: 445% surge in click-through rate during Cyber Week
Davines is a professional hair care brand built around a philosophy of sustainable beauty. During BFCM, they needed messaging that could perform at scale while staying aligned with the values their customers care about. AI Journeys made that possible.
By automating behavior-driven interactions across abandoned cart and browse abandonment moments, Davines delivered timely, personalized messages tuned to each customer's context. And it paid off.
During Cyber Week:
- CTR surged 445%
- Combined revenue from clicks and views lifted 229%
- Of that revenue lift, 64% came from the welcome journey and 36% from cart abandonment
That goes to show how much value sits in the full customer lifecycle, from first touch through consideration.
“We knew we needed to go beyond traditional strategies. Attentive’s AI Journeys allowed us to send data-driven, personalized messages that resonated with our customers. The results spoke for themselves: increased engagement, higher conversions, and improved customer retention, all while staying aligned with our sustainability values.”
– Amanda Griffiths, Vice President, Digital & Ecommerce at Davines
3. Kendra Scott: 48x ROI on gift recommendations and a “Yellow Friday” of their own
Kendra Scott brought their brand identity into every touchpoint of BFCM, starting with renaming Black Friday “Yellow Friday,” a nod to their signature color, and building anticipation through a custom sign-up unit that gave subscribers exclusive early access to deals. The unit drove a 55% CTR and 28% CVR.
From there, they used Two-Way Journeys™ to digitally replicate the personalized in-store experience their customers are used to. A conversational gift guide walked shoppers through tailored recommendations, making holiday decisions easier and delivering:
- 55% CTR and 48x ROI on gifting recommendations
- 31% CVR from a limited-time session abandonment journey
- 11% CVR from a MMS campaigns featuring celebrity integrations
Kendra Scott's approach is a clear example of how brand-specific programming, built around a distinct identity and a real understanding of customers, can drive meaningful results across every touchpoint.
“Attentive was essential in enabling us to connect with our subscribers when it mattered most, providing a reliable platform for timely and targeted engagement that enhanced the Cyber Week shopping experience.”
– Lauren Zarzour, Sr. Director of Paid & Owned Marketing at Kendra Scott
4. Little Sleepies: $10.2M in SMS revenue over a single weekend
Little Sleepies built their BFCM strategy around direct, timely communication with their most loyal customers. SMS was the primary channel, and the approach was focused: build anticipation early, then deliver on it at the right moment.
Two days before the sale launched, they sent a text letting subscribers know the start date and sharing shopping tips to keep the event top of mind. On sale day, they kicked it off via SMS to all previous purchasers, using on-brand language and emojis to let customers know the sale was live and rewarding them with a 30% off code.
That launch message generated:
- $3.3M in revenue with a 62% CVR
- $10.2M in SMS revenue (16% YoY increase) over the full BFCM weekend
When a brand has built genuine loyalty with its subscribers, SMS is a direct line to that relationship, and the results reflect it.
“Our customers are usually parents of little kids and they’re very busy, so the ability to reach them on their phone and make it simple for them to purchase has always been a key to our success. When it came to planning for our Black Friday Sale, it was an obvious choice to build excitement and launch it through SMS with Attentive.”
– Lindsay McClelland, Vice President of Marketing at Little Sleepies
5. AllSaints: 955x ROI from welcome and building a global growth engine
AllSaints built a scalable SMS program grounded in shopper behavior and intent. Using out-of-the-box flows and Segment UTM parameters to track which journey types performed best, the team identified their highest-leverage moments quickly. Low inventory and price drop journeys proved especially effective, reaching shoppers at high-intent moments with timely, relevant messaging.
For SMS, AllSaints created a distinct value exchange: subscribers receive 15% off, compared to 10% for email, reflecting the specific role each channel plays within the broader customer relationship. That differentiation helped reinforce SMS as a channel worth opting into.
Results from their welcome and cart abandonment journeys were strong:
- 955x ROI and 58% CVR from the welcome journey
- 358x ROI and 60% CVR from cart abandonment
- Campaigns using tighter behavioral targeting saw up to 24% CTR and 33% CVR
The program launched just before peak season, and the impact was immediate, building internal momentum for the SMS channel early in its lifecycle.
“Launching right before Black Friday felt bold, but seeing results so quickly helped show the business exactly what SMS could do.”
– Louisa Maloney, Global CRM Manager at AllSaints
6. Made In Cookware: 108x all-time SMS ROI and ~180% more conversions with AI Journeys
Made In Cookware sells high-end cookware direct-to-consumer. Their customers are considered buyers, and the team spends the year building product confidence through education, so that when promotions hit, customers are already ready to act.
Their strategy brings a few elements together. List growth is treated as a peak-season lever. The team used AI Grow to drive stronger net-new subscriber capture exactly when site traffic spikes, replacing constant manual popup testing with a higher-performing, scalable approach.
Made In Cookware runs BFCM as a series of “sale chapters,” moving from early bird through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Cyber Week, gifting, last-chance shipping, and New Year's. Evergreen flows are turned off during key sale windows and replaced with seasonal automations and journeys tuned to each phase.
AI Journeys handled the operational lift. Rather than manually editing 50-100 individual flow messages across four international markets, the team used Journeys to schedule changes and personalize at scale. In a 50/50 split test across the full peak-season window, AI Journeys drove roughly 180% more conversions than standard flows, an incremental lift on top of a program the team had already built thoughtfully.
All told, Made In Cookware’s saw:
- 108x all-time SMS program ROI
- 244x all-time journeys ROI
- 615x ROI from their welcome journey alone
“We already had journeys mapped by category and product type, so personalization was built in. AI Journeys still outperformed what we could do manually, and it felt truly incremental.”
– Kait DeNolf, Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Made In Cookware
Common thread: The right message for the right person at the right moment
While these brands deployed six different tactics, the underlying approach is consistent.
- Each brand built programs that respond to real shopper behavior.
- Each invested in the full customer lifecycle, not just the final push before checkout.
- Each used AI to get more precise and more efficient at the same time.
- And each went into BFCM with messaging that was ready to meet their customers at the right moment.
While you plan ahead of the next BFCM, these stories are a useful place to start. Grow your list early, map your journeys, and tune your messaging to where your customers actually are in their buying process.
What's actually working this BFCM?
Join us live for a briefing on July 29
Every brand in this roundup started planning long before Cyber Week, and this year's planning is already underway. Join us on Wednesday, July 29 at 1pm ET for “The Briefing: What's Actually Working This BFCM,” a live webinar with experts from Attentive, Shopify, and BMO Media. They'll share what they're seeing work right now, so you can build this season's plan on more than last year's results.
Want to see how your peak-season strategy stacks up? Explore more customer stories or get in touch with our team to build your plan.
