In this guide: Turn months of preparation into campaigns that deliver. Craft messages that resonate, optimize your send times, and update your behavioral flows to create connections that result in BFCM success.

The final countdown has begun. With 30 days until Black Friday, the foundation you’ve built over the past few months is ready to support your Cyber Week success.

Brands are feeling the pressure of economic uncertainty:

• 68% of marketers are adapting their strategy in the face of inventory and cost-of-goods challenges caused by tariffs
• 75% of shoppers expect to shift their end-of-year shopping plans by buying fewer items and searching for more deals and discounts.
• 29% plan to spend less during BFCM this year.

But you’re prepared. If you’ve followed our BFCM countdown, you’ve already established your email and SMS foundation and crafted a strategic messaging roadmap designed to excite customers to shop with you.

Now it’s time to execute with the confidence that comes from an intentional, data-backed strategy.

Our recommendations are rooted in nine years of BFCM data and the 3.9 billion emails and text messages that were delivered through the Attentive platform during Cyber Week 2024. We’ve seen what works when the stakes are highest—and what separates the brands that thrive.

This is your moment to embrace authentic connection. The campaigns you create for BFCM and through the end of Q4 will not only drive immediate revenue, but also build the customer relationships that sustain your business long after the busiest shopping season of the year.

Take a breath—let’s execute your BFCM messaging strategy.

Your sign-up forms are a powerful tool for building an audience you can promote to directly during your Black Friday sales. We recommend updating your sign-up units before and during your sales to boost list growth that will translate into revenue.

Build anticipation before Black Friday

The subscribers you gain in the months leading up to Black Friday are particularly valuable. Our data shows that subscribers who joined between June and mid-November 2024 had 14% higher AOVs (average order values) during Cyber Week than all prior subscribers. You can still capitalize on this over the next 30 days.

Leading up to your sales, change your sign-up unit to tease your Black Friday deals. Knowing that your best offers of the year are coming is a great incentive to draw in new subscribers so they can be notified when your sale starts.

In your updated subscriber forms, give shoppers a reason to opt in by sharing the benefits, like:

• Early access to Black Friday deals
• Exclusive BFCM offers
• First to know when sales launch
• A stackable welcome offer that can be used on top of BFCM deals

Keep your sign-up forms active during Cyber Week

One common mistake brands make is turning off their welcome pop-ups during BFCM because they don’t want to run additional offers during Cyber Week. But simply mirroring your on-site offer in your sign-up forms can drive incredible results. Plus, subscribers who sign up during Cyber Week are super high-value.

In 2024, subscribers acquired during Cyber Week only accounted for 1.7% of brands’ subscriber lists, but they accounted for 33% of their revenue.

In fact, welcome flows saw an 11% conversion rate on Black Friday and 10% conversion rate on Cyber Monday, accounting for over $141 million in revenue.

Give your sign-up unit a refresh for BFCM-relevance:

• Update your copy with your Cyber Week deals
• Emphasize the time-sensitive nature of your sale in your copy or by adding a countdown timer
• Highlight exclusive subscriber benefits like free shipping, early access to your daily deals, etc.
• Showcase specific product categories or best sellers from your BFCM sale in your imagery

“In the final 30 days before BFCM, every site visit counts, and so does every sign-up. Keep your pop-ups live, surface them early and often, and test timing, placement, and offers aggressively. The subscribers you capture now are among the highest converters during the holiday season. At Alchemy Worx, we see this short window as a critical acquisition sprint, not just for list growth, but for bottom-line performance.”

Michelle Casey, Vice President of Strategy, Alchemy Worx

Turn more visitors into high-value subscribers with AI Grow

While these tactics will help you motivate shoppers effectively, static sign-up unit rules miss opportunities to maximize performance.

AI Grow replaces guesswork with intelligence, using real time behavioral signals to show the right sign-up unit to the right shopper at the perfect moment.

Instead of showing the same pop-up to everyone, AI Grow learns from how visitors arrive, navigate, and engage with your site, then personalizes the sign-up experience to maximize both conversion and subscriber quality.

The results speak for themselves: ~25% incremental list growth with subscribers who convert at higher rates.

This creates a stronger foundation for everything that follows: better subscribers lead to better campaign performance and higher lifetime value.

The last date to start an AI Grow trial before BFCM is October 15.

Take the messaging plan you developed in 60 Days to BFCM: Nurture Your Path and compose the specific emails and texts that will drive your Cyber Week success.

Incorporate what you’ve learned resonates with your subscribers over the last few months and consider these Black Friday best practices.

Orchestrate for maximum impact

The 2025 Consumer Trends Report shows that 58% of consumers are more likely to purchase when receiving the same promotion across channels—but 72% want brands to use text and email differently.

Your opportunity lies in building campaigns that tell a cohesive story across both channels while leveraging the unique strengths of each:

• Announce by SMS first, then follow up by email: Consumers tend to see their texts sooner than they see emails, so send your initial announcement as a text message. Send an email a few minutes after your first text message that provides full details about your sale and more visuals.
• Send these first Black Friday messages to your entire list: Plenty of subscribers are inactive the rest of the year, but re-activate for BFCM.
• Create sequential campaigns that build on each other: Use SMS for quick sale reminders that encourage purchases. Follow up by email to add more details about your offer or address purchase hesitations.
• Target based on channel affinity: If certain subscribers are more engaged on a particular channel—or only subscribe to one—segment to account for individual behavior. Develop flows for email-only and SMS-only subscribers to create a cohesive brand experience.

When you coordinate your email and SMS campaigns, you create multiple touchpoints to engage subscribers without feeling repetitive or overwhelming.

Best practices for high-performing SMS campaigns

SMS is your front line channel for Cyber Week. Shoppers often see texts within minutes, making it perfect for time-sensitive communications and driving immediate action.

During Cyber Week, the brands that see the most success send 3x their normal SMS volume. Those that increased their weekly campaign volume by 2.5-3x in 2024 saw an average 626% increase in revenue.

When creating your Cyber Week SMS campaigns:

• Create a sense of urgency: Scarcity and urgency boost conversion rates by 12% in SMS campaigns with offers. If urgency is usually off-brand, you can get away with it on days like BFCM because your deals really are time-sensitive.
• Use percentages in your offer: Percentage offer formats lead to 10% higher conversion rates than dollar amounts. Percentages immediately communicate the value shoppers are getting in the moment they’re deciding to buy.
• Speak directly to your subscribers: Second-person language yields 5% higher click-through rates and 9% higher conversions in SMS campaigns with offers. It shifts the focus to the subscriber, making it feel tailored rather than mass-distributed.
• Keep messages between 75–115 characters when possible: Our data shows that messages over 240 characters have 8.5% lower conversion rates than those between 160 and 240 characters, though we’ve found shorter messages perform best. We recommend keeping your texts to 75–115 characters when possible.
• Use SMS, not MMS, for time-sensitive communications: Since consumers usually see text messages quickly, send inventory updates and time-running-out notices by SMS. Send these as true SMS since MMS can take longer to send.
• If you're sending MMS, plan to use it for ~25% of your total sends: These messages can result in up to a 50%+ increase in 0-day click revenue. Be sure your MMS makes sense as an SMS. If there are extreme carrier delays, Attentive may remove the image asset to ensure prompt delivery of your message.

Best practices for high-performing email campaigns

Email excels at building trust by providing the details subscribers need to feel confident about their purchase decisions. During BFCM, focus your email content on converting the interest that SMS generates.

Your subject line will make or break your email’s success. Encourage subscribers to open your message with these best practices:

• Create urgency and excitement: Encourage clicks by leaning into scarcity. Communicate limited time or inventory.
• Be direct about your offer: Clear, benefit-focused subject lines outperform clickbait and tell subscribers exactly why your email deserves attention.
• Use emojis to accent your message, not replace words: Visual elements can help emails stand out in crowded inboxes. You can expect to see a lot of gift boxes (🎁), alarm clocks (⏰), and siren emojis (🚨). Go a different route and choose something that feels fresh for your brand.
• Use caps sparingly: All caps can get attention, but they can also send your email to the spam folder. Most marketers default to capitalizing a key word or two.
• Include social proof: Help time-pressed shoppers make quick decisions with subject lines like “Save 30% on our 5-star best seller”.
• Consider the segment you’re sending to: For subscribers who signed up before BFCM, our data shows including “live” in subject lines performs well. For example, “Black Friday sale LIVE now: 30% off everything.” For subscribers who signed up during BFCM, mentioning “Cyber Monday” in subject lines performs best.
• Include the subscriber’s name for your unengaged audience: Using a subscriber’s full name in the subject line is especially effective for increasing open and conversion rates for shoppers who haven’t opened in 2–4 weeks or 6+ months. Recent engagers make a lot of revenue for brands either way.

For the body of your email, focus on structuring it to drive conversions:

• Lead with your strongest offer: Put your best deal in the first few lines—many subscribers will only skim your content during the busy shopping period.
• Include an action-oriented CTA that stands out: Choose contrasting-colors for your CTA and place it above the fold. Include another CTA at the end for longer emails. Encourage customers to click with action-oriented language, like “Shop now” or “Unlock 25% off”.
• Add authentic urgency: Reference real deadlines and inventory levels. If your sale truly ends at midnight, say so. If you only have limited quantities, be specific about what that means.
• Showcase social proof: Include customer reviews, star ratings, UGC, media awards, or purchase counts to help subscribers feel confident about their decisions when they can't spend time researching.

Amplify campaign performance with Attentive’s AI Pro for email and SMS

When every message competes for attention during this time of year, AI becomes an essential tool for cutting through the noise and delivering high-performing email and SMS campaigns at scale.

Attentive’s AI Pro is built to deliver better campaign results than manual optimization:

• Write on-brand copy in half the time: Brand Voice AI learns your brand voice and creates compelling SMS campaigns and email subject lines based on historical messages.
• Improve your segments for more revenue and a better ROI: Audiences AI automatically optimizes your segments for each campaign by adding in conversion-ready subscribers and excluding those who aren’t, driving up to a 40% increase in multi-channel campaign revenue.
• Personalize your send times to boost clicks and conversions: For any messages that aren’t time-sensitive—mostly extended sales or campaigns before and after BFCM—Send Time AI delivers emails and texts at the time of day each individual subscriber is most likely to engage.
• Identify more high-value site visitors: Identity AI recognizes shoppers beyond their browser cookie lifetime to improve segmentation and behavioral targeting so you never miss an opportunity to engage them with personalized messaging.

High-performing brands like Thread are already using Attentive AI™ to drive great results.

“Attentive AI is critical to enable before a big promotional period. It helps identify the best times to send campaigns, and how to engage and re-engage your customers effectively. A big bonus is leveraging your list properly by leaving off people who are unlikely to purchase, so you’re not paying more for less!”

Elizabeth Krupka, Owner, Nomadd Marketing

With your campaigns drafted, schedule them well in advance so you can triple-check your work and ensure your sale runs smoothly. If you use Attentive, we’ll be able to identify potential SMS and email deliverability issues and prepare mobile carriers for text message volume.

The same campaign sent at different times can see dramatically different results. Our 2024 BFCM data reveals a fascinating gap between the most popular send times and the ones that earn the most conversions.

But it doesn’t mean you should avoid sending at other times. Shoppers are considering a lot of offers, so it’s helpful to introduce your deals early (especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday) and then follow up when they’re ready to buy.

Best times to send SMS campaigns during Cyber Week

The immediacy of text messages means subscribers see your offers instantly—but only if your messages reach them.

These are the most popular and highest-converting send times for SMS campaigns from Thanksgiving through Giving Tuesday 2024:

Phone carrier networks experience huge volume spikes on Black Friday and Cyber Monday that can delay message delivery. Peak congestion hits between 10am and 3pm ET on these days and can slow delivery of campaigns.

To ensure your time-sensitive offers reach subscribers quickly:

• Send before 10am or after 3pm ET for fastest delivery
• Avoid the top of the hour and half-hour marks (like 11am and 2:30pm) when traffic spikes
• Use MMS outside peak hours since this format tends to be slower to deliver

Best times to send email campaigns during Cyber Week

Email excels at reaching subscribers during off-peak evening hours when social distractions fade and shoppers have time to browse thoughtfully. Since SMS campaigns won’t be sent due to quiet hours, email is an ideal medium to encourage late-night browsing.

Here’s when brands sent the most emails and when shoppers converted the most in 2024:

Use Send Time AI for optimization beyond BFCM

Send Time AI, part of Attentive’s AI Pro, delivers messages when each individual subscriber is most likely to engage, improving CTR and CVR for 75%+ of SMS campaigns and boosting email conversions by 17% on average.

You just won’t want to use it to communicate about limited-time deals or fast-moving inventory. Since your Cyber Week sales probably fall under this category, we recommend using manual timing based on your performance data and the charts above.

Use Send Time AI for campaigns before Black Friday and to take advantage of more revenue opportunities after Cyber Week.

In 2024, Attentive customers recovered $16.2 million in 0-day click revenue from abandoned cart journeys sent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. That doesn’t include an additional $19.3 million recovered from these triggered messages beyond the day they were sent.

Your behavioral flows are revenue workhorses that automatically engage customers based on their interactions with your brand. During BFCM, small optimizations to these triggered messages create big revenue gains.

Audit your behavioral email and SMS sequences to get the most out of them during Cyber Week:

• Accelerate trigger timing to suit the rapid pace of BFCM shopping: Sending behavioral messages quicker lets you capitalize on shoppers’ fast purchase decisions—just make sure subscribers won’t receive messages too frequently given the increase in browse and cart abandonment.
• Update with BFCM-appropriate copy: Replace generic messaging with language that promotes your sales and helps them complete their BFCM shopping.
• Enhance welcome journeys for BFCM signups: New subscribers during BFCM generate much higher revenue from the welcome flow than usual. Consider adding 1–2 extra messages to your welcome journey to push for as many conversions as possible.
• Leverage cart abandonment for established subscribers: Pre-BFCM subscribers respond particularly well to cart abandonment. Add extra touch points to this behavioral flow as well to encourage them to check out.

In the Attentive platform, you can schedule changes to your journeys with BFCM messaging so you don't have to remember to change them back after the ‌sale is over.

While you may see the most revenue during BFCM, end-of-year holiday shopping isn’t over yet. Historically, 120+ million shoppers expected to shop during Super Saturday (the Saturday before Christmas) and that number has trended upward over the years.

Use the weeks following BFCM to build stronger relationships with your new subscribers and capture additional revenue opportunities through the end of the year.

• Promote extended sales: Give customers a reason to keep shopping with extended Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
• Send shipping deadline reminders: Help procrastinating shoppers with clear cutoff dates for holiday delivery.
• Offer last-minute gift solutions: Promote digital gift cards or expedited shipping for late shoppers.
• Share helpful content: Send gift guides, holiday prep tips, or seasonal recipes that provide value beyond promotional messaging.
• Promote Boxing Day sales: This shopping holiday is gaining global momentum and gives brands an opportunity to clear seasonal inventory.
• Build relationships with new BFCM subscribers: Send post-purchase messages with product tutorials, styling guides, or usage tips to help them get the most from their purchase.
• Cross-sell complementary products: Encourage subscribers' next purchase with items that pair well with their recent buys.
• Invite subscribers to loyalty programs: While their enthusiasm for your brand is high, encourage new customers to join for exclusive perks.
• Tease upcoming launches: Create anticipation for new products coming in January to maintain engagement into Q1.

The finish line is in sight. Once you’ve built your campaigns, optimized your send times, and prepared your behavioral flows, you’ll want to check your work to ensure a seamless BFCM launch.

• Confirm that your campaigns are scheduled correctly: Double-check that your carefully planned send times, dates, and audience targeting are set accurately.
• Review campaign content: Check your campaigns in mobile and desktop views to ensure legibility. Verify that your CTAs stand out and your links are correct. 
• Test all your behavioral flows end-to-end: You stand to bring in significant revenue from your triggered messages, so make sure they’re firing correctly. Test your sequences and ensure your trigger timing, messaging, and links are all correct.
• Verify your sign-up forms are working properly: As your frontline for capturing new, high-value subscribers, you’ll want to test your pop-ups, embedded forms, and opt-in landing pages across devices and browsers to ensure they’re appearing as you want them to. Confirm that your triggers and forms are working as expected.

When you’re confident that your BFCM messaging strategy is set to perform, you can focus on real-time strategy when your deals go live.

You’re ready to execute with confidence

Congrats! You’ve put in the work over the last few months to lay the groundwork for BFCM success. By establishing your email and SMS foundation, building your messaging strategy, and crafting standout campaigns, you’ve approached the Q4 shopping period with clear intention. Now you can step into Black Friday confidently.

Remember to:

• Update sign-up forms to capture subscribers in advance of BFCM and keep them live during your sales
• Draft your email and SMS campaigns with proven best practices and leverage the strengths of each channel
• Align campaign send times with customer purchase habits
• Schedule your campaigns in advance to ensure timely delivery
• Adjust behavioral flows for BFCM shopping patterns
• Amplify your performance with Attentive AI™
• Double-check your work to ensure a seamless launch

Want more resources to boost your Black Friday success? Keep browsing the Marketers Sanctuary resources below for tools and guidance to help you outperform without the pressure.