Playbook · Ecommerce
Black Friday and Cyber Monday plan for ecommerce
Most of BFCM revenue is decided in October, not on the day. Here's the plan and the timeline.
- 8 ranked moves
- 4-week sequence
- Budget scales with ad spend
Black Friday and Cyber Monday plan for ecommerce: what should you actually do?
Most of BFCM revenue is decided in October, not on the day. Here's the plan and the timeline. There are 8 ranked plays here, starting with decide your one offer structure and stick to it, sequenced over 4 weeks, each with the tools it needs, the hours it takes and what it costs. Written for 2026 and free to read in full.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Play | Effort | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Decide your one offer structure and stick to it | 1 hour | £0 |
| Grow the list in October specifically for BFCM | 2 hours setup, then passive | £0 |
| Stress-test your site and checkout before the traffic spike | Half a day | £0 |
| Build the full email and SMS calendar in advance | 1–2 days | Included in platform cost |
| Give your existing customers early access before the public | 2 hours | £0 |
| Raise ad budgets gradually, don't flip a switch on the day | Ongoing monitoring | Scales with normal spend, typically 2–4x your usual monthly budget for the week |
| Bundle or gift-with-purchase instead of deeper discounting | 1 hour | Cost of gift item |
| Plan the post-BFCM win-back and inventory clearout | Half a day | £0 |
Black Friday and Cyber Monday now stretch across most of November, and stores that only start preparing in the last week of the month consistently underperform those who've built the list, tested the offer and fixed the site well in advance. The biggest single lever isn't the discount — it's how big your email and SMS list is going into the period.
This plan works backwards from Black Friday, assuming you're reading it around early-to-mid October. Adjust the weeks if you're starting later, but don't skip the list-building and site-testing steps even under time pressure — they're what the discount period actually monetises.
- — A store that's traded through at least one previous November
- — An email/SMS list already in place, even a modest one
- — Inventory ordered and confirmed for the period already
- — A discount structure decided in advance, not improvised on the day
A store launching for the first time in November should focus on the ecommerce-first-100-orders plan instead — BFCM discounting works best on an audience that already knows you.
The moves
Ranked, highest return first.
Work down the list. Each one names the first step so there's nothing to plan.
- 01
Decide your one offer structure and stick to it
Stacking multiple discount codes, flash sales and 'secret' extra discounts across the period confuses buyers and trains them to wait for the next drop.
First step: Pick one clear offer (e.g. 20% sitewide, or tiered spend thresholds) for the whole period and write it down before you plan anything else — no exceptions once decided.
- Tools
- None — a planning decision
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- £0
- 02
Grow the list in October specifically for BFCM
Every new subscriber added before the sale is someone you can email on the day at zero incremental cost — list size going into BFCM is the single biggest lever most stores underuse.
First step: Run a 'be first to know about our Black Friday deal' popup and social campaign through October, offering early access as the incentive rather than a discount yet.
- Tools
- Klaviyo, Shopify Forms
- Effort
- 2 hours setup, then passive
- Cost
- £0
- 03
Stress-test your site and checkout before the traffic spike
A slow or broken checkout on the highest-traffic day of the year is the most expensive bug of the whole year.
First step: Run a load test or at minimum manually test checkout on mobile, on 3G speed simulation, and with a promo code applied, at least two weeks before Black Friday.
- Tools
- Shopify, GTmetrix or similar
- Effort
- Half a day
- Cost
- £0
- 04
Build the full email and SMS calendar in advance
Writing emails in the moment during BFCM week leads to rushed, generic copy — and you need more sends than usual across the period without it feeling spammy.
First step: Draft a calendar: early access tease, sale launch, day-2 reminder, last-chance-24-hours, and a final-hours push, plus matching SMS for the two highest-urgency moments.
- Tools
- Klaviyo, Postscript
- Effort
- 1–2 days
- Cost
- Included in platform cost
- 05
Give your existing customers early access before the public
Rewarding your list with early access increases their perceived value in being subscribed, and spreads server load and demand across more days.
First step: Open the sale 24–48 hours early exclusively to your email/SMS list with a unique early-access link, before the public sitewide launch.
- Tools
- Klaviyo
- Effort
- 2 hours
- Cost
- £0
- 06
Raise ad budgets gradually, don't flip a switch on the day
Ad platforms need time to relearn on a new offer and audience behaviour — a sudden 5x budget increase on the day itself often performs worse than a gradual ramp.
First step: Start increasing budget by 20–30% every few days from mid-November so the algorithm has time to adjust before the peak days.
- Tools
- Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads
- Effort
- Ongoing monitoring
- Cost
- Scales with normal spend, typically 2–4x your usual monthly budget for the week
- 07
Bundle or gift-with-purchase instead of deeper discounting
A gift-with-purchase or bundle can feel just as valuable to the buyer while protecting your margin more than an extra 10% off.
First step: Offer a free add-on above a spend threshold instead of increasing your headline discount if you need a mid-sale boost.
- Tools
- Your store platform
- Effort
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Cost of gift item
- 08
Plan the post-BFCM win-back and inventory clearout
A large batch of new customers acquired during BFCM need a second touch quickly, or the acquisition cost never pays back.
First step: Build a December flow specifically for BFCM-period customers: thank you, product usage tips, and a soft second offer around week 3.
- Tools
- Klaviyo
- Effort
- Half a day
- Cost
- £0
Sequence
What to do first, week by week.
Decide and prepare
Lock the offer structure, start list-growth campaign, begin site stress-testing.
Build assets
Draft the full email/SMS calendar, prepare creative for ads, confirm inventory allocation per SKU.
Warm up
Begin gradual ad budget increases, finalise early-access list segment, QA the checkout again.
Execute
Run early access, launch sitewide, send the full email/SMS calendar, monitor site performance hourly on peak days.
Avoid
Where this usually goes wrong.
Deciding the discount on the day
An improvised, deepening discount mid-sale trains your best customers to wait you out every year and erodes margin you didn't plan for.
Flipping ad budget up suddenly on Black Friday itself
Ad accounts need time to adjust to new spend levels — a sudden jump often costs more per result than a gradual ramp starting weeks earlier.
No plan for the customers acquired during the sale
BFCM-acquired customers who never hear from you again after their first order were expensive one-off transactions, not new customers — the win-back flow is not optional.
Questions
Common questions.
When should I start preparing for Black Friday?
Early October at the latest for list-building and site testing — the discount itself matters less than how many people you can reach on the day.
Should I give my email list early access?
Yes — it rewards loyalty, spreads demand across more days, and reduces the shock of a single traffic spike on launch day.
How much should I increase ad budget for BFCM?
Typically 2–4x your normal monthly spend for the peak week, ramped up gradually from mid-November rather than switched on all at once.
Is a bigger discount always better for BFCM?
No — a bundle or gift-with-purchase can perform similarly while protecting margin, and constant discount escalation damages full-price sales for months afterward.
What's the biggest mistake stores make after BFCM ends?
Not following up with new customers. A dedicated post-sale flow to convert one-off BFCM buyers into repeat customers is one of the highest-return moves of the whole quarter.
More playbooks
Other plans worth reading.
How to grow an ecommerce email list
ReadPlaybook · ConversionPlan to improve free trial to paid conversion
ReadPlaybook · EfficiencyPlan to reduce customer acquisition cost
ReadPlaybook · LaunchProduct launch week plan
ReadPlaybook · OutboundHow to build an outbound sales motion from scratch
ReadPlaybook · SEOSEO plan for a brand new website
ReadElsewhere on gtm.help
Keep exploring.
Free marketing tools
Calculators and generators that run without a signup.
BrowseTool guides
What to use, what it costs, when it earns its keep.
BrowseTool comparisons
Head-to-head picks for the calls people get stuck on.
BrowseMarketing checklists
Task lists by business type and competitive situation.
BrowseStraight answers
The growth questions founders ask, answered with numbers.
BrowseGet started
Get this ranked for your business.
Paste your URL and you'll have a plan built from your site and competitors in about a minute.