Black Friday 2026 falls on November 27, followed by Cyber Monday on November 30.
And if you’re running an ecommerce brand, you probably don’t want to start preparing that week.
By then, the big decisions should already be made.
Your offer. Your audience. Your flows. Your website. Your campaign calendar. And ideally, you already have people waiting for early access.
Here’s how to prepare.
1. Start planning before November
Use October to get the big decisions out of the way.
What’s the offer?
How long will it run?
Which products are you pushing?
What happens if stock gets low?
What are your shipping cut-offs?
And how many emails and SMS messages are you planning to send?
Getting those answers early makes November much easier.
2. Build your Black Friday audience early
Don’t wait until the sale is live before trying to build your list.
Start collecting interested shoppers beforehand with:
- Early access
- VIP access
- First access to limited stock
- Subscriber-only offers
Once someone joins, your welcome flow can start introducing the brand before Black Friday arrives.
That gives you more time to turn a new subscriber into someone who actually wants to buy.
3. Get your list ready for more emails
You’ll probably send more emails during BFCM than you normally do.
That’s fine.
What you don’t want is to go from sending once a week to suddenly emailing your entire database several times a day.
Start with your engaged audience and expand carefully.
| Audience | When to use it |
|---|---|
| 30-day engaged | Start with your most active subscribers |
| 60-day engaged | Expand if engagement stays healthy |
| 90-day engaged | Broaden further where appropriate |
The exact segments will depend on your normal sending behaviour and list health.
4. Give your best customers early access
You don’t always need to give VIP customers a bigger discount.
Sometimes being first is enough.
You could give repeat buyers, high-value customers, or highly engaged subscribers access 24 or 48 hours before everyone else.
It gives them something extra without automatically giving away more margin.
5. Keep the offer easy to understand
Black Friday shoppers are seeing a lot of promotions at once.
So keep yours simple.
- 25% off sitewide.
- Buy 2, save 20%.
- Spend £100, get a free gift.
- Free shipping over £75.
There’s no single best Black Friday offer.
Look at your margins, average order value, inventory, and what customers usually buy together.
Then make sure someone can understand the offer in a few seconds.
6. Check your website and Klaviyo flows
This is one of the easiest things to overlook.
Your website might be offering 25% off while your welcome flow is still giving new subscribers 10%.
Or an abandoned checkout email might still be promoting an old offer.
Before BFCM, go through your main Klaviyo email flows:
- Welcome Series
- Browse abandonment Flow
- Cart abandonment Flow
- Abandoned checkout Flow
- Post-purchase
Check links, codes, banners, product blocks, timers, shipping information, and mobile formatting.
Your abandoned checkout flow matters even more when traffic starts climbing.
7. Increase frequency as buying intent rises
You don’t necessarily need to go heavy at the beginning of November.
But as Black Friday gets closer, your frequency can increase.
A simple sequence might look like this:
| Campaign | Main job |
|---|---|
| Early Access Invite | Build the VIP list |
| Early Access Launch | Let subscribers shop first |
| Black Friday Launch | Introduce the main offer |
| Bestsellers | Help people decide what to buy |
| Social Proof | Reduce hesitation |
| Category Spotlight | Push specific products |
| Low Stock | Add genuine urgency |
| Final Hours | Make the deadline clear |
You don’t need every single one.
But every email should have a reason to exist.
8. Change the angle, not just the subject line
You can keep the same Black Friday offer without sending the same email repeatedly.
One campaign can feature bestsellers.
Another can show reviews.
Another can highlight gift ideas.
Another can focus on one category.
Then later, you can move into genuine scarcity and final-hours messaging.
Same promotion.
Different reason to come back.
9. Adjust the plan as customers start buying
Your Black Friday calendar shouldn’t be completely fixed.
Pay attention to what’s actually happening.
If someone already purchased, you may want to reduce or change the promotional emails they receive.
If a product is almost sold out, change what you’re featuring.
If your shipping cut-off is approaching, start mentioning it.
And once customers buy, your post-purchase emails should take over the next part of the journey.
10. Plan for what happens after Cyber Monday
Black Friday can bring a lot of first-time customers into your store.
The next opportunity is getting some of them to come back.
That could mean:
- Product education.
- Cross-sells.
- Reviews.
- Replenishment.
- Repeat-purchase emails.
- Holiday gifting.
- Winback later on.
So don’t build your BFCM calendar only up to Cyber Monday.
Plan December too.
A Simple BFCM 2026 Timeline
| Timing | Focus |
|---|---|
| October | Offer, inventory, creative, flows, and campaign planning |
| Early November | List preparation and early-access audience building |
| Mid-November | VIP signup, website assets, and campaign production |
| Black Friday Week | Increase frequency and rotate campaign angles |
| Cyber Monday | Finish with a clear offer and deadline |
| December | Holiday gifting, shipping deadlines, and retention |
Black Friday gets a lot easier when you stop treating it like a one-day sale.
Most of the work happens before November 27.
And a lot of the value comes after it.
Need help with your BFCM email strategy?
A strong BFCM setup usually includes campaigns, segmentation, lifecycle flows, reporting, and optimisation working together.
If you want help putting that into place, YPM is a Klaviyo email marketing agency in the Philippines offering Klaviyo email marketing services and ecommerce email & SMS marketing for brands that want a stronger retention system around BFCM and beyond.
Want us to take a look at what you already have and show you where the biggest opportunities are?
Black Friday 2026 FAQs
When is Black Friday 2026?
Black Friday 2026 falls on November 27, 2026.
When is Cyber Monday 2026?
Cyber Monday 2026 falls on November 30, 2026.
When should you start planning for Black Friday?
Ideally, start planning in October or earlier.
Should you send more emails during BFCM?
Usually, yes. Increase frequency gradually and keep each email useful.
Should you update your Klaviyo flows?
Yes. Make sure your offers, codes, links, and messaging match the BFCM promotion.
What happens after Cyber Monday?
Shift into post-purchase, holiday gifting, repeat purchase, and retention.
Jasmin Umali
Jasmin Umali is the Founder of Your Proactive Media and a Klaviyo email marketing strategist with 6 years of experience helping ecommerce brands generate an additional 20%–30% or more revenue through email marketing.
