Black Friday is the world’s biggest sales day for both online and physical stores
I’ve received many emails asking how to optimize your business to be 100% ready for the big day. So here are my key insights—and hopefully, they’ll make you much wiser.
Once again, we’re looking at breaking records.
China recently celebrated Singles’ Day—a holiday similar to Black Friday—and once again, Alibaba Group exploded with over $1 billion in revenue in the first six minutes alone. The day ended with more than $15 billion in total sales.
In other words: is your business ready for Black Friday?
But I don’t have an online store?
Hold on! Black Friday applies to both online and physical retail stores. If your physical shop isn’t geared for Black Friday, the sales will go straight to the internet.
Let’s look at what you can do.
Landing pages
Make sure your landing page is ready well in advance.
Most studies show that consumers visit a site up to 7 times before making a purchase. If they can’t find your Black Friday page or aren’t tempted by compelling blog posts—how will you stay top of mind?
How to get them hooked
You can create a sign-up page where visitors can subscribe to your newsletter and be among the first to access great deals when Black Friday kicks off.
Visitors will likely receive multiple emails before the sale even starts.
Landing page made by guitarfingers
As you can see, they’re going to get a lot of emails before the sale actually starts
How do people know it’s Black Friday?
Make sure all your landing pages make it clear that it’s Black Friday. Most visitors won’t land directly on your Black Friday page—they’ll land on your homepage or subpages. So, make it easy for them to find the deals quickly.
Tip: Even if you have a physical store, you can still have a landing page on your website where people can find information about your store, offers, and a newsletter form.
Use last year’s data
Which products should you discount? Which landing pages need attention?
Check your data from last year.
If you run an e-commerce store, you can easily see which products and pages performed well—and use that to guide this year’s strategy.
Other useful elements you can check
- What did people search for on your site last year?
- Which landing pages performed best? Have you updated your inventory?
- What were your bestsellers last year?
- Use Google Trends to see if any products are trending
- Search for competitors’ Black Friday pages to see what they’re doing
Mobile experience
How does your site look on mobile?
Google has launched mobile-first indexing, so your site must be mobile-optimized. A poor mobile experience can drive users away.
Tips to improve mobile-friendliness
- Use Google’s mobile-friendliness checker
- Test if your load speed can handle traffic
- Do a blind test with 5 friends browsing your site on mobile
- Is it easy to pay on mobile? Consider payment options
- Check your most-used devices in Google Analytics and test on those
Newsletter marketing
Newsletters remain one of the most profitable online sales channels—and they’re also great for getting people into physical stores.
Develop a newsletter strategy for Black Friday.
Tips for your email strategy
- Segment your list based on past purchases
- Send a pre-invite the evening before (e.g., Thursday at 10 PM)
- Consider sending multiple emails throughout the day
- Combine newsletter offers with Facebook ads
- Follow up the Monday after Black Friday and thank people for visiting
- Save the sign-ups from Black Friday in a special segment for next year
Let people share the experience
A popular trend last year was sharing discounts with friends and family. Many tools offer this feature—it’s a great idea to let people spread the word themselves.
Wouldn’t you give your friends and family a good deal?
Start early with a countdown
One effective way to stay top-of-mind is to start early. Amazon started their Black Friday two weeks before the official date.
Why can’t you do the same?
Google Trends shows that people start searching early—often days in advance. Consider starting your Black Friday on Wednesday or even Monday. You can add more offers as the day approaches.
Paid advertising
Black Friday is a highly competitive—and expensive—day for ads.
But it’s also a very effective day for using platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, affiliate marketing, or influencer marketing.
Just make sure your data and budget are under control.
Google Ads
Are your campaigns ready with the right messaging? If you’re offering discounts, make sure they’re included in the ads.
Other useful Google Ads tips
- Lower product prices in your shopping feed
- Increase your ad budget to match higher demand
- Remove out-of-stock items from your feed
- Ensure each ad links to the right landing page
- Use Black Friday keywords
- Update your remarketing lists
- Create display ads (same banners used for affiliates or bloggers)
Facebook advertising
Prepare a campaign in advance, ready to launch on the day. Facebook targeting is crucial—spend time building the right audiences.
E-commerce example
Campaign goal: Clicks to website
Audiences:
- Website visitors
- Email list (via custom audiences)
- Facebook page fans
- People who added to cart in the last 24 hours
- Lookalikes of your existing customers
Physical store example
Campaign goal: Page post engagement
Audiences:
- Locals in your target segment (age, gender, etc.)
- Email list (physical stores should also collect emails)
- Facebook fans
- People who walked past your store
- In-store visitors
Ad creative
Whether you run a physical or online store, make visually compelling ads. Graphics matter—a lot. If you have time, experiment with GIFs or videos.
Good ad tips:
- Short, clear messaging
- Include your logo
- Use your brand’s color scheme
- Highlight top-selling products
Budget
Plan your budget in advance. Launch your ads the day before to ensure approval, since Facebook’s system can be delayed due to high volume.
Blog collaborations
Since Black Friday and December are saturated with paid ads, consider alternative traffic sources—like bloggers.
Blogger promotion tips:
- Offer a 10% discount code to their readers
- Send them your most popular or relevant products
- Ask them to host a giveaway before or during Black Friday
Other ad platforms
Is your brand highly visual? Fashion, jewelry, food, and automotive brands often thrive on Instagram.
Use the same audience targeting as Facebook and simply switch placement. (Note: Click costs are higher when sending traffic from Instagram to your website.)
Youtube advertising
If you’re already active on YouTube, this is a great platform. It works best if you’ve built up a subscriber base.
Affiliate marketing
If you use an affiliate network, update your banners and offers. Send messages to affiliates through the platform—it’s a great way to spread the word.
Tips for affiliate campaigns:
- Provide a unique discount code for the day
- Send Black Friday-themed banners
- Contact your top 10 affiliates and make a plan together
On the day
Black Friday—and everything digital around it—is about moving fast.
You can change your message instantly. But there are also some things you can prepare to ensure a smooth experience for customers.
Things to watch for:
- If bestsellers sell out, remove them or allow backorders
- Is your site slowing down? Have a server contingency plan
- Monitor your ads—turn off underperformers and swap in better ones
- Make popular products more visible
- If competitors start a price war, decide your response strategy
- Have back-up offers ready so you don’t disappoint visitors
Consider extending through the weekend
Did you know the Monday after Black Friday is called Cyber Monday?
Originally, Black Friday was for electronics, while Cyber Monday was for fashion. These days, the lines are blurred.
So, why stop after Friday?
If you have the budget and inventory, extend the offers into a “Black Weekend” or “Cyber Deals.”
You can let your ads continue—just change the message from “Black Friday” to “Still live: Cyber Deals” or similar.
Bonus: click prices tend to drop by Saturday morning, allowing you to reduce ad spend while maintaining traffic.
Remember: turn off outdated ads to avoid angry customers.
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