Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) land on November 27 and November 30, 2026. Most stores will cut prices that weekend, so just discounts won’t get shoppers to pick you over the store in the next tab.
These 20 Black Friday marketing ideas show you how to plan early, build urgency, and turn first-time shoppers into loyal customers before the rush.
Why do Black Friday and Cyber Monday matter for POD sellers?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the two biggest sales events of the holiday season. Shoppers worldwide plan their future purchases around the Black Friday weekend, making it a prime opportunity to win new customers.
The 2025 spending numbers back this up:
- US shoppers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, a 9.1% increase from the year before.
- Cyber Monday hit a record $14.25 billion, the biggest online shopping day of the year.
- Across the entire BFCM weekend, 134.9 million people shopped online.
The top products people buy over the holiday weekend are:
- Clothing and accessories: 51%
- Toys: 32%
- Books and other media: 28%
- Gift cards: 26%
With Print on Demand, you can launch a seasonal design in a few clicks and make the most of this shopping holiday. Create custom products like t-shirts, hoodies, hats, and tote bags, and start selling with no inventory or upfront costs.
What makes a successful Black Friday campaign?
A strong Black Friday marketing campaign comes down to:
- Planning early: Have your deals live by early November, mapped across the whole season from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.
- Building the right offers: Use discounts, bundles, flash sales, and limited drops that create urgency without sinking your profit margin.
- Preparing your store: Make it fast, mobile-first, and ready for a traffic spike, with a smooth checkout.
- Promoting across channels: Combine social media, pop-ups, paid ads, creator partnerships, and email campaigns to reach shoppers.
- Retaining buyers: Recover abandoned carts, reward loyalty program members, and encourage existing customers to make repeat purchases.
20 Best Black Friday marketing ideas for BFCM
Turn on-the-fence browsers into confident buyers with any of these marketing ideas for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
1. Plan your Black Friday strategy early
Aim to have your Black Friday campaign live by early November. 58% of shoppers have already begun their holiday shopping and are hunting for Black Friday deals during this time.
Almost 40% of shoppers feel angry when they miss Black Friday deals, and they’ll spend elsewhere if they can’t find your offers.
When planning your Black Friday marketing strategy:
- Decide what goes on sale and by how much, so every holiday discount still leaves you a profit.
- Plan when each Black Friday promotion teaser and offer goes live across your email and social media channels, from early-bird deals to the final weekend push.
- Use historical data to identify your top-selling products – they’ll do the most work for your Black Friday campaign.
- Order samples of your sale products early, so you have your own photos and videos ready to post.
2. Map out the full shopping season
The BFCM selling window runs far longer than those two days:
- Black Friday (November 27): Your biggest traffic day, so lead with your strongest deal.
- Green Friday: A values-led Black Friday alternative for sellers who would rather tie the day to a cause than a price cut. Pledging donations from purchases can appeal to socially conscious consumers.
- Small Business Saturday (November 28): Shoppers actively seek out deals from independent stores.
- Cyber Monday (November 30): Online demand peaks again, so reopen or refresh your offer. Some stores also do a Cyber Week of deals.
Printify merchant Amanda Heiser staggers her releases this way, dropping fall and Halloween items in early September and her main holiday line by mid-October, with dedicated giveaways for Small Business Saturday.
The schedule keeps her store active throughout the holiday season instead of betting everything on a single day.
3. Create irresistible deals for Black Friday shoppers
The best Black Friday promotion ideas feel generous to shoppers while still leaving you a profit. Pick the type that fits your store:
- A straight discount: Sitewide or on select products.
- Tiered discounts: Reward bigger carts with a spend-more-save-more offer, such as 15% off orders over $75.
- Exclusive bundles: Related products packaged together at a set price, so shoppers get more value for their money.
- Flash sales: A deal-of-the-hour with a sharp price drop maximizes traffic and attracts first-time buyers.
With Print on Demand, you pay a base cost on each item, so a discount comes straight out of your profit. Printify merchant Gina Van De Voorde runs a 20% Black Friday sale and warns against dropping the prices so deeply that the campaign stops paying off.
4. Prepare your online store for the Black Friday rush
Like physical stores, your online shop is limited by how well it handles traffic. Get the basics right before the rush:
- Make it easy to use on mobile: On Cyber Monday 2025, 57.5% of online sales were made on mobile devices.
- Keep it fast: Pages that take too long to load can lose visitors and potential sales.
- Build a dedicated landing page: Send email and ad traffic to a single page for your Black Friday deals, so visitors can make a purchase right away.
- Optimize the shopping process: For example, offer guest checkout and familiar payment options (e.g, Apple Pay) to make it easy for customers to complete their purchases.
- Add a countdown timer: A ticking deadline pushes hesitant online shoppers to buy now rather than later.
5. Engage your social media followers
The stores that convert often involve their community in the run-up to the sale.
For example, Printify merchant Diana True-Knox replies to comments one by one and films short response videos answering product requests, which keeps her audience engaged and sends buyers straight to her listings.
You can also post a poll or a this-or-that on Instagram Stories or TikTok: which design to put on sale, which color to drop. People engage more when they help shape what you sell, and you learn what your target audience wants before you spend a dollar on ads.
6. Promote your deals with Black Friday email marketing
Black Friday email marketing campaigns help you reach customers who already subscribe to you. But every store floods the same inboxes at once, so standing out is the real challenge.
- Map your email marketing campaigns across the weekend: Send out a teaser, a launch, and a final-hours reminder to stay present without flooding your email list’s inboxes.
- Segment your audience for tailored Black Friday deals: Like first-time buyers or repeat customers. Send each group an offer that suits them.
- Send your teaser emails about two weeks early: That’s how Printify merchant Jessica Lathrop reaches out to her subscribers before her message gets buried under dozens of other promotions.
- Design for mobile viewing: Most people check emails on their phones, so use a single-column layout, a short subject line, and a tap-friendly button.
Your subject line decides whether the message gets read. Keep it short, lead with the offer, and add urgency like “limited time” or “ends at midnight.” A few subject lines that do all three:
- “30% off everything. Ends at midnight.”
- “Your early access starts now”
- “Last call: Free shipping ends tonight”
7. Upsell and cross-sell to boost average order value
Upsells and cross-sells can boost your order size without needing extra traffic.
Offer an upgrade from what they’re already buying – like a heavyweight fleece hoodie in place of a standard cotton-blend one – at a Black Friday sale price. Or cross-sell a related product at checkout, like stickers with a phone case.
Keep selling after the order, too. A post-purchase email with a matching product or an add-on to what they just bought can capture extra sales.
8. Create holiday gift guides
Printify merchant Christina Umerez points out that Q4 customers are buying gifts for multiple people, not themselves. Gift guides can simplify the shopping process – sort yours by:
- Budget: A “gifts under $25” or “under $50” collection.
- Recipient: Like “gifts for your best friend,” “for women,” or “for eco-friendly shoppers.”
Quick tip
Printify lets you add a personalized gift message to Etsy and manually-added orders. It’s a small touch that makes your products feel gift-ready, which is exactly what Q4 shoppers are after.
9. Launch a limited-edition drop
A limited-edition drop is a product you sell for a short window. The offer leans on exclusivity rather than a discount, so you build urgency without cutting your margin.
Print on Demand can bring this Black Friday marketing idea to life. You print nothing until an order comes in, so you can sell hard for a week and retire the design with no leftover stock.
- Tie the design to the moment: A cultural event, a seasonal theme, or a niche trend. Printify seller Diana True-Knox made a topical sweatshirt in 30 minutes, posted it to TikTok, and made more than $10K.
- Tease the design: Post a preview so buyers are ready the moment it goes live.
- Set a clear end date: Such as “available on Cyber Monday only.”
10. Offer free shipping
40% of users abandon checkout when extra costs, like shipping, are too high. Removing those fees can win over new customers, who often expect free shipping before buying from an unfamiliar brand.
Set a threshold – such as free delivery over $50 – to encourage shoppers to add multiple items to their cart.
11. Set up cart abandonment emails
An automated email can bring cart abandoners back and help you recover lost sales.
Send the first reminder within a few hours, while the product is still on their mind, then a second a day later. Remind them of what they left behind, add a discount or a free shipping offer, and link straight back to their cart so they can pick up right where they left off.
12. Encourage customers with a gift or coupon
A free gift – like a sticker pack with any order over $40 – encourages shoppers to spend a little more. It can also raise the perceived value of their order without using significant discounts that eat into your margin.
Alternatively, offer a coupon code for first-time customers. A welcome discount lowers the risk of buying from an unknown store, making it a reliable tactic for customer acquisition.
13. Use pop-ups to catch attention
A well-timed pop-up can stop a visitor from leaving empty-handed and turn them into a buyer.
- Use an entry pop-up to offer a discount in exchange for an email sign-up.
- Add an exit-intent one to catch shoppers heading for the door with a last-minute deal.
- Create a gamified version with a spin-to-win wheel or digital scratch card, where shoppers reveal a discount, bundle, or gift card.
15. Don’t forget about customer lifetime value
These Black Friday marketing ideas can drive more sales, but they only pay off over time if a one-time shopper becomes a regular. A smooth post-purchase experience is what makes someone buy from you again.
Send a thank-you email once the order arrives, then invite them to leave a review or share a photo on social media – this is to build trust that converts your next wave of shoppers.
If they refer a friend or buy again, reward them with a thank-you discount or a small free gift to keep them coming back.
16. Spend on paid ads where they convert
Paid ads put your deals in front of shoppers fast, but costs can climb on Black Friday as every store bids for the same attention.
The way to stay profitable is to spend where it converts. Show ads to shoppers who visited your store or abandoned a cart, since they’re most likely to buy.
And put your budget on the platform that performs. When Printify merchant Sterling Brown’s ads performed better on TikTok than on Meta, he shifted his budget there. He hit as many as 200 sales a day with roughly $1 in ad spend per sale.
17. Partner with micro-creators
Micro-creators are affordable to hire and generate high engagement rates, averaging at 3.2% versus 1.1% for accounts with over a million followers.
One of the best places to find them is through TikTok affiliate programs. TikTok creators can put your online business in front of even more Black Friday shoppers, since the algorithm pushes their content far beyond their own followers.
For Black Friday campaigns, send them a free sample along with a short brief, covering the key selling point, the discount code, and when to post, so their content is ready before the weekend.
18. Partner with other brands
Team up with a brand that shares your target audience. That’s what Printify merchant Amanda Heiser did with another Etsy seller. She added a t-shirt, and they included a pair of earrings in a joint giveaway, putting both shops in front of each other’s followers.
The result: You both reach new people, split the cost, and get introduced by a shop those people already trust.
19. Reward loyal customers
If you already run a loyalty program, add Black Friday perks that reward your existing customers. Seasonal rewards drive customer retention and create a sense of exclusivity that makes the membership feel worth it.
- Offer double or triple points on every order during Black Friday to encourage bigger purchases.
- Give loyalty members early access to shop your deals before the public does.
- Review your members’ purchase history and send your top spenders exclusive deals or a VIP shipping upgrade.
20. Encourage user-generated content
Real customer photos carry more weight than your own Black Friday ads, so give shoppers a reason to make it.
Offer a discount code or loyalty points to anyone who shares a photo or video of your product using your branded hashtag. Then feature their content in your own social media posts, turning them into testimonials that convince other shoppers to buy.
FAQ
Kick off your Black Friday marketing campaign today
The best Black Friday marketing ideas are the ones that suit your business. Whether you lead with limited drops, bundles, free shipping, or a loyalty perk, these tactics only work when you plan early.
Map your Black Friday promotions across the full season and get your store ready for the traffic. Print on Demand makes selling during the holidays low-risk: there’s no inventory to pre-order and nothing left over if a design flops.
Sign up for free with Printify today and turn these ideas into your most profitable season yet.
