Black Friday and Cyber Monday are more than just dates on the eCommerce calendar; it’s a golden opportunity to seize the sales spotlight. As you gear up for this shopping extravaganza, it’s crucial to have a well-crafted strategy in place that goes beyond just slashing prices.
BFCM 2025 broke records with Shopify merchants alone generating $14.6 billion in sales over the weekend. BFCM 2026 is on track to go even bigger. A solid black friday cyber monday strategy built at least 60 days out is what separates brands that dominate the weekend from those that simply survive it.
Here are eight tips to help you make the most out of the BFCM season.
1. Retarget dormant customers
BFCM isn’t just about acquiring new users; it’s also one of the best times to re-engage old ones. Your dormant customers are already familiar with your brand–retargeting them with the right incentives is quite a low-hanging fruit.
Tactics such as offering free delivery, re-engagement deals, and exclusive sample products can rejuvenate their interest. Segmenting and tailoring win-back emails further personalize your approach. Learn more ways to reactivate dormant customers here.
Win-back campaigns sent before BFCM weekend consistently outperform cold acquisition emails because the recipient already knows your brand. A re-engagement email with early access or a first-look offer brings dormant customers back before competitors reach them. Start this at least four weeks before BFCM.
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2. Cross-sell and upsell
Showcase complementary products for cross-sell opportunities. For example, suggest a microwave container set to someone who recently bought a microwave oven.
You can also upsell products before someone makes a purchase. If they’re buying a smartphone, suggest a model with more storage.
Cross-selling and upselling during BFCM can lift your average order value significantly without spending an extra dollar on acquisition. For example, Dossier is a famous perfume brand that implemented a tiered discount strategy during BFCM 2025. The discounts increased as customers added more items to the cart. That single tactic pushed customers to add more products and drove a measurable jump in their average order value.
3. Multi-channel approach
This isn’t really a BFCM-specific tactic but it’s super effective during the Holiday season. All your channels need to be unified, say the same messaging, and loop into each other to create a seamless customer experience.
- Website – Integrate attention-grabbing banners and CTAs. Use exit-intent pop-ups to recapture departing visitors. A refreshed website design can intrigue and retain more customers.
- Email – Tease your audience with sneak peeks of upcoming deals. Make sure you’re not selling all the time but also educating your subscribers by providing value.
- SMS – Notify your customers about what’s exciting about this BFCM via text message.
- Social media – Run contests, surveys, and quizzes to keep your audience engaged and let them know about door-buster deals
- Ads – Ads can get expensive during the Holiday season so start running ads early. Test offers and creatives so you have the winning ones during the big weekend.
Bonus: Check out our Holiday Email Marketing Calendar.
In 2026, mobile accounted for 54-57% of all BFCM online sales. Your website, emails, and ads all need to load fast and look clean on a phone screen. A campaign that only really works on desktop is now a real revenue risk during the biggest shopping weekend of the year.
Test more offers
Craft a diverse range of offers and test them before the BFCM weekend. You can even use the Halloween sale as the testing ground for your BFCM offers.
Here are a few offers you can test:
- Volume Discounts
- Bundled Products
- Free Gift with Purchase
- Flash Sales
- Loyalty Rewards
- BOGO Deals
- Limited-Time Free Shipping
The brands that performed well during BFCM 2025 did not rely on the deepest discounts. Average discount depth in the US actually fell from 29% to 26% compared to the previous year. What worked instead was smarter offer structures like bundles, free gifts, and loyalty rewards. These offers make customers feel like they are getting more value rather than just a lower price.
4. Tweak your abandoned cart flow
Cart abandonments translate to missed sales opportunities. Recover lost sales with a couple of changes to your abandoned cart and checkout flows.
- Reduce the time delay of the first email. If your normal abandoned cart email triggers after 4 hours, try changing it to 1 hour.
- Bring in the discounts sooner. I’ve been a huge advocate of holding off the discount until the 3rd or 4th email. But, during BFCM, you can experiment by sending your existing coupons sooner. Alternatively, you can also try a laddered discount strategy.
Cart abandonment is over 70% in most e-commerce stores. It gets even higher during BFCM when shoppers compare deals in different tabs.
Sending your first email within one hour is a high-impact change. It costs nothing and can help you recover lost sales quickly.
5. Add trust signals
You’ll probably be getting a boatload of new shoppers during BFCM. New customers usually hesitate to shop from websites they haven’t shopped in the past most people worry aboutthe security of their credit card and whether their orders will be delivered properly.
Showcase security badges, customer reviews, and flexible return policies to evoke trust.
Plus, 71% of shoppers during BFCM expect a response within five minutes if they have a question. That is a tough standard to meet, but if you do, you are already ahead of your competitors.
6. Provide BNPL offers
People tend to buy a lot around the holidays, be it gifts for their family and friends for Christmas or shopping purchases for New Year’s. Help your customers manage their holiday expenses and not be budget-conscious by providing BNPL options to make them make a quick decision. BNPL can attract a broader customer base, including those who prefer manageable payments and might not have considered your products otherwise.
BNPL is no longer just an extra option during BFCM. On Cyber Monday 2025, $1.03 billion in purchases used buy-now-pay-later services, making up 7.2% of all online sales in one day. PayPal saw a 23% rise in BNPL use compared to the previous year.
Brands that offered BNPL at checkout won more buyers who wanted the product but could not pay the full amount upfront.
7. Extend your sale
Why stop when BFCM is over when you could take it one step further by extending your sale?
Keep the good deals going for those who missed out during BFCM. You’ll also provide an opportunity for others to make additional purchases.
BFCM has already evolved from a single weekend into a 12-day shopping window. Brands that planned for an extended sale last year captured buyers who deliberately waited out the main weekend to see if prices stayed low. A post-BFCM email campaign targeting non-buyers with a short sale extension is one of the simplest ways to generate revenue after the main event ends.
The BFCM period is a blend of anticipation, strategy, and opportunity. By employing the techniques above, from re-engaging dormant customers to embracing modern tech tools, you position your brand for BFCM success.
Happy selling!
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8. Start Your BFCM Strategy Earlier Than You Think
The biggest mistake brands make in 2026 is treating BFCM as a November problem. The brands that win start in September. Build your email list early and warm it up with value-driven content before any sales talk begins.
In October, use Halloween as a dry run for your BFCM offers. Test your discounts, creatives, and subject lines on a smaller audience so you know what works before the big weekend arrives.
At least two weeks before BFCM, send teaser campaigns to your VIP customers with early access or exclusive previews. This strategy builds anticipation and locks in your most loyal buyers before the competition even launches.
Early preparation is what separates the brands that dominate BFCM from those that just get through it.
9. Conclusion
BFCM success in 2026 is not about the biggest discounts. It is about the smartest strategy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The eight tips above work best when they run together as one cohesive plan rather than in isolation.
Start with dormant customer reactivation and abandoned cart optimization. These two alone can recover significant revenue before your main sale even goes live.
From there, layer in your multi-channel approach, trust signals, and BNPL options to cover every type of buyer.
If you want help building a BFCM email strategy that actually drives results this year, our team is ready to get you started.
10. FAQs
What is the best Black Friday Cyber Monday strategy for e-commerce brands in 2026?
The most effective approach combines early list building, multi-channel messaging, and smarter offer structures rather than just deeper discounts. Brands that start their BFCM email marketing strategies at least 60 days out consistently outperform last-minute planners.
How do e-commerce brands retarget dormant customers during BFCM?
Win-back campaigns work best when they go out two to four weeks before the main sale. A segmented email with an early access offer or an exclusive deal gives dormant customers a personal reason to return. Pairing the email with an SMS reminder significantly lifts the re-engagement rate for subscribers who may have stopped opening your emails.
How early should brands start their BFCM email marketing strategy?
September is the right time to start building and warming your list. October is the right time to test your offers using Halloween as a dry run. VIP teaser campaigns should go out at least two weeks before BFCM weekend so your most loyal customers feel like they have inside access before the general public does.
What offers work best during BFCM sales?
Bundle deals, free gifts with purchase, and loyalty rewards consistently outperform flat percentage discounts during BFCM. Shoppers in 2026 are more selective and respond better to offers that feel like added value rather than a simple price cut. BNPL options also convert well because they remove the upfront cost barrier for buyers who want the product but need flexibility on payment.