Black Friday strategy for ecommerce: 10 effective tips [2025]

Reading Time: 11 minutes

Thinking up a clever and effective Black Friday ecommerce strategy may seem daunting, especially if you don’t have a wealth of marketing experience. How will you get your voice heard over all the yells of businesses trying to sell their products?

There’s no need to worry, though, because we’ve compiled 10 highly effective tips to help your business maximize its profits this Black Friday. From building up your email list to handing out free gifts, there are plenty of ways to get your brand in front of the eyes of paying customers.

No matter your budget — whether you’re working with limited funds or have a bit of extra to invest — there are strategies that can make a difference in your campaign. So, read on and learn how you can make this a Black Friday to remember!

Black Friday strategy for ecommerce: How to protect your profits

Focus on your frequent purchasers

Loyal customers are the lifeblood of businesses, helping to keep profits coming in even during quieter times. So, this Black Friday, make it a priority to show them some appreciation. There are a multitude of techniques you can use to get the most out of your returning customers — here are a handful of them:

• Bundle their favorite items: Use the data you have collected on your returning customers to see the types of products they gravitate toward. Bundle these items together, add a discount, and offer them directly to the customer via email or SMS.
• Lower their free shipping threshold: Lowering the free shipping threshold for returning customers will make them feel valued. It will also encourage them to raise their order value. 
• Recommend products: Offer your returning customers a more personalized shopping experience by recommending products based on their purchase history. This will increase their engagement with other sections of your store they may not have previously visited.

Set minimum purchase thresholds for discounts

Setting minimum price thresholds for larger discounts will help make large purchases seem more appealing to customers. For example, if you put a 10% discount on purchases above $30 and a 20% discount on purchases above $50, the extra 10% encourages extra spending.

If a customer has $45 worth of products in their cart, they’re likely to look for an item to lift them over the threshold. This will lead to larger purchases, protecting your profit margins and raising the value of the orders.

Bundle lower-margin discounted items with higher-margin products

Bundling lower-margin discounted items with higher-margin products is a way to increase the average order value of your store. This will lead to higher revenue, as customers will be tempted into buying multiple products rather than just the one item. 

The products you bundle should be related in some way, otherwise, the customer is less likely to be interested in making the extra purchase. For example:

• Shoes and shoe cleaning products: If a customer is buying a pair of shoes, they will also be interested in shoe polish/brushes/protection spray to keep their new purchase looking fresh
• Razors and razor blades: If a product has replaceable parts, such as a razor blade, customers are likely to want to stock up within the same purchase

Implement stricter return policies for heavily discounted items 

Return fees can be an issue for your business if someone wants to send back an item they bought in the sale. You can counteract this by implementing stricter return policies on heavily discounted items. 

However, if you go down this route, you’ll need to communicate it clearly with your customers beforehand. Without upfront transparency, customers may feel as though they have been tricked by your sale.

Focus on value if you can’t give big discounts. If your discounts don’t go higher than 10-15%, it’s totally fine. You can also consider things like extended warranties, free shipping, future purchase credit, exclusive early access, and loyalty bonuses to entice customers.

Evaldas Mockus, VP of Marketing at Omnisend

Black Friday ecommerce strategy: 10 tips

• Build your Black Friday email list early
• Prepare automated email campaigns
• Run social media ads
• Create a dedicated Black Friday sales page
• Use flyouts to showcase the best deals
• Offer free shipping on carts with a full-price or non-discounted item
• Add a gift to every order
• Try purpose-driven tactics
• Recover abandoned carts with multiple channels
• Make a holiday gifting guide

Build your Black Friday email list early

Building your dedicated Black Friday email list should be done sooner rather than later. This helps you build anticipation, getting people excited for launch day. It also opens up doors, allowing you to announce a sale preview to your subscribers a few days before the sale starts.

Building up your Black Friday email list will require some technique to get more subscribers through the door. Here are some examples:

• Offer larger discounts for those signed up to the mailing list
• Announce that email subscribers will receive early access to the sale
• Consider a variety of formats to gather information, including popups and flyouts
• Set the campaign to be displayed to new visitors only

This example of an email list popup is effective as it clearly communicates the incentive for signing up while not overburdening the visitor with terms and conditions: 

Prepare automated email campaigns

Email campaigns are a powerful way for businesses to engage with existing customers, welcome new customers, and generate Black Friday purchases. By automating these emails, you can tailor messages to meet specific customer needs. For example, you could send an email to existing customers about products they’ve previously had in their cart.

Here’s a list of emails you should send your customers in and around Black Friday:

• Announcement of the sale in advance: Letting your customers know of an upcoming sale will generate interest, leading to higher sales when the discounts go live
• Sale for subscribers only (VIP access): Creating a subscribers-only sale can help to nurture a sense of community, as well as make existing and loyal customers feel valued
• Main BFCM sale launch announcement: If you don’t let anyone know that your Black Friday sale is live, your sales will turn out lower than expected
• Personalized offer email: Personalized emails will be sent to customers depending on their previous interactions with your business — if they have previously bought from you, for example, they’ll get a different email than new customers
• Reminder that the sale is ending: Reminding customers that your sale is coming to an end will prompt last-minute purchases, as customers won’t want to miss out on any discounts
• Abandoned cart recovery email: Abandoned cart recovery emails can help convert unsure buyers into actual buyers, as well as remind people of their previous interest in items

A standout example of how automated emails can help a business comes from the clothing brand B-Wear. The company generated 40% of its sales through email marketing with the help of Omnisend, creating personalized, automated emails and SMS messages.

New to the world of automated emails? Check this instructional video out:

If you’re looking to drive your business forward with automated emails, look no further than Omnisend. Omnisend can automate all the email campaigns mentioned above, helping you communicate clearly with all your customers, even if you’re a one-person team.

Run social media ads

Imagine standing before a crowd of potential customers with a microphone, ready to pitch your product and its limited-time discount. Well, this is precisely the power that social media offers. With Instagram and Facebook, you can create ads that target specific demographics to expand your outreach and secure new customers.

However, to see success on social media, you’ll need discounts that really stand out. A modest 10% off likely won’t capture attention in a fast-paced scroll. Instead, consider going bold — think 50%, 75%, or even 90% off.

These high-impact discounts are the kind that can genuinely grab attention and make the ad spend worthwhile in the competitive social media space.

Black Rooster Audio’s social media advert is a prime example of how companies should be advertising their products for Black Friday. The brand’s logo is prominently displayed, and as for the main text — you’re not going to miss it. Mentioning the maximum discount of 90% is another effective technique, even if very few of your discounts amount to it.

Create a dedicated Black Friday sales page

Creating a dedicated Black Friday sales page allows you to showcase all of your Black Friday deals and discounts in one place. By doing this, you can streamline the customer’s shopping process, as they’ll be able to easily find the deal they’re looking for. 

Here is how to get the most out of your sales page:

• Optimize the page with keywords relevant to what you’re selling
• Drive traffic with emails, homepage banners, and popups
• Reveal details on the page a week in advance, but disable the ability to buy — this should increase interest
• Add a loyalty program widget explaining the perks of subscribing

Pro tip: Keep the page live after BFCM and add a special discount for those who missed the main event. This could help you get some extra sales after BFCM ends

Use flyouts to showcase the best deals

To showcase your store’s best Black Friday deals, consider using flyouts — a type of popup that displays extra information about a product without directing customers to a different page. Flyouts’ non-intrusive nature offers you the chance to feature exciting products without interrupting the visitor’s experience.

You can also use flyouts to encourage people to sign up for your email list without taking up their entire screen with the signup form. See below for an example:

If you’re interested in making flyouts for your site, along with a whole host of other features, Omnisend has everything you need. Choose between a range of templates to create professional, visually appealing flyouts to display your finest products.

Prefer to learn by doing? Grab this winter sale flyout template and design away. The video below will help you create a high-converting campaign that will drive visitors toward any sales page.

Offer free shipping on carts with a full-price or non-discounted item

While customers usually browse for discounts during Black Friday, you could improve margins by offering free shipping when a non-discounted item is purchased. This will also create a psychological trigger, making customers feel compelled to add a non-discounted item to their order to unlock free shipping.

If you’re thinking about implementing this offer, bear these tips in mind:

• Communicate it clearly with customers by advertising it in emails and popups
• A/B test it with earlier sales before you try it on Black Friday
• Include full-price items alongside deals 
• Create pre-made bundles mixing discounted items with full-price items

Add a gift to every order

Adding a gift to each order will offer an extra incentive to customers considering buying a product from you. For smaller businesses during Black Friday, this may be a challenge due to costs, so you’ll need to attach a spending threshold for the deal.

Here is how you should operate a gift-giving deal:

• Choose free gifts that cost between 10-15% of the order value
• Improve the gifts when customers spend more
• Give new customers introductory products to encourage category exploration

Try out these spending thresholds:

Purchase amount	Gift value	Example
$50-$99	$5-$10	Sample-sized product
$100-$199	$15-$25	Full-sized complementary item
$200+	$30-$50	Premium gift or gift set

This is an example of how Disney used a free gift policy in its online store:

Try purpose-driven tactics

Black Friday can be used for more than just selling your products for a reduced price. From running a charity drive to encouraging mindful shopping, these unconventional approaches can serve a purpose beyond sales. For example, starting a charity campaign will be great for public relations and highlight your brand’s commitment to making a meaningful impact.

Here are some examples of purpose-driven tactics:

• Donating $1 to charity for every purchase made during Black Friday
• Offering free gifts
• Shining a spotlight on environmental causes
• Encouraging customers to ignore Black Friday in protest against consumerism

A great example of purpose-driven tactics is from Allbirds, which raised its prices on Black Friday — donating the extra money to climate-related causes.

Outdoor sports brand Amundsen Sports also approached Black Friday differently, offering free waffles at its stores instead of discounted items.

Recover abandoned carts with multiple channels

Cart abandonment is all too common in online shopping, but it doesn’t have to mean that the chance of a sale is gone. Sending customers a message reminding them of the items they had shown interest in buying can increase their chances of returning to complete the purchase. 

For maximum efficiency, try recovering these carts by using multiple channels, including:

• Emails: Emails are the most common form of cart recovery message and can be automated using Omnisend
• Exit popups: Exit popups will appear when the customer is about to leave the page, often asking for an email address or offering a discount
• Push notifications: Push notifications are more likely to be seen by customers with abandoned carts than emails, making them a very effective method of recovery

Here is an example of a cart recovery email from Island Olive Oil Company:

This is an example of an exit popup from Art of Play:

Finally, this is an example of a cart recovery push notification from Death Wish Coffee:

Make a holiday gifting guide

With the holiday season just around the corner after Black Friday, people will be in the market for gifts. Creating a holiday gifting guide on its own webpage or as a long blog post can help engage potential customers. 

Here are some tips for creating your own holiday gifting guide:

• Include product reviews 
• Categorize items by who would like them
• Organize by price points

The below example from Stumptown Coffee is a good reference point. It compiles all the items that go well together and offers clear links to where to find the products, making the user’s life incredibly easy.

Summary

This year, approach your upcoming sale with the right Black Friday ecommerce strategy and poise. 

There’s no doubt that the ecommerce sector will inevitably be oversaturated with businesses all claiming their products are the best. However, by using the tips laid out above, you can get your brand in front of the eyes of paying customers.

With good preparation, a well-thought-out strategy, and the right products, there is no limit to the success you can enjoy this Black Friday.