BFCM 2025: how to win Black Friday with ecommerce campaign strategies
The days of in-person rioting and fighting for TVs in a Walmart might be over, but Black Friday and Cyber Monday keep breaking online sales records. Just around $11B last year with projected 17% YoY growth rate. Do you still think there's time to prepare or it's ok to miss out?
The BFCM Challenge
Every B2C and D2C brand faces a similar challenge during the hottest campaign period of the year - how not to get lost in the noise. Every single ad and every single email will promise unprecedented discounts, bundles, packages, mystery boxes. Can you survive the race to the bottom? Do you even need to take part in it?
Firstly it's a question of strategy - how to get attention and then convert it into sales when everyone is doing the same thing?
Strategy
Our universal recomendation - do (and say) what only you can do (and say). When one brand can offer 70% discounts another can offer no discounts at all and instead offer unique, never-seen-before products as a limited seasonal offer. One audience expects to be bombarded with communications and discount codes - those folks actually look forward to seeing the screen-blocking pop-up you've set up in Klaviyo; another audience wants peace, moisture and staying in their lane while you passively allow them to make the purchasing decision that they want to make.
And before you can start churning out those -50% Meta ads, check if your website can handle the peak hours of BFCM and your delivery can handle the angry customers. A reliable back-end where discount codes work every time, where content points in the correct direction, and checkouts can actually be finished are as important part of the strategy as the colors of the countdown clock.
When you've selected the strategy on how to tackle BFCM - agressive, all-out attack with guns blazing omnichannel extravaganza or subtle VIP customer retention email campaign, you can get to the fun part: tactical execution.
Tactics
Channel Selection
Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, and Google are non-negotiable and you'll have to produce content for every single one of those channels.
Google PMax campaign with assets segmented by product groups/audience groups based on intent and discount rate. Just make sure that everything is alright with the Merchant Center and your feeds will not be disconnected in the middle of the Black Friday. Add BFCM and branded keywords to your campaigns.
On Meta and Pinterest set up ASC+ campaigns with CBO segmented by existing customers, abandoners, and wide audience with copy and creative reflecting their needs and emotional triggers. Once again some people need a nudge, other need a push, while some need a wink. Catalog ads for retargeting still work like a charm. Add new ad groups with BFCM ads to all your campaigns, the learnings must never stop.
On TikTok don't just replicate what you're producing for Meta and Pinterest, but bet on UGC and virality to fit in with platform intent and expectations.
Amazon ads would be a fantastic addition if you sell on Amazon, more so with the addition of Netflix CTV inventory to Amazon ads. Go with discounts and back catalog ads + emotional trigger videos for CTV inventory to grab the most from the channel.
Content
Gift Guides: Design a simple gift guide on the site/app to help users navigate launches and boost basket size. We release wish-list-building guides 3-4 weeks before BFCM to give customers time to plan their purchases.
Anti-consumerist content: Offer fixes and repairs of your products instead of selling more stuff - Patagonia did it last year to reinforce the "reliable" brand position.
Extend return policies: for higher-ticket items a longer return window could push people towards making the purchasing the decision they were on the fence about. We create pop-ups and banner ads to inform the audience about the offer.
Scarcity-driven campaigns: Instead of discounts - limited edition items that are sold only for 1-4 days and never come back again. We tease the scarcity angle two to three weeks before BFCM. Always a good idea to launch the campaign early on Black Friday morning to catch eager shoppers.
Budgets
For D2C and B2C brands 20-30% of quarterly ad budgets are a standard to go to BFCM campaigns if expecting ROAS of 2.8-4.
Roadmap
Start planning eight to 10 weeks in advance to finalize exclusive product inventory and design any app-specific assets like banners, icons, or launch screens.
Add urgency tools like countdown timers or low-stock alerts.
Set up the audiences for your campaigns. Getting the right discounts to the right people at the right time gives you better margins.
1. Remarketing: Website Visitors, Product Page Visitors, ATC, Cart Abandoners
2. Up/Cross-Sell: Past Purchasers, Customer Lists (reactivate existing customers with special offers and upsell/cross-sell
3. Prospecting: Similar Audiences (Past Purchasers, High-Value Customers, Engagers)
4. Custom Segments: Based on performing keywords sourced from Search, PMax, Websites, and Competitors
Phase in your campaign based on your strategy, tactics, and channel selection
Monitor your budgets, ATC, CAC, and conversion rates
During BFCM keep customer support and technical staff on high alert to make sure the site and app perform during peak times.
After BFCM send out warm thank you emails, weekly follow ups and first-time buyer discounts for retention purposes.
pre-BFCM Checklist
- Check your website/app backend
- Check tracking and attribution setup. Make sure analytics collect the data
- Check that all campaigns have been set up in appropriate channels and with appropriate creatives
- Check that all UTMs reflect the BFCM camapign values
- Ensure that discount codes, bundled sales, work as intended
- Set up budgeting rules in Meta, Google and other platforms to have better control over budgets
- Create reports to track the performance of campaigns and incremental value generate during BFCM
- Check in with delivery and logistics to make sure they don't hate your marketing and product teams too much
- Check all the deadlines and drop-off dates to make sure limited deals are actually limited
- Check in with yourself to make sure you're excited and enjoying the BFCM period
