6 Black Friday Marketing Examples Ecommerce Brands Can Use to Drive More Sales
Black Friday is one of the biggest ecommerce opportunities of the year, but simply offering a large sitewide discount is no longer enough. Successful brands are building campaigns around customer segments, purchase behavior, urgency and profitability.
The strongest Black Friday marketing examples use structured promotional mechanics rather than relying only on attractive creatives. Here are six strategies ecommerce brands can adapt for their own Black Friday campaigns.
1. Give Loyal Customers Early Access
Instead of increasing the discount for your best customers, give them access to the sale 24–72 hours before everyone else.
VIP customers, subscribers and loyalty members can receive early-access emails followed by an SMS reminder. This creates exclusivity without sacrificing additional margin.
Brands that want to strengthen this strategy can invest in a dedicated ecommerce loyalty program to encourage repeat purchases and long-term customer engagement.
2. Use Tiered Discounts to Increase AOV
A tiered discount strategy encourages customers to spend more to unlock a larger saving.
For example:
- Spend $75 — Get $10 off
- Spend $150 — Get $30 off
- Spend $250 — Get $60 off
Unlike a flat percentage discount, this approach connects the size of the incentive to basket growth. Setting the first threshold above your normal average order value can give shoppers a stronger reason to add more products to their cart.
3. Create Black Friday Bundles
Product bundles and gift-with-purchase offers can protect margins while increasing perceived value.
Instead of discounting every individual product, combine complementary or higher-margin products into an exclusive Black Friday package.
These Black Friday product bundles work especially well for gift shoppers, category browsers and customers looking for convenient holiday purchases. Just make sure inventory is available across every product included in the bundle.
4. Extend the Promotional Window
Black Friday does not have to be limited to one weekend.
Brands with fulfillment constraints can spread campaigns across several weeks using early access, category-specific deadlines and final shipping cutoffs. This distributes demand and can reduce the need for extremely aggressive discounts.
However, longer promotional periods require careful segmentation and deliverability management. A strong Black Friday email marketing strategy becomes essential for keeping customers engaged without overwhelming them.
For more planning ideas, explore BMO Media’s Black Friday marketing strategy guide.
5. Run an SMS Flash Drop
SMS can create immediate urgency without placing your entire store on sale.
Brands can announce a limited-time product release or limited-quantity offer to engaged subscribers. A simple sequence might include a teaser, launch message and genuine low-stock reminder.
This works best when scarcity is real. Overusing flash promotions can increase subscriber fatigue, so SMS drops should remain limited and targeted.
A well-planned Black Friday SMS marketing strategy can help brands reach high-intent customers quickly during peak shopping periods.
6. Build a Post-Black Friday Win-Back Campaign
Not every engaged shopper will purchase during Black Friday.
After Cyber Monday, segment customers who opened emails, clicked messages or browsed products but did not convert. Send them a targeted second-chance campaign based on restocks, product categories, gifting deadlines or other relevant reasons to return.
The goal of a post-Black Friday win-back campaign is not to repeat the exact Black Friday offer. Instead, it helps brands recover high-intent shoppers without teaching customers to wait for endless discounts.
Final Thoughts
The best Black Friday campaign is not always the one with the biggest discount.
Early access, tiered offers, bundles, extended promotions, SMS drops and win-back campaigns give ecommerce brands multiple ways to increase revenue while protecting margins.
Before launching your campaign, make sure your list, automations and store are prepared. BMO Media’s Black Friday ecommerce preparation guide can help you build the right foundation before peak season.
