Black Friday
From Learn, the They Sent It email marketing encyclopedia · First edition · Updated November 1, 2026
Black Friday is the Friday after US Thanksgiving, and for email marketers it is a season more than a day. Brands run offers across the days around it, and many start weeks ahead. In 2026, 956 brands we follow put Black Friday in a subject line during the last week of October alone, a month before the date.
The figures here come from the 2026 run-up, the first in our archive, so they show one season and cannot compare years. Our study of the days themselves is listed under Research.
What Black Friday is
Black Friday falls the day after US Thanksgiving, which is the fourth Thursday of November. Retailers treat it as the start of holiday shopping. The sale has spread well beyond the United States, and brands in our archive send Black Friday emails in German, French, Italian and other languages.
Marketers often group it with the days that follow. BFCM stands for Black Friday Cyber Monday. Cyber Five or Cyber Week usually means the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, which is how Adobe reports it, but brands use "Cyber Week" loosely, so state the dates whenever the term matters.[1]
Dates
| Year | Thanksgiving | Black Friday | Cyber Monday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | November 26 | November 27 | November 30 |
| 2027 | November 25 | November 26 | November 29 |
| 2028 | November 23 | November 24 | November 27 |
| 2029 | November 22 | November 23 | November 26 |
| 2030 | November 28 | November 29 | December 2 |
Where the name came from
The earliest known use for the day after Thanksgiving appeared in a 1951 trade magazine, about workers calling in sick. By the early 1960s, Philadelphia police were using the name for the crowds and traffic of the same day. The popular explanation, that stores moved "into the black" that day, came much later, in the 1980s.[3]
How big it is
Adobe Analytics measured $11.8 billion in US online sales on Black Friday 2025, $14.25 billion on Cyber Monday and $6.4 billion on Thanksgiving Day. Across the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, the total was $44.2 billion.[1] These figures cover online retail only, and other companies measure it differently, so compare them only with the same source.
Klaviyo reported more than $3.8 billion in attributed value worldwide over the same period in 2025.[2] That is a platform's own estimate of the sales it credits to its messages, and its method can change between years, so it is best read as a sign of scale.
When brands start
In 2026, Black Friday emails built up steadily from early autumn. The count below covers emails whose subject names Black Friday or BFCM, grouped by the week starting on the Monday shown.[9]
| Week of | Emails | Brands |
|---|---|---|
| September 7 | 10 | 8 |
| September 14 | 17 | 16 |
| September 21 | 26 | 22 |
| September 28 | 57 | 44 |
| October 5 | 98 | 73 |
| October 12 | 214 | 161 |
| October 19 | 485 | 319 |
| October 26 | 1,334 | 956 |
Weekly volume more than doubled in each of the last three weeks shown. Even so, this was early: over the two weeks to November 1, 1,819 of 242,361 emails (0.75%) named Black Friday, from 1,147 of the 37,618 brands that sent anything (3.0%).
The name also appears outside the season. Of 142 Black Friday emails in July, 98 also said July or summer, as in "Black Friday in July".
Early access and early sales
Early wording is common in the run-up. Of the 2,566 emails, 999 (39%), from 699 brands, used wording such as early, pre-Black Friday, sneak peek, preview, VIP or access.
These emails take several forms:
- A list to join: subscribers register for the sale, and the brand gains a segment of people who have raised their hand. Kennedy Blue's "You're not registered for Black Friday yet" is one example.
- Early access: the same sale opens first for subscribers, members or VIPs, usually with a stated start time.
- A separate early sale: a smaller offer before the main one, often called pre-Black Friday.
- The whole sale, early: some brands simply open it. 388 brands used wording such as "starts now" or "is live" between September 1 and November 1, 2026, in 450 emails.
An early sale has a real cost. Early discounts can replace purchases that would have been made at full price. If the discount later grows, the people who bought early can feel they overpaid. Decide in advance whether the early offer is the same as the main sale or a smaller one, and say so.
What brands offer
463 of the 2,566 emails (18%), from 328 brands, put a percentage in the subject. Twenty to 29 percent was the most common band.
| Percentage named | Emails |
|---|---|
| Under 20% | 49 |
| 20 to 29% | 103 |
| 30 to 39% | 69 |
| 40 to 49% | 73 |
| 50 to 59% | 69 |
| 60 to 69% | 42 |
| 70% or more | 58 |
An "up to" figure gives a maximum, which does not show the typical discount. The count covers the run-up only, and deeper offers may appear closer to the date.
A percentage is only one option. Other subjects in the archive offer a gift with purchase, free shipping, store credit, bonus loyalty points or a buy one, get one deal. Those offers can protect full prices, which matters for a brand that does not want to teach its customers to wait for a sale.
Brands that opt out
A small group says plainly that it will not take part. 19 brands used wording such as "We're not doing Black Friday" in a subject line. Some still make an offer, such as a gift card code, so this can be a sale by another name. The message suits a brand with strong full-price demand or a position built on fair everyday prices, and it can read as a stunt elsewhere.
At least one brand asked subscribers "Want fewer emails this Black Friday season?" Offering a pause may help keep someone on the list who would otherwise unsubscribe or mark a message as spam.
A sending calendar
No single calendar suits every brand. This outline is a common pattern, not a measured result, and each step is counted back from Black Friday.
- Two to three months before: plan the offer, clean the list, send to engaged subscribers regularly, and build a sign-up segment if you will offer early access.
- Three to six weeks before: tease the sale and invite people to join the list. Bring in less engaged subscribers gradually.
- The week before Black Friday week: confirm the dates. Open early access if you are using it.
- Monday to Thursday of Black Friday week: open the sale or announce it, and send to customers who bought in earlier seasons.
- Black Friday: a morning announcement, then a reminder for people who have not bought.
- Saturday and Sunday: lighter sends. Best sellers, stock levels or a shift in the offer give people a new reason to open.
- Cyber Monday: usually with its own offer or a last-chance message.
- The weeks after: thank buyers, send order and care information, and give new customers a reason to return that is not another discount.
Leave out recent buyers from messages that advertise the same product, and leave out anyone who has already claimed the offer from last-chance emails.
Resends and countdown timers
A resend is the same email sent again. A countdown timer in email is usually an image the email loads, redrawn with the time left.
From October 1 to November 1, 2026, we counted 26,565 campaign emails from 1,278 brands naming Black Friday or BFCM in subjects during that period, excluding automated flows.[10]
144 emails from 58 brands repeated an earlier email to the same address with a new subject, at least six hours later. Another 111 repeated the same subject as well, at any gap. For new-subject resends, the middle gap was 31 hours; 105 of 144 arrived within three days; 94 of 144 changed preview text.
- Glowen: Only 9 days left: Early Black Friday is ending; then Only 5 days left: Early Black Friday is ending; then Last 48h: Early Black Friday is ending (the same email with a changing subject countdown).
- VivaTerra: Christmas in October - All Just $12.25? Yes, Please.; then Don’t Wait for Black Friday. Shop Our $12.25 Selection NOW! (six hours apart).
Countdown-service images appeared in 41 of 2,180 emails naming Black Friday (1.9%) and 288 of 24,385 other emails (1.2%) from those brands, across 102 brands.
These are undercounts. Brands often resend only to people who did not open; our addresses open email, so those resends may never reach us. Copies to two of our addresses are excluded as possible subject tests. Timers made otherwise or hosted on brands' domains are excluded. This is the run-up, not Black Friday week; we have no earlier season to compare. These figures show what brands send, not whether it worked.
Deliverability
One deliverability risk is a sudden jump in volume to people who have stopped reading. Google says that abruptly doubling your volume can bring rate limiting or reputation drops, and advises starting with engaged users and raising volume slowly.[4] Raise volume in steps, well ahead of the sale, so the peak does not look like a new sender.
Google also tells senders to keep the spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and never to reach 0.30%.[4] Check it weekly through the season. Check SPF, DKIM and DMARC two months ahead, since a change made in Black Friday week is hard to test and harder to fix.
Who sends, by platform
| Platform | Brands listed | Named Black Friday | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | 34,478 | 1,318 | 3.8% |
| HubSpot | 2,492 | 41 | 1.6% |
| Mailchimp | 4,262 | 24 | 0.6% |
Platforms serve different mixes of business, which may explain much of the difference. We count what a new subscriber receives, so emails sent only to customers are undercounted. These are observed subject lines, and offers named only in the body are not included.[9]
Examples from the archive
- You're not registered for Black Friday yet, Kennedy Blue, October 6, 2026: an email that asks subscribers to register for the sale.
- Black Friday Starts Now. 30% OFF Sitewide., Dolkii, October 7, 2026: a sale that opens seven weeks ahead.
- Black Friday early access, Bells of Steel, October 23, 2026: early access.
- Early Black Friday pricing ends in 10 days, Neat Apparel, October 25, 2026: an end date for the early price.
- We're not doing Black Friday, Sunset Daze, October 25, 2026: opting out in public.
- Last chance tonight — Black Friday Early Access ends at 8pm, Risa Vancouver, October 29, 2026: a last-chance email with a clock time.
- Black Friday Starts in 3 Days, ADO Ebike, October 30, 2026: a countdown to a brand's own start date.
Price claims and the law
This section is general information, not legal advice. Black Friday brings the rules on price claims into sharp focus, because so many emails compare a sale price with a former one.
United States
The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing are guidance, and conduct that conflicts with them can be challenged under Section 5 of the FTC Act. They say a former price should be one the product was openly and regularly offered at for a reasonably substantial period in the recent course of business.[5] An offer called limited should in fact be limited.[6]
European Union
When a trader announces a price reduction, it must show the prior price, defined as the lowest price it applied during at least the 30 days before the reduction.[7] This matters for a brand running an early sale: a discount that falls inside the 30 days can set the reference price for the next one. Article 6a lets member states adopt exceptions, including for uninterrupted, progressively larger reductions, so check the rules in each market.
United Kingdom
Since April 6, 2025, falsely stating that a product or its terms are available only for a limited time, in order to rush a decision, is listed as unfair in all circumstances.[8] A "final hours" email for a sale that carries on the next day is the obvious risk.
Common mistakes
- Raising prices before the sale so the discount looks bigger. It breaks trust and can break the rules above.
- Mailing the whole list for the first time in months. Bring old subscribers back in stages before the peak.
- Calling everything the "biggest sale ever". If it is the fourth email saying so, nobody believes it.
- Extending a sale after "last chance". Subscribers notice, and the next deadline counts for less.
- Giving no end time. "Ends Monday" leaves out when and in which time zone. State both.
- Quoting "up to" alone. "Up to 70% off" invites disappointment if most items are 20%.
- Going silent in December. A new buyer who only hears about sales has little reason to buy at full price.
See also
Early access · Flash sale · Free shipping · Gift with purchase · DMARC · When brands send
References
- Adobe, "Adobe: Cyber Monday Hits Record $14.25 Billion in Online Spending", December 2025. Adobe Analytics, US retail sites. Black Friday $11.8 billion, Thanksgiving $6.4 billion, Cyber Monday $14.25 billion, and $44.2 billion across the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.Back to text:123
- Klaviyo newsroom, 2025 Black Friday Cyber Monday results. Reports more than $3.8 billion in Klaviyo Attributed Value worldwide. The figure is Klaviyo's own estimate, and its method may change between years.Back to text:1
- Ben Zimmer, "The Origins of 'Black Friday'", Vocabulary.com. Traces the 1951 trade magazine use, the Philadelphia police use from the early 1960s, and the later "in the black" explanation.Back to text:1
- Google, Email sender guidelines. Keep the spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid ever reaching 0.30%. Increase volume slowly, starting with engaged users; abruptly doubling volume can bring rate limiting or reputation drops.Back to text:12
- Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR 233.1, Guides Against Deceptive Pricing - Former Price Comparisons. The former price should be the price at which the article was regularly and openly offered for a reasonably substantial period in the recent, regular course of business.Back to text:1
- Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR 233.5, Guides Against Deceptive Pricing - Guide V. An offer should not be advertised as limited if it is not in fact limited.Back to text:1
- Directive (EU) 2019/2161, inserting Article 6a into Directive 98/6/EC. An announcement of a price reduction must show the prior price, meaning the lowest price the trader applied during a period of not less than 30 days before the reduction.Back to text:1
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (UK), Schedule 20, paragraph 7, on falsely stating that a product will be available, or available on particular terms, only for a limited time. In force from 6 April 2025.Back to text:1
- They Sent It, subject lines of emails from published brands, March 1 to November 1, 2026. A subject counts when it contains "Black Friday", "BlackFriday" or "BFCM" in any capitalization. Resent copies are left out. Days are Eastern Time. A hand check of 60 random subjects from October and November found 54 of 60 were a brand's own Black Friday promotion or teaser; the others were business-to-business advice or brands opting out.Back to text:123
- They Sent It, campaign emails, October 1 to November 1, 2026. Email matches confirmed on rendered pictures. We checked 24 random new-subject matches by eye, drawn before limiting to the same address, and all were identical.Back to text:1
First edition, November 1, 2026, by Conner Baker. Corrections are made in place and noted here. November 1, 2026: timing advice now counts back from the date, so it holds in any year. Found an error? Tell us.