Black Friday emails: sale examples and a BFCM plan
A Black Friday email puts the offer first, makes it easy to act on, and arrives on a plan. Below are sale emails R10N designed for GoPro, Gap, Dr. Squatch and Kylie Cosmetics, the patterns they show, and a day-by-day plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026.
Your first three designs are free until November 27. No card.
What a Black Friday email needs
The offer, readable before the first scroll. One clear thing to buy or one place to go. A real reason it is now (a date, an end time, limited stock that is actually limited). And the look of your brand, because in an inbox full of red percentages, yours is the one that has to be recognized.
Offer first. GoPro’s leads with “$100 off the dive bundle” and the old and new price side by side. Gap’s puts “30 to 50% off” in the headline, with the event named.
Three takes on one offer. The three GoPro emails below are one offer designed three ways: by the discount, by the product’s depth rating, and by its specs. That is what asking R10N for another take gets you, and it is how to keep a weekend of sends from looking like one email four times.
Lead with the products people already want. Dr. Squatch’s holiday-weekend sale opens on its best sellers rather than on the percentage, and the price follows.
One line, one price. Kylie Cosmetics’ sale is a single product line at a single price through Monday. Simple offers survive a crowded inbox.
Sale and offer emails R10N designed
None of these was made for Black Friday; each shows a pattern a Black Friday email needs. Open one to read it at full length.
Concept designs generated by R10N from each brand’s public website. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the brands shown. To request removal, email hello@r10n.app.
A Black Friday and Cyber Monday plan for 2026
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, 2026, so Black Friday is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. A plan a small team can actually keep:
Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026 sending plan
When
What to send
Now to early November
Decide the offer and the order of the emails, and design all of them. Send your normal campaigns so your list is warm.
Monday, November 23
Early access for subscribers: the offer, a day early, for the people on your list. The best email of the week for most brands.
Friday, November 27
Black Friday. The offer in the subject line and the headline, with one button.
Saturday or Sunday
A reminder with a different angle: best sellers at the sale price, or a gift guide.
Monday, November 30
Cyber Monday. A new reason to open: a second offer, a bundle, or the original offer ending tonight.
Tuesday, December 1
Last call, if the sale runs that long. Then stop, and send a thank you or a shipping cut-off note later in the week.
R10N’s Strategist Calendar plans a month of campaigns for your brand, which makes this the easiest month to use it: lay the run out once, design every email from its line on the calendar, and change any of them by asking.
Protect your sending before the week
Black Friday is when a list you have neglected bites. The emails that land are the ones from senders inbox providers already trust, so the work happens before the week:
Keep sending your normal campaigns through November, so the big week is not a sudden spike.
Send the early sends to people who opened in the last few months; widen the audience on the day itself.
Check your domain is authenticated (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) and your spam complaint rate is low.
Keep live preview text and alt text on every image slice. Our image-only emails guide has the full checklist.
Design the run
A Black Friday email: 25% off everything until Monday night, lead with our three best sellers at the sale price, bold and on brand, one button to shop the sale.
Each email lands in Klaviyo, Omnisend or Mailchimp as a campaign, ready to schedule for the day it belongs to.
Questions
When is Black Friday 2026?
Friday, November 27, 2026, the day after Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26). Cyber Monday is November 30, 2026.
How many emails should I send over Black Friday weekend?
A small DTC brand typically sends four to six over the week: an early access note, the launch on Black Friday, a weekend reminder, Cyber Monday, and a last call. More than one a day risks the complaints that hurt your sending for the rest of the season.
When should I design my Black Friday emails?
Before November. The offer, the order of the emails and the designs are all decisions you can make calmly in October and cannot make well on the Thursday. With R10N each email takes a few minutes, so the whole run can be designed in an afternoon and changed by asking.
Should Black Friday emails be image-only?
They can be, and most of the examples here are. The risk is sending a heavy image email to a large, unengaged list for the first time in months. Send to people who opened recently, warm up any segment you have not emailed in a while before the week, and keep live preview text and alt text on every slice.
